The best church accounting software should provide detailed transaction information and reports to key stakeholders, such as donors and the board of directors. Many churches can benefit from church management software that’s integrated with good accounting software. We evaluated the six best church accounting programs for churches:
- Aplos: Best overall church accounting software
- IconCMO: Best for church management, integrated payroll, and scalability
- PowerChurch Plus: Best simple desktop accounting software for churches
- QuickBooks Online: Best easy-to-use accounting software for churches
- Wave: Best free accounting software for very small churches
- QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit Throughout the article, we'll be using the term〝nonprofit〞or〝nonprofit edition〞when referring to QuickBooks Enterprise. The nonprofit edition is also suitable for churches because the accounting practices of nonprofits and churches are similar. : Best advanced desktop accounting software for churches
We are driven by the Fit Small Business mission to provide you with the best answers to your small business questions—allowing you to choose the right accounting solution for your needs. Our meticulous evaluation process makes us a trustworthy source for accounting software insights. We don’t just scratch the surface; we immerse ourselves in every platform we review by exploring the features down to the finest nuances.
For our roundup of the best church accounting software, we created a special rubric that evaluates the features of our chosen providers, which gives our audience—churches and faith-based groups—an unbiased opinion about the software’s capabilities and fit for your organization.
Best Church Accounting Software Compared
Software | Pricing | Free Trial | Number of Users | Assisted Bookkeeping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | $79 to $189 monthly | 15 days | 2 | $420 or $1,020 per month |
 | 30 days | Unlimited | ||
 | ✕ | Unlimited | ✕ | |
 | $99 or $235 monthly | 30 days | 5 or 25 | $300 to $500 per month |
 | Free or $16 monthly | ✕ | 1 or unlimited | $149 per month |
| Starts at $142 monthly | 30 days | 1 to 40 | Share with ProAdvisor |
Software | Web or Desktop | Budgeting | Online Donations | Recurring Donations | Nonprofit Chart of Accounts | Fund Accounting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Windows | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | Mimic via class tracking |
| Web | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Windows and Mac | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | Mimic via class tracking |
Answer a few simple questions to see the software we recommend for your church. Afterward, continue reading for more information about each program.
Aplos: Best Overall Church Accounting Software
Pros
- Includes church management software
- Has a full suite of accounting functions and reports
- Lets you track giving and create statements
- Integrates with Gusto Payroll (separate fee)
Cons
- Includes only two users in base price
- Excludes donations by text in base price
- Could be difficult to find an external accountant who is familiar with the program to assist you
- Doesn’t have customizable invoices
- Aplos Lite: $79 per month for two users
- Aplos Core: $99 per month for two users
- Aplos Advanced Accounting: Starts at $189 per month and scales with the needs of the church or nonprofit entity
You can save 10% if you get an annual subscription, and Aplos offers a 15-day free trial.
Assisted Bookkeeping
- Monthly Bookkeeping: $500 per month
- Weekly Bookkeeping with Bill Pay: $1,020 per month
Payroll
You can add payroll features via Gusto integration (read our review of Gusto):
- Simple: $40 base fee plus $6 per employee
- Plus: $80 base fee plus $12 per employee
- Premium: Custom priced
Aplos is our best overall pick because of its flexibility and feature set. It offers church management and financial accounting features in one software. It’s a well-rounded solution for religious nonprofits and churches needing church accounting functions with features like event registrations and donation management. Aside from that, Aplos Advanced Accounting, a higher tier, includes budgeting, fixed asset tracking, and income and expense allocation.
Aplos gets the highest overall rating in our evaluation, but it’s not far from its competitors IconCMO and QuickBooks Online Plus. In our rubric, Aplos takes the lead in ease of use because of its intuitive interface. Like IconCMO and PowerChurch Plus, Aplos aced church features, which we already expected given Aplos’ comprehensive church management features. However, pricing isn’t its strongest suit given that its prices are on the higher side; IconCMO can offer more or less the same set of features at a much lower price.
