Planning Center vs Realm (ACS)

Planning Center

• People, Calendar events and the basic Church Center app: free.
• Services, Giving, Check-Ins, Groups and Registrations: monthly plans per product, sized by your usage (team members, donations, check-ins, group members, event attendees).
• U.S. giving fees: 2.15% + $0.30 per card gift and $0.30 flat per ACH gift. International cards add 1.5%.
• No setup, cancellation or monthly-minimum fees on processing. You can upgrade, downgrade or cancel any time.
• New products include a 30-day free trial.

From Planning Center pricing, checked 2026-10-29.

Realm (ACS)

• Connect is one monthly price based on your typical weekly attendance.
• The staff-only Realm Inform plan is $49 a month after a 30-day free trial, with no contract. Connect and Multiply are still quoted by weekly attendance, so ask ACS for a written number.

From Realm plans, checked 2026-10-29.

Planning Center

• Free People database: Member records, reporting and communication tools at no cost.
• Services: Service planning and volunteer scheduling, tied to song arrangements and keys for the band and tech team. Music Stand is a $5/month add-on.
• Giving: Online and in-app giving, priced by the number of donations you get each month.
• Check-Ins: Kids and event check-in, priced by your Sunday check-in count.
• Groups: Small-group management with group chat, priced by the number of people in groups.
• Registrations and Calendar: Event sign-ups and payments, plus a free unlimited calendar. You pay only if you book rooms.

Realm (ACS)

• Inform plan: Tools for staff: member database, contribution entry and reports.
• Connect plan: Member self-service, personal giving, groups and engagement.
• Multiply plan: Multi-campus administration and outreach features.
• Integrated accounting: Double-entry general ledger, budgeting, disbursements (vendors, invoices, checks, tax forms) and financial reports.
• Member self-service: Members update their own profiles and see giving history.
• Attendance and event registration: Track attendance and take event sign-ups and payments.

Planning Center

• Volunteer scheduling in Services is described as 'flawless and super simple' source
• ACH gifts cost a flat $0.30, which is among the lowest rates we've seen source
• Month-to-month, with no cancellation fees source
• Rated 4.7/5 from 1,139 reviews on Capterra source

Realm (ACS)

• Responsive support, easy duplicate merging and clean reports source
• Member, giving and donation tracking in one place source
• Rated 4.4/5 from 273 reviews on Capterra source
• True fund accounting available as an add-on source

Planning Center

• Costs add up as you add more products and people source
• Giving subscriptions scale with the number of donations, not dollars, so a church with many small gifts pays more source
• The learning curve, and staff pushback, grow once the whole church is on it source
• Pricing isn't one simple number. You have to model each product on the pricing page to know your monthly cost. source

Realm (ACS)

• Recurring glitches and error messages (79% negative across 28 reviews on this topic) source
• Not intuitive, with gaps in payment notifications source
• No wireless check-in printers. One church runs Planning Center just for check-in. source
• No clear public price list source
• Steep learning curve and complex initial setup source