# Page 4 | Planning Center Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Page 4 - Is Planning Center the right Donation Management solution for you? Explore 1137 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/76708/Planning-Center/reviews --- Planning Center 4.7 (1137) 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 March 13th, 2026 # Page 4 - Reviews of Planning Center ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 76-100 of 1137 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Chris S. Student Minister Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The standard for church management software" February 15, 2021 5.0 Having used almost every Planning Center product, there is nothing else that I would recommend. Our entire team uses it weekly for worship, planning, check-ins, de-briefing through reports, congregant database, volunteer team emails, and so much more. Planning Center does a fantastic job and only keeps improving. Pros The ease of use is its best feature. Ease in adding people, features, reports, etc. is unmatched in the industry. Also, Planning Center has a modern look and feel that many of its competitors lack. The worship software with the SongSelect integration, planning tools, database, key management, ability to add various media, etc. it is a must-have product for any church that values communication, strategic planning, and excellence. Every Planning Center Product that I have and continue to use remains the standard for church management software. Cons Running reports in "People" is cumbersome and time-consuming to get to the exact information you are looking for. It takes a thorough amount of trial and error to extrapolate the intended data by getting the variables just right. Alternatives considered [Rock RMS](https://www.capterra.com/p/141654/Rock-RMS/) Reason for choosing Planning Center The wide-span options of use in Planning Center made it a clear winner. The overall look, feel, and functionality was an added bonus. Switched from [Servant Keeper](https://www.capterra.com/p/276838/Servant-Keeper/) The ease of use and enhanced options of Planning Center made it a no brainer. The modern look, feel, and functionality was a welcome change, as well. Review Source Response from Planning Center March 5, 2021 Hey Chris, thanks for the review! If you're willing, we'd love to see if we can help make pulling reports simpler for you. Shoot some details to support@planningcenteronline.com and we'll take a look! CM Candice M. Volunteer Religious Institutions Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Check it out! It's worth the try!" December 12, 2022 4.0 Overall my experience has been very positive, as I continue to use Planning Center and get more familiar with the features - I like it even more. Pros The ease in scheduling volunteers and sending reminders through Planning Center. Additionally, the email notifications for volunteers and ease for them sending accept/deny instantly keeps things on track. Cons The difficulty using the mobile app has proven challenging. Not being able to sign in and schedule volunteers, and not being able to accept/decline a service time when scheduled through the mobile app can be very frustrating. I don't always have time to pull out a laptop to manage my scheduling. Many times, I have to schedule for my church activities while at sporting activities for my 3 children. Review Source Response from Planning Center December 20, 2022 Hi Candice! Thank you for your kind words. It sounds like you are not able to log in. We can help you with that! Send an email to support@planningcenter.com and let us know you are having login issues. Our Support Team will help smooth this process out for you. We look forward to hearing from you! JMC John Marc C. Assistant Pastor Religious Institutions Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Planning Center for Churches" February 13, 2023 5.0 Overall, we enjoy using Planning Center and the apps work extremely well. Everything is customizable and extremely flexible with any kind of organizational system that you may have. They have a great Slack community as well where you can ask for help with any questions you may have. Pros We really enjoy using Planning Center. It is easy to use, fast, and very intuitive. The different apps help to keep the data separate and they work together really well. We use like how the apps are quick and easy to find the information that we need. Cons The only downside that I find is the cost. I feel that it is slightly overpriced. Everything works great but they charge you for for each app separately. In some ways it could keep costs down but it would be nice if there was an option to save when you are using every app they offer. They also charge to track donations which many companies do not. Alternatives considered [ChurchStaq](https://www.capterra.com/p/211982/ChuchStaq/) Reason for choosing Planning Center The ease of use and ease of teaching our volunteers and staff to use it was a huge selling point. Also, the lack of a contract played into our decision. Switched from [Tithely Church Management](https://www.capterra.com/p/132513/Breeze-ChMS/) The ease of use was a huge selling point for us. Breeze is slow compared to Planning Center and lacks some of the functionality that Planning Center has. Review Source Response from Planning Center February 14, 2023 Hey there, John Marc! We're glad to hear that you're enjoying our products and that our Slack Community has been helpful to you and your team. If you have any questions or other comments you'd like to pass along, you can always email us at support@planningcenter.com. We're glad to hear from our customers! Thanks again for the great review! SH Stephanie H. Church and Service Coordinator Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Above