Did you know some church app builders are free, while others don’t require coding skills?
Plus, many offer advanced features like live streaming and donation management. However, each builder has its own pros and cons to consider.
Read on to learn more about:
- A list of our top 8 church app builders
- How we selected our list and factors we considered
- Reviews of the top 8 church app builders
- Bonus features to include in your church app builder
- Frequently asked questions
- Why you should build your church app with Adalo
Best Church App Builders: TL;DR
Here are the top 8 best church app builders to consider:
- Adalo: The Best Church App Builder
- Church Base: A Great Free Church App Builder
- Custom Church Apps: Good for Churches on the Subsplash Ecosystem
- MinistryOne: For Churches using Ministry Brands
- Jotform: For Rapidly Creating a Church App
- Sharefaith: Great for Creating Church Resources
- Glide: For a Beautiful Church app
- Tithe.ly: For Building Apps and Websites
Let’s now look at how we picked our list.
How To Choose a Church App Builder
A church app builder can help bring your congregation closer together and streamline your church’s day-to-day operations.
However, not all church app builders offer the same features. An optimal church app builder makes creating a church app a breeze. When choosing the right app builder, look for the following:
- No-code interface: This empowers users with zero coding or technical experience to build apps. Instead of writing lines of code or understanding complex programming, you use a simple drag-and-drop interface. This interface works much like moving files around on your desktop — easy and intuitive.
- Customization: You can start by choosing a template as the foundation for your app. A quality church app builder will let you customize nearly every part of this template. You can change colors, resize images and elements, and add your photos and icons. By the end, your app will be unique, reflecting your church’s personality and needs.
- Advanced functionality: The best church app builders come packed with features that enhance your app’s usefulness. You can enable congregants to sign up for events, make donations via integrated payment platforms, share sermons, and much more.
We also took the following features and factors into consideration:
- Loads of templates: You won’t need to start from scratch when creating your church app — the app builders we selected offer several pre-made templates, so you can hit the ground running.
- APIs and integrations: Want to integrate third-party platforms like your accounting software, payment platforms, or email? You’ll be able to do so through APIs and integrations, which transfer third-party platform data directly to your app.
- Modern, on-trend design: There’s no need to worry about picking a church app builder that doesn’t provide good visual components — you can rest assured that the church app builders on our list will allow you to create a good-looking and trendy church app.
#1. Adalo: The Best Church App Builder
Adalo is an intuitive no-code platform enabling you to build a custom church app that your congregants can easily download to their phones, enhancing community engagement through features like donations, event sign-ups, and media sharing.
Features
- Not only will your congregants be able to find your app on the web, but they’ll also be able to download it from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. This way, they can access their app whenever they have an internet connection with just a few taps.
- Adalo is packed with thousands of third-party integrations, such as Zapier, Stripe, and YouTube. These allow you to take donations directly from your app, share live videos of past sermons with your congregation, and execute many other tasks.
- Explore Adalo's Component Marketplace, offering various plugins and components, like animated tabs, that help create a more dynamic and engaging app for your congregation.
Ideal Users
Adalo is the go-to if you want nearly pixel-perfect design freedom and the ability to customize your church app to your precise needs and tastes and not settle for a cookie-cutter app builder that offers minimal configuration.
Pricing
Start using Adalo for free or upgrade to the Starter Plan for $45/month (billed monthly).
The Bottom Line
Adalo is our favorite church app builder because it offers unmatched customization, web and app store publishing, and enough power to create a church app that functions just the way you want.
#2. Church Base: A Great Free Church App Builder
Church Base is an all-in-one church software-building platform created by Digital Ministry Scriptures. It lets you create an app, website, and management tools for your church.
Features
- Church Base provides a customizable platform for creating branded websites and mobile apps, which will help you boost your church's message and accessibility.
- You can manage events and communication with congregants all in one place, simplifying those pesky administrative task.
- Because the parent company is a non-profit organization, it prioritizes its mission of spreading the good news over making money, so this church app builder is free.
Ideal Users
The free Church Base app builder can benefit any ministry, big or small. It’s also an excellent choice for churches that are just starting out and need a budget-friendly (free) option.
Pricing
As we said earlier, this church app builder is absolutely free. While it sounds too good to be true, the International Scriptures Ministry (a non-profit) aims to spread the Gospel to everyone on Earth.
Just fill out their survey and start getting set up.
The Bottom Line
Because it’s free, Church Base should be shortlisted by nearly any church looking to build their own app.
