Planning Center
Planning Center is a comprehensive church management software suite providing modular tools for attendance tracking, donation processing, volunteer scheduling, and worship service coordination to help ministries stay organized.
Faithlife Proclaim
Faithlife Proclaim is a cloud-based church presentation software that helps you create professional worship slides, manage lyrics, and collaborate with your team from any location or device.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Planning Center | Faithlife Proclaim |
|---|---|---|
| Website | planningcenter.com | proclaim.logos.com |
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Subscription |
| Starting Price | Free | $25/month |
| FREE Trial | ✓ 30 days free trial | ✓ 30 days free trial |
| Free Plan | ✓ Has free plan | ✘ No free plan |
| Product Demo | ✓ Request demo here | ✓ Request demo here |
| Deployment | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Target Users | ||
| Target Industries | ||
| Customer Count | 0 | 0 |
| Founded Year | 2006 | 1992 |
| Headquarters | Carlsbad, USA | Bellingham, USA |
Overview
Planning Center
Planning Center is a modular software suite designed to help you manage every aspect of your church's daily operations. Instead of a rigid, all-in-one system, you can choose specific applications for check-ins, giving, registrations, and worship planning. This flexibility allows you to build a custom toolkit that fits your ministry's unique size and specific workflow requirements without paying for features you don't use.
You can track member engagement, coordinate complex volunteer schedules, and process digital donations through a unified interface. The platform simplifies communication with your congregation through automated emails and a dedicated mobile app. Whether you are a small plant or a multi-site campus, you can scale your tools as your community grows while keeping your data synchronized across all departments.
Faithlife Proclaim
Faithlife Proclaim is a specialized presentation tool built specifically for the unique needs of church services. You can move away from static slide decks and embrace a dynamic, cloud-based workflow where your pastors, worship leaders, and tech teams collaborate on the same presentation simultaneously from their own homes or offices.
The platform automates the tedious parts of service prep by pulling lyrics directly from integrated databases and formatting them instantly. You can also engage your congregation beyond the sanctuary walls by automatically generating digital bulletins and social media posts based on your slides. It eliminates the need for thumb drives or manual file transfers, ensuring your Sunday morning runs without technical hitches.
Overview
Planning Center Features
- Services & Scheduling Plan your worship sets and schedule volunteers with automated requests so your weekend services run without a hitch.
- People Database Organize your member information in one central hub and track engagement levels to ensure no one falls through the cracks.
- Online Giving Accept donations via credit card, ACH, or text-to-give and automatically generate year-end tax statements for your donors.
- Secure Check-Ins Keep your children's ministry safe with fast label printing and secure pickup codes that give parents peace of mind.
- Event Registrations Create custom sign-up forms for camps or conferences and process payments directly through your church website.
- Church Center App Give your congregation a mobile home where they can join groups, register for events, and manage their own profiles.
Faithlife Proclaim Features
- Cloud Collaboration. Work on your presentation from any computer while your team makes real-time updates that sync instantly to the cloud.
- Smart Media Layouts. Apply professional designs to your text automatically so you never have to worry about font sizes or alignment again.
- Song Lyric Integration. Import lyrics directly from SongSelect or Faithlife Music to build your worship sets in seconds without manual typing.
- Bible Verse Tool. Type a reference and watch as the software instantly pulls the full text from your preferred Bible translation onto the slide.
- Digital Bulletins. Generate interactive mobile bulletins automatically from your presentation slides to keep your congregation connected during the week.
- Remote Control App. Control your slides from the pulpit or the back of the room using your smartphone or tablet as a remote.
Pricing Comparison
Planning Center Pricing
- Free versions of all apps
- Up to 5 Service members
- Up to 15 Check-ins/month
- Up to 10 Registration signups
- Unlimited People profiles
- Community support access
- Everything in Free, plus:
- Up to 25 Service members
- Unlimited service plans
- File storage for charts
- Volunteer scheduling tools
- Rehearsal pack integration
Faithlife Proclaim Pricing
- Unlimited seats and installs
- Cloud-based collaboration
- Digital bulletins
- Bible and lyric integrations
- Recording and podcasting tools
- Standard support access
- Everything in On-Air, plus:
- 10,000+ professional media assets
- Motion backgrounds and stills
- Seasonal church graphics
- Direct media library integration
- Priority content updates
Pros & Cons
Planning Center
Pros
- Modular approach lets you pay only for needed features
- Highly intuitive interface requires very little staff training
- Excellent mobile app for both staff and congregation
- Seamless data syncing between different ministry modules
- Regular feature updates based on direct user feedback
Cons
- Costs can add up quickly when using multiple modules
- Limited customization for some automated email templates
- Reporting features can be basic for complex data needs
Faithlife Proclaim
Pros
- Excellent remote collaboration for distributed teams
- Saves significant time on lyric entry
- Seamless integration with Logos Bible Software
- Automatic formatting creates professional looks quickly
- Reliable cloud syncing eliminates file transfer issues
Cons
- Requires stable internet for best performance
- Pricing scales up quickly for larger churches
- Learning curve for those used to PowerPoint
- Occasional lag during high-resolution video playback