IconCMO: Best for Church Management, Integrated Payroll & Scalability
Pros
- Has a payroll add-on that supports unlimited employees
- Offers comprehensive church management features
- Has childcare security add-on
- Is more affordable than other all-in-one church management systems
- Includes unlimited users
Cons
- Doesn’t have a fixed asset management system
- Doesn’t provide a less expensive option for churches needing fewer features or users
- Charges a fee for event registration payments
IconCMO’s pricing scales with the number of families enrolled in the system. However, you can still use IconCMO for zero families at the base price. You may also try IconCMO for free for 30 days.
Number of Families | Monthly Pricing | Annual Pricing |
|---|---|---|
0 to 50 | $35 | $385 |
51 to 100 | $49 | $539 |
101 to 250 | $59 | $649 |
251 to 500 | $72 | $792 |
501 to 750 | $89 | $979 |
751 to 1,000 | $101 | $1,111 |
1,001 to 3,000 | $113 | $1,243 |
Over 3,000 | $149 | $1,639 |
Add-ons:
- Icon Payroll: $25 per month; $275 per year
- SMS Messaging (250 to 25,000 messages per month): $5 to $500 per month or $60 to $6,000 per year
- Assisted Bookkeeping: $500 per month with free IconCMO subscription for up to 500 households
- Child check-in: $15 per month or $180 annually.
We like IconCMO because it offers church accounting and management features in one software. It has basic accounting features like invoicing and expense tracking and advanced features like fund accounting. IconCMO is FASB-compliant, which is important for making financial statements.
Churches with few families don’t need to pay a fixed monthly fee despite the congregation size. As the congregation grows, the pricing increases as well. Aside from scalability, IconCMO offers more extensive church management features, such as Child Check-in and Allergy Tracking.
IconCMO’s scores in our evaluation are almost head-to-head with Aplos—except for pricing and ease of use. In pricing, IconCMO takes the lead because it’s more affordable. However, it can be a bit cumbersome if many windows open; hence, it only has an above-average ease of use score. However, its interface within the windows has significantly improved since our last update.
PowerChurch Plus: Best Desktop Church Accounting Software for Churches
Pros
- Has integrated payroll with no additional fees
- Includes fixed-asset management and tracking
- Has unlimited installations
Cons
- Doesn’t track payroll tax schedules
- Has no budgeting features
- Lacks collaboration features for different users
- Is available only for Windows users
PowerChurch Plus licenses are per church—meaning you only need to purchase one license for your organization. You can also install it on multiple church desktops or laptops.
New Users
- Downloadable: $395
- Physical CD: $415
Existing Users (Upgrades)
- Downloadable: $159
- Physical CD: $179
Churches preferring desktop accounting can go for PowerChurch Plus. As a desktop program, you’ll only pay a one-time fee for the installation—no month-to-month contract. Moreover, PowerChurch Plus doesn’t need an internet connection to run, and you can install it on as many desktops or laptops in your church.
Another notable desktop software on this list is QuickBooks Enterprise. It has a nonprofit-specific edition but lacks the church management features present in PowerChurch Plus. We recommend picking QuickBooks Enterprise if you prioritize accounting features over church features.
PowerChurch Plus scored high in church features because of its fund accounting and congregation management features. It can also print financial statements per fund and track member donations. However, its user interface is complicated; hence, the low ease of use score. Also, the platform is available only for Windows users.
We still recommend PowerChurch Plus if you want desktop accounting and church management at a more affordable price. But if you want to focus on accounting, pick QuickBooks Online instead. It is cloud-based and highly customizable for churches.
QuickBooks Online: Best Easy-to-Use & Customizable Accounting Software
Pros
- Lets you share books continuously with a QuickBooks ProAdvisor for assistance
- Can be modified for church accounting
- Has multiple built-in reports compatible with churches
Cons
- Is expensive, considering it’s just accounting software
- Requires workarounds to be usable for church accounting
- Limits one organization per subscription
For church accounting, our recommendation for the best QuickBooks Online plan is Plus and Advanced for their class and location tracking features, which are necessary to mimic fund accounting.
- Plus: $99 per month for up to five users
- Advanced: $235 per month for up to 25 users
QuickBooks currently offers a 50% discount for the first three months or a 30-day free trial.
