The Church Co

The Church Co is a website builder and digital platform for churches and ministries that want a central home for church content and community features. It best suits congregations seeking a website connected to sermons, events and giving, with an app option. Its breadth is appealing, but app access and setup costs deserve a close look.

Overview

Founded in 2015, The Church Co combines a drag-and-drop website builder with church-specific publishing and participation tools. Templates and custom pages let congregations shape a site without relying on a generic business-site structure. The breadth makes it more useful than a basic service-times website, though churches mainly seeking a low-cost standalone app or giving tool may find a more focused alternative.

Key features

The platform supports sermon publishing, event calendars, staff pages and donation links, alongside forms, prayer requests, small groups, sermon notes, livestreams and a member portal. Bringing these functions together can reduce the need to direct members across separate destinations. The trade-off is that the product’s value depends on a church wanting a fairly broad digital platform rather than just a website.

Planning Center can automatically sync events, registrations, groups, forms, giving and sermons to the site. Churches already managing those activities there have a practical reason to consider The Church Co; other integrations include Tithely, Church Community Builder, Church Suite, Stripe, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Optimize, Facebook, Intercom and Drift. Online giving is powered by Stripe.

The branded church app syncs with website content and can carry sermons, events, forms, prayer requests, giving, groups and livestreams. But a custom app requires the On-demand team and is not available on the basic or premium plan. Churches for which a branded app is central should confirm the applicable package before committing.

The company says its customer success team offers help, training videos, webinars, articles and blog posts, as well as chat support. Its privacy policy says data is stored on secure servers, payment information travels over an encrypted connection, and submitted information may be stored in the United States or Australia.

Pricing

The service is paid, with a 14-day trial and no free plan. The published setup packages are separate choices to weigh against the work a church wants handled upfront:

• Simple setup: free, included with a yearly subscription. It covers up to 9 pages, with 0 revisions and a 3-week average turnaround. The absence of revisions makes it the least flexible route if content or layout needs adjustment.
• Essentials setup: $299, paid once. It covers up to 20 pages, 1 revision, a 1-week average turnaround and content imports (RSS required). This fits a smaller site where a single correction round is enough.
• Tailored setup: $799, paid once. It includes up to 40 pages, 2 revisions, a 1.5-week average turnaround, initial SEO configuration, RSS-required content imports and a lightly customized design. It is the more substantial guided option for churches wanting some design work and more room to revise.
• Custom setup: $999, paid once. It includes up to 50 pages, 3 revisions, a 2-week average turnaround, initial SEO configuration, RSS-required content imports and custom design. The higher fee buys the broadest page allowance and most revision flexibility among these packages.

The setup packages describe page counts, revision limits and turnaround, while the Simple setup is explicitly tied to a yearly subscription. Check the subscription terms and app eligibility when comparing the upfront setup fee with the church’s ongoing needs.

Platforms

The Church Co supports web, Android and iOS. Its branded app is a distinct consideration: a custom app requires the On-demand team rather than basic or premium access.

Who it's for

The platform is aimed at churches and ministries of different sizes. It is a strong fit for a congregation that wants its website to carry both public content and member-facing tools, especially if it already uses Planning Center. It is less suitable for a church that needs an app on a basic or premium plan, or one that only needs a focused giving or management product.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Sermons, events, giving and community functions share one platform, covering more than standard church-site publishing.
• Pro: Planning Center can sync several kinds of church content automatically, helping existing users avoid separate manual updates.
• Pro: Setup packages provide defined page limits, revision counts and average turnaround, with custom design available at the top tier.
• Con: A custom app is restricted to the On-demand team, so it is not included on basic or premium plans.
• Con: Setup flexibility varies sharply: Simple setup has no revisions, while the more capable packages require one-time fees up to 999.00 USD.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison, see Church Website Builders.

• Mainfolk is a better fit for churches seeking a free website option, with unlimited edits and about 10 AI assists per month on its free plan.
• Tithely Giving suits churches prioritizing donations: its Free Giving plan has no monthly fees and unlimited donations, though transaction fees apply.
• Planning Center is worth choosing when church operations are the priority, with free options including a one-room Calendar and unlimited database and reporting in People.
• Subsplash Church App is an alternative to consider for church app needs, with a free Subsplash Giving plan and card and ACH processing fees.
• SimpleUpdates offers a free web-only STARTER plan with unlimited pages and storage, making it a simpler option for churches focused on website basics.
• GrowMyWebsite is another freemium option for churches comparing website tools.
• Grigora is a general website-builder alternative with a paid Starter plan that includes one website, 20 pages and five team members.
• ChurchDev is another church-focused paid option, with a Membership Directory plan at $10 a month plus a 99 USD setup fee.

Verdict

Choose The Church Co if your church wants a website that brings publishing, giving and member participation together, particularly when Planning Center sync will keep content current. Look elsewhere if a custom app must come with a basic or premium plan, or if you want a narrow, free tool rather than a broader platform with setup choices and subscription considerations.