PewPrep vs ChurchTrac
PewPrep vs ChurchTrac: Which Is Right for Your Church in 2026?
Lowest-priced all-in-one; UI dates to 2010, no AI, accounting is basic.
ChurchTrac has earned its place as the no-frills affordable choice for small and budget-conscious churches. Their pricing ($9-$59/mo) is the lowest in the category, and they cover the basics: members, giving, attendance, basic accounting, and check-in. Where ChurchTrac shows its age is the interface and the lack of any AI or modern communications layer. The product hasn't fundamentally evolved in the last decade. If you're a small rural church on a tight budget who needs a database and online giving and that's it, ChurchTrac is defensible. If you want your church communications to look like they came from 2026 instead of 2014, you'll outgrow ChurchTrac fast — and PewPrep Essential at $39/mo is the modern equivalent in the same price range.
ChurchTrac
$29/mo
Plus
Side-by-side comparison
Every row vetted against the most recent ChurchTrac pricing and product docs.
| Feature | PewPrep | ChurchTrac |
|---|---|---|
| Core | ||
| Member database | Yes | Yes |
| Online giving | 2.2% + 30¢ | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| Attendance tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Basic accounting | Plus+ | Yes |
| Communications | ||
| AI bulletin | Yes | No |
| AI social posts | Yes | No |
| AI devotionals | Yes | No |
| AI sermon companion | Plus+ | No |
| Built-in email blasts | Yes | Limited |
| SMS broadcasting | Pro+ | No |
| Auto-post to Facebook + Instagram | Yes | No |
| Modern UX | ||
| Interface design | 2026 modern | Dated |
| Mobile-first PWA | Yes | No |
| AI contextual help | Yes | No |
| Onboarding time | ~30 min | 4-8 hours of training |
| Operations | ||
| Service planning | Yes | No |
| Sermon hosting + podcast | Pro+ | No |
Why churches choose PewPrep
- Modern interface — your volunteers will actually use it without a training session.
- AI does the communications work ChurchTrac leaves entirely to your volunteers.
- Lower giving fees (2.2% vs 2.9%) — saves ~$700/yr on $30k/mo in giving.
- Built for mobile first. Your members check in, give, and read the bulletin from their phone.
- Onboarding takes 30 minutes vs ChurchTrac's typical 4-8 hour learning curve.
- AI Guide answers questions in plain English — no manual to read.
When ChurchTrac might be the better choice
Honest take. We'd rather lose the deal than win it under false pretenses.
- You are absolutely budget-bound at $29/mo or less and accept dated UX as the tradeoff.
- You explicitly don't want any AI features and prefer a more 'old-school' tool.
Switching from ChurchTrac to PewPrep
ChurchTrac doesn't have a public API, so migration is CSV-based. ChurchTrac exports clean CSVs of members, giving, and contributions. Our migration wizard maps fields and imports in 15 minutes. Some custom fields may need manual mapping.
Questions, answered
- PewPrep is $10/mo more than ChurchTrac. Why pay more?
- Two reasons. First, the giving rate difference (2.2% vs 2.9%) typically saves more than $10/mo on its own once you have meaningful online giving. Second, the AI layer replaces tools you're currently paying for separately — Mailchimp ($13+), Canva ($15), Buffer ($6+) — easily $30+/mo that goes away.
- Is ChurchTrac really that outdated?
- It's not unusable — it works fine, and many churches happily use it. But the UX hasn't been re-designed since the 2010s, there's no AI anywhere, no mobile-native experience, no modern integration patterns. For a church that wants modern tools, the gap is real.
- Will my data come over cleanly from ChurchTrac?
- Yes for standard fields (name, address, contributions, attendance). Custom fields may need manual review — our migration wizard flags any field it doesn't recognize and asks you to map it before import.
- Does PewPrep have basic accounting like ChurchTrac?
- Yes — fund accounting at Plus tier ($89/mo) and full double-entry bookkeeping at Pro ($159/mo). For very basic expense tracking, Essential covers what most ChurchTrac users actually used.
Try PewPrep free for 7 days
No credit card. Cancel anytime. Compare it to ChurchTrac in your actual workflow, not a sales demo.