There is no single best church website builder for every congregation. For a small church that mainly needs an affordable, church-specific website, Tithely Sites is the strongest budget choice at $19 per month. Nucleus is better for structured sermons, prayer requests, forms, permissions, and visitor next steps. ChurchSpring is the clearest all-in-one option because it publishes plans that combine websites with giving, forms, media, apps, and church management.
Planning Center users should also put The Church Co on the shortlist. Media-heavy or larger churches may get more value from Subsplash, while churches that want maximum ownership should consider self-hosted WordPress.org. The right choice depends less on which template looks best and more on the total cost, payment-processing fees, integrations, volunteer workflow, portability, and the site’s ability to help a first-time visitor take the next step.
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Prices and product details in this guide were checked against the cited vendor pages for August 10, 2026. Prices, promotions, features, and regional availability can change, so obtain a written renewal quote before signing a contract.
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| Best for | Builder | Published website price | Why it stands out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest-cost church-specific website | Tithely Sites | $19 per month | Affordable editing, content blocks, collections, protected pages, livestream embeds, and access to Tithely’s wider ecosystem |
| Sermons, forms, prayer, and next steps | Nucleus | $99 per month or $1,188 per year | Flows, Launcher, prayer hub, sermons, integrations, unlimited users, and advanced permissions |
| Transparent all-in-one platform | ChurchSpring | $71 to $143 per month when billed annually | Published tiers for websites, giving, forms, media, apps, sermons, livestreaming, groups, and church management |
| Planning Center integration | The Church Co | Advertised from $29 per month | Planning Center synchronization, drag-and-drop editing, optional setup, app, member portal, events, and giving |
| Media-heavy or larger church ecosystem | Subsplash | Quote required | Website, media, app, livestreaming, giving, events, groups, messaging, people management, and child check-in |
| Website plus app and media bundle | Clover Sites | $39 to $164 per month, plus setup on some plans | Polished responsive websites with optional app, media, people tools, and livestreaming |
| WordPress-style control with church features | ShareFaith | Quote required | WordPress and Elementor editing, sermon archives, forms, prayer requests, media, and migration help |
| Maximum ownership and extensibility | Self-hosted WordPress.org | Hosting and maintenance vary | Open-source software, flexible hosting, broad plugin support, and the least vendor lock-in |
| Simple design-first website | Wix or Squarespace | Varies by location and billing term | Managed hosting and visual design; church-specific tools usually come from separate services or embeds |
My practical shortlist: choose Tithely Sites when monthly cost is the main constraint; Nucleus when communications and next steps matter most; ChurchSpring when you want published all-in-one pricing; The Church Co when Planning Center is central; Subsplash when media, apps, and ministry operations need to live in one ecosystem; and self-hosted WordPress when your church has someone responsible for maintenance.
#1 Best Overall
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- No programming skills required
- With 1 licence you can install the software on 2 computers and create as many sites as you wish
- 250 professional and customizable templates
- Import images and videos (including YouTube), editor for creating buttons
- Automatic HTML5 code generation + FTP engine for publishing your website
What a church website builder needs to do in 2026
A church website is a public information and follow-up system, not just an online brochure. Within a few seconds, a visitor should be able to find:
- Service times, physical address, parking information, and campus locations.
- What to expect, including worship style, childcare, children’s programming, accessibility information, dress expectations, and whether services are bilingual or online.
- A prominent Plan Your Visit path, directions, phone number, and contact form.
- Upcoming events and a clear registration process.
- Recent sermons, podcast episodes, and livestream links.
- A prayer request form and an explanation of how requests are handled.
- Giving information, preferably through a secure and clearly identified payment provider.
- Ministries, groups, staff, beliefs, and other useful next steps.
Behind the scenes, the platform should provide a custom domain, mobile-friendly pages, SSL, basic SEO controls, analytics access, form routing, multiple user accounts, safe permissions, and a support process that does not depend on one volunteer’s personal email address.
Church-specific, general-purpose, or self-hosted?
Church-specific builders
Tithely Sites, Nucleus, ChurchSpring, The Church Co, Subsplash, Clover Sites, ShareFaith, and Ministry Designs are built around common church workflows. Depending on the product and plan, that may include sermons, event registration, giving, prayer requests, groups, livestreams, apps, media libraries, or church-management features.
