Churches must have strong accounting systems to provide detailed transaction information and reports to key stakeholders, such as donors and the board of directors. In addition, many churches can benefit from church management software that is often integrated with good accounting software. We looked at several options and narrowed it down to the six best church accounting software:
- IconCMO: Best overall church accounting software with outstanding church management and accounting features, including unlimited payroll. (4.07 out of 5 points)
- Aplos: Best church accounting software with integrated payment processing to receive online donations. (4.06 out of 5 points)
- Powerchurch Plus: Best low-cost church accounting software with great church management features. (3.53 out of 5 points)
- QuickBooks Online: Best easy-to-use accounting software that can be customized to the accounting needs of churches. (3.52 out of 5 points)
- QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition: Best customizable accounting software for churches with an experienced bookkeeper. (3.04 out of 5)
- Wave: Best free accounting software for small churches to track income and expenses. (2.48 points out of 5)
Answer a few simple questions to see the software we recommend for your church. Afterward, continue reading for more information about each program.
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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- to medium-sized churches, such as tracking donations. We prioritized systems tailored for use by churches and appreciated the flexibility that general-use software can give an experienced bookkeeper. Finally, we considered a software’s ability to integrate with church management software.
Beyond the special needs of churches, we evaluated whether the software provided core functions that allow users to issue and track invoices, input and track unpaid bills, reconcile bank accounts, produce financial statement reports, integrate payroll, and create budgets.
10% of Overall Score
The least expensive church accounting software doesn’t necessarily provide the best value. In addition to cost, we consider the number of users allowed as well as any limitations on transactions, church members, or vendors.
20% of Overall Score
A full-featured church accounting software is useless if your team cannot learn to use it. Ease of use includes system requirements, user-friendly navigation, and the availability of customer support.
10% of Overall Score
General accounting features include bank statement reconciliation, income and expense tracking, general ledger, and chart of accounts. It’s only 10 percent of the score because churches generally only need basic accounting features but can benefit greatly from advanced church-specific features, which we assign a higher weight.
40% of Overall Score
The best church accounting software includes specialized tools to manage donor contributions, staff, volunteers, church expenses, financial reporting, and more.
20% of Overall Score
Our expert evaluation is subjective, based on factors like the system’s ease of use, features, mobile app, customer service, and reporting.
IconCMO
PROS
- Comprehensive church management features
- Childcare security add-on (separate fee required)
- Affordable for small and medium churches
- Includes unlimited users
CONS
- No fixed-asset tracking
- Expensive for larger churches
- Event registration feature requires an additional fee
- Can’t use Icon Check-in without an internet connection
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 3.98 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Ease of Use | 3.25 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| General Features | 3.75 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Church Features | 4.44 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Analysis | 4.38 | OUT OF | 5 |
Our Expert Opinion
We consider IconCMO our top pick because of its extensive list of accounting and church management features, including fund accounting, event registration, and online donation management. For an additional $15 per month, it offers a child check-in system (Icon Check-in), which is extremely helpful if your church runs a child care program. As a feature-rich church accounting software, it’s complicated to use. It requires more than basic bookkeeping training and experience. But once you get comfortable with it, IconCMO becomes a powerful tool for your church. If your church has paid staff, you can add payroll for unlimited employees for only $25 per month.
Pricing
IconCMO’s prices depend on the number of families your organization serves:
- 1 to 100 families: $35 per month
- 101 to 250 families: $49 per month
- 251 to 500 families: $59 month
- 501 to 750 families: $74 month
- 751 to 1,000 families: $84 per month
- 1,001 to 3,000 families: $94 month
- 3,000-plus families: $124 month
Available add-ons include:
- Icon Check-in add-on: $15 per month
- Icon Payroll add-on: $25 per month
- Event registration add-on: $15 per month
You can try IconCMO for free for 30 days with no credit card required.