#3. Custom Church Apps: Good for Churches on the Subsplash Ecosystem
Custom Church Apps provides a all-in-one platform to optimize how your church engages your congregation and community — it’s part of Subsplash, a digital ministry platform that provides TV and media streaming services, donations, and other church management features.
Features
- The platform offers live streaming capabilities through its platform, allowing your community to watch sermons live via the app, website, or even directly on TV through integrations with services like Facebook Live and YouTube.
- Custom Church apps also provides functions to boost your day, such as a group messaging feature, so your congregation can connect and a child check-in feature if you have daycare services.
Ideal Users
Custom Church Apps is designed to connect larger churches, ministries, and businesses using the Subsplash ecosystem. It harnesses an expansive suite of products that simplify technology use and enhance engagement across big congregations.
Pricing
Subsplash doesn’t publish pricing plans, but you can contact them to learn pricing info.
The Bottom Line
If you have a large organization and are already using Subsplash, creating your next software and apps with Customer Church apps should fit right into your operational plans.
#4. MinistryOne: For Churches Using Ministry Brands
Ministry One, part of Ministry Brands, is an app builder that integrates with your existing church management systems, yet it can be customized to match your church’s unique message.
Features
- Ministry One comes with a collection of templates that you can pick from and then tailor to create an app that best reflects your church’s message.
- You’ll have integrations with YouTube, Vimeo, and Clover so your congregation can re-watch your latest sermon.
Ideal Users
MinistryOne is especially well-suited for churches using Ministry Brands products, such as software solutions such as church management systems. If you stream services, Bible studies, or other events, MinistryOne is a great choice, too.
Pricing
Contact Ministry One for details about pricing.
The Bottom Line
Churchs using Ministry Brands products will find that MinistryOne works perfectly for their app-building needs.
#5. Jotform: For Rapidly Creating a Church App
Jotform is a native mobile app builder that lets you create a church app that focuses on connecting your congregation with your community and each other.
Features
- Jotform has a customizable Church App Template that you can craft to meet the needs of your church.
- Choose from thousands of forms or create your own to give your app more functionality. For example, you can sign up for events, provide feedback about Bible study topics, donate to charities, and more.
- You’ll have access to over 30 payment processing integrations, allowing you to take donations from platforms like Apple Pay, Stripe, Google Pay, and more.
Ideal Users
Jotform is great for churches of all sizes that need an app builder for creating a payment platform and a tool for signing congregants up for events.
Pricing
You can build a basic church app for free. If you want to build an app that has up to 25 forms and can receive up to 1,000 submissions, try the Bronze version for $39/month (billed monthly).
The Bottom Line
If you want to transform a modern-looking template into a functional church app for booking events, taking donations, or executing other simple operational tasks, give Jotform a try.
#7. ShareFaith: Great for Church Resources
ShareFaith is a church app builder that’s full of resources to help share your message with your congregation, as well as church management tools to improve your operations.
Features
- ShareFaith provides a robust library of resources for kids, such as games, Bible comments, and other tools, so you can ensure the youngest members of your church hear your message, too.
- You’ll also get software tools to manage your staff, church operations, and finances.
Ideal Users
Churches with loads of Sunday school classes or various Bible studies groups will love the many resources available on ShareFaith. This can simplify creating your church curriculum or just provide a trove of supplemental resources.
Pricing
Pricing starts at $25/month (billed monthly), providing you with loads of digital resources and a graphics editor. For $55/month (billed monthly), you’ll get more digital content and lessons.
The Bottom Line
ShareFaith's broad spectrum of resources, including church graphics, sermon presentation software, kids ministry curriculum, and media content tailored for church services, can help facilitate more engaging worship experiences.
#7. Glide: For a Beautiful Church App
Glide is a no-code web app builder that’s very simple to use and prioritizes aesthetics.
Features
- Glide provides a large library of free and paid templates, including one that’s specifically made for churches. You’ll find that each template and its elements are second to none in terms of beauty, so your congregants are all but guaranteed a sleek final product.
- Use Glide’s AI tool to bolster Bible studies: You can get feedback about verses or find those that match the message you’re currently crafting for next Sunday’s sermon.
Ideal Users
Glide is a good choice for churches that want to create a unique app that provides a great user experience while offering cutting-edge features like donation payment integrations and AI tools. And if you need more than one app, all of Glide’s plans allow for creating at least three.
Pricing
You can create up to 3 apps for $60/month (billed monthly), and you’ll be able to add powerful AI features. If you need to build more apps, try the $249/month (billed monthly) version and create as many apps as possible.
The Bottom Line
For sleek, modern, and good-looking church apps, look no further than Glide.