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The trade-off is that these platforms may bundle features in ways that make the website inexpensive while the complete technology stack is considerably more expensive. They may also make it harder to move the site elsewhere later.
General hosted builders
Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.com can work well when the church already has separate systems for giving, sermons, events, registration, and member management. They generally offer managed hosting and straightforward design tools, but you may need more embeds, plugins, and subscriptions to recreate a church-specific workflow.
Self-hosted WordPress
WordPress.org is open-source software installed on hosting selected by the church or its provider. It provides the most control over design, content, integrations, and hosting. It also leaves someone responsible for security updates, backups, plugin compatibility, performance, and recovery when something breaks. The software can be free while the professionally maintained website is not.
Detailed reviews of the best church website builders
Tithely Sites: best budget church-specific builder
Best for: Small churches, church plants, and congregations already using Tithely Giving or Church Management.
Current price: Tithely lists Sites at $19 per month. Its support page separately lists Tithely Giving at $0 per month, Church Management at $72 per month, a Custom Church App at $89 per month, and Messaging at $19 per month. Tithely also advertises an All-Access package at $119 per month. Giving transaction fees still apply.
Tithely Sites provides no-code editing with content blocks for text, images, photos, video, and other content. Its documented controls include custom pages, collections for items such as ministries or teams, custom menus, top bars, footers, password-protected pages, and livestream embeds. Giving can connect to the wider Tithely ecosystem.
Important limitation: the $19 website price is not the price of a complete church-technology stack. Giving, messaging, an app, and church management may be separate purchases. Tithely’s documentation also states that Sites does not support FTP, so a church expecting traditional file-level access should ask about exports, backups, redirects, DNS, analytics, and cancellation before committing.
Verdict: Tithely Sites is the best budget-first option when the church wants church-specific features without a large setup fee. It is especially sensible when the church already uses Tithely. It is less compelling if the low website price leads to several separate add-ons.
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Best for: Churches that want a deliberate visitor journey and several staff or volunteers editing safely.
Current price: Nucleus lists its website plan at $99 per month or $1,188 per year, with a 15-day free trial. Giving and Messages are listed as additional products at $49 per month each.
The website product includes sermons, a Launcher for prominent next steps, a prayer hub, Flows, integrations, banners, info cards, done-for-you templates, SEO tools, SSL, hosting, unlimited pages, custom CSS, custom domains, unlimited users, and advanced permissions. Its calendar can connect to Apple, Google, or Planning Center-hosted calendars and update dynamically.
Nucleus is a strong fit when a church wants more than a page editor. For example, a visitor might move from a Plan Your Visit button to a form, a prayer request, a small-group interest form, or a follow-up sequence without staff rebuilding the workflow each time.
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Verdict: Nucleus is the best choice in this group for organized church content and next steps, but it is not the low-cost option once additional products are included.
ChurchSpring: best transparent all-in-one platform
Best for: Small and midsize churches that prefer one vendor and want published pricing.
Current pricing: ChurchSpring lists the following plans:
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| Plan | Annual billing | Monthly billing | Notable additions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprout | $71 per month, $852 per year | $79 per month, $948 per year | Website, hosting, giving, forms, media library, SEO, SSL, branding, and 5 GB storage |
| Grow | $116 per month, $1,392 per year | $129 per month, $1,548 per year | Adds sermons, sermon notes, events, podcast integration, livestream interface, and 25 GB storage |
| Flourish | $143 per month, $1,716 per year | $159 per month, $1,908 per year | Adds church management, social scheduling, directory, small groups, messaging, members portal, and unlimited storage |
The pricing page advertises a seven-day free trial and no setup fees. Annual-plan migration assistance is advertised as including up to 10 key pages, domain configuration, Google Analytics integration, livestream setup, and training. Treat that as a defined starter scope, not a promise that every old sermon, PDF, redirect, form submission, and metadata field will be recreated.
The church must still purchase its domain through a third party. Confirm export and cancellation terms, particularly if the church later wants to separate its website from its giving or management tools.
Verdict: ChurchSpring is the strongest transparent all-in-one candidate for a small or midsize church. Choose the plan based on whether you actually need sermons, livestreaming, groups, a directory, and management rather than paying for an unused bundle.
