ParishSOFT

Overview

ParishSOFT is a suite of church administration products centered on the needs of Catholic parishes and dioceses. It is a strong fit for organizations that want records, accounting, giving, and ministry tools from one provider; parishes that need online donations should include ParishSOFT Giving or another giving service rather than rely on Family Suite alone.

Key features

ParishSOFT Families handles household and member records, sacramental information, communications, and reporting. Family Suite also covers offering, pledges, religious education, and ministry scheduling, with group management, event registration, child check-in, SMS messaging, and volunteer scheduling among the supported capabilities. That breadth makes it relevant to parishes coordinating both administration and ministry activity, though the right combination depends on which products they adopt.

Family Suite Offering can connect with ParishSOFT Accounting to create deposits and map offering funds to revenue accounts. Accounting covers budgets, payroll, purchasing, and financial reporting; ParishSOFT describes it as GAAP compliant and secure web-based fund accounting. That link can help carry collection activity into parish financial records. ParishSOFT Giving is the separate product for online and recurring donations, payment forms, pledge and contribution tracking, and giving reports. Family Suite can link parishioners to a parish's online giving website, but does not itself provide online giving.

MinistryOne adds a mobile-facing set of tools for digital giving, media, events, prayer requests, group messaging, and push notifications. It integrates with ParishSOFT Giving and Facility Calendar and can connect to YouTube and Vimeo for media. Families also connects with Giving, Offering and Pledge, Religious Education, Tuition, Intelligent Query, and Ministry Scheduler, making the suite most compelling for parishes seeking connected workflows within the ParishSOFT product family.

ParishSOFT offers a live support center, resource library, support tickets, and professional services for consulting, data services, and implementation. Those options are pertinent for organizations moving records or setting up a broad system. The Safe Environment Program integrates with background-check services from Protect My Ministry, and release notes refer to an API for updating family records.

Pricing

ParishSOFT uses paid pricing, with product pricing available by request. A free 30-day trial is offered for ParishSOFT Giving. The one-time consulting plans have fixed prices, but they buy consulting and implementation assistance rather than establishing the price of the underlying software:

• ParishSOFT Giving Consulting Plan: $250, paid once for two hours with a dedicated consultant, including training on forms, pledges, events, and MinistryOne. This is the lowest-cost option for focused Giving guidance.
• Family Suite Guided Consulting Plan: $900, paid once for four hours with a dedicated consultant, self-paced learning, and online learning access. It suits teams wanting guided learning rather than the longer implementation support packages.
• Family Suite Basic Consulting Plan and ParishSOFT Accounting Basic Consulting Plan: each $1,700, paid once for eight hours with a dedicated consultant and implementation support.
• Family Suite Standard Consulting Plan and ParishSOFT Accounting Standard Consulting Plan: each $3,200, paid once for 16 hours with a dedicated consultant and implementation support. These provide twice the consulting time of the corresponding Basic plans.

The Giving trial provides a way to evaluate that product, while parishes considering Family Suite or Accounting should request custom pricing and weigh consulting needs separately. No seat or usage quotas are stated for these plans.

Platforms

ParishSOFT supports Android, iOS, web, and API. The MinistryOne mobile app is useful for parishioners engaging with giving and ministry content on phones, while web-based Accounting and Offering support administrative work. The API reference is specifically for updating family records.

Who it's for

ParishSOFT says it serves Catholic parishes, dioceses, schools, and ministry organizations in the United States and Canada, and that more than 185 dioceses and 12,000 parishes use its products. Its Catholic-specific records and ministry scope make it a natural candidate for organizations with sacramental, education, and parish administration needs. Organizations wanting a single standalone online-giving function should not mistake Family Suite for that product.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Records, sacramental information, religious education, offering, pledges, and ministry scheduling cover a wide set of parish tasks.
• Pro: Offering can feed deposits and mapped revenue accounts into ParishSOFT Accounting, linking collections with financial reporting.
• Pro: Support includes live assistance, tickets, learning resources, consulting, data services, and implementation help.
• Con: Family Suite does not itself provide online giving, so that need requires ParishSOFT Giving or an external giving site.
• Con: Software prices are custom, so organizations cannot compare the core product cost from the consulting-plan prices alone.

Alternatives

Consider FellowshipOne if you want a paid church product available across Android, iOS, macOS, web, and Windows; its price is also custom. For payroll rather than parish management, isolved HCM offers a modular platform with customized pricing for organizations of every size and industry.

ACS Facility Scheduler is a narrower paid option if facility scheduling is the priority, with web and Windows platforms. For a paid church-management alternative with a free trial and a published entry plan, CDM+ offers CDM+ Essentials at $25 a month, billed monthly via auto-draw ACH, for one program and one user.

For narrower accounting or payroll comparisons, browse Church Payroll Software, Church Accounting Software, and Fund Accounting Software. PDS Ledger is another paid web and Windows option. RUN Powered by ADP offers payroll processing, tax filing, direct deposit, employee access, and multi-jurisdiction payroll. Shelby Financials Payroll is a paid web and Windows payroll module requiring active Shelby Financials. Amplify Accounting has a free trial and pricing that varies by church size and selected solutions.

For broader church directory, management, or facility comparisons, see Church Directory Software, Church Management Software, and Church Facility Management Software.

Verdict

ParishSOFT is best for Catholic parishes and dioceses seeking connected records, financial, giving, and ministry tools, particularly when Accounting and Offering workflows are important. Its scope and parish-specific features are the main reasons to choose it; the custom software pricing and Family Suite's lack of built-in online giving are the main reasons to compare alternatives or budget for a separate Giving product.