#8. Tithe.ly: For Building Apps and Websites
Tithe.ly is a popular church app builder that provides all the tools you need to create an app that manages your church’s operations while providing a platform for your congregation.
Features
- Tithe.ly comes with a content management system for organizing your operations, from member management to helping with your financial reporting.
- Your congregants can download your Tithe.ly-made app directly to their phones, so you can send them push notifications about the latest church events.
- Congregants can set up revolving donations to your church or other churches and charities you support.
Ideal Users
Tithe.ly is designed for church leaders, administrators, and financial teams seeking an all-in-one software platform for managing church operations, including giving, engagement, and administrative tasks. No matter what your church’s size, Tithe.ly can help.
Pricing
Tithe.ly offers several pricing tiers. For instance, you can create your church’s website for only $19/month (billed monthly). If you're looking to build an app for your church, you’ll need to pay $89/month (billed monthly).
The Bottom Line
Tithe.ly is especially beneficial for churches looking to consolidate software tools into a single, cost-effective platform, with an emphasis on ease of use, security, and support making it a versatile choice for churches of all sizes.
Bonus Features Congregations Will Love
When building your church app, keep in mind that there are a few features that can make each congregant’s experience with your church absolutely blissful. Be sure to add on these features if you can:
- Scheduling tools: Provide a public calendar of events that your congregants can see. Then, let them sign up for each one directly from the app, saving you the headache of paperwork.
- Live streaming: Live streaming your sermons, Sunday schools, Bible studies, or special events can help boost engagement, reach out to new congregants, and allow members to join services when they’re out of town.
- Accepts offerings: Instead of passing around the collection plate, congregants can practice giving with a few simple presses of an app’s button, simplifying their offerings.
- Library access: Provide past sermons, a collection of your weekly newsletters, and much more in an easy-to-reach library directly from your app, which can help your congregants get more involved with your community and better understand your message.
Prayer request board: Simplify prayer requests by creating a community prayer request board. You can also set up notifications, so your congregants are immediately informed when a new prayer request is posted.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Can I Create an App for My Church?
Anyone can create an app for their church using a no-code app-building platform like Adalo. Instead of code, you’ll use a drag-and-drop interface that functions like photo editing software. You don’t need any technical or programming experience to use a no-code app builder.
How Much Does It Cost to Build an App for a Church?
Hiring a development agency to create a simple app usually ranges between $6,000 and $10,000, while a more complex app with advanced features for a large congregation can exceed $100,000. They usually charge by the hour, so the rate can vary greatly based on the complexity of your app.
Alternatively, using a no-code app builder like Adalo costs around $45 per month. You could have a basic app ready in the first month and a fully functional app in a few months. While you’ll need to continue paying this monthly fee, it’s still far more affordable than spending thousands upfront on a custom-built app.
Should My Church Have an App?
Having an app for your church will allow you to engage your congregation better, organize church activities in one place, collect donations, and much more. We highly recommend having an app for your church — it’ll make your life and operations easier.
How Do I Choose the Best Church App Builder?
The app builder you choose depends on your congregation size, budget, and desired features. If you’ve got a growing congregation in the 100s, you’ll need an app that can scale, so everyone can get it on their phones.
You’ll also want to consider which features each app builder offers. At the very least, you’ll want one that offers functionalities like taking donations, sharing sermons, a library for Bible passages and other literature, and a scheduler. These functions will streamline your operations and provide insightful resources to your congregation.
How Long Does It Take to Build a Church App?
Building a church app can take around 4 months if you dedicate 4 to 5 days per week using a simple and user-friendly app builder like Adalo.
The exact time may vary depending on your availability and the complexity of the app builder, as some platforms have a steeper learning curve than others.
Do Church App Builders Support Multiple Languages?
Many church app builders support multiple languages, allowing you to create several versions of your app in different languages. For instance, Adalo offers multilingual support.
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Try Building A Free Church App Today
When exploring your options, start by trying out the free versions or demos offered by each church app builder. This will help you determine which platform feels most intuitive and suits your needs best.
Consider starting with Adalo, which offers one of the most generous free versions among all the church app builders on our list.
With Adalo, you can build and release your church app as a web app at no initial cost, allowing your congregation to access it immediately. Its no-code interface makes it ideal for those without technical expertise, and its robust library of third-party integrations — like Zapier, Stripe, and YouTube — enables you to expand your app’s functionality with ease.
Adalo's flexible platform also allows you to scale your app as your congregation grows. It is a versatile solution for churches looking for a user-friendly and cost-effective app builder.
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