The Church Co: best for Planning Center users and setup assistance
Best for: Churches that want a church-specific site, optional professional setup, and close ties to Planning Center.
Current pricing: The Church Co advertises plans starting at $29 per month and a 14-day free trial. Its setup options include Simple, which is free with qualifying annual subscriptions, plus one-time Essentials at $299, Tailored at $799, and Custom at $999. The packages differ in page count, revisions, SEO configuration, sermon import, customization, and turnaround time.
The platform advertises drag-and-drop editing, custom apps, member portals, prayer requests, small groups, events, sermons, online giving, church online, local SEO, and Google Ad Grant support. Its Planning Center integration is advertised as synchronizing events, registrations, groups, forms, giving, and sermons. Other advertised integrations include Tithely, Church Community Builder, Church Suite, Stripe, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Facebook, Instagram, Intercom, and Drift.
Ask exactly which features are included in the $29 starting plan. Separate the website subscription from setup, app, giving, marketing, and any other add-ons. A vendor-reported number of churches served should be treated as a marketing claim, not independent evidence of quality.
Verdict: The Church Co belongs on the shortlist for a Planning Center-centered church or a church that values hands-on launch help. Compare the complete proposal, not just the starting price.
Subsplash: best for media-heavy churches and larger ecosystems
Best for: Churches that need a website, app, media hosting, livestreaming, giving, events, groups, messaging, and operational tools in one ecosystem.
Subsplash advertises websites with drag-and-drop editing, church-specific templates, automated SEO enhancements, mobile-friendly designs, centralized content management, giving blocks, blog functionality, group finders, livestream embeds, and connections to media, events, giving, and groups.
Its wider platform pages list media hosting and delivery, custom mobile and TV apps, livestreaming, online giving and donor management, people management, event registration, groups and messaging, volunteer management, child check-in, service planning, email and SMS, podcasting, custom forms, and custom API integrations for enterprise offerings.
Pricing: Subsplash platform pricing is quote-based and depends on church size, usage, and selected features. Subsplash Giving is advertised at $0 per month, with multiple card and ACH rate tiers displayed on its pricing page. The page shows an exclusive card rate of 2.3% + $0.30, an exclusive ACH rate of 1%, and a standard card rate of 2.99% + $0.30, but the actual package and rates must be confirmed in the church’s proposal.
Trade-off: A large ecosystem may be excellent for a media-centered church but unnecessary for a congregation that already has a capable church-management system, giving provider, and media workflow. Require a written quote showing every module, usage limit, onboarding charge, contract term, and cancellation rule.
Verdict: Subsplash is the strongest ecosystem candidate for larger or media-heavy churches, not automatically the best value for a basic website.
Rank #3
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- Create websites using over 240 templates
- Modular website builder with over 1,000 design elements
- Web design software with over 130 photo filters
- Animation & effects
- 2 GB web storage & domain*
Clover Sites: best polished website and app/media bundle
Best for: Churches that want a visually polished site with optional app, media, people-management, or livestreaming features.
According to Clover’s published pricing:
- Website: $39 per month plus a $500 setup fee.
- Website + App + Media: $55 per month plus a $500 setup fee.
- Website + App + Media + People: $104 per month plus a $500 setup fee.
- Website + App + Media + Live Streaming: $164 per month with no setup fee.
The website feature set includes responsive design, unlimited sermons, unlimited pages, events, forms, social sharing, SEO features, automatic updates, and support. Media access may also be listed as an additional $20 per month, depending on the package.
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Setup fees materially change the first-year cost. For example, the $39 plan costs $968 in its first year before any other charges, compared with $468 in later recurring years. The $55 plan costs $1,160 in its first year; the $104 plan costs $1,748; and the $164 livestreaming plan costs $1,968 without a setup fee.
Verdict: Clover Sites is worth considering when the app and media bundle are genuinely useful. It is not the most economical choice for a simple website.
ShareFaith: best WordPress-style church option with migration support
Best for: Churches that want WordPress and Elementor flexibility without starting completely from an empty installation.
