--- title: "Planning Center Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra" description: "Is Planning Center the right Church Management solution for you? Explore 1139 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/76708/Planning-Center/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" publication_date: "2026-10-31" --- Planning Center 4.7 (1139) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/76708/Planning-Center/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated October 31st, 2026 # Reviews of Planning Center Ease of use 4.4 Customer Service 4.6 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews PG Paula G AdminReligious Institutions, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It allows me to complete administrative tasks in a timely, organized way, allowing me to be most effective. When I've encountered issues, they respond quickly and thoroughly.“ May 14, 2026 JB Jami B Guest ExperienceReligious Institutions, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “There is one tiny feature that I can't edit (all forms require an email address) and that is the only, admittedly very tiny, thing.“ July 22, 2025 PG Paula G AdminReligious Institutions, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It's also great because users can customize which level they want for each module of Planning Center, giving a greater ability to cut back on potential product costs.“ May 14, 2026 AN Alicia N TeacherEducation Management, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Probably how inconsistent song edits can be. If I want to change a key of a song, it is sometimes more of a hassle to even try.“ August 3, 2025 AH Andy H Associate Pastor of WorshipReligious Institutions, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Planning Center is the most robust, powerful, intuitive, and helpful way to plan worship services, organize team members, and communicate across ministries in our church.“ February 25, 2026 Sheyan J Associate PastorNon-Profit Organization Management, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “This is normally not a problem, but for a setup and take down church, it proves to be difficult as the new workflow needs to be figured out day off.“ January 16, 2025 SG Steven G PastorReligious Institutions, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “We love it and use it for our service planning, church database, forms, giving, app, communication, sign-ups, and registrations.“ June 19, 2025 HK Harrison K Communications DirectorNon-Profit Organization Management, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “At times, the menus can be a little clunky, and I find myself having to hunt for specific features.“ January 27, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 1139 available reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use R Reviewer Entrepreneur Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Planning Center Review" October 21, 2026 5.0 Overall, my experience with Planning Center has been positive. It has helpful tools for staying organized and managing different tasks, although some features take a little time to get used to. Pros What I like most about Planning Center is that it keeps information organized in one place and makes it easier to manage schedules, people, and events. Cons What I like least about Planning Center is that some features can take a little time to figure out, and it could be easier to navigate at times. Review Source R Reviewer Admin Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Highly Recommend Planning Center" May 18, 2026 5.0 Overall, my experience with Planning Center has been very positive! It allows me to complete administrative tasks in a timely, organized way, allowing me to be most effective. When I've encountered issues, they respond quickly and thoroughly. Pros Planning Center has a very user-friendly interface. It integrates well with other programs (i.e. MailChimp), which enables users to be more effective in administrative tasks. There are several modules in Planning Center, which allows users to pick and choose what they desire to utilize the program for, including donations, emails, CRM database + member management, scheduling events (including volunteer schedule/event timeline and room/resource requests), and event registration for attendees. They have great customer support, providing timely answers to specific questions, as well as a database of videos and articles on specific topics. There is even an app for the admin-side of the program, as well as an app for the customer-side (event signup, etc.). It's primarily designed for churches, although I'm sure other non-profits could utilize it as well. When a user understands the options available, it can be a powerful program in comparison to the monthly cost. When compared with other programs, Planning Center seems to have great value for the cost, with the abilities it includes. It's also great because users can customize which level they want for each module of Planning Center, giving a greater ability to cut back on potential product costs. Cons Sometimes specific features aren't available that I would like. They are open to feedback for future updates, but don't always incorporate feedback. For instance, I've asked about including a "signature" feature on their forms (for parental consent, for example), but the still haven't updated for this feature. Also, while the cost is not unreasonable, each module only has specific levels available for each cost. Moving from the each level seems to have a large increase in capacity (i.e. number of attendees allowed) and somewhat high jump in cost. For instance, the Registration Module allows for 150 registrants at $69/month, but then jumps to 400 registrants at $115/month. It would be helpful to have more options in-between 150 and 400. Review Source R Reviewer Owner Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "The GOAT of Church Management Software!" March 9, 2026 5.0 Planning Center is a highly effective tool for