If you're researching church management software, you've probably come across Planning Center. It's one of the most popular platforms in the US, used by thousands of churches. We're often asked how sendifai compares. Here's an honest answer.
The Short Version
Planning Center and sendifai are built for different things. For a detailed breakdown, see our full Planning Center comparison page.
- Planning Center is an all-in-one church management suite with a focus on Sunday services—worship planning, check-in, giving, and volunteers.
- sendifai is a CRM and communication platform focused on email, SMS, and pastoral care—with AI assistance built in.
Many churches use both. Some use one or the other. Let's dig into the details.
Feature Comparison
Where Planning Center Wins
Let's be honest about where Planning Center excels:
- Services/worship planning: Their Services app is industry-leading. Scheduling volunteers, building set lists, managing rehearsals—it's excellent.
- Check-in: Their check-in system for kids and volunteers is robust and well-tested.
- Giving: Built-in giving with great reporting. No third-party integration needed.
- US market focus: They're deeply embedded in American church culture and workflows.
- Mature ecosystem: Years of development means fewer rough edges.
Where sendifai Wins
Here's where we think we do better (see all our features):
- Email marketing: Our drag-and-drop email builder and automation tools are more powerful than Planning Center's basic email features.
- SMS and WhatsApp: We support multi-channel communication. Planning Center doesn't offer SMS.
- AI assistance: Our AI can help write emails, suggest subject lines, and even help with pastoral communication.
- Pastoral care focus: Built-in tools for tracking prayer requests, hospital visits, and care needs.
- UK/GDPR focus: We're based in the UK and built GDPR compliance in from day one.
- Pricing: Our free tier is genuinely useful. Planning Center's free tier is very limited.
Giving: sendifai vs Planning Center
Planning Center Giving is well-established in the US, but sendifai's Giving module is purpose-built for UK churches and offers distinct advantages:
- UK Gift Aid + HMRC submission: Capture Gift Aid declarations and submit claims directly to HMRC. Planning Center has no Gift Aid support.
- GoCardless Direct Debit: Accept recurring donations via Bacs Direct Debit and Instant Bank Pay with fees far lower than card processing.
- AI-powered donor intelligence: Automatic donor health scores identify at-risk givers and high-potential donors before you lose them.
- Free tier: sendifai Giving is free to start. Planning Center Giving starts at $0 for small churches but charges per-transaction fees.
- Unified CRM + Giving: Giving data lives alongside your contacts, groups, pastoral care, and email marketing in one platform — no sync required.
Pricing Comparison
Both platforms use modular pricing, but the approach is different:
Planning Center: Free for very small churches (under 50 people), then $0-$99/month per app. A church using People + Services + Check-Ins + Giving typically pays $100-300/month.
sendifai: Free CRM with unlimited contacts, plus a free Member Portal. Every paid Add-on (Email, Messaging, Community, Giving, Ticketing, Runsheet, Media Hub, Guest Management, Spaces) starts free and scales smoothly with your usage — drag the slider for the level you need. Registered charities get 30% off.
For communication-focused churches, sendifai is typically cheaper. For churches needing the full Sunday operation stack, Planning Center may be worth the investment.
Can You Use Both?
Yes, and many churches do. A common setup is:
- Planning Center for Services, Check-Ins, and Giving
- sendifai for email marketing, SMS, and pastoral care
We're working on a Planning Center integration to make this easier. For now, you can export contacts from Planning Center and import them into sendifai.
The Bottom Line
There's no universally "better" option. It depends on what your church needs:
- Need worship planning, check-in, and giving? Planning Center is excellent.
- Need powerful email/SMS communication and pastoral care tools? sendifai is built for that.
- Need both? Consider using them together.
We respect what Planning Center has built. They've served churches well for over a decade. We're just focused on a different part of the problem—helping churches communicate better and care for their people more effectively.