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Choosing an online giving platform is one of the most practical stewardship decisions your church will make. Get it right and you lower fees, simplify your staff's workload, and make generosity effortless for your people. Get it wrong and you quietly bleed money in processing fees and monthly subscriptions you never needed.
We want to help you get the absolute best bang for your buck with tool s that are well-tested and trustworthy. We only recommend platforms with a proven track record among real churches β no unproven newcomers, no gimmicks. Below we compare the leading options, break down real pricing, and point you to the best fit for your church's stage of growth.
A quick word on how giving platforms charge you
Every platform makes money in one (or both) of two ways:
Processing fees β a percentage plus a flat fee on every gift (for example, 2.15% + $0.30). This is largely set by the card networks and banks, though platforms mark it up differently.
Monthly subscription β a recurring fee for the software itself.
The cheapest sticker price isn't always the cheapest platform. A "free" tool with high processing rates can cost you far more than a small monthly subscription paired with rock-bottom rates. Run the math on your giving volume before you decide.
One more money-saver worth turning on everywhere: "cover the fees." Most platforms let donors opt to add the processing fee to their gift so your church receives the full amount. Adoption is high β Tithe.ly reports around 60% of donors opt in, and Subsplash reports over 50%. This one setting can effectively erase most of your processing cost.
The platforms, compared
Planning Center Giving β best overall value for most churches
Planning Center Giving offers among the lowest processing rates in the industry: 2.15% + $0.30 for credit/debit and just $0.30 (0%) for ACH bank transfers, with no contracts, no setup fees, and no cancellation fees. The Giving subscription is a flat monthly rate based on how many donations you process per month, and the smallest tier (up to 10 monthly donations) is free.
Here's the part many churches miss, and the reason Planning Center is our default recommendation: Giving syncs seamlessly with Planning Center People, a genuinely free, unlimited membership database. People costs nothing β for every church, for unlimited users, forever. That means your giving records, donor profiles, households, and communication all live in one connected system without paying for a separate church management suite. For a church trying to steward resources well, getting a free, capable people database and the lowest giving rates from the same trusted vendor is hard to beat. (Church planters can even apply for 12 months of Giving free.)
π Pros: Lowest-tier processing fees, free People database with full sync, no contracts, clean and intuitive interface, strong support.
π Cons: No built-in custom church app on the free tier the way some suites offer; you build out other Planning Center products Γ la carte (though most have generous free tiers).
Tithe.ly β best free entry point for smaller churches
Tithe.ly offers a free giving plan (you pay only processing fees) that includes a mobile app, giving forms, and pledge campaigns. Processing runs 2.9% + $0.30 for credit/debit and 1% + $0.30 for ACH. If you want more, the Church Management plan runs about $72/month and an All-Access bundle (giving, ChMS, branded app, website builder, worship tools) is around $119/month. Text-to-give carries a one-time $25 activation fee.
π Pros: Truly free to start, simple setup, predictable, strong recurring-giving tools, popular and well-tested with small churches.
π Cons: Higher card processing rate than Planning Center; the broader feature set can feel like more than a small church needs.
Subsplash Giving β strong for app-first, growing churches
Subsplash Giving is available at $0/month with no setup fees. Standard processing is 2.99% + $0.30 for cards and 1% (no per-transaction fee) for ACH. Churches on the full Subsplash One platform get lower "GrowCurve" rates that fall as giving increases β starting around 2.3% for cards and dropping as low as 1.9% for cards / 0.5% ACH at higher volumes. The full Subsplash One platform (app, media, website, ChMS) starts around $149/month, with most churches landing in the $300β800/month range after add-ons.
π Pros: Polished custom church app and media ecosystem, declining rates at scale, no monthly fee for standalone giving.
π Cons: Standalone card rate is the highest of this group; the real value shows up only if you buy the broader (pricier) platform.
Pushpay β built for large, multi-site churches
Pushpay is enterprise-grade church technology, and it's priced accordingly. Subscriptions typically start around $199/month and climb to $500β800+/month for bundles that include the ChurchStaffing/Church Community Builder ChMS. Card processing runs 2.9% + $0.30, and annual contracts are required. Pushpay's strength is automation at scale β tools that recover failed payments and nudge one-time givers toward recurring gifts.
π Pros: Robust enterprise tooling, excellent for high volume and multi-campus operations, strong donor-conversion automation.
π Cons: Highest cost, required annual contracts with cancellation penalties, opaque public pricing, and clear overkill for smaller churches.
Pricing at a glance
Rates are U.S. figures as published in mid-2026 and can change; always confirm current pricing and run the numbers based on your own giving volume.
Our recommendations by church stage
Under 200 people β start with Planning Center Giving (or Tithe.ly's free plan). At this stage, keep costs near zero and complexity low. Planning Center gives you the lowest processing rates plus a free, unlimited People database to organize your congregation as you grow β the best long-term value. If you want the absolute simplest free-to-start on-ramp with a built-in app, Tithe.ly's free giving plan is a proven, trustworthy alternative. Either way, turn on "cover the fees."
Under 500 people β Planning Center Giving is the sweet spot. As giving volume rises, the low 2.15% card rate and near-free ACH really start compounding in your favor, and the connected (still-free) People database keeps you from paying for a separate ChMS. Push ACH/bank giving hard here β at essentially $0.30 per gift, it's dramatically cheaper than card giving for your recurring donors.
1,000+ people β Planning Center still competes hard; evaluate Pushpay or Subsplash if you need enterprise features. Don't assume bigger means you must buy the most expensive tool. Many large churches run beautifully on Planning Center's low rates and full product suite. Step up to Pushpay if you specifically need multi-site enterprise automation and failed-payment recovery at scale, or to Subsplash if a premium custom app and media platform are central to your strategy β and if you're at high volume, ask each vendor for their best declining-rate pricing.
The bottom line
For the majority of churches at nearly every stage, Planning Center Giving offers the best combination of the lowest processing fees, no contracts, and a genuinely free People database β which is why it's our top overall pick for stewardship-minded churches. Smaller churches wanting the simplest free start will do well with Tithe.ly. App-first growing churches should look at Subsplash, and large multi-site organizations with the budget for enterprise tooling should evaluate Pushpay.
Whatever you choose, do two things this week: enable "cover the fees," and encourage your recurring givers toward ACH/bank giving. Those two moves alone will steward your congregation's generosity better than any platform switch.
Ready to get your team in sync? Head to Amazon and get the Kindle version of Ministry Sync Handbook: Ten Decisions That Get Your Church Rowing in the Same Direction. If it helps you at all, please leave a review to help other pastors find this resource. π
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