Comparing Pushpay®
vs. Planning Center®

Which Software Is Better For Your Church?
Pushpay is the Best Planning Center Alternative

Planning Center Online (PCO) was initially developed for volunteer management, though it now functions as church management software. But in this era of hybrid church, your leadership and congregation deserve a digital toolkit that’s intuitive, engaging, and intentionally crafted to support every dimension of your mission.

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How is Pushpay different from Planning Center?

While PCO does provide a church technology solution, their platform simply cannot match Pushpay’s complete suite of straight-forward features, customization and branding capabilities, or the supporting tools and functionality that can help take your church to the next level.

Our technology was built on the belief that mission-based organizations need great software specifically designed to advance their ministries. That vision has driven our team to develop the industry-leading technology churches depend on to manage their teams, facilitate secure giving, engage their congregations—and ensure the success of their mission.

See what Pushpay’s church management software can offer your church, compared to Planning Center services.

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Pushpay’s Robust and Customizable Giving Solutions are Proven to Increase Generosity

Pushpay and PCO both provide online giving platforms, but the differences between the two platforms are significant:

  • Only Pushpay
    gives churches the power of Everygift™, a proprietary system of features that save failed payments and drive future donations—to the tune of over $213 million in 2022 alone.
  • Pushpay
    was designed to make giving simple. Our platform inspired other companies to evolve their giving functionality, but none of them can match the original experience we created.

  • While Planning Center Online allows you to upload your church’s logo, our Giving page also incorporates your church’s colors, a custom header, and more. We want you to showcase your branding, not ours.

  • Don’t leave your Spanish-speaking congregants behind; only Pushpay Giving allows for easy toggling between English and Spanish text.

  • On average, churches that make full use of Pushpay’s Giving solution see a 12% increase in donations and a 24% boost in recurring givers. What’s more, churches using both our ChMS and Giving Solutions enjoy an average giving increase twenty-one times larger than the subscription cost.

An App Branded For Your Church

Let your church family engage with a digital app experience that highlights and celebrates everything unique about your church:

  • Only Pushpay's church app
    makes it simple to incorporate your colors, logos, and background imagery through our Content Management System and Mobile App Studio.

  • Planning Center Online doesn’t offer sermon notes, podcasts, media, push notifications, or dynamic home screens; Pushpay delivers all that and more.

  • To take advantage of PCO’s suite of software, a user must download seven different apps, causing confusion and clutter for leaders and congregants alike. Pushpay’s suite streamlines all that functionality and more in just two optimized apps.

Free Ebook:
Church Technology Buyer’s Guide

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Next Steps and Personalized Thanks

Pushpay’s giving solution isn’t just simple and intuitive—it was intentionally developed to encourage donations and help your givers along their faith journey:

  • Only Pushpay
    offers Recurring Suggestions, a feature that uses patent-pending A.I. and Machine Learning technology to gently encourage congregants toward establishing good giving practices.
  • Pushpay
    is the only church giving platform that offers custom Thank You notes, allowing you to tailor your messages of gratitude to fit your church.
  • Our platform
    allows you to choose between animations to acknowledge each gift from your congregants, as yet another (adorable!) way to say thank you—that you can’t do with PCO.

The Support You Need

Planning Center’s platform is completely self-service. Pushpay offers the onboarding and implementation assistance you need to make the most of your tech:

  • Only Pushpay’s all-in-one Customer Portal
    delivers a unified Help Center where you can search and find articles for all our products, as well as submit and track any support tickets you need assistance with.
  • Pushpay University
    , our on-demand learning platform, helps leaders overcome the current and future challenges facing their organizations, bolstered by insights from experts around the world.

Clear Pricing, No Surprises

Pushpay’s platform includes all the functionality you’ll need from day one, providing you with much more financial clarity than the modular approach of Planning Center:

  • With PCO
    , a single module of their platform may start at $14/month, but that figure can increase significantly by simply adding more users.
  • With Pushpay
    , you only need to budget once. Our multi-year agreements ensure you can continue to build your ministry without worrying that your costs will grow as your church does.

Secure In-House ACH Giving

Planning Center outsources their Automated Clearing House (ACH) processes to a third party called Stripe, a platform that can see your banking history, account balances, and more. With Pushpay, all donations are processed in-house, so your congregants’ payment information stays in one place:

  • Only Pushpay
    takes five comprehensive security steps to ensure we safeguard the trust you’ve built with your congregation.
  • All your users’ account information
    is saved automatically and securely.

  • Because Pushpay manages all donations directly, your ministry receives funds faster than it would through other providers.

  • We’re also the only provider to have Assured® Payments, which ensures that none of your donations are lost or mischarged in the rare event of a service outage.

Comprehensive App Analytics

Pushpay’s Dashboards provide best-in-market insights into your congregations’ engagement, helping you fully understand the health of your ministry:

  • Only Pushpay
    delivers a deeper look into which pieces of your content are receiving the most engagement, and when your members are most tuned in.
  • Find out
    what content is resonating with your app users through metrics tracking notifications, downloads, usage, and overall engagement score.
  • Donor Development tools
    help you identify new donors, second-time givers, new recurring givers, and other identifiable groups, giving you the necessary insights to engage and nurture your people in their giving journey.