ShareFaith advertises no-code drag-and-drop editing, WordPress and Elementor-based editing, sermons, registration forms, prayer requests, church media, audio and video sermon libraries, mobile-friendly designs, and migration assistance. Its migration team advertises recreating content from an existing website.
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Verdict: ShareFaith is a good candidate for a church with a substantial media archive or a preference for WordPress-style editing, but the sales quote and maintenance scope are essential parts of the comparison.
Ministry Designs: a church-specific alternative with pricing to verify
Best for: Churches seeking church-specific themes, editing, SEO tools, sermons, events, small groups, giving, and provider support.
The current Ministry Designs product page advertises a church website builder, pre-designed themes, SEO capabilities, online giving, website management, and a church graphics library. A pricing page accessible on the company’s site lists Site at $97 per month and Site Management at $247 per month, but that page is labeled pricing-old. Treat those amounts as historical or provisional until confirmed directly.
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Verdict: Include Ministry Designs in a sales comparison if its workflow fits your church, but do not use the old pricing page as a current cost claim.
Self-hosted WordPress.org: best for ownership and control
Best for: Churches with technical staff, a reliable developer, or a paid maintenance provider.
Self-hosted WordPress can support unusual integrations, multilingual sites, complex content structures, custom campus pages, and extensive design changes. The church controls the hosting relationship, domain, content, themes, and plugins rather than relying on a proprietary church platform.
That control comes with an operating budget. Someone must manage hosting, security, backups, updates, plugin conflicts, uptime, spam, performance, and recovery. A maintenance contract may be the right choice for a church without technical staff. Budgeting only for the initial build is a common mistake.
Verdict: Self-hosted WordPress is the best ownership option, not the best zero-maintenance option.
Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.com: best general-purpose alternatives
Wix offers free and paid plans, but a paid plan is needed to connect a custom domain and remove Wix branding. Pricing varies by location, billing period, and promotion. It is a reasonable choice for a small church that already uses separate systems for donations, events, sermons, and registration. Verify form ownership, recurring giving, exports, analytics, and third-party embed behavior.
Rank #4
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- Create websites using over 240 templates
- Modular website builder with over 1,000 design elements
- Integrated search engine optimization (SEO) tools
- GB web storage & domain*
- Web design – no programming experience required
Squarespace provides managed hosting, SSL, responsive websites, SEO tools, a 14-day trial, and a free custom domain for one year with an annual plan. It has no permanent free plan. It can be a strong design-first choice for a relatively simple church site, but sermons, event registration, member portals, and prayer workflows may be less integrated than in church-specific products. Donation and transaction fees must be checked separately from the website plan.
WordPress.com is a middle ground between a visual hosted builder and self-hosted WordPress. Its current pricing page displays Personal at $9 monthly or $4 annually, Premium at $18 monthly or $8 annually, and Business at $40 monthly or $25 annually, with lower displayed rates for longer commitments. Paid plans include hosting, SSL, security protections, and plugin installation. The free plan uses a WordPress.com subdomain and has limitations. Premium themes, church plugins, giving systems, event calendars, and sermon libraries may add to the cost.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteHow much does a church website really cost?
Compare the first year and renewal years, not just the advertised monthly number:
Annual cost = website subscription
+ setup or migration
+ domain
+ giving subscription
+ payment-processing fees
+ app
+ messaging
+ media hosting
+ livestreaming
+ forms or registration tools
+ professional maintenanceThe domain cost depends on the registrar and extension, so it should be quoted separately. More importantly, ask whether the domain is registered in the church’s own account. A cheap site can become expensive if the provider controls the domain, charges for basic exports, or requires several add-ons.
Illustrative recurring costs
- Tithely Sites: $228 per year for the website alone, before domain, giving transaction fees, or other Tithely products. The advertised All-Access package is $1,428 per year at $119 monthly.
- Nucleus: $1,188 per year for the website. Website plus the listed Giving and Messages add-ons would be $197 per month, or $2,364 per year, before processing fees.
- ChurchSpring: annual billing totals $852, $1,392, or $1,716 for Sprout, Grow, and Flourish. Monthly billing totals $948, $1,548, or $1,908 per year.
- The Church Co: the advertised $29 starting price equals $348 over 12 months before extras, but setup may be free only with qualifying annual subscriptions or may cost $299, $799, or $999 depending on the package.
