Does Planning Center include accounting?

No. Planning Center focuses on worship planning, check-ins, groups, and registrations. It does not include fund accounting, financial statements, or Form 990 support. Churches using Planning Center need separate accounting software. Alignmint includes full church accounting alongside CRM and volunteer tools.

Can I use Planning Center and Alignmint together?

Yes. Some churches use Planning Center for worship planning and Alignmint for accounting, donations, and volunteer management. However, Alignmint's all-in-one approach eliminates the need for multiple subscriptions and keeps all your data in one place.

How much does Planning Center cost vs Alignmint?

Planning Center uses per-app pricing — each module (People, Giving, Groups, etc.) is a separate subscription. A full suite can cost $200-400+/month. Alignmint's Starter plan is free and includes accounting, CRM, volunteer tools, and event management in one platform.

Alignmint vs Planning Center: Accounting + Ministry in One Platform

Planning Center is one of the most beloved tools in church technology. It's excellent at what it does — worship service planning, volunteer scheduling, group management, and online giving. But there's one critical thing it doesn't do: accounting.

If your church uses Planning Center, you still need a separate accounting system. That means two platforms, two logins, two sets of data, and a manual process to connect giving data to your financial reports.

Alignmint takes a different approach: everything in one platform.

What Planning Center Does Well

Let's give credit where it's due. Planning Center excels at:

Services — Worship service planning with song libraries, team scheduling, and service order management
People — Member directory with households, custom fields, and communication tools
Groups — Small group management with sign-ups and attendance
Giving — Online giving with recurring donations and giving statements
Registrations — Event registration with custom forms
Check-Ins — Children's check-in with security labels

Planning Center is modular — you pick the products you need and pay for each separately. This flexibility is appealing, but costs add up quickly.

What Planning Center Doesn't Do

No Accounting

This is the fundamental gap. Planning Center has no general ledger, no chart of accounts, no journal entries, no fund accounting, no balance sheet, no financial statements, and no Form 990 support. When a member gives through Planning Center Giving, that data doesn't flow into any accounting system automatically.

Your church still needs QuickBooks, Aplos, or another accounting platform. And someone has to manually reconcile giving data between Planning Center and your accounting software — every week. See our guide on church accounting software for what to look for.

No Fund Accounting

Planning Center Giving tracks donations by fund designation, but it doesn't provide fund accounting. You can see that $5,000 came in for the building fund, but you can't see the building fund's total balance, generate a fund-level financial statement, or enforce restricted fund rules.

No Volunteer CRM

Planning Center's volunteer features are focused on service scheduling — who's playing guitar this Sunday, who's greeting at the door. It doesn't provide a full volunteer CRM with skills tracking, background check management, hour logging, or a self-service volunteer portal.

No Marketing Tools

Planning Center doesn't include email marketing, SMS campaigns, direct mail, or marketing automation. You'd need Mailchimp, Twilio, or another platform for donor communication beyond basic emails.

The Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Planning Center	Alignmint
Fund accounting	No	True double-entry
General ledger	No	Yes (pre-built chart of accounts)
Financial statements	No	Audit-ready
Form 990	No	Yes (worksheet builder)
Donation tracking	Yes (giving module)	Yes (every gift type)
Tax receipts	Yes	Yes (automatic)
Year-end statements	Yes	Yes (one-click)
Recurring giving	Yes	Yes
Donor portal	Limited	Full self-service
Donation page builder	Basic	Drag-and-drop
Worship planning	Yes (Services)	No
Song library	Yes	No
Volunteer scheduling	Service-focused	Full CRM + portal
Background checks	No	Status tracking + alerts
Digital waivers	No	Yes
Event ticketing	Basic (Registrations)	7 event types + Stripe
Check-in	Yes (children's)	Yes (QR + name search)
AI assistant	No	Minty AI
Email marketing	No	Yes (drag-and