6 Best Church Accounting Software Applications for 2023
This article is part of a larger series on Accounting Software.
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 looked at several options and chose the six best church accounting programs:
- Aplos: Best overall church accounting software
- PowerChurch Plus: Best desktop accounting software for churches
- QuickBooks Online: Best easy-to-use accounting software that can be customized to the accounting needs of churches
- Wave: Best free accounting software for very small churches to track income and expenses
- QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition: Best customizable accounting software for churches with an experienced bookkeeper
- IconCMO: Best for church management, integrated payroll, and scalability
Best Church Accounting Software Compared
Software | Pricing | Free Trial | Number of Users | Web or Desktop | Budgeting | Online Donations | Assisted Bookkeeping | Recurring Donations | Nonprofit Chart of Accounts | Fund Accounting |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
$79 to $189 monthly | 15 days | 2 for Lite and Core Plans | Web | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
$395 or $415 (one-time payment) | N/A | Unlimited | Windows | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | |
$85 or $200 per month | 30 days | 5 to 25 | Web | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | Mimic via class tracking | |
Free | N/A | Unlimited | Web | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | |
$799 to $1,999 per year | N/A | 1 to 5 | Windows and Mac | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | Mimic via class tracking | |
$35 to $149 monthly for 1 to 3,000+ families | 30 days | Unlimited | Web | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
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
- Full suite of accounting functions and reports
- Track giving and create statements
- Integrates with Gusto Payroll (separate fee)
Cons
- Base price includes only two users
- Base price excludes donations by text
- Could be difficult to find an external accountant who is familiar with the program to assist you
- Invoices aren‘t customizable
Aplos General Features
- Track funds and donations
- Create websites easily without programming or coding experience
- Organize event registrations through customized event website
- Collect donations online through donation website
- Create budgets for your church
- Track payables and receivables
- Set recurring transactions for fixed donations and grants
Why We Choose Aplos
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 includes budgeting, fixed asset tracking, and income and expense allocation. If you’re looking for a software with more accounting functionality, we recommend QuickBooks Online for a full suite.
Aplos Overview
PowerChurch Plus: Best Desktop Church Accounting Software for Churches
Pros
- 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
- Cannot prepare budgets of income and expense
- Reports are cash basis only
PowerChurch Plus General Features
- Record and track personal information for each member of families and households
- Track medical information of members
- Send emails and text messages to remind members of upcoming events or to send announcements
- Record contributions, gifts, and pledges
- Track funds in several accounts
- Manage accounts payable (A/P) and accounts receivable (A/R)
- Print checks within PowerChurch Plus
- Process payroll
- Track allowances of church leaders
Why We Choose PowerChurch Plus
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.
A desktop alternative to consider is QuickBooks Premier Plus Nonprofit—it’s more powerful than PowerChurch Plus in terms of accounting features. We recommend choosing QuickBooks Premier Plus Nonprofit if you prefer full accounting software and access to QuickBooks ProAdvisors with knowledge in church and nonprofit accounting.
PowerChurch Plus Overview
QuickBooks Online: Best Easy-to-Use & Customizable Accounting Software
Pros
- 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
- Must mimic fund accounting by using classes and subclasses
- Price includes books for only one organization
QuickBooks Online General Features
- Class and location tracking that can be applied for tracking grants, donations, and funds
- Access to a vast network of CPAs and bookkeepers who are QuickBooks ProAdvisors
- Assisted payroll through QuickBooks Live
- Capable of migrating to QuickBooks Desktop, if necessary
- Up to 25 users for QuickBooks Online Advanced
- Can reconcile bank accounts with or without bank feeds
Why We Choose QuickBooks Online
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 can find a ProAdvisor who specializes in church and nonprofit accounting. Alternatively, we recommend QuickBooks Premier Plus Nonprofit if you want desktop accounting software similar to QuickBooks Online but with nonprofit-specific features.