- Clover Sites: first-year website-only cost is $968 at $39 monthly plus the $500 setup fee. Recurring years are $468 before other charges. The first-year costs of the $55 and $104 plans are $1,160 and $1,748 respectively.
- Subsplash and ShareFaith: request a written quote because public platform pricing is not displayed in a directly comparable form.
Online giving: compare the economics, not just the monthly fee
Giving is often advertised as free because there is no monthly subscription. That does not mean donations are cost-free. Compare the percentage fee, fixed per-transaction fee, ACH rate, card mix, average donation, refunds, chargebacks, and whether donors can cover fees.
Tithely’s current U.S. support page lists:
- $0 monthly for Tithely Giving.
- 2.9% + $0.30 for most credit and debit cards.
- 3.5% + $0.30 for American Express.
- 1% + $0.30 for ACH or bank transfers.
Subsplash displays $0 monthly for Giving and shows card and ACH tiers including 2.3% + $0.30 for an exclusive card rate, 1% for an exclusive ACH rate, and 2.99% + $0.30 for a standard card rate. The church’s actual rate depends on the proposal and program.
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| Rate | 100 gifts averaging $100 | 400 gifts averaging $25 |
|---|---|---|
| 2.9% + $0.30 | $320 in fees | $410 in fees |
| 2.3% + $0.30 | $260 in fees | $350 in fees |
The percentage difference is the same on $10,000, but the fixed $0.30 charge makes smaller gifts more expensive overall. This example does not account for donor-covered fees, recurring gifts, American Express, refunds, or a monthly platform charge. It is not a universal cheapest-provider ranking.
Faithlife Giving is a separate giving alternative, not a recommendation that Faithlife Sites is a current website-builder choice. Its current page lists a free standard tier with 2.99% + $0.45 credit/debit processing and 1% + $0.45 ACH, plus a $44.99 monthly premium tier with different rates. Verify the current website product separately.
Choose by church size and operating priorities
Small church or church plant
Prioritize low recurring cost, simple service-time updates, a clear location page, giving, forms, and easy sermon publishing. Shortlist Tithely Sites, ChurchSpring Sprout, The Church Co, and possibly Wix or Squarespace with separate ministry tools.
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Prioritize staff permissions, event registration, sermons, groups, giving, analytics, reliable support, and integration with the church-management system. Shortlist ChurchSpring Grow or Flourish, Nucleus, The Church Co, Subsplash, and ShareFaith.
Large or multi-campus church
Prioritize centralized content, campus-specific service times and addresses, role permissions, deep integrations or APIs, media and app support, child check-in, volunteer management, data governance, and a scalable support agreement. Shortlist Subsplash, Nucleus, The Church Co, Clover Sites, or self-hosted WordPress with a professional maintenance team.
Planning Center-centered church
Do not assume that an attractive template is enough. Test whether events, registrations, groups, forms, giving, and sermons synchronize in the direction and frequency you need. The Church Co advertises broad Planning Center synchronization, while Nucleus advertises calendar connections. Confirm the exact integration behavior in a trial.
Questions to ask every vendor before buying
- What is the website price today, and what is the renewal price?
- Is the price promotional, annual-only, or tied to a contract?
- What setup, migration, app, media, messaging, form, and livestream charges apply?
- Are giving and church management included or separate?
- What are the card, ACH, American Express, recurring-payment, refund, and chargeback fees?
- Can the church use and control its own domain and DNS records?
- Can the church export pages, media, sermons, forms, registrations, redirects, and metadata?
- What happens to the site and data after cancellation?
- Are backups included, and how is a site restored after an error?
- Can several people have individual logins with role-based permissions?
- Can service times, campus details, events, and livestream links be updated globally?
- Can the platform preserve old URLs with 301 redirects?
- Can the church access Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Search Console?
- What accessibility testing has been performed, and what remains the church’s responsibility?
- How are multiple campuses, languages, and campus-specific giving handled?
- What support is included, and what are the response times for an outage or failed form?
Test the editing workflow before signing
A free trial or sales demonstration should include real tasks, not just a tour of templates. Ask a nontechnical volunteer to complete this script:
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- Create or edit the homepage.
- Change service times and location information.