Add-ons:
- QuickBooks Payroll: $50 plus $6 per employee; read our QuickBooks Payroll review
- QuickBooks Live: Monthly bookkeeping starts at $300 per month; read our QuickBooks Live review
As our best small business accounting software, QuickBooks Online proves to be a flexible option for churches. It doesn’t have built-in church management features, but its features can help your church manage funds and assets. By using class and location tracking, users can configure QuickBooks Online for church accounting.
Another of its deciding factors is the vast network of ProAdvisors who can help you set up and maintain the books. It would be a big plus if you could find a ProAdvisor who specializes in church and nonprofit accounting.
As accounting software intended for for-profit businesses, QuickBooks Online won’t disappoint. Its perfect mark in general accounting features reflects its ability to perform all the essential accounting tasks, such as invoicing and billing.
However, it’s not primarily for nonprofits and churches. With proper modifications in the settings, it can be used for churches—but only up to some extent. It lacks congregation management features, so we recommend either Aplos or IconCMO. These are why QuickBooks Online received only above-average marks in church features. Overall, we recommend the platform if you want to focus on accounting and preparing financial statements.
Wave: Best Free Accounting Software for Very Small Churches to Track Income & Expenses
Pros
- Has a free version for a single user
- Offers affordable self- and full-service payroll packages
- Is easy to set up and use; ideal for churches without accountants
- Offers assisted bookkeeping (Wave Advisors)
Cons
- Offers only one seat in the free plan
- Lacks church management features
- Has no budgeting features
- Can’t account for multiple funds
- Can’t track income and expenses by program service
Wave, which was previously a completely free accounting and invoicing software, now offers two plans:
- Starter: Free; includes a single user and accounting and invoicing features
- Pro: $16 monthly or $170 yearly; includes unlimited user access and additional features like bank feeds and unlimited receipt capture.
Assisted Bookkeeping
You can get assisted bookkeeping via Wave Advisors.
- Bookkeeping support: $149 per month
- Accounting coaching: $349 one-time fee (one-time account setup and tutorials)
Wave offers a free option for churches with very few revenue sources. If your church only needs to keep track of income and expenses, its features are enough. We recommend choosing Wave if your church doesn’t require complex accounting features and you don’t have multiple program services that you want to track separately.
Wave doesn’t have church-specific functionality, which is why it has a low score in church features. But for general accounting, Wave performs decently. Its best feature is ease of use, which makes it easy and simple to use even for non-accountants.
However, it is not a good pick for large churches because it is not sophisticated enough for fund accounting. Also, it can’t provide the details needed for individual program services. If its features are inadequate for your needs, we recommend IconCMO as a cost-effective paid option.
QuickBooks Enterprise Nonprofit: Best Desktop Accounting Software for Advanced Church Accounting
Pros
- Offers advanced accounting features like custom workflows
- Has a nonprofit edition
- Can be hosted in the cloud
- Offers 200 built-in reports, including nonprofit-specific reports
Cons
- Lacks church management features
- Has a steep learning curve for non-accountants
- Makes it hard to share accounting data with an external accountant
- Is costly for churches on a tight budget
QuickBooks Enterprise has a nonprofit edition that you can select after you purchase any of the following plans:
- Silver (no payroll): Starts at $142 per month for one user
- Gold: Starts at $194 per month for one user
- Platinum: Starts at $231 per month for one user
- Diamond: Starts at $389 per month for one user
Additional users can be added for a fee. Silver, Gold, and Platinum plans have a maximum of 20 users, while the Diamond tier has a maximum of 40 users.
You can try QuickBooks Enterprise for 30 days free without a credit card required.
QuickBooks Enterprise is the most advanced accounting software of QuickBooks. It can track member donations and generate reports for fund accounting. Churches can pick the nonprofit-specific edition to make the platform more attuned to the needs of nonprofits and churches.
Once you select the nonprofit edition, QuickBooks Enterprise will also have nonprofit-specific chart accounts and source documents for your needs. Compared to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Enterprise is more comprehensive in terms of features and capabilities.