Aplos
PROS
- Includes church management software
- Full suite of accounting functions and reports
- Track giving and create statements
- Integrates with Gusto Payroll (separate fee required)
CONS
- Base price includes only two users
- Base price doesn’t include donations by text
- Could be difficult to find an external accountant who is familiar with the program to assist you
- Invoices are not customizable
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 3.62 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Ease of Use | 4 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| General Features | 4.75 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Church Features | 3.94 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Analysis | 4.25 | OUT OF | 5 |
Our Expert Opinion
Aplos has served thousands of nonprofits with its easy-to-use and affordable accounting software. It is an excellent alternative to IconCMO, especially for churches with inexperienced bookkeepers. For only $59, you can perform a wide range of church accounting and management duties, such as tracking donors, managing donations, and allocating income and expenses. A unique feature is its website builder. If your church doesn’t need unlimited users or customized invoices, Aplos is for you. To simplify your payroll duties, we recommend integrating Gusto with Aplos.
Pricing
The standard Aplos suite costs $59 per month with key features like fund accounting, donation tracking, and event registration. For text donations, you need the Text To Give add-on. If you need advanced bookkeeping features, such as recurring transactions, fixed asset tracking, and income and expense allocations, you need the Aplos Suite + Advanced Accounting package.
- Aplos Suite: $59 per month
- Aplos Suite + Text To Give: $79 per month
- Aplos Suite + Advanced Accounting: $179 per month
You can try Aplos for free for 15 days with no credit card required.
Powerchurch Plus
PROS
- Choice of desktop software or online program
- Integrated payroll with no additional fees
- Includes fixed-asset management and tracking
- Desktop software includes unlimited users and installations
CONS
- Payroll tax schedules must be maintained by users
- Online version supports only four concurrent users
- Cannot prepare budgets of income and expense
- No mobile app and its mobile web lacks accounting features
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 3.84 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Ease of Use | 1.75 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| General Features | 3.75 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Church Features | 4.44 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Analysis | 3.25 | OUT OF | 5 |
Our Expert Opinion
For churches with only a few employees to pay, we recommend PowerChurch Plus as your next church accounting software. If you feel stuck between online or offline accounting, PowerChurch Plus lets you choose between its desktop or cloud-based program. This software tracks donations and pledges, processes unlimited payroll transactions, and manages your church funds. As a low-cost accounting system, it comes with several trade-offs, such as the lack of telephone customer support and no assisted bookkeeping service.
Pricing
PowerChurch Plus can be purchased as a downloadable copy for $395 or on a CD for $415. Prices for its online version, PowerChurch Online, start at $39.95 per month:
- Downloadable: $395 for new users and $159 for upgrades
- Physical Media: $415 for new users and $179 for upgrades
- PowerChurch Online: $39.95 for two concurrent users and $64.95 for four concurrent users
PowerChurch Plus offers a free demo version with sample data so that you can explore the program before buying.
QuickBooks Online
PROS
- Leading small business accounting software
- Share books continuously with a QuickBooks ProAdvisor for assistance
- Unlimited free customer support
- Monthly price includes multiple users except for Simple Start
CONS
- Expensive after adding third-party church management software
- Complicated to track income and expenses by fund
- Price includes books for only one organization
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 3.70 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Ease of Use | 4 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| General Features | 5 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Church Features | 2.19 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Analysis | 4.88 | OUT OF | 5 |
Our Expert Opinion
QuickBooks is designed to serve a wide variety of industries, including churches and religious organizations. The QuickBooks Online software isn’t purpose-built for churches, but it’s our top pick among our best six accounting software for small businesses. Also, it integrates with plenty of third-party tools to perform various church administration tasks like donation management, event registration, and member communication. On the downside, because it’s not a full-featured church accounting system, it potentially can be expensive after integration with other software. Nonetheless, QuickBooks Online offers what you need on a user-friendly platform, and we recommend it especially for churches that send a lot of invoices.