- Add a prominent Plan Your Visit button.
- Create an event and registration form.
- Publish a sample sermon with audio, video, speaker, date, series, and Scripture information.
- Embed a livestream and provide a fallback watch link.
- Add a prayer request form and route the submission to the correct staff member.
- Add a giving button without making it difficult for a visitor to find regular church information.
- Invite another editor with limited permissions.
- Preview the entire site on a phone.
- Edit an SEO title, description, image alt text, and social-sharing image.
- Submit every form and confirm where the data arrives.
- Ask the vendor to export the sample content and explain cancellation.
- Request a written first-year and renewal quote.
Time the tasks. If changing an event takes 20 minutes and requires a developer, the platform’s feature list is less important than its real operating cost.
Ownership, portability, and migration
Before a redesign, make a complete inventory of the current site:
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- Every live page and URL.
- Sermon, podcast, and livestream URLs.
- Event and registration links.
- Giving links.
- PDFs, bulletins, policies, and downloadable files.
- Images, logos, videos, and original media files.
- Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, and DNS access.
- Email records including MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Create a 301 redirect map from old URLs to their new equivalents. Confirm that the new site has SSL, that analytics and conversion tracking work, and that the old domain does not accidentally point to an unfinished staging site.
Migration assistance has limits. ShareFaith advertises a migration team. ChurchSpring advertises annual-plan migration with up to 10 key pages and specified setup help. The Church Co lists sermon imports when an RSS feed is available. None of those statements automatically means every sermon page, PDF, redirect, form submission, attachment, and metadata field will be preserved. Put the scope in writing.
For portability, register the domain in the church’s own account, use a church-controlled administrator email address, add at least two trusted administrators, and retain copies of page text, images, sermons, downloadable files, and redirect lists. Ask who owns custom design work and whether another provider can access the site if the relationship ends.
Accessibility, SEO, and performance
Accessibility
A responsive template is not the same as an accessible website. Use the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 as the current reference. Check color contrast, keyboard navigation, visible focus, form labels, error messages, descriptive link text, alt text, captions, transcripts, and whether important information is embedded only in images. Do not claim legal compliance unless the site has been audited and the scope of that claim is clear.
SEO
A platform’s SEO controls do not guarantee rankings. Google’s SEO Starter Guide makes clear that there are no automatic secrets that guarantee a first-place result. The church still needs accurate local information, useful service and ministry pages, descriptive titles, crawlable links, an XML sitemap where appropriate, good content, and a well-maintained Google Business Profile.
Use Google’s guidance for LocalBusiness structured data where appropriate, and submit or monitor the sitemap using the relevant Search Console tools. Keep the church’s Google Business Profile under church control. Google allows organizations to provide their website, hours, phone number, and location so people can find them through Search and Maps.
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Performance
Google’s current Core Web Vitals guidance identifies these good thresholds at the 75th percentile: Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less, and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less. Large hero videos, uncompressed photos, excessive tracking scripts, and poorly configured embeds can hurt performance regardless of the builder.
Common failure modes to prevent
- Wrong service times: Assign one owner for service times, holiday schedules, addresses, childcare details, livestream URLs, giving links, and contact information.
- Expired events in search results: Keep a current events landing page and decide whether old event pages should be archived, redirected, or removed from indexing.
- Broken sermon archives: Preserve titles, speakers, dates, series, Scripture references, audio files, video embeds, podcast feeds, metadata, and old URLs where possible.
- Livestream dependency: Provide an alternative service-time page, latest sermon, contact method, and in-person directions if the video embed fails.
- Exposed private information: Do not publish children’s names, private directories, sensitive prayer details, personal phone numbers, home addresses, or background-check information. A password-protected page is not automatically a complete privacy system.
- Multi-campus confusion: Test separate addresses, service times, events, staff, giving links, livestreams, and search-friendly location pages for every campus.
- Language limitations: Verify language switching, right-to-left support if needed, accessible translated content, and the ability to represent parish, denominational, sacramental, or campus structures.
- Vendor lock-in: Keep the domain, original files, sermon masters, podcast feed, analytics, DNS, exports, and redirect map under church control.
Church website launch checklist
Before launch
- Confirm that the church—not a former volunteer or agency—controls the domain.