Pushpay vs. PCO Features Comparison

  • Product Features
  • Church AppsChurch Apps
  • Custom branded Church AppCustom branded Church App
  • Container AppContainer App
  • Dynamic HomescreenDynamic Homescreen
  • Rich Push NotificationsRich Push Notifications
  • Suggested ContentSuggested Content
  • Pre-CheckPre-Check
  • Resi Streaming IntegrationResi Streaming Integration
  • Multi-Campus Targeted Push NotificationsMulti-Campus Targeted Push Notifications
  • App Content AnalyticsApp Content Analytics
  • QR Code for App DownloadQR Code for App Download
  • Fill in the blank Sermon NotesFill in the blank Sermon Notes
  • Push Notification Quick PollsPush Notification Quick Polls
  • LEAD App (including the below)LEAD App (including the below)
  • Mobile Access to Member Profiles, Serving History and Church DirectoryMobile Access to Member Profiles, Serving History and Church Directory
  • Volunteer Schedule AccessVolunteer Schedule Access
  • Worship Plan AccessWorship Plan Access
  • Workflows AccessWorkflows Access
  • GivingGiving
  • Simplified GivingSimplified Giving
  • Patented Recurring Gift SuggestionsPatented Recurring Gift Suggestions
  • Customizable Thank You Message By FundCustomizable Thank You Message By Fund
  • Giving Thank You AnimationGiving Thank You Animation
  • Donor InsightsDonor Insights
  • Spanish LanguageSpanish Language
  • In-House Payment Processing ServicesIn-House Payment Processing Services
  • Custom QR Code GeneratorCustom QR Code Generator
  • Email Thank You for Check and Cash GiftsEmail Thank You for Check and Cash Gifts
  • Offline ConversionOffline Conversion
  • Automated Weekly Giving SummariesAutomated Weekly Giving Summaries
  • Recurring Gift Migration ToolRecurring Gift Migration Tool
  • Check Scanning and Image StorageCheck Scanning and Image Storage
  • Church Management SoftwareChurch Management Software
  • Group ManagementGroup Management
  • Service PlanningService Planning
  • Event Check-InEvent Check-In
  • Child Check-InChild Check-In
  • Check-In AnnouncementsCheck-In Announcements
  • Lyric and Chord Chart EditorLyric and Chord Chart Editor
  • Serving RotationsServing Rotations
  • Automatic Scheduled ReportsAutomatic Scheduled Reports
  • Create and Share Custom ReportsCreate and Share Custom Reports
  • Pushpay
  • Church Appsno
  • Custom branded Church Appno
  • Container Appno
  • Dynamic Homescreenno
  • Rich Push Notificationsno
  • Suggested Contentno
  • Pre-Checkno
  • Resi Streaming Integrationno
  • Multi-Campus Targeted Push Notificationsno
  • App Content Analyticsno
  • QR Code for App Downloadno
  • Fill in the blank Sermon Notesno
  • Push Notification Quick Pollsno
  • LEAD App (including the below)no
  • Mobile Access to Member Profiles, Serving History and Church Directoryno
  • Volunteer Schedule Accessno
  • Worship Plan Accessno
  • Workflows Accessno
  • Givingno
  • Simplified Givingno
  • Patented Recurring Gift Suggestionsno
  • Customizable Thank You Message By Fundno
  • Giving Thank You Animationno
  • Donor Insightsno
  • Spanish Languageno
  • In-House Payment Processing Servicesno
  • Custom QR Code Generatorno
  • Email Thank You for Check and Cash Giftsno
  • Offline Conversionno
  • Automated Weekly Giving Summariesno
  • Recurring Gift Migration Toolno
  • Check Scanning and Image Storageno
  • Church Management Softwareno
  • Group Managementno
  • Service Planningno
  • Event Check-Inno
  • Child Check-Inno
  • Check-In Announcementsno
  • Lyric and Chord Chart Editorno
  • Serving Rotationsno
  • Automatic Scheduled Reportsno
  • Create and Share Custom Reportsno
  • PCO
  • Church Appsno
  • Custom branded Church Appno
  • Container Appno
  • Dynamic Homescreenno
  • Rich Push Notificationsno
  • Suggested Contentno
  • Pre-Checkno
  • Resi Streaming Integrationno
  • Multi-Campus Targeted Push Notificationsno
  • App Content Analyticsno
  • QR Code for App Downloadno
  • Fill in the blank Sermon Notesno
  • Push Notification Quick Pollsno
  • LEAD App (including the below)no
  • Mobile Access to Member Profiles, Serving History and Church Directoryno
  • Volunteer Schedule Accessno
  • Worship Plan Accessno
  • Workflows Accessno
  • Givingno
  • Simplified Givingno
  • Patented Recurring Gift Suggestionsno
  • Customizable Thank You Message By Fundno
  • Giving Thank You Animationno
  • Donor Insightsno
  • Spanish Languageno
  • In-House Payment Processing Servicesno
  • Custom QR Code Generatorno
  • Email Thank You for Check and Cash Giftsno
  • Offline Conversionno
  • Automated Weekly Giving Summariesno
  • Recurring Gift Migration Toolno
  • Check Scanning and Image Storageno
  • Church Management Softwareno
  • Group Managementno
  • Service Planningno
  • Event Check-Inno
  • Child Check-Inno
  • Check-In Announcementsno
  • Lyric and Chord Chart Editorno
  • Serving Rotationsno
  • Automatic Scheduled Reportsno
  • Create and Share Custom Reportsno

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Testimonials

Tiffany Meaney
Bellevue Presbyterian Church
"We recently launched a one-time giving campaign to raise funds for refugees forced from their homes in the Congo due to violence in that area. Our goal was $30k, we raised over $400k! This never could have happened without Pushpay!"
Jennifer Ford
Hosanna! Church
"Our whole experience with Pushpay has required such minimal effort on our part. That translated into such a great giving experience on Easter and helped us raise more than $200,000 for four great organizations."
Sarah Jones
First Baptist Church of Reeltown
"Pushpay has been the single greatest avenue of connection between the congregation and the church as a whole. To say that we’ve been blessed through your company is an understatement."

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