church management. It is easy enough that attendees can use it, while also being complex enough that the administrative team can do many things with it. Pros Planning Center is the GOAT of all church administration software. There is a reason nearly every church or ministry uses them, and it's because it's highly functional, has many useful add-ons, and keeps things organized. On another note, the customer service team has always been helpful and kind in my experience. That goes a long way when you're stuck on a problem! Cons Would love to see more forward-thinking design. It is hard to find where you're scheduled to serve in the Church Center app/website. That design could be more effective, as well, having a calendar showing or something. I'd like to see my confirmed dates more prominently displayed. Review Source R Reviewer Associate Pastor of Worship Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "This is the worship planning software you are looking for." March 2, 2026 5.0 I have been a faithful customer since 2011. Several companies have tried to duplicate what Planning Center does, and no one can come close in my opinion. Design is top notch, customer service is responsive, and the features are so very helpful to me. This software is the lifeblood behind the administrative tasks in the ministry I oversee. Pros Planning Center is the most robust, powerful, intuitive, and helpful way to plan worship services, organize team members, and communicate across ministries in our church. I love how the team is always innovating and listening to customers! Cons There is honestly not much to dislike! Of course, we all wish everything was cheaper. There may be a few UI things that could improve on their apps, but for the most part, this is some of the best software I engage with daily. Review Source R Reviewer Pastor Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Church-wide rollout is a success...mostly." February 12, 2026 4.0 On the whole, this is still a good product that allows for a lot of leadership and administrative tasks. We've found usage for lots of tasks. Pros Since my original review, we've rolled out Planning Center church-wide (previously, we'd only used it for leadership tasks). Overall, this has been good and helpful for our congregation; we can communicate easily with the whole church, online giving, event planning, and other activities are beneficial. The program is intuitive - to a point. Some of the back-end work takes some effort to figure out, but there are good resources available to help learn the product. Cons The biggest drawback we've found is the directory. Every person must opt-in to have their information public, and there is no option to change that. This has proven to be difficult - we've gotten a lot of people to adopt this, but it's not always been easy. And, for some users it's proven too technically difficult. There are a few glitches that we've noticed among users, depending on which OS they use. So church-wide rollout wasn't quite as smooth as I would have liked. Review Source Matt B. Interim Worship Leader Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "The Obvious Choice for Sunday Morning Team Planning" January 6, 2026 5.0 There's a reason Planning Center Services is so ubiquitous in the church world. It's extremely effective in helping to organize your teams and help them prepare each week. They've continued to add more features over the years, and it's only gotten better with each new release. Pros It's extremely effective in scheduling volunteers for Sunday mornings and for equipping them with the resources they need to prepare the week before. Cons While it's a very capable and powerful platform, this can also be a little overwhelming for a first time user in regards to choice fatigue. Review Source R Reviewer Administrative Assist. and Database Admin Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "rating of PC" January 13, 2025 3.0 overall it has been good. No major issues Pros the wireless printing of the name tags/mobile check in Cons probably tech support. hard to get answer rt away Review Source R Reviewer Pastor Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Excellent Church Software" September 30, 2025 5.0 A wonderful cloud-based software that accurately keeps all records of our church membership. Our staff love it and use it regularly at church or on the go! Pros Planning Center is a great resource for our church. It is easy to use, has many great features, and is cloud based meaning it can be used anywhere. The apps that accompany it are just as intuitive and user friendly! Cons Planning Center sometimes doesn’t recognize a name or email and will create a new profile. We’ve had several duplicates - some are easy fixes and others are more complicated if they are using the giving feature. Review Source R Reviewer Pastor Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "The Best All In One Church Software " June 20, 2025 5.0 We love it and use it for our service planning, church database, forms, giving, app, communication, sign-ups, and registrations. Pros The user interfaces for all of their apps are intuitive, and it makes managing and communicating with our members quick and easy. Cons There are certain tasks in the services app that feel a little redundant, but fortunately, they have videos that walk you through them. Review Source Hannah M. Creative arts coordinator Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "The one-stop shop for church data management" May 19, 2025 4.0 I am very glad they decided to expand beyond programming management. The interface is very user-friendly (unlike almost any other data management for churches). It integrates with messaging apps and giving platforms as well Pros I appreciate the wholistic nature of planning center’s capabilities. It is a church data management software that does it all Cons There are times when it feels like it’s doing too much, like it can’t keep up with the demands of certain capabilities. Through the many functions, programs and