Pricing
QuickBooks Online is available in four plans with prices ranging from $25 to $150 per month, depending on the number of users and features you need. We recommend the Class tracking feature of the Plus version if you need to track multiple funds for your organization:
- Simple Start: $25 per month (one user)
- Essentials: $50 per month (three users)
- Plus: $80 per month (five users)
- Advanced: $180 per month (25 users)
You can also add payroll for $45 plus $4 per employee.
QuickBooks currently offers a 50% discount for the first three months or a 30-day free trial.
QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition
PROS
- Outstanding accounting functions from an industry leader
- Bookkeeping for an unlimited number of organizations
- Inexpensive when purchased for a one-time fee and used for three years
- Integrated Intuit Payroll (separate fee required)
- Extensive network of independent QuickBooks ProAdvisors for support
CONS
- No church management features
- Powerful program takes time to learn
- As a desktop program, it is not accessible from the internet
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 2.37 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Ease of Use | 2.25 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| General Features | 5 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Church Features | 2.19 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Analysis | 4.88 | OUT OF | 5 |
Our Expert Opinion
Another powerful product from the QuickBooks family is QuickBooks Desktop Premier Nonprofit Edition, and it works well for churches. It boasts a robust set of church accounting features like donation tracking, event management, and reporting. A single license is all you need to do the bookkeeping for an unlimited number of organizations. However, note that you’ll need to devote some time to training to use QuickBooks Desktop Premier properly.
Pricing
QuickBooks Desktop is available in two annual Plus subscriptions, with prices that start at $499.99 per year for a single user and scale up to $1,699.99 per year for five users. However, QuickBooks offers a discount of 40% to 47% off for your first year, depending on the number of users. If you need six users or more, you need to upgrade to Enterprise 21.0.
You can also purchase the software license at a one-time cost of $649, but it doesn’t include customer support. QuickBooks generally supports their software for three years, but you may be able to use the software even longer if you don’t use it for payroll:
- One-time license fee: $649 for a single user
- Annual Plus subscription: $499.99 for a single user
To purchase QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition, purchase QuickBooks Premier and then select the Nonprofit Edition prior to download.
Wave
PROS
- Accounting, invoicing, and receipt scanning features are free
- Offers affordable self- and full-service payroll packages
- Connect to bank and credit card accounts
- Offers an assisted bookkeeping option (Wave Advisors)
CONS
- Lacks church management features
- No budgeting features
- Bank reconciliations are automatic but don’t allow for any reconciling items like outstanding checks
| RATING CRITERIA | Pricing | 5 | OUT OF | 5 |
| Ease of Use | 4 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| General Features | 5 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Church Features | 0.69 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| Expert Analysis | 2 | OUT OF | 5 |
Our Expert Opinion
Wave offers a simple way to track income and expenses for free. It offers a nice set of accounting features to keep your books organized. Wave does not offer church-specific functions, but it can help you streamline accounting for donations, tax receipts, payroll, and other financial processes while using separate software to manage other aspects of your church.
If you are new to accounting and you need personalized help with coaching, bookkeeping, or taxes, you can enlist the help of a Wave advisor for as low as $79 per month. This is also a good option if you are planning to outsource your bookkeeping or tax filing duties.
Pricing
Wave offers its accounting, invoicing, and receipt scanning features for free. You only pay when processing financial transactions, such as payroll and bank payments.
- Accounting, Invoicing, and Receipt Scanning: Free!
- Credit Card Processing: 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction (for most cards) and 3.4% + 30 cents for American Express
- Bank Payments: $1 per transaction
- Wave Advisors: Starts at $79 per month
- Payroll: Starts at $20 plus $6 per employee per month
Bottom Line
There are various factors to consider when choosing the best church accounting software, including your church’s budget, size, and unique needs. IconCMO comes with many powerful features, such as fund accounting, budgeting, and online donation management, and you can add as many users as you want for a reasonably low price. It also offers useful add-ons like unlimited payroll and Icon Check-in. If you can afford it and want a package that will help manage your church, in addition to your books, we recommend IconCMO.