and Beyond for Church Management Software" October 12, 2019 5.0 Planning Center is a product that I don't just appreciate for its function in my life - it's a product I truly love. My experience is so positive when I interact with Planning Center, due to this. The software is ridiculously affordable, and adjust based off of your church size and use. This makes it such a blessing to small churches such as ours. Planning Center is also ever-growing, with new features and functions popping up rather frequently. I look forward to continued use of this product, because I know they will continue to grow and develop as a product as it remains highly useful and affordable. Pros Using Planning Center is like having the church volunteer who can do it all. The options in all its planning categories is so robust, our small team is easily able to keep track of volunteers, kids, donations, visitors, and more. We especially love the scheduling and volunteers - the categories are easy for the staff to set up, and easy for the volunteers to understand. The opt-in for volunteers to confirm or decline a role is so easy, the volunteer does not even have to be signed in. This feature makes it so very easy to schedule the workload from week to week, and make sure each member of the team has the help it needs! Cons I feel that their "groups" function is a little lacking - there's some basic features for setting up groups and protecting host information (such as home address), but I've seen other church group software that provides much more in terms of communication, tracking, etc. Thankfully, Planning Center intends to expand upon this feature, and I trust that they will eventually. Alternatives considered [Google Docs](https://www.capterra.com/p/160756/Google-Docs/)[Pushpay](https://www.capterra.com/p/142580/Pushpay/)[Google Sheets](https://www.capterra.com/p/169718/Google-Sheets/) Reason for choosing Planning Center Planning Center was, ultimately, so robust and effective, for such an affordable price. We were able to accomplish so many goals in one place, without having multiple apps. It's a small detail, but we were very much swayed by the function at the time of using barcodes for children's check-in; Planning Center really knew what they were doing when they developed it, and it was a highly attractive feature that helped us see Planning Center as an exciting choice for all of our other needs. Review Source LD Lynda D. copyeditor Publishing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The Gold Standard for Church Service and Event Planning" October 17, 2023 5.0 Overall, I love PCO and all it can do. We have never even looked at another program for our needs, despite other companies trying to tell us they're "just as good as" for our church. Pros The ease of use, the actual helpfulness of the help areas, and the flexibility are my favorite things about Planning Center. There's no sharp learning curve. Cons The only feature I can think of that drives me crazy is that once a SongSelect chart imports itself (even if the user didn't mean to), it's almost impossible to delete. We prefer PraiseCharts, but the SongSelect charts are there to stay, no matter how we try to delete them. Review Source Response from Planning Center October 17, 2023 Thanks for your kind words! You mentioned having a bit of trouble with SongSelect and deleting the imports. Our Support Team is a great resource for help in that area. Hit the '?' icon in the upper-right of the screen. Send us a message and our team will jump in to see what is possible. Thank you! Simon M. Creative Head Media Production Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "The best way to keep everyone on the same page" May 31, 2022 5.0 Before we started using Planning Center, all our communication was handled by a one-woman team. Though she was efficient, it was getting difficult to keep up with growing numbers and departments. We were introduced to Planning Center around the time the pandemic hit and it was a godsend. We still have only a couple of people administrating the software side of things, but it has been easier to pool in volunteers; integrated communication has made it easier to create dialogue amongst groups. Coming a traditional use case where we relied on different technologies and disconnected platforms, Planning Center has really helped save a lot of time and effort. Pros Planning Center came with an easy learning curve. It was just like the other plethora of software products we had used in the past, but all available in one neat, customizable package. We use it to create worship set lists, integrated with ProPresenter, this makes worship planning a breeze. Everyone on the team is well aware of who is and isn't on for a particular week. Communication between teams is also easier. The chances of someone not being in the loop is completely removed. Over time, we have seen that the entire process of managing a growing organization is only getting easier; the scalability of Planning Center is well thought out. Cons We do not have features that are missing. But if this changes in the future, we will make an update to this review. Review Source KM Kevin M. Worship Pastor Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "I couldn't imagine church service planning without PCO!" July 21, 2017 5.0 It revolutionized my planning and communication process. It made it so much easier to see who is serving when and to know whether or not they've been sent certain communication pieces and resources. It also makes it simple to collaborate with others on the planning process. Pros I've been in church music ministry for over 14 years now. I've tried and evaluated several pieces of software over the years. I always came away with the sense that software packages certainly worked for