people are my most used, but I have access to all of its functions. Calendar is helpful but can get very jumbled when dealing with a large church and all of the events we have Review Source R Reviewer Communications Director Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "A GREAT resource for small-medium sizes Churches" August 5, 2025 5.0 Overall it’s a helpful tool for our church with a lot of great features. It’s much more user friendly than other software’s we’ve tried. The database includes more profiles than we would like. Pros I like how many features it has to be fully customizable for your church’s needs. Every staff members can find it helpful in their area of ministry. Cons It is difficult to keep the people database under control due to the automatic creation of profiles anytime anyone downloads the app, fills out a form, registers for an event, etc. Review Source R Reviewer Guest Experience Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "The switch was worth it" July 23, 2025 5.0 Their online university has helped our whole team stay informed and well educated about the capabilities and usefulness of these tools Pros We switched to Planning Center from a similar product because of the intuitive ease of use and the availability of constant support. We appreciate the value to help our church manage everything well. Cons There is one tiny feature that I can't edit (all forms require an email address) and that is the only, admittedly very tiny, thing. Other than that our experience is stellar. Review Source TS Travis S. Communications Director Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "All in One Place and it Works" June 16, 2025 4.0 Overall, I love working with the system, and anytime I have questions, I receive relevant and clear answers very quickly. Pros I like that we can have all event registrations, giving, and people database management in the same place. Cons For what I do, learning the best way to pull reports (Lists) was a little tricky. To overcome this and other challenges when we made the full transition to PCO, we worked with a paid professional team to transfer and set us up. Review Source CN Crystal N. Children’s Director Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Planning Center is best Church Management Software" March 12, 2025 5.0 Has been extremely helpful in streamlining our systems and helped us become more efficient. Pros Ability to integrate several modules together. Cons The services module is not very kids ministry friendly. Review Source R Reviewer Ministry and Marketing Coordinator Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "Exactly what we needed to take our organization to the next level" February 17, 2020 5.0 Planning Center has been a dream for our church. Before we made the move we had a different system for everything and none of them talked to each other in any way. We were scheduling 200+ volunteers 8 weeks out in an Excel spreadsheet. Our previous database software did almost nothing useful and we avoided even using it. Now with Planning Center we're more organized, automated, and streamlined than ever. I know we're not yet using it to it's full potential, there's so much more we can do still and we're excited to see how Planning Center will continue to change, grow, and get better. Pros Planning Center apps more than make up for their cost by the time, headache, and agony they save us. They are well designed and regularly adding new features. Planning Center listens to user feedback and is very friendly. They want to see churches empowered and so they listen to users for direction as they're implementing new features. Their help docs are great. The apps themselves are powerful. They may not always do what you want in the way you want it, but there's always a way to get it done. The integrations – Lists, Automations, Workflows, Forms – transform People from a database app into a powerhouse of tracking and automation. Cons Some more complicated tasks are not alway simple for PC novices to figure out; they do require some problem solving and hoop-jumping at times but it's still better than going without. Better training docs for getting users or volunteers up to speed for the first time are currently missing. I find myself having to create these based on existing help docs and my own material. Review Source DA Dave A. Business Administrator Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "PCO as full ChMS" August 2, 2021 4.0 We have been very pleased with a fully-integrated solution that is continually improving with a great support team at a price that saves us money! Pros When making the switch to PCO as our full ChMS I was concerned at first because there is no dedicated implementation process. However, I was amazed by how smoothly the implementation went. It is extremely intuitive and the support team is amazing. The online help is very useful, the support team responds quickly (I think their target is within 2 hours), and the Slack channel helps glean ideas from other users. We saved about $3,000 per year compared to our previous solution and have a better product. Cons PCO is not perfect. There is not a perfect solution. I don't think we've found any issues that we can't work around so far and I've really been impressed by the development team and the rolling out of improved features. Review Source JA Jonathan A. Tech Director Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "The best option for church database management" October 17, 2022 5.0 Since we switched to entirely managing our church database through Planning Center, we have much better buy in for online sign ups and registrations and all our data is linked and much more accurate and up to date. Young and old learn how to use it quickly. Pros Professionally developed platform with advanced features that are also well thought out and user friendly for both back end and front end users. They are regularly adding features and developing their host of apps. Cons Some of their products are more basic, but they focus on where