If you've served in a church of any size, you know the behind-the-scenes work that keeps Sunday mornings running — scheduling volunteers, managing events, tracking attendance, processing donations, and keeping everyone on the same page. Planning Center was built for exactly that: a modular suite of church management tools designed to take the stress out of ministry administration so your team can focus on people.^1
Founded in 2006 by Jeff Berg and Aaron Stewart while they were working at a church in Southern California, Planning Center started as a single app to help worship teams plan services and schedule volunteers. That tool — now called Services — grew so quickly that Jeff went full-time on the software and expanded it into a complete church management system.^2 Today it includes 11 integrated products: People (free membership database), Services (worship planning and volunteer scheduling), Giving (online and in-person donations), Check-Ins (child and volunteer check-in), Calendar (event and facility management), Registrations (event sign-ups), Groups (small group management), Publishing (Church Center customization), and more. All products share a central People database, so information flows seamlessly without siloing.^1
What makes Planning Center unusual in the church tech world is its independence. The company is privately owned, fully bootstrapped, and 100% debt-free — no investors, no venture capital, no sales team. In 2024, Jeff Berg established the Ministry Centered Foundation to ensure Planning Center can never be acquired, even after he steps away.^3 As he wrote: "Selling out to a big corporation contradicts everything we stand for."^3
For congregants, the free Church Center app (iOS and Android) provides a clean experience for giving, event registration, group discovery, check-ins, messaging, and more — all powered by what the church has subscribed to.^4
Why Churches Love It"The entire collection of products are integrated seamlessly and provide a platform I can use to connect people and look up information at the drop of a hat." — Laura, Connections Director, Shelter Cove Community Church^1
"Planning Center is a life-saver for our organization, freeing up our time to focus on the people that truly matter." — Darien C., Associate Pastor^6
"Planning Center's modular setup ensures we don't pay for features we don't use, but leaves us with options should our needs change." — Alex, Teaching Pastor, LoveNow Community Church^1
Notable- Trusted by 90,000+ churches worldwide, with 4 million active users^2
- Processed over $29 billion in donations^2
- Capterra rating: 4.7/5 from 1,135 verified reviews^6
- Church Center app: 4.5 stars on Google Play (1M+ downloads), 3.9 stars on App Store^4
- Support responds within ~1 business hour (Monday – Friday)^2
- Open API for custom integrations and third-party add-ons^2
- CEO Jeff Berg supports Samaritan Aviation on behalf of missionaries worldwide and is active in his local church^7