someone, but I would have to change several things to fit into most of them. That was until I found Planning Center. During my first contact with the product, I was thinking, "Who has been spying on me and conspiring to make my work simpler?" Planning Center is designed for church event & volunteer management by people who operate in that realm. They understand the challenges and needs of people serving in churches, and their software makes it incredibly easy to keep people in the loop and keep spots filled. Their customer support is second-to-none. In their early days, they had some issues with their hosting company. They live-tweeted as someone drove to the server farm, pulled their servers, and drove to a new hosting company that offered guaranteed up-time. We all understand that stuff happens. They won a lot of loyalty as their customers saw them doing everything humanly possible to make their product reliable. Cons One feature I'm hoping for soon is the ability to incorporate calendar invitations into people's serving schedule. As it stands now, you can subscribe to a calendar of your PCO activity, but it's a separate calendar. Not everyone will do that. As a result, I've been inviting people to Google Calendar events based on who is serving when, just to try to make sure it gets on people's schedules. It would be nice for that functionality to be integrated into PCO instead of doing it separately. When someone accepts an invitation to serve, they get a calendar invitation sent to the email address they indicated was their primary calendar. Other than that, I really have no complaints. Review Source SL Sean L. Associate Pastor Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Church management software that scales with your organization" September 29, 2019 5.0 The overall experience with PCO is a good one. It is robust and continually has new, helpful features being added. It is a fantastic tool for tracking and managing people resources, donations, volunteers, and communication. I would highly recommend PCO for any church looking for a full featured ChMs without an oversized price tag. Pros Planning Center Online (PCO) is a scalable church or organizational software that adapts with your needs and provides great features that meet nearly all of the organizational needs. PCO offers event organization, people management, resource management, a donation platform, volunteer scheduling, and groups management. All this along with a solid communication platform and several third party integrations make PCO a powerful tool for any church or organization. Cons There are some features lacking such as built-in texting capabilities or whole-organization integration such as web site and app. The PCO app is not branded and lacks in features but most parts of PCO will integrate into other website platforms such as Wix. Alternatives considered [MediaShout](https://www.capterra.com/p/140318/MediaShout/) Reason for choosing Planning Center Lots of great features without feeling or looking like 'bloatware'. Easy to use and easy to figure out more complicated tasks through their intuitive help pages. Switched from [ChurchStaq](https://www.capterra.com/p/211982/ChuchStaq/) Difficult to use, complicated features and rules for communication, did not have great integrations at the time. Required much more than general web or computer experience to use effectively for the average pastoral or administrative team. Review Source Chad W. Creative Arts Director Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Indispensable software, far outshines the competition" May 13, 2019 5.0 Planning Center is an absolute must for any church or non-profit. They have everything you need, and they help you organize even better than you thought you could. There's literally no reason not to use it! Pros Planning Center has a suite of software that integrates so seamlessly and offers so much to help the teams. The team who plans and develops Planning Center has a deep understanding of the unique environment that churches are in, and their software constantly delivers modern tools to navigate it. I use Services the most, and it does everything you could ask it to. The newly redesigned interface is beautiful, intuitive, and fast. The power user features make editing and managing songs and people easy. The android and iOS apps are top notch as well. You can do most of what you would need to on mobile, and the apps report any updates instantly. Oh yeah, pricing is incredibly affordable and there's a free version to boot. Once, the gracious support team even helped me add more members than my plan allowed. Cons In services, I wish the apps allowed you to edit more song details, such as adding new keys and changing song sequences. Other than that, there are no cons. Review Source Response from Planning Center May 24, 2019 Hi Chad! Thank you for your kind words and honest review! For the Song details, let us know what you'd like to see in the mobile app. We have plans for what we want to add, but your feedback would be valuable, for sure. Contact us through the helpdesk in the mobile or web apps and we can start the conversation, there! - Clay Christian K. Programmer Analyst Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great Church Organization Software" March 28, 2022 5.0 I’ve used Planning Center for years at my church. I’ve had a few roles while using it including being an editor for the worship team, managing the schedule for a specific volunteer team, and now just a volunteer for a couple different volunteer positions. Pros Planning Center makes it easy to see your requests for specific volunteer positions and accept or decline based on your availability. It also makes it easy to have everyone on the same page as far as order of service. Cons I feel like the availability