it counts. Review Source BA Billy A. Associate Pastor Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "Always a good go to for church management!" July 25, 2025 5.0 Pros Planning Center is a great church management software tool that is very user friendly, great for varying size congregations, and offers wonderful customer support. Cons Planning Center can at times be limited in its functionality but on the good side has ways of working around to accomplish what you need (or at least think you need). Review Source R Reviewer Communications Director Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "The only option for scheduling Worship Services" January 28, 2025 4.0 Having used Planning Center extensively as a volunteer and an administrator, I am very impressed with it. I wouldn't consider using any other software. Pros The extent of features when it comes to organizing and scheduling teams is fantastic. I find it very helpful that Planning Center tells me how long it has been since a particular volunteer has been scheduled, regardless of what role they were serving. Additionally, the level of functionality on the side of the volunteer is great. They can add blackout dates and respond to serving requests directly within an email. Cons At times, the menus can be a little clunky, and I find myself having to hunt for specific features. Planning Center's help section is fairly comprehensive though, so this usually fixes the issue for me. Review Source AC Andrew C. Minister of Recreation Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Great product that we use for lots!" January 31, 2025 5.0 Pros It is very easy to use and functional for all of the needs we have. Cons There really isn't anything that I like the least about it. Review Source R Reviewer Director of Media Ministries Used the software for: Less than 1 year ### "Great tool, but expensive" February 4, 2025 4.0 I think planning center is an excellent tool for church's like ours that need better communication, but the price just makes me wonder if we should continue paying for it. Pros It makes communicating with my volunteers so much easier. Cons The price is too much for what it offers in my opinion. Review Source R Reviewer Worship leader Used the software for: 1-3 years ### "Very useful for all Departments!" June 8, 2023 5.0 Pros The design, the backend ease of accessibility, the layout. The ease of use for both users and administrators, the amount of features that could be used each week, and also the ability to store files and songs into it. Cons It was a bit pricey, and also the financial organizing side wasn't ideal. When it came to service flow layout, it seemed a bit awkward looking, like the agenda needed to be updated to streamline and match the rest of the platform. Review Source R Reviewer Lead Pastor Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Our Virtual Assistant" July 22, 2019 5.0 Our team has come to a place of embracing this product and using it well for planning worship events. Early on, it was a bit of a learning curve. Having been use to software having phone support with programs. Over all, this product has become a virtual part of our team. We like the ability to update it on the fly, even in the middle of an event. We have also used the "groups" portion of the app, but not a lot. Our next adventure with this product is to be implementing the "check-in" portion of the app. The PlanningCenter portion is great for setting up teams to serve and for bringing our sheet music library into the 'plan.' Pros This app/program has become a great aid in planning worship services and events for our Sunday Services and other events. It helps us get all of our information into one spot. Secondly, in planning our worship services and other events, it has become a template that leads us to our 'finished product,' a well planned and detailed event. Cons All support is done through tutorials and through email contacts. There is no phone support, at least that I have found. Review Source R Reviewer Church Administrator Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "Planning Center - Great Value, Product and Service!" May 26, 2022 5.0 Planning Center makes life in a busy church manageable! It gives me the confidence that things aren't getting overlooked and that our members can have an enjoyable experience every time the doors are open! If I were asked to cut the budget, this would be one product I'd fight for. Pros Planning Center is your one-stop shop for all things related to managing a growing and thriving church! I don't even want to begin thinking about how we would manage membership, service planning, small groups, communications, and everything else that goes into running a church without this software. It is definitely worth every penny! Cons There isn't really anything I don't like about Planning Center. If I had to choose one pain point it would be that there are so many features within each module that its difficult to understand all the ways they interacts. I'm constantly learning new things and how this product can make our job easier in many ways! Review Source R Reviewer Executive Director Used the software for: 3-5 years ### "A great and versatile solution for churches and non-profits" January 31, 2023 5.0 People management, scheduling, donation management all became greatly simplified through Planning Center. This is a solid all-around product. Pros One of the best features of Planning Center is the ala carte ease of use. Choose the products and the level you need and that's all you pay for. Great functionality, data management, and giving options are included and ready for use with minimal set up. Cons There are some 'Planning Center' focused features that are difficult to personalize; web-based giving pages and the app, that could allow for more organizational personalization. However, the value for the money is overall present. Review Source Similar Products Featured ## Send me user reviews about this product ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox.