TL;DR: Planning Center is deeper and more powerful, especially for churches with worship teams and complex operations. Breeze is simpler, cheaper, and faster to set up. If you need worship planning or advanced automation, go with Planning Center. If you want something easy that just works, go with Breeze. If you’re outside North America, neither supports WhatsApp or mobile money, so look elsewhere.
The Two Most Popular Church Management Platforms
If you’ve spent any time researching church management software, you’ve probably narrowed your list to two names: Planning Center and Breeze.
They’re the most recommended platforms in church tech forums, Facebook groups, and pastoral conferences. And for good reason. Both are solid, well-designed tools that serve churches well.
But they’re built for different churches with different needs. Picking the wrong one means either paying for complexity you don’t use or outgrowing simplicity you’ll eventually need.
This comparison breaks down exactly where each platform excels, where it falls short, and which type of church should choose which. No fluff, no affiliate bias.
(For deeper dives, see our full Planning Center review and Breeze review.)
Quick Comparison Table
| Category | Planning Center | Breeze |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2006 | 2013 |
| Pricing model | Per-app, per-tier | Flat rate |
| Cost (200 members) | $50-150/month | $82/month |
| Cost (500 members) | $100-200+/month | $82/month |
| Free tier | Yes (People, basic) | No (14-day trial) |
| Ease of use | Moderate | Very easy |
| Setup time | 1-2 weeks | 1-2 days |
| Member database | Excellent | Good |
| Worship planning | Best in class | None |
| Online giving | Yes (US only) | Yes (US only) |
| Check-ins | Best in class | Good |
| Groups | Good | Good |
| Events | Good (Registrations app) | Good |
| Automation | Advanced workflows | Basic follow-ups |
| Reporting | Moderate | Basic |
| Communication | Email + limited SMS | Email only |
| Integrations | 30+ (ProPresenter, CCLI, Zapier) | Limited (Zapier, Mailchimp) |
| Mobile app | Yes (members + some admin) | Yes (members, limited admin) |
| Multi-campus | Good | Basic |
| No | No | |
| Mobile money (M-Pesa) | No | No |
| International payments | No | No |
Pricing: Where Breeze Wins on Simplicity
Breeze
$82/month. Everything included. Unlimited members.
That’s the entire pricing page. No tiers, no per-member charges, no add-ons. A church of 50 pays the same as a church of 5,000. Predictable, simple, done.
Planning Center
Planning Center uses modular, tiered pricing. You pay per app, and each app has tiers based on usage:
| App | Free Tier | Paid Starting Price |
|---|---|---|
| People | Up to 100 profiles | $15/month |
| Services | Basic features | $15/month |
| Giving | Free (no monthly fee) | Transaction fees only |
| Groups | None | $20/month |
| Check-Ins | Basic features | $15/month |
| Registrations | None | $10/month |
| Calendar | None | $10/month |
| Publishing | Basic features | $0 |
Realistic costs by church size:
| Church Size | Planning Center (typical) | Breeze |
|---|---|---|
| 50 members | $0-30/month | $82/month |
| 150 members | $50-80/month | $82/month |
| 300 members | $80-120/month | $82/month |
| 500 members | $120-180/month | $82/month |
| 1,000 members | $180-250+/month | $82/month |
The crossover point is around 150-200 members. Below that, Planning Center can be cheaper (especially with the free tier). Above that, Breeze’s flat rate becomes increasingly attractive.
Winner: Depends on size. Small churches (under 150) save with Planning Center’s free tier. Growing churches (200+) save with Breeze’s flat rate. But Planning Center’s modular approach means you only pay for what you use, which some churches prefer even at a higher total cost.
Ease of Use: Breeze Wins, No Contest
This is Breeze’s defining advantage.
Breeze can be set up in an afternoon. The interface has one navigation menu. Everything is where you’d expect it. Your 70-year-old church secretary can learn it in a day. There’s no configuration wizard, no “which apps do you need?” decisions, no tiered feature gates. You sign up and everything is there.
Planning Center requires more decisions upfront. Which of the 8 apps do you need? What tier for each? How do they connect? The individual apps are well-designed, but managing multiple apps with separate settings, separate permissions, and separate learning curves adds complexity.
Planning Center’s complexity is justified for churches that use it all. Services alone has more depth than most entire platforms. But for churches that just need member management, giving, and basic communication, that depth is overhead.
Winner: Breeze. If ease of use is your top priority, this decision is already made.
Member Management: Planning Center Wins on Depth
Both platforms handle the basics well: profiles, households, contact info, custom fields, search, and filtering.
Where Planning Center pulls ahead:
- Workflows: Automated multi-step processes. “When a visitor is added, wait 2 days, send a welcome email, wait 5 days, assign a follow-up task to the hospitality team.” Breeze can’t do this.
- People Lists: Dynamic lists that auto-update based on criteria (all members who haven’t attended in 60 days, all volunteers with expiring background checks).
- Activity Timeline: Every interaction, giving record, attendance entry, and note in one chronological view per person. Breeze has this too, but Planning Center’s is more comprehensive.
- Merge Duplicates: Sophisticated duplicate detection and merging. Important for churches that import data from multiple sources.
Where Breeze holds its own:
- Tags: Breeze’s tag system is incredibly flexible. Instead of rigid categories, you can tag people with anything and filter by any combination. It’s simpler than Planning Center’s lists but covers 80% of the same use cases.
- Follow-ups: Built-in task system for visitor follow-up. Assign, track, complete. Simple and effective.
Winner: Planning Center. The workflows and dynamic lists give it a clear edge for churches that want to automate member engagement. Breeze is adequate for churches that prefer manual, personal follow-up.
Worship Planning: Planning Center Wins by Default
Planning Center Services is the best worship planning tool in the industry. Period.
- Build detailed service plans with timing, songs, media cues, and notes
- Schedule musicians and volunteers with conflict detection
- Attach chord charts, lyrics, and audio recordings to songs
- CCLI reporting built in
- Rehearsal mode for musicians to practice from home
- Integration with ProPresenter, EasyWorship, and other presentation software
- Song arrangement management (different versions for different services)
- Multi-service planning (8am acoustic vs 11am full band)
Breeze has nothing equivalent. No worship planning, no song database, no service builder, no musician scheduling.
For churches with a worship team, a sound/media crew, or multiple service styles, this single app might be worth the entire Planning Center subscription.
For churches with simple services (a few songs led by a single musician, a sermon, prayer), this feature doesn’t matter.
Winner: Planning Center (Breeze doesn’t compete here).
Online Giving: Roughly Even
Both platforms offer online giving with similar core features:
| Feature | Planning Center | Breeze |
|---|---|---|
| Credit/debit cards | Yes | Yes |
| ACH bank transfers | Yes | Yes |
| Recurring giving | Yes | Yes |
| Fund management | Yes | Yes |
| Giving statements | Yes | Yes |
| Text-to-give | Yes | Yes |
| Giving kiosk | Yes | Yes |
| Pledge tracking | Limited | Yes |
| Card fees | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.9% + $0.30 |
| ACH fees | 0% (new pricing) | 1% + $0.30 (cap $5) |
Planning Center recently eliminated monthly fees for Giving and reduced ACH transaction fees, making it more competitive. Breeze includes giving in its flat rate but charges slightly more for ACH.
Both are US-only for payments. Neither supports international payment methods, mobile money, or non-USD currencies.
Winner: Tie. Both handle US church giving well. Planning Center has a slight edge on ACH fees. Breeze has pledge tracking built in. Pick based on other factors.
Check-Ins: Planning Center Wins on Polish
Both platforms offer children’s check-in with security features. Planning Center’s is more mature.
Planning Center Check-Ins advantages:
- More label customization options
- Better room and capacity management
- More detailed allergy/medical alert options
- Smoother self-service kiosk experience
- Headcount reporting by room, service, and date
Breeze Check-Ins covers the essentials: name tags, security codes, allergy alerts, kiosk mode. For most churches, it’s sufficient.
Winner: Planning Center, but the gap matters most for large churches with complex children’s ministry operations. Small churches won’t notice the difference.
Communication: Both Are Weak
This is where both platforms disappoint.
Planning Center: Email through the platform, plus limited SMS through Church Center. No email scheduling, no campaign analytics, no A/B testing. The SMS add-on is US/Canada only and credits-based.
Breeze: Email only. No built-in SMS. No scheduling. No open rate tracking. The email editor is functional but basic.
Neither offers:
- WhatsApp integration
- International SMS
- Email automation sequences
- Detailed email analytics
- Rich media messaging
For serious church communication, both platforms require supplementing with external tools (Mailchimp, Twilio, etc.).
Winner: Planning Center by a small margin (at least it has some SMS capability). But both are underwhelming for communication. This is the biggest shared weakness.
Groups and Events: Comparable
Groups: Both handle small group management with member lists, leader assignment, and group details. Planning Center Groups has more features (enrollment forms, group types, messaging within groups) but costs $20/month extra. Breeze includes groups in the base price with solid basic functionality.
Events: Planning Center’s Registrations app ($10/month extra) offers event management with payment collection, capacity limits, and custom forms. Breeze includes event management in the base price with similar core features but less customization.
Winner: Tie. Planning Center has more depth; Breeze includes everything in the flat rate. The value proposition depends on whether you need the extra depth.
Integrations: Planning Center Wins Big
This is a significant differentiator.
Planning Center integrates with 30+ tools:
- ProPresenter (worship presentation)
- CCLI SongSelect (song licensing)
- Mailchimp (email marketing)
- QuickBooks (accounting)
- Zapier (connect to 5,000+ apps)
- Many more via API
Breeze integrates with:
- Mailchimp
- Zapier
- A handful of others
Planning Center also has a well-documented API that developers can build against. Breeze’s API is more limited.
For churches that use multiple software tools and want them to talk to each other, Planning Center’s integration ecosystem is a major advantage.
Winner: Planning Center. The integration gap is real and significant for tech-forward churches.
Multi-Campus: Planning Center Wins
If your church has multiple locations, Planning Center handles it natively across all apps. Separate campuses share one database but can have independent service plans, check-in stations, event calendars, and reports.
Breeze has basic multi-campus support but it’s not as deeply integrated. Large multi-campus operations will find Planning Center more capable.
Winner: Planning Center. Not close for churches with 3+ campuses.
The Scenarios: Which Church Should Choose Which
Choose Planning Center If:
- You have a worship team. Services alone justifies the platform. Nothing else compares.
- You need automation. Workflows save hours on repetitive processes like visitor follow-up, volunteer onboarding, and re-engagement campaigns.
- You’re multi-campus. Planning Center handles multiple locations natively and well.
- You use ProPresenter or other production tools. The integrations are seamless.
- You have tech-comfortable staff. The learning curve pays off in capability.
- You’re a larger church (300+). The depth becomes more valuable as complexity grows.
Choose Breeze If:
- Simplicity is non-negotiable. If your team will only use software that’s dead simple, Breeze is the answer.
- You don’t need worship planning. Without this requirement, Breeze covers everything else at a lower price point.
- Predictable pricing matters. $82/month, forever, no surprises.
- You’re a smaller church (under 300). Breeze’s feature set matches small church needs perfectly.
- You’re migrating from nothing. First church management software? Breeze is the easiest on-ramp.
- Your admin team isn’t tech-savvy. The learning curve is essentially zero.
Choose Neither If:
- You’re outside North America. Both platforms are built for US churches. Giving only supports US payment methods. SMS is US/Canada only. No WhatsApp. No M-Pesa or mobile money. No regional pricing. If your church is in Nigeria, Kenya, the UK, or anywhere that needs non-US payment and communication tools, look at platforms built for the global church.
- WhatsApp is your primary communication channel. Neither platform supports it. If your congregation communicates via WhatsApp (which is most of the world outside the US), you’ll need a platform with native WhatsApp integration.
- Your members give via mobile money. M-Pesa, MTN MoMo, Paystack, Flutterwave. If these are how your congregation transacts, neither Planning Center nor Breeze can help.
Can You Switch Later?
Yes, but it’s not painless.
Both platforms support CSV export of member data, giving records, and other information. If you start with Breeze and outgrow it, migrating to Planning Center is doable. If you start with Planning Center and decide it’s too complex, moving to Breeze works too.
The main friction points:
- Giving history can be exported but may need reformatting
- Attendance records vary in export format
- Workflows and automations (Planning Center) can’t be exported and must be rebuilt
- Song database and service plans (Planning Center Services) have no equivalent in Breeze
Our advice: Think about where your church will be in 2-3 years, not just today. If you’re a church plant that will likely grow past 300 members and add a worship team, starting with Planning Center avoids a future migration. If you’re a stable 150-member church that values simplicity, Breeze will serve you well for years.
The Verdict
Both Planning Center and Breeze are good products. The right choice depends on your church’s specific needs:
| If You Value… | Choose |
|---|---|
| Worship planning | Planning Center |
| Simplicity | Breeze |
| Automation | Planning Center |
| Predictable pricing | Breeze |
| Integrations | Planning Center |
| Fast setup | Breeze |
| Multi-campus | Planning Center |
| Budget (200+ members) | Breeze |
| Budget (under 100) | Planning Center (free tier) |
And if you’re a church outside North America? Neither platform was built for your context. The giving, communication, and pricing assumptions are all US-centric. For churches in Africa, Latin America, Asia, or the UK diaspora, look at platforms like Gathrik that are designed from the ground up for the global church, with WhatsApp, mobile money, and regional pricing built in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use Planning Center and Breeze together?
Technically yes, but there’s no direct integration between them. Some churches use Breeze for member management and giving alongside Planning Center Services for worship planning. It works, but you’re managing two platforms and two bills.
Which has better customer support?
Both offer responsive support. Planning Center provides email support, a knowledge base, and phone support for paying customers. Breeze offers live chat, email, and phone support. Neither is significantly better than the other.
Which is better for a church plant?
Breeze, in most cases. Church plants need to get organized quickly with minimal overhead. Breeze’s simplicity and flat pricing fit that context perfectly. The exception: if your church plant has a worship team from day one, Planning Center Services is worth the complexity.
Do either offer free plans?
Planning Center People is free for up to 100 profiles, and several other apps have free basic tiers. Breeze doesn’t have a free plan but offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.
Which is more secure?
Both use industry-standard security practices (encryption in transit, secure hosting, role-based access). Neither has had notable security incidents. For churches handling sensitive data (pastoral notes, giving records), both are trustworthy.
Which handles church giving better?
They’re roughly equal for US churches. Planning Center recently eliminated monthly fees for Giving and reduced ACH costs. Breeze includes giving in its flat rate with standard processing fees. Neither supports international payment methods.
Need church management software that works globally? Gathrik supports WhatsApp messaging, M-Pesa and mobile money giving, and pricing designed for churches worldwide, not just North America.