Software profile
ChurchCRM
Partially verifiedA free, open-source church management system for self-hosted people records, groups, attendance, giving and communications.
The short version
A fit worth testing against your real workflow.
ChurchCRM is a credible option when a church wants open-source control and has the capacity to operate it safely. The key comparison is not ‘free versus paid’; it is whether the church can sustainably run a system holding sensitive people data.
Directory assessment
ChurchCRM can reduce software licence cost and keep deployment under a church’s control, but it transfers responsibility for hosting, updates, access controls, backups and incident response to the church. It is a technical-operating-model decision as much as a database choice.
Procurement verdict
What to investigate first
- Problem this profile addresses
- Churches with reliable technical stewardship and a clear data-governance plan
- Material differentiator to test
- Member and family records
- First risk or uncertainty
- No supplier-operated hosted service
Decision evidence
What is evidenced, and what still needs asking
This is an evidence summary, not a product score. It counts the state of the procurement fields below and keeps the broader listing status separate.
- 0 Confirmed
- 0 Independently evidenced
- 1 Supplier claim
- 19 Not confirmed
- 0 Possibly outdated
- Contact or pricing band
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Multi-site support
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Administrator limits
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Volunteer usability
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Implementation complexity
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Technical administration
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- UK purchasing availability
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- GBP pricing
- Not confirmedPricing needs verificationNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- VAT treatment
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Gift Aid
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Multi-factor authentication
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Role-based permissions
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Audit logs
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Data-processing agreement
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Hosting and location
- Not confirmedNot confirmedSource: ChurchCRM FAQ · checked 25 July 2026
- International transfers
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Export formats
- Supplier claimMember CSV export; Database backupSource: ChurchCRM overview · checked 25 July 2026
- Migration assistance
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- UK support hours
- Not confirmedDocumentation; GitHub issues and discussions; Email support contactNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
- Contract and cancellation
- Not confirmedNot confirmedNo supporting source is recorded for this field. Listing checked 25 Jul 2026.
Best suited to
- Churches with reliable technical stewardship and a clear data-governance plan
- Teams comfortable paying for hosting or volunteer maintenance rather than a subscription
Evidence-backed strengths
- No software licence fee or per-member pricing
- Self-hosting and export options give the church control
Limitations and questions
- No supplier-operated hosted service
- UK GDPR, backup, security and support are the church’s responsibility to establish
Confirmed core features
- Member and family records
- Groups and teams
- Attendance
- Giving records
- Self-service portal
- Communications
What does the supplier currently publish?
Pricing and trial
ChurchCRM states that its software is free and open source with no licence, subscription or per-member charge. The church remains responsible for hosting, maintenance, security and support costs.
| Tier or starting point | Published price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| ChurchCRM software | Free | MIT-licensed open-source software; no paid tiers stated |
| Hosting | Separate cost | The project says it does not provide a hosted service |
Free trial: No
Can the church operate a self-hosted database responsibly?
Free software, not free operation
ChurchCRM states that the software has no subscription or licence fee and that it can run on shared hosting, a VPS or a church-managed server. It also says the project does not offer its own cloud hosting.
Use the demo to assess people and reporting workflows, then ask the prospective technical owner to document hosting location, backup restoration, permissions, update responsibilities and support escalation. Do not load pastoral or safeguarding-sensitive data until those controls are ready.
What does external feedback add?
What public reviews and peer discussion do — and do not — show
This profile does not use an independent review score. It is based on ChurchCRM’s official feature, licensing and hosting documentation.
- The licence cost is zero, but operations still require time and budget.
- Control is valuable only when backup and security responsibilities are actively owned.
Open-source feature and hosting claims are not independent assessment of a church’s technical or legal readiness.
The questions a shortlist needs to answer
ChurchCRM FAQs
Is ChurchCRM free?
Yes. ChurchCRM states that it is MIT-licensed open-source software with no software licence, subscription or per-member fee.
Does ChurchCRM provide hosting?
No. The project says it does not run a hosted cloud service, so the church must arrange and operate suitable hosting.
Does ChurchCRM support UK Gift Aid?
Not confirmed in this profile. Verify the exact records, reports and HMRC workflow the church needs.
Operations and support
- Data hosting
- Not confirmed
- GDPR information
- Not confirmed
- Integrations
- OpenLP
- Import and export
- Member CSV export, Database backup
- Support
- Documentation, GitHub issues and discussions, Email support contact
Research sources
Sources support only the fields named beneath each link. Supplier material is not independent testing; external review material is included as a limited signal rather than a verdict.
- ChurchCRM overview
Checked 25 July 2026 · Supports: Features, Open-source model, Exports, Demo - ChurchCRM FAQ
Checked 25 July 2026 · Supports: Free licence, Self-hosting, Support