QuickBooks Online Overview
Wave: Best Free Accounting Software for Very Small Churches to Track Income & Expenses
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
- No way to account for multiple funds
- Cannot track income and expenses by program service
Wave General Features
- Free for unlimited users
- Easy-to-learn user interface
- Invoice and bill creation
- Bank feed connection
- Basic financial reports
Why We Choose Wave
Wave is 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 need complex accounting features and you don’t have multiple program services that you want to track separately. Since it is too simple for bigger churches, we recommend checking out Aplos or PowerChurch Plus as alternatives.
Wave Overview
QuickBooks Premier Plus Nonprofit: Best Customizable Accounting Software for Experienced Bookkeepers
Pros
- Outstanding accounting functions from an industry leader
- Bookkeeping for an unlimited number of organizations
- Integrated Intuit Payroll (separate fee required)
- Extensive network of independent QuickBooks ProAdvisors for support
Cons
- No church management features
- Difficult to use especially for non-accountants
- Sharing data with external accountant is hard
- Maximum of five users only
QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit General Features
- Manage multiple nonprofits and churches without paying for extra subscriptions
- Compare actual-to-budget reports
- Nonprofit chart of accounts included in the nonprofit edition
- Excellent banking features that can process checks and cash across different banking transaction types
- Nonprofit-specific menu in the software’s menu bar
- Dedicated pledge and donation tracker
Why We Choose QuickBooks Premier Plus Nonprofit
QuickBooks Premier Plus made it to this list as a great alternative to PowerChurch Plus in desktop accounting. Church and nonprofit accounting are similar, and getting the Nonprofit edition of QuickBooks Premier Plus is a good solution. It already includes nonprofit-specific features, so you don’t need to modify the system.
However, it is advanced for smaller churches and congregations. We recommend either QuickBooks Online if you’re looking for general accounting features or Aplos if you’re looking for a mix of accounting and church management features.
QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Overview
IconCMO: Best for Church Management, Integrated Payroll & Scalability
Pros
- Payroll add-on supports unlimited employees
- Comprehensive church management features
- Childcare security add-on (separate fee)
- 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 and Rubix account
IconCMO General Features
- Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)-compliant accounting software
- Fund and pledge tracking through dedicated funds and pledges module
- Built-in nonprofit chart of accounts
- Bank feed connection
- Check printing feature
- Invoicing and billing functions
- Payroll processing and payroll tax filing
- Online donations and contributions management
- Household and individual membership management
- Child check-in for Sunday schooling and other activities for children
Why We Choose IconCMO
IconCMO provides a family-based pricing system unlike other providers listed in this guide. Churches with few families don’t need to pay a fixed monthly fee regardless of 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.
However, Aplos’s Advanced Accounting plan contains more features that might be useful for your church. These features are budgeting, fixed asset tracking, and income and expense allocation. We recommend choosing Aplos if you need more accounting tools and functions alongside church management features.
IconCMO Overview
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 medium-sized churches, such as tracking donations. We prioritized systems tailored for use by churches and took into account the flexibility that general-use software can give an experienced bookkeeper. Finally, we considered a software’s ability to integrate with church management software.
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
Church accounting software must have church-specific features that can help administrators manage the day-to-day operations and long-term plans of the church. In evaluating church features, we considered the following:
- 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 software, here are things to consider:
- Pricing: As an entity that generates revenue only through donations, considering the price is a major factor. 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 software of choice must comply with these standards to make it easier to generate reports. If it’s general accounting software, the software must be flexible enough to be converted for nonprofit and church accounting use.
- Church features: Including church features within the accounting software is a cost-efficient solution since you get two solutions in one software package. Although some church software focuses heavily on accounting, you should weigh in on the factors further if you need dedicated church management software.
- Ease of use: The degree of difficulty in using the software will influence your productivity and efficiency in using the software. If your church has an in-house accountant, let them choose which software is easier to use for church accounting. Otherwise, choose a software 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’s free, even if it cannot track separate funds, and has unlimited users. 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.