QuickBooks Enterprise scored well in accounting features. As expected, this version of QuickBooks has both basic and advanced features that can cater to churches. The only reason it didn’t ace our evaluation of accounting features is the difficulty of sharing the company file with an external accountant. We’d rather you pick QuickBooks Online if you want your accountant to quickly hop into your QuickBooks accounts to perform your weekly or monthly bookkeeping.
The platform scored only above average in church features. We don’t consider this a major hit for QuickBooks Enterprise because there are workarounds for church-specific features. For example, QuickBooks Enterprise doesn’t have fund accounting features by default. Instead, you can use the location tracking feature for fund accounting to track funds. Since this is just a workaround, we awarded QuickBooks Enterprise half a point for this.
If you’re uncomfortable with workarounds, we’d rather you pick dedicated accounting software for churches, such as Aplos or IconCMO.
How We Evaluated Church Accounting Software
We evaluated financial and accounting software for churches based on price and how they meet the needs of small and midsize churches. We prioritized systems tailored for use by churches and considered the flexibility that general-use software can give an experienced bookkeeper. We considered church accounting features and church management features in our evaluation.
10% of Overall Score
We compared the pricing plans of each church accounting application and ranked it from most affordable to least affordable. In scoring, we considered the price point, number of users, limitations on transactions, and overall affordability of the software for churches.
20% of Overall Score
20% of Overall Score
- Fund accounting features, such as creating and managing funds
- Donation and pledge tracking by members
- Recurring donations
- Reporting features, such as printing nonprofit financial reports
- Congregation management features, such as member profiles, church activity tracker, and event scheduler
30% of Overall Score
Our major focus for ease of use was customer support and assisted bookkeeping options. We also considered payroll and online payment integration, as long as it was not through a third-party app. Overall, we also gave a score for subjective ease of use based on the overall experience when navigating and using the software.
20% of Overall Score
Our expert analysis score is based on the overall experience of the software, from its general accounting features to specific church management features.
A good church accounting software should provide helpful insights about your church’s finances through reports. It must also have features that let you account for every transaction using church accounting standards. In choosing a platform, consider these factors:
- Pricing: As an entity that generates revenue only through donations, you should consider the cost of the platform. Software providers come at different prices, and you should pick the one that’s not heavy on a monthly or yearly basis. Moreover, you may also consider providers that base their prices on the member or family count.
- Accounting features: Church accounting uses different accounting standards from for-profit entities. Your church accounting platform must comply with these standards to make it easier to generate reports. If you go with general accounting software, the solution must be flexible enough to be converted for nonprofit and church accounting use.
- Church features: Having church features within the accounting platform is a cost-efficient solution since you get two platforms in one software package. Although some church programs focus heavily on accounting, you should weigh your needs further if you need dedicated church management software.
- Ease of use: The degree of difficulty in using the tool will influence your productivity and efficiency. If your church has an in-house accountant, let them choose which software is easier to use for your church’s accounting. Otherwise, choose a platform that’s popular so that you can easily hire an external CPA or bookkeeper to do your monthly bookkeeping.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A church accounting system is software that helps churches manage contributions, donations, and grants. It can also be used to track income and expenses from fundraising events, generate nonprofit reports, and account for the daily administrative costs of the church. Church accounting is unique because it must utilize fund accounting, which separates funds available to the church for general and specific purposes.
QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced are the two plans that can be configured for church accounting. Moreover, QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit is the desktop counterpart if you prefer desktop accounting software.
Churches are nonprofit entities, so the financial statements are different, at least in the naming. The profit and loss (P&L) statement for churches is called the Statement of Activities, and the balance sheet for churches is called the Statement of Financial Position. Churches and nonprofit entities also have a special financial statement called the Statement of Functional Expenses.
Bottom Line
There are various factors to consider when choosing the best church accounting software, including your church’s budget, size, and unique needs. While every software in our guide is worth using, we recommend Aplos because of its robust, flexible, and easy-to-use features for church accounting. If your church wants to focus more on the accounting side, we recommend QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit.
Small churches can start with Wave because it has a free version, even if it cannot track separate funds and has only one user. If your church needs an affordable payroll add-on, IconCMO is the best choice. For robust congregation management features, we recommend PowerChurch Plus because of its outstanding member profiles and church management functions.