- Export the old site and create a complete URL inventory.
- Prepare redirect rules and preserve important sermon and giving URLs.
- Upload logos, brand files, compressed images, captions, and transcripts.
- Write clear service-time, location, childcare, accessibility, and Plan Your Visit content.
- Confirm giving, event registration, prayer, contact, and livestream links.
- Publish privacy, contact, and safeguarding information appropriate to the church.
- Set up analytics, Search Console, and conversion tracking.
- Assign at least two administrators and use individual accounts.
At launch
- Test every navigation link on desktop and mobile.
- Submit every form and confirm the correct staff member receives it.
- Test a small giving transaction or the provider’s test mode.
- Test livestreams, maps, directions, phone links, and email links.
- Check page titles, descriptions, images, alt text, indexing settings, SSL, and redirects.
- Confirm the Google Business Profile points to the canonical new website.
- Keep a rollback plan in case DNS, email, forms, or giving fail.
After launch
- Review analytics monthly and inspect broken links.
- Remove or archive expired events promptly.
- Update service times as soon as they change.
- Publish sermons consistently and monitor the podcast feed.
- Test forms and giving at least quarterly.
- Review administrator access whenever staff or volunteers change.
- Back up content and media according to a written schedule.
- Monitor mobile performance and Core Web Vitals.
Google Ad Grants: useful, but not a website-builder benefit
Some church-platform vendors advertise Google Ad Grant support. The Google Ad Grant can provide eligible nonprofits up to $10,000 per month in in-kind search advertising, but it is not unrestricted cash, automatic traffic, or a guarantee of enrollment or results. Eligibility, account rules, ad quality, and ongoing compliance still apply. Treat vendor assistance as a service to evaluate separately from the website subscription.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which church website builder is cheapest?
Tithely Sites has the lowest published church-specific website price in this comparison at $19 per month, or $228 per year before the domain, transaction fees, and optional Tithely products. That does not make it the cheapest complete church-technology stack. Compare the website, giving, app, messaging, media, and management costs together.
Is Nucleus still $49 per month?
The current official Nucleus website page lists $99 per month or $1,188 per year for the website plan. Older comparison pages showing approximately $49 per month are stale and should not be used for a 2026 budget.
Do church website builders include online giving?
Some include giving access or integrations, but the details differ. ChurchSpring includes giving by plan, Tithely lists Giving at $0 monthly but charges transaction fees, and Subsplash advertises $0 monthly Giving with rate tiers. Nucleus lists Giving as an additional product. Always compare processing rates and transaction volume, not just the monthly subscription.
Should a church use WordPress or a church-specific builder?
Choose a church-specific builder when volunteers need simple sermon, event, prayer, giving, or church-management workflows. Choose self-hosted WordPress when the church needs maximum ownership, custom integrations, or unusual content structures and has someone responsible for maintenance. WordPress.com is a managed middle ground, but plugins and church-specific tools may add cost.
Can a church move its website to another provider later?
Usually, but the amount of work varies. Keep the domain in the church’s account and ask for export rights for pages, media, sermons, forms, registrations, metadata, and redirects. Preserve old URLs with a redirect map and get written cancellation and data-retention terms before signing.
What should a church website show on its homepage?
Put service times, location, a clear Plan Your Visit link, childcare or children’s information, the next major event, a livestream or latest sermon link, prayer or contact options, and giving where appropriate. Avoid making visitors search through vague menus for basic attendance information.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Start with the church’s operating needs and total cost, not the template gallery. Tithely Sites is the strongest budget choice; Nucleus is the strongest structured-content and next-steps choice; ChurchSpring offers the clearest all-in-one pricing; The Church Co deserves special attention from Planning Center users; Subsplash fits media-heavy and larger churches; Clover Sites fits polished app and media bundles; ShareFaith fits WordPress-style control with migration help; and self-hosted WordPress fits churches willing to own the maintenance burden.
Before buying, run real volunteer tasks, compare first-year and renewal costs, calculate giving fees using your average donation size, verify integrations, confirm domain and data ownership, and test the mobile visitor journey. The best church website is the one that stays accurate, remains affordable, and makes it easy for a newcomer to attend, connect, ask for prayer, give, or take a next step.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