for yourself could be reworked to make it easier for those scheduling volunteers so there would be less declining happening. Review Source Response from Planning Center July 14, 2022 Hi Christian, Thanks for your kind words! You mentioned things needing to be reworked from the scheduling side of things due to declines. Our Support Team is a great resource for help and we can certainly take a look. Hit the '?' icon in the upper-right of the screen when you are looking at your List. Send us a message and our team will jump in to help! Thanks! VR Verified Reviewer Contemporary Worship Leader Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Extremey frustrated with the new layout. Not logical. " September 22, 2021 3.0 Previously awesome, now frustrating. Pros Access to plan, songs and sheet music/chart access. Cons I used to absolutely LOVE Planning Center. But the new design is just awful and frustrates me greatly. It is not laid out logically. Common things that need to be done quickly and used to be easy to find, I now have to dig for and if I every find them, where they are makes no sense. What used to be easy to access is now cumbersome and it takes at me least twice as long to plan services. Scheduling teams is too difficult and confusing. Reason for choosing Planning Center CCB is not as user friendly or have certain features that Planning Center does. Or at least the old Planning Center design was user friendly anyway. Review Source DA Daniel A. Siempre pastor Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The best for Hispanic Church" October 12, 2023 3.0 I love using it and found it easy for a new church planter like myself. As I travel through the us planting other prophetic and apostolic churches I will use this in the future Pros I like that I can customize things into Spanish Cons The cost. It was expensive for a new church plant that had no funding Reason for choosing Planning Center It seemed more of a trusted brand Review Source Response from Planning Center October 17, 2023 Thanks for your kind words! You mentioned funding and being a new church plant. Our Support Team is a great resource and we may have a program that is available for your church plant. Hit the '?' icon in the upper-right of the screen. We look forward to hearing from you! KB Kayla B. Etsy Shop Owner Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Makes scheduling volunteers easy" June 27, 2021 5.0 Overall, I have enjoyed my experience with Planning Center. It has made scheduling volunteers very easy and I would recommend any church to use it. Pros I used this software as a volunteer coordinator and it was very simple to learn. The software can auto generate new or rotating service weeks to make long term scheduling easier. It also clearly shows who has accepted, declined, or has not responded to their service request. Cons There are no cons that pertain to the particular part of the software that I use. Review Source Response from Planning Center June 28, 2021 Hi Kayla! We're delighted to hear that you've been enjoying your use of Services. Our aim is always to make sure your experience is as good as it can be. Should you encounter any areas of friction or if you have any feature requests you'd like to see us add to the platform, please us know using support@planning.center. Have a great day! RD Rick D. Facility Manager Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Planning Center Makes Scheduling Easy and Transparent" May 6, 2021 5.0 Planning Center is a great piece of software, with a lot of very powerful features for a church. It has made planning so much easier as a facility manager of my church. Also, being able to access the member's information is vital, and so much easier. As a congregation member who volunteers as a reader, usher, and worship assistant, being able to see my worship schedule and all the information I need is a great plus. I am very satisfied with Planning Center Pros I mainly use it to schedule rooms and events at our two campuses. Our church also has a Preschool through Jr. High, and I need to know who is using what room, and when, in order to schedule facility work, or to schedule groups who use our property for various functions. This can be complicated with the schools using the property, as well as church events, and outside groups. I can easily look on the calendar to see the schedule of events at our properties, which rooms they are using, which group, and for how long. I can easily schedule room usage, and if there is a conflict, the software shows you. Other users can also let you know of a conflict if they are planning something which would use the same room or area. We can also build our database by creating events that attendees need to sign in for. We can collect basic information, or more detailed information. For our VBS, we can keep track of kids, and their parents, so we can make triple sure that the children are being picked up by their parents, and no one else. The sign in process of attendees can be done on a mobile device as well. Control of the database of your church and school members is an absolute plus. Being able to access their information, keep their info updated, place them in groups, and send out focused email blasts is a major function which makes life so much easier for a church admin. Cons The integration training we received was excellent, but there is so much to learn, that you have to learn as you go, like any software or system. I would simply say that there is so much that this software can do, it all takes a lot of steps, and learning these steps takes a great deal of time and effort. Review Source BF Ben F. Creative and Communications Director Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "One-Stop-Shop for Church Management" December 15, 2023 5.0 Our church has used a few different church management tools, and I feel none (at least at the time we had them) have been as comprehensive or easy to use as Planning Center. It is a powerful tool that helps us manage everything we do at our church. Pros I love how everything works together, and how all the modules are connected by the people module. I also love the "Church Center" Hub, with everything in one place. Cons It's not cheap, but I think you definitely get what you pay for. Switched from [Tithely Church Management](https://www.capterra.com/p/132513/Breeze-ChMS/) Breeze was extremely affordable, and was good for what it was intended for, but it was designed for churches of 600 people or fewer, and we have over 11,000 people in our database, so we ran into a lot of issues that we simply do not have with Planning Center. Review Source LB Laura B. Connections Director Religious Institutions Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Planning Center-Connecting, planning, and streamlining my workday" March 3, 2021 5.0 My overall experience with Planning Center has been extremely positive, making the pesky harder parts easier to overlook. I use it daily and I am still finding new ways to help streamline my workday and make sure guests get the best connections. Pros Planning Center has been extremely easy to use. I came into it with no formal training, so I relied heavily upon Planning Center University videos, ticket inquiries, and learning from colleagues. The fact that I can say I am extremely comfortable with Planning Center and considering one of the Administrators, is a testament to how easy it is to use. I've only been using it for 6 months! The entire collection of Planning Center (services, people, etc.) are integrated seamlessly. This seamlessness provides a platform I can use to connect guests to other departments and look up information at the drop of a hat. When I am on the phone with a client, I need to be able to gather information, input information, and send it off in a workflow; Planning Center enables be to do just that. Groups that meet can use Groups to manage their guests (check-ins, registration) and the bonus is that if I am not in that particular area, I can still see a guests history! This helps in my area of connections. I want to connect people to where they haven't been involved. Also, I want to make sure no one falls through the cracks and Planning Center ease of use and seamless connectivity ensures no one does! Planning Center is the first thing I open to begin my workday. Cons During the time I have been using Planning Center, I have noticed that there are a lot of options/steps (ways to edit/implement, different areas to keep track of, etc.) the options, while great for creating something tailored to my needs, can also seem daunting and easy to lose track of. Review Source Response from Planning Center March 5, 2021 Thanks for the review, Laura! We're so grateful to be able to serve you and your congregation. If you ever need assistance with implementing systems in Planning Center, definitely send us some details at support@planningcenteronline.com. We're happy to help! HF Hillary F. Worship Arts Assistant Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great Product, Needs a Few Organizational Upgrades" November 13, 2020 5.0 Overall, my experience is great. There are plenty of options and they are really intuitive when it comes to what churches need. Each weekend I schedule several services and probably 20 volunteers. I'd be lost without this product. Our church has 2,500 attenders. We live stream our services - it takes a lot of work to pull it off. Throughout COVID I have been able to clearly communicate to my team because of PCO. They do think about everything - it's just that they need to teach us solutions they have created. Pros I think this is incredibly easy to use overall. The Scheduling software is what I use most often as I schedule teams for our weekend services. It's intuitive and there are several ways to streamline the sometimes tedious tasks of scheduling the same times every week. Additionally, this software makes it easy to keep track of how often volunteers are scheduled - which is extremely helpful because they are volunteers and I don't want them to burn out. Cons I think there could be better training on how to use all aspects of PCO effectively. I feel like we take advantage of only 80% of what PCO is capable of doing for us, and a lot of that is simply because there are no simple guidelines for the massive amount of possibilities for building plans and scheduling teams. More in depth training - that is organized and dives into the details would be extremely helpful. Whenever I have time, I test plans and templates using our employees profiles, but it's really time consuming. I'd rather just sit down and study the system - or have easy access to detailed videos on specific topics. Review Source Response from Planning Center November 18, 2020 We can help with training! Our team does a live stream every quarter with detailed training of our products. We recorded our last training and you can watch it here: http://planningcenter.com/university David C. Pastor for Creative Arts Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Setting a high bar" May 2, 2021 5.0 We use Planning Center for online giving, service planning, check-ins, and registrations for events and services. We have had great success using all these apps for managing our church. Pros Planning Center's suite of apps work together very well, and they integrate into other programs that we utilize, too. They have been flexible with so many of the COVID-related issues over the last year, with great customer service and continued support. Cons There are some features that I don't think we take full advantage of because they are buried under other useful features, or they are a little less intuitive for some users. Alternatives considered [Realm](https://www.capterra.com/p/146265/Realm/)[Pushpay](https://www.capterra.com/p/142580/Pushpay/)[ChurchStaq](https://www.capterra.com/p/211982/ChuchStaq/)[WorshipPlanning.com](https://www.capterra.com/p/252192/WorshipPlanningcom/) Reason for choosing Planning Center Planning Center's flexibility of products is more nimble than any of the alternative products, with better pricing. Switched from [Realm](https://www.capterra.com/p/146265/Realm/)[Microsoft Excel](https://www.capterra.com/p/176574/Excel/) PCO does what we need better than any combination of Microsoft products, and much better than other Church Management Systems like Realm. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Business Development Representative Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Fantastic church service management software" March 19, 2019 5.0 Being able to access my sheet music on the fly with annotations I have written in is a huge game player for playing on a worship team. I used to have a huge physical folder of sheet music, and now I have everything in this app. This app eliminates the need for paper sheet music. I also like that if a team leader changes a key in a song, the new sheet music will be available (although I wish this gave you a notification that the key changed). Pros \+ I like that I can listen to the songs through the app (YouTube player) + I love being able to make annotations on a song, and then accessing those later (provided they are in the same key) + I like that I can block out my unavailability on a calendar Cons \- For Music Stand, Annotations on sheet music in previous keys are rarely available. This makes transposing very frustrating and time consuming - Cannot access annotations on songs in different keys from the PC online version (have to use the mobile version) - Custom zoom options are very difficult to manage (if you want to zoom in on Music Stand, it is finicky) - I should be able to access songs/annotations/sheet music from prior services I have played, but as of now I cannot - It would be really nice to have a transpose feature (A key is in A but the sheet music is in G - this technology is readily available on other websites, but Planning Center does not currently have this) - I should be able to share my annotations with other members - Should get notifications in app if the leader changes the key of a song Review Source Response from Planning Center March 25, 2019 Thanks for your review! Our support team is happy to help you with getting those annotations available. Transposing is also available and we can assist with that as well at support@planning.center Thank you! CP Ceci P. Creative Director Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Necessary for worship/service planning, other features could integrate better" January 6, 2022 4.0 We actually like Planning Center a lot. It has its issues, but overall it's nice to be able to integrate every area of our church in one database. I do like that it's a sliding pricing structure and you can choose what you need and what you don't. I wish it were cheaper, but I get it. Pros The worship planning software (Services) is unmatched as far as I can tell. It pretty much contains everything we would want in a database solution, the Giving portion is fairly easy to use, Groups and Registrations both work pretty well and our congregation doesn't seem to have a lot of trouble with signups through those. Scheduling volunteers is very simple through Services. Their customer support seems to be pretty consistent and helpful. Cons 2 things: 1. The individual modules for Planning Center, though I like that you can select which ones you need and don't need, don't seem to integrate super well with each other. The fact that you need to re-import people from the database portion into the other modules can be annoying, and the navigation among them as a whole doesn't seem to be totally cohesive. 2. (My biggest pet peeve) It is ENTIRELY too easy for people to add themselves as a duplicate. We've had 5-6 profiles with the exact same email and name, and people can just create a new profile over and over again. If this could be solved, I would honestly be a lot happier with Planning Center. Alternatives considered [Elvanto](https://www.capterra.com/p/125780/Elvanto/) Reason for choosing Planning Center Planning Center is the gold standard for worship planning, so we did not want to use a different product or 2 separate products for our database solution. Review Source RP RJ P. Pastor Religious Institutions Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great Church Management Software" January 30, 2017 4.0 I love almost everything about PCO, I've used many different CMSs over the last few years, and PCO has been the best. Their best apps are: The original "Services" is fantastic and the most polished. Works great not just for (all though especially for) worship team. It is also great for Children's/kids church, greeters, ushers, refreshment team, really any team! The next best is also their fantastic "check-ins" works great! they have thought through these well and made excellent improvements. Fast, reliable, intuitive, versatile, really just great. The third best and it starts to fall off pretty quickly from here, is their "People" app, it works well, they have mad significant improvements and honestly I think the reason this one does not seem to work as well as i wish it would is because of the other apps they've created... I'll try to explain. "Giving" seems to really frustrate my finance ladies. One works for several churches and she is not a fan of how things work in PCO, especially if you collect money through Text, or registrations... it seems to become very difficult to resolve on her end... i don't really know finance though, so i can't be more help there. "Registration" and "Groups" are all great efforts that seem to have too much crossover and convolution with each other but also "Check-ins". It can be hard to tell if a group should be entered into "groups" or "check-ins" or both.Such as Youth Ministry? Group or Check-in? Both take/track attendance, each in different ways with plusses and minuses each way. But good luck getting a useful report out of either them. Also if you use "Registration" to collect funds for an event, it's great for tracking that, but your finance office will hate you because it doesn't seem to report with everything else, so it adds a bunch of extra steps, i thought we were doing it wrong so they called PCO and basically got a "Sorry that's how it works." These apps all allow you to enter new people into the "People" app, and you also expect to find useful info on member activity in "People" but you really can't find much useful info on individual, just "Lists" of people. Reporting (in "People" or in the apps themselves) fails to be as useful as you need because of the overlap and convolution... want to know who didn't attend this week? No way to find out. Missed 3 times in the last 6 meetings? No way to find out. Want to see how attendance is going in each of your small groups in the church. sorry. Pros listed in my review Cons also listed in my review Review Source DON T. PASTOR Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "COMPREHENSIVE AND EASY TO USE" July 23, 2019 5.0 Overall, we are very pleased. However, they could be more responsive to our concerns about customization. Pros We like the ability to choose the modules we need and that they are all integrated. As soon as you select a new module, data from the others is available at once. Each module is versatile and somewhat customizable. Cons The developers used language that does not fit with what we are used to. That is, some of their terminologies fit better in a secular business environment instead of a church. Most of these instances are not customizable. For example, the People module has no way to designate Head of Household or to distinguish dependent children from adult children. We found a number of instances where we had to reorient our thinking to fit their use of terms. Review Source Response from Planning Center July 24, 2019 Hey Don, Thanks for taking the time to write an honest review for our software. It sounds like you have written in a time or two and that those were turned into feature requests. Please know that each and every request is seen and reviewed by our teams that make our apps. Unfortunately there are so many great ideas that we can't implement them all, at least not quickly. A lack of movement on any feature request doesn't mean that we think it's a bad idea, it just means that it hasn't made it to the top of the priority list yet. Thanks again for the review and if you have any other ideas be sure to send them our way! VR Verified Reviewer Systems and Software Manager Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "We use Planning Center for Scheduling Serve Teams" October 9, 2018 5.0 We solve the issue of people either showing up late or not showing up at all because we have the ability to fall back on what we've scheduled them for. Pros From start to finish, you can schedule your serve-team members, send them the flow of the service, remind them by email that they've signed up to serve, and go over key elements of your services through emails. I think it adds value to those who serve because they know they're part of the team when they accept requests to serve. It's nice to not feel like you're just showing up to serve, but your team leader shows appreciation through specific emails to you or the team. Cons Nothing so far. We have no negative experiences with service scheduling on Planning Center. If we weren't so rooted in other software for a people database, we'd probably use Planning Center for that too. Review Source AD Ashton D. Admin Assistant Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great All in One Church Database System!" June 14, 2022 5.0 Pros I love how we are able to use Planning Center for everything from groups to database management to planning services, etc. Also, each hub communicates with each other so information transfer across the different aspects of it. Cons I do wish that we could customize the look of the public view of the groups or events. Switched from [FellowshipOne](https://www.capterra.com/p/230779/Fellowship-One/) Planning Center was able to do much more of what we wanted to do. FellowshipOne was a pain to use and get other people to use. Review Source Response from Planning Center June 21, 2022 Hey Ashton! Thanks for your kind words. There are ways you can customize the public side of Groups and Events. When you are logged into Planning Center, hit the '?' icon in the upper-right. Use that page to open a ticket with our Support Team and we can guide you through this. We look forward to chatting with you! SW Stephanie W. Pastor of NextGen and Communications Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "If you have teams at all, Planning Center is your go to!" March 21, 2024 5.0 Excellent. I have used them for years and don't plan to stop. I regularly recommend it to others Pros Planning Center is an industry standard for worship services and team management, it is essential for our church of 400 to be able to make sure people are plugged in where they need to be. Cons It does get a bit pricey the more add ons you have. Reason for choosing Planning Center It had a better functionality than it's competition Review Source Talk to a Capterra advisor for free and get results within 15 minutes.