ChurchTrac review: is it worth it in 2026?
By Sankalp Jonna · Last reviewed April 2026
ChurchTrac
Quietly capable, low-cost ChMS with built-in accounting that punches well above its price.
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ChurchTrac is the sleeper pick of small-church software. It's been around since 1999, run by a small team in Saint Cloud, Florida, and almost nobody outside its customer base talks about it. That's a marketing problem, not a product problem. ChurchTrac is the only sub-$30/month tool we know of that bundles real fund accounting alongside a working ChMS and integrated giving. Breeze can't do that. Planning Center can't do that. Realm can do it, at five times the price.
The trade-off is honest: ChurchTrac looks and feels like the work of a small team, because it is. The UI is utilitarian. The mobile app is functional but limited. The integration ecosystem is shallow. If you can trade design polish for capability and money saved, ChurchTrac is one of the best values in the entire category. If polish is non-negotiable, Breeze costs more and feels nicer.
What it is
ChurchTrac is a cloud and desktop ChMS founded in 1999 by ChurchTrac Software, a small owner-operator company. The product covers an unusually broad surface for the price: a member database with custom fields, contribution tracking with year-end statements, real fund accounting (not just contribution reports), event registration, mass email and SMS, kids check-in with label printing, attendance tracking, and basic small-group management.
The defining feature is the accounting module. ChurchTrac Accounting is a proper fund-based general ledger with AP, AR, budgets, and reconciliation. For a 200-person church without a full-time bookkeeper, the ability to handle giving, contributions, and the GL in one product — without exporting to QuickBooks — is genuinely rare at this price.
Integrated giving is available through Stripe at roughly 2.5% + $0.30 on cards and 0.5-1% on ACH. Rates are competitive, and the integration is tight enough that contributions land directly in the accounting module without manual journal entries.
What ChurchTrac does not do: a website builder, live streaming, custom-branded apps, or worship-grade volunteer scheduling. The mobile app exists but is limited; most use is browser-based. The integration ecosystem is shallow — if you live in Zapier or expect deep webhook coverage, you'll feel constrained.
Who it’s for
ChurchTrac is for churches under 500 people on a tight budget who need real accounting alongside the database and don't want to run two systems. The classic buyer is a 100-300-person church with a part-time bookkeeper, a senior pastor wearing too many hats, and a finance team that's been told to consolidate vendors. Denominationally agnostic; we see it across Baptist, non-denominational, Pentecostal, and small Methodist churches.
It's not the right pick if your staff is younger and used to polished SaaS — the UI will feel dated. It's not the right pick if you have a real worship rotation that needs Planning Center Services. And it's not the right pick if you want a brand-name vendor with a large peer community for Sunday-morning Slack help — ChurchTrac's small footprint means tutorials and consultants are thinner on the ground than for category leaders.
Key features
Genuinely free, indefinitely, with most core features included — ChMS, accounting, and giving. Not a 14-day trial. Small churches can run on the free tier for years.
Proper general-ledger software with funds, AP, AR, budgets, and reconciliation built into the same product as the database. Almost unique at this price point — Realm is the closest comparable, at meaningfully higher cost.
Online giving at roughly 2.5% + $0.30 on cards and 0.5-1% on ACH. Contributions land directly in the accounting module without manual journal entries.
Label-printing check-in with security codes, suitable for Sunday-morning use up to a few hundred kids. Less polished than Planning Center Check-Ins but functional.
Around $9/month for up to 300 people, $24/month for up to 1,000. The full feature set is available on every paid tier — you're paying for record capacity, not feature gating.
Email support is responsive and not gated behind tiered ticket queues. The team is small enough that you often get answers from someone who actually built the feature you're asking about.
Exports are clean and lock-in is minimal. You can leave on a month's notice with your data intact — uncommon at any price point in this category.
Pros & cons
- Pricing is unbeatable for what you get — full ChMS plus fund accounting for under $25/month at most church sizes.
- Genuine built-in fund accounting at the small-church price point is essentially unique to ChurchTrac.
- Free plan is real and not a 14-day trial; small congregations can run it indefinitely.
- Owner-operator company with real responsiveness on email support, not a tiered ticket queue.
- Data is exportable and ownership is clear — no lock-in beyond your monthly subscription.
- UI is utilitarian; it works, but it doesn't have the polish of Breeze or Planning Center.
- Mobile experience is web-based primarily; the dedicated mobile app is functional but limited.
- Volunteer scheduling is basic and won't satisfy a church with a serious worship rotation.
- Brand recognition is low, so peer learning and tutorials are thinner than for category leaders.
- Integration ecosystem is shallow; if you live in Zapier, you'll feel constrained.
Pricing
ChurchTrac's pricing is one of the cleanest in the category. The free plan supports up to 100 people with the full feature set including accounting and giving — not a trial, no time limit. The Plus plan is roughly $9/month for up to 300 people, $24/month for up to 1,000, and scales up from there. Every paid tier includes the same features; you're paying for record capacity, not for module access.
Integrated giving is processed through Stripe at roughly 2.5% + $0.30 on cards and 0.5-1% on ACH, which is competitive. There are no hidden contracts, no annual lock-ins, and no implementation fees — you sign up, import your data, and you're running. For a category where 'request a quote' is the norm, ChurchTrac's pricing transparency is itself a differentiator.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/month | Up to 100 people, full ChMS, accounting, and giving — no time limit. |
| Plus (300) | $9/month | Up to 300 people for around $9/mo; texting and extra storage included. |
| Plus (1000) | $24/month | Up to 1,000 people for around $24/mo; same feature set, just a higher cap. |
Transaction fees: Around 2.5% + $0.30 (credit) / 0.5-1% (ACH) on integrated giving
Alternatives
Flat-fee, simple ChMS that wins on pricing transparency for small and mid-size churches.
The modular industry standard for service planning, volunteer scheduling, and people management.
Mature, accounting-grade ChMS from a legacy vendor, strongest for churches that need real general ledger.
Verdict
We'd recommend ChurchTrac for churches under 500 people that genuinely need fund accounting alongside the database and don't have the budget for Realm. The price-to-capability ratio is the best in the category — for less than $25/month at most sizes, you get a working ChMS, real GL accounting, integrated giving, and check-in. For a small church with a part-time bookkeeper, this is the kind of tool that pays for itself in time saved and software lines consolidated.
Skip ChurchTrac if UI polish is non-negotiable, if you have a power user accustomed to Planning Center's depth, or if your worship rotation demands chord charts and rehearsal mp3s. The product is honest about what it is — a capable, low-cost, small-team-built tool — and the people for whom that trade-off works will be very happy. Everyone else should look at Breeze (cleaner UX, no accounting) or Planning Center (deeper modules, no accounting either) and pair it with QuickBooks for the GL.