Running a modern church means juggling member data, online giving, volunteer schedules, live streams, and a website — and most platforms charge thousands for the privilege. B1 Church gives you all of it for free.^1
B1 is a complete church management platform that bundles a customizable member app, a drag-and-drop website builder with pre-built templates, digital giving, contactless check-in, attendance tracking, a member directory, small group management, sermon library, worship service planning with a song library, AI-powered search in the admin dashboard, and direct messaging between members — all from one dashboard. It supports multi-campus churches and includes role-based permissions so staff and volunteers see only what they need.^1 In summer 2026 the site was redesigned around a new comparison hub showing how B1 stacks up against Planning Center, Pushpay, Tithe.ly, and Breeze — all at $0.^9
B1 is built by ChurchApps (Live Church Solutions), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2012 with one conviction: the Church shouldn't have to outsource its tools to for-profit companies. Rooted in Matthew 10:8 — "Freely you have received, freely give" — ChurchApps serves over 15,000 churches across the globe and keeps every line of code open source on GitHub.^2 B1 is part of a family of free ministry tools that includes Lessons.Church (curriculum), FreeShow (worship presentations), and FreePlay (classroom content).^2 Formerly known as CHUMS, the platform unified its branding under b1.church in 2025.
Why Churches Love It"B1 is a church saver. As a small church with a limited budget, this software is GOD SENT and a blessing. Being free allowed us to redirect our software budget to actual ministry." — Church administrator^1
"B1 is very powerful once you get the hang of things." — Small Church Media Facebook group member^10
"I heartily recommend ChurchApps. It is a ministry in the truest and best sense of the word." — Ken Idleman, A.B. M.Div. D.D.^1
Notable- Summer 2026: QR Guest Registration — guests scan a QR code or tap a texted link and add themselves to the church database from their phone's browser, no app required; pairs with Workflows so every new visitor can automatically get a welcome email and land on a follow-up board^2
- Summer 2026: built-in Blog tool — publish updates, devotionals, and event recaps to the church website from B1 Admin with categories, drafts, and scheduling; posts appear automatically at yourchurch.b1.church/blog^2
- Summer 2026: Workflows — visual follow-up boards (visitors, first-time givers, new members) where steps can trigger automatically, from welcome email to "Connected"^2
- Summer 2026: Rooms & Resources — bookable rooms and shared equipment with approval groups, a color-coded live Availability calendar, and a consolidated Approvals page^2
- July 2026 shipped Website Templates, Pledge Campaigns, and Event Bookings; new commit activity adds rehearsal-audio uploads on song arrangements, an Anniversaries report, confidential notes, and bring-your-own cloud storage (Google Drive and Dropbox)^3
- Now on iOS too: B1 Church Check-In — the kiosk app for attendance and name-tag printing that was Android-only is now also on the App Store (v2.1.0, July 2026)^8
- Admins can connect Anthropic's Claude or ChatGPT to their B1 data through a built-in MCP server with scoped, church-level API keys^11
- 100% open source — all code on GitHub (B1Admin: 1,530 commits, 145 stars; B1App: 1,501 commits, 23 stars — both pushed as recently as August 18, 2026)^3
- Free forever: no fees, no premium tiers, no credit card; B1 adds nothing on top of standard Stripe/PayPal/KingdomFunding processing, and churches save an average of $1,500 per year^2
- Supports 30 languages (Traditional Chinese locale added in code in August 2026, pending rollout)^3
- Available on iOS, Android, and the web; self-hosting option for churches that want full control; data encrypted in transit^6
- Live Church Solutions is headquartered in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma (EIN 45-5349618)^2
