Best Planning Center Alternative for Small & Mid-Size Churches (2026)

If you are searching for a Planning Center alternative, you likely fall into one of these camps:

• The per-module pricing is adding up faster than expected
• Your staff feels overwhelmed by the interface
• Your small groups coordinator needs something simpler
• You are just getting started and want everything in one place without a learning curve

Evontar is purpose-built for exactly this: churches under 1,000 members that want member management, small group coordination, events, facility reservations, and announcements — all in one place, without juggling five separate product subscriptions.

Planning Center: What It Does Well

Planning Center is a powerful suite of church management tools. When people say “Planning Center” they usually mean a collection of apps:

• People — member directory and household management
• Groups — small group tracking and communication
• Services — worship service planning and volunteer scheduling
• Giving — online donations
• Registrations — event registration
• Calendar — facility and room booking
• Check-Ins— children's ministry check-in

For large churches with a full-time administrator and hundreds of active volunteers, this suite is genuinely excellent. The worship-planning tools in Services are best-in-class, and the Giving module integrates cleanly with accounting software.

Where Planning Center Falls Short for Smaller Churches

1. Per-module pricing compounds quickly.Each app is priced separately based on your congregation size. A church using People, Groups, and Giving can easily spend $50–$150/month before adding Registrations or Calendar. Many small churches start with two modules and never adopt the rest because the cost adds up — which defeats the “integrated” promise.

2. The interface was built for complexity. Planning Center is designed for large teams where different staff members own different modules. If you are a pastor or small volunteer coordinator trying to do everything yourself, the feature depth can feel like extra work rather than a help.

3. Groups coordination is an afterthought.For many churches, small groups (life groups, Bible studies, prayer circles, Sunday school classes) are the heartbeat of discipleship. Planning Center's Groups module is functional but it is not built around the small-group director's day-to-day workflow — tracking attendance, coordinating leaders, scheduling rooms, and keeping members engaged all in one place.

4. Facility reservations require the Calendar app. Room and resource booking is a separate module, which means more cost and another interface to learn.

Evontar: Built Around How Your Church Actually Works

Evontar is an all-in-one community management platform built specifically for churches and their small group programs. Here is what is included in a single subscription:

Member Directory & Roles

A clean, searchable directory of your congregation. Assign roles (elder, deacon, group leader, volunteer), manage join requests, and see household connections at a glance. Every member has a profile — no spreadsheet required.

Small Group Coordination

This is where Evontar earns its place. Create life groups, Bible studies, prayer circles, and Sunday school classes. Assign group leaders, track attendance, schedule meetings, and communicate with group members — all from one screen. If small groups are central to your church's discipleship strategy, this is the feature set you have been looking for.

Events & Registrations

Create church events, set capacity limits, manage RSVPs, and send reminder announcements. Whether it is a Sunday service, a women's retreat, or a neighborhood outreach, events are simple to create and simple for members to register for.

Facility Reservations

Need to book the fellowship hall for a wedding rehearsal dinner or reserve a classroom for your Tuesday night small group? Evontar's built-in facility reservation system handles room and resource booking without a separate app or a third subscription.

Announcements & Notifications

Send announcements to your whole congregation, a specific group, or a custom list. Keep members informed about upcoming events, weather cancellations, giving campaigns, or any time-sensitive news.

Head-to-Head Comparison

The honest summary:If your church runs complex worship services with large volunteer teams and needs children's ministry check-in, Planning Center's specialized modules are hard to beat. But if your priority is congregational connectivity, small group health, and simple event + facility management, you are likely paying for tools you do not use while missing the ones you need most.

Who Should Switch to Evontar

Evontar is likely the right fit if:

• Your church has under ~1,000 members and you do not need enterprise-scale complexity
• Small groups are central to your discipleship strategy and you want one place to manage leaders, attendance, rooms, and member communication
• Your admin team is small — a solo pastor, a part-time office manager, or a volunteer coordinator who needs a tool that just works
• You are tired of paying per-module and want predictable, all-in-one pricing
• You want to move fast — Evontar can have your member directory, groups, and first event live in under an hour

Who Should Stay on Planning Center

Evontar is not the right tool for every church. You should stay on Planning Center (or consider it) if:

• You have a large worship arts team that relies on Planning Center Services for song selection, chord charts, and volunteer scheduling
• Your children's ministry requires a dedicated check-in kiosk solution
• You process online giving at scale and need deep accounting integrations
• You are a multi-site church with complex hierarchical reporting needs

Making the Switch

Switching church management software is never trivial. Here is what the migration process looks like with Evontar:

1. Export your member data from Planning Center (People → Export → CSV). Evontar imports standard CSV files for member records.
2. Set up your groups — recreate your life groups, Bible studies, and ministry teams. This usually takes an hour or two.
3. Invite your leadership team — send email invites to group leaders and staff. They log in, see their groups, and are up and running immediately.
4. Run both platforms in parallel for 30 days if you want a zero-risk transition — keep Planning Center active while your team gets comfortable with Evontar.
5. Cancel Planning Center once you are confident. No data is lost; you own your export.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I import our Planning Center member list?

Yes. Export from Planning Center People as a CSV and import it into Evontar. Contact our team and we will walk you through it.

Does Evontar have an app?

Evontar is a web-first platform that works on any device. A native mobile app is on the roadmap.

What about online giving?

Giving is on our roadmap. For now, Evontar integrates cleanly with whatever giving platform you already use (Tithe.ly, Pushpay, Planning Center Giving, etc.) — just link your giving page in your announcements and event pages.

Is there a free trial?

Yes. Get started free and add your first members, groups, and events at no cost. Contact us to schedule an onboarding call with our team.

What happens if we grow past a certain size?

Evontar grows with you. There are no per-member fees that spike as your congregation grows.

The Bottom Line

Planning Center is great software. It is also built for a specific kind of church — one with staff, budget, and complexity to match. If that is not you, you have been paying a complexity tax without getting the simplicity you actually need.

Evontar gives small and mid-size churches a complete platform: member directory, small groups, events, facility reservations, and announcements — all in one place, built for the people who actually run these ministries day to day.