Friday, May 8, 2009

Church Radius Review

I have very good news for those folks who have been following my blog in search of completely free church accounting software: Church Radius. Yes, it is true, this software I believe is completely free and it seems like pretty good stuff.

Church Radius can be used to track members, finances, events, and more. It appears to be fully functional software, probably best used for smaller churches. I haven't used the software yet, but I plan on signing up for an account in the next few days.

It is important to note, that Church Radius is an online software solution. Meaning that all of your accounting data is stored online. This is a blessing (easy to access from any location and any computer) and a curse (you have to trust them with your valuable information). Also they run unobtrusive ads within the software to make money.

It's free, why not try it out?

ChurchSoft Review

If you are in the church software industry, then chances are you have heard of ChurchSoft. They offer software that tracks church membership and finances. A potential bonus is that they offer their wares in Spanish. Spanish people tend to be fairly religious so it makes sense that they would be moving in on this market.

What's Good about Church Soft?

Perhaps ChurchSoft's biggest advantage is the experience that they have in the field. They claim over 35 years of working in the industry and supposedly their software shows this experience. Another good thing is the fact that they have a demo version and a 45 day money back guarantee. The demo version lets you add up to 25 records before having to pay any money. This is a good way to get aquainted with software to see if you like it.

What's Bad about Church Soft?

Their pricing model is very odd. They tell you that they have some very affordable software for 1 low price. Then when you go look at their pricing scheme, their are a million different products and prices available. I was very confused as I sorted through all of the options. It looked like you would be paying $500 just for the normal verision. Addons made things even more pricey.

If you have a lot of money, then this might be the option for you.

Sunday Software Review

While I was searching for free church accounting software, I stumbled across the site "sundaysoftware.com". The man who runs the site, Neil, seems to really be on top of his game. His site is loaded with goodies for any Sunday School teacher.

Neil also has a great page on good links for church accounting or management software. The site is great and Neil is one of the best guys in the industry.

Sunday Software is making learning about the Bible entertaining for children and adults. They have a huge selection of Bible games at a great price.

Church Trac Review

So it turns out that Church Trac offers some free church management software. They seem like a pretty legitimate company so I've included a small review below.

They offer their management software for free for the first 100 people; not a bad deal. After 100 entries they will start charging you. Church Trac charges based on the amount of people you have in your church. Just to give you some estimates; if you have around 250 people that you are tracking with their software then it will cost you about $60. From what I can see, this is a one time fee.

Church Trac's prices seem to be fairly inexpensive. I think their model consists of your church getting used to using their software. Once you are "hooked" on their software then you will not want to change; so you pay the $60 for the upgrade.

The Church Trac software seems pretty intelligent. One of the coolest features I see is that it can make absentee reports for people who weren't at church services. It does seem to be more focused on the membership/management side of things instead of on the accounting side of things.

Overall it sounds like it might not be a bad idea.