Church Center vs. Custom church apps:  Connect people to the life of your church

Church Center is the church app built completely by you for your people, with no upfront costs. Fully synced across Planning Center, and you can launch in under an hour,.

Church Center™️

A single place, built by you, where people find ways to get involved, connect with each other, and access personalized content—fully synced with Planning Center.

Fancy custom apps

Expensive branded shells that put your logo in the app store, while requiring extensive setup, ongoing updates, and maintenance with third-party tools.

CUSTOM CHURCH APP

No custom logo in the app store—and that’s ok.

Brand recognition counts for something, but a lot of churches don’t want to break the bank for it. With Church Center, they don’t have to.

Our customers often tell us that having their logo in the app store is less important to them than making it easy for people to give, connect, and show up.

Real churches using Church Center

We have experienced 10x more engagement with Church Center than we ever saw in our custom "Arrowhead Church" app with Subsplash. People love having just a single destination to manage their relationship with the church—it’s just really easy to use and works well.

Jared Belcher
Executive Pastor at Arrowhead Church

ALL-IN-ONE CHURCH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Fully integrated across Planning Center, not stitched together

With Church Center connected to the Planning Center system, everything works and moves together. What you build or update on the admin side is instantly reflected for your congregation—no app store updates required.

Synced, built-in features from across Planning Center

Every product has built-in Church Center features, so everything connects.

Duplicate profiles flagged automatically
Admin changes publish to Church Center immediately
Congregant changes sync right to their profile
People stay inside Church Center—no sudden redirects
People don’t have to use the app, they can go to the web version of Church Center!

A patchwork of solutions, stitched into an app

Many churches use a custom app in addition to multiple software systems, resulting in:

Linking from the app to other platforms (for donations, events, or groups)
Incomplete congregant profiles
Confusion for congregants on where to go to get involved (App? Website? WhatsApp?)
Broken connections between systems

A lot is possible with a custom app, but a lot can also break. An update or bug in one piece of the puzzle can disrupt the whole experience for the congregation.

Church Center is a no code app that still offers customization; it gives enough flexibility without being overwhelming.

Jared Golinvaux

Assistant Pastor

Church Center is our hub for check ins, registrations, contact forms, etc. I love having everything in one place where attenders can go and find what they need. Being able to embed and link to from our website is very helpful as well.

Randall Andrews

Tech/Communications

Giving is very easy through Church Center. And soon we'll be rolling out the Announcements feature which I think will keep the congregation more connected to what's happening at the church.

David Kong

Sound Production Director

We share all of our current next steps as well as giving, check ins and announcements on Church Center. Even the “older” members are on board using the app!

Michael Cole

Executive Pastor

I love how Church Center is one place where our congregation is able to see everything: events, groups, giving, and other shortcut links! It's very helpful for relaying information and communication (like reminders and messaging)!

Ivory Casten

Church Administrator

Church Center is a clear unified spot for people to go. We used to send them to the website but now we see the website more for visitors and Church Center for regular attenders

Malia Howland

Tech Director

Church Center is a no code app that still offers customization; it gives enough flexibility without being overwhelming.

Jared Golinvaux

Assistant Pastor

Church Center is our hub for check ins, registrations, contact forms, etc. I love having everything in one place where attenders can go and find what they need. Being able to embed and link to from our website is very helpful as well.

Randall Andrews

Tech/Communications

Giving is very easy through Church Center. And soon we'll be rolling out the Announcements feature which I think will keep the congregation more connected to what's happening at the church.

David Kong

Sound Production Director

We share all of our current next steps as well as giving, check ins and announcements on Church Center. Even the “older” members are on board using the app!

Michael Cole

Executive Pastor

I love how Church Center is one place where our congregation is able to see everything: events, groups, giving, and other shortcut links! It's very helpful for relaying information and communication (like reminders and messaging)!

Ivory Casten

Church Administrator

Church Center is a clear unified spot for people to go. We used to send them to the website but now we see the website more for visitors and Church Center for regular attenders

Malia Howland

Tech Director

Church Center is a no code app that still offers customization; it gives enough flexibility without being overwhelming.

Jared Golinvaux

Assistant Pastor

Church Center is our hub for check ins, registrations, contact forms, etc. I love having everything in one place where attenders can go and find what they need. Being able to embed and link to from our website is very helpful as well.

Randall Andrews

Tech/Communications

Giving is very easy through Church Center. And soon we'll be rolling out the Announcements feature which I think will keep the congregation more connected to what's happening at the church.

David Kong

Sound Production Director

We share all of our current next steps as well as giving, check ins and announcements on Church Center. Even the “older” members are on board using the app!

Michael Cole

Executive Pastor

I love how Church Center is one place where our congregation is able to see everything: events, groups, giving, and other shortcut links! It's very helpful for relaying information and communication (like reminders and messaging)!

Ivory Casten

Church Administrator

Church Center is a clear unified spot for people to go. We used to send them to the website but now we see the website more for visitors and Church Center for regular attenders

Malia Howland

Tech Director

BUILD YOUR OWN CHURCH APP

Launch in under an hour, without waiting on anyone else

If you can upload images and write a sentence, you can launch Church Center.

No design skills, developer accounts, or third-party coordination necessary. It’s that easy.

Upload your logo

Enable built-in features

Share it with your church

LOW PROCESSING FEES

Simple, affordable giving built right into the app, not overpriced

Church Center connects directly to Planning Center Giving, which offers the lowest rates for processing fees!

People can give in seconds, see their full donation history, and download statements—all from the same place they connect with their community.

Most custom apps connect to expensive donation platforms with high processing fees.

See your savings

We estimate the switch will save our church more than $23,000 annually in fees alone, with even greater savings as giving grows.

Church Center has been intuitive, unified, and easy for both our staff and congregation to navigate, and we’ve been genuinely grateful to move to a platform that serves our church so well.

Jared Belcher
Executive Pastor at Arrowhead Church

MOBILE CHURCH APP

Everything your church needs, built in.

Here’s what’s inside Church Center, and what’s not.

Features	Church Center Logo
Customization
Branded app
Most custom platforms require you to have an app store account they use to make changes.
Self-build & edit
Color themes
Navigation icons
Including images and built-in blocks
Analytics
Customization
Group chat
Team chat
Push notifications
Forms
Member directory
Events
Many custom platforms charge a minimum of 2.9%; some higher.
Attendance tracking
Children’s check-in and pre-check
Church calendar
Giving
Giving within Church Center stays in the app. Many custom platforms charge a minimum of 2.9%.
Synced payment methods
Media
Livestream hosting
Livestream linking
You can publish audio on Church Center and distribute it to Spotify, Apple Music, etc.
Video library
Sermon notes
Security
Two-factor authentication
Congregants can choose what information they share in the directory, and the church can control what people see on the app.
Admins can only edit built-in pages from Planning Center products they have access to.

The essentials are free. Upgrade when you’re ready.

Your app setup, home page, and analytics are free in Publishing. Get custom pages, themes, and sermon media when you want to do more.

Essential

App management, home page, and page analytics

Free

Set up your app

Plus

Custom pages and themes

$15 / mo.

Select plan

Premium

Audio and video channels, sermon notes

$32/mo.

Select plan

Frequently asked questions about the Church Center app

For in person questions, contact Support.

Do I need to have a developer account to use Church Center?

Nope! Church Center is listed in the app stores under Planning Center’s developer account, so you never need to interact with Apple or Google. We submit all software updates on your behalf. You also don’t have to wait for your changes to be added to a queue: When you enable the app and make changes, you’ll see the results immediately.

What about people who don’t want to download the app?

Church Center is available on the web, for mobile and desktop. So people can do everything they can do on the app, all from their mobile browser or computer! Easy.

How do we get people to use Church Center?

We have a video and brand kit you can use to share with people! You can also create custom links, QR codes, send Church Center invitations via email and text.

Can we customize the app with our own branding and themes?

Yes! You can choose your own color theme, navigation icons, add images, text, formatting, layout and more!

How much does it cost to use Church Center?

Church Center comes with every Planning Center subscription at no extra cost. The basics for you to launch are free, and you can upgrade for more features whenever you want.

Can we have a branded app in the app store?

No, we don’t offer a branded app icon in the app store. Our customers have told us that it’s less important to them than making it easy for people to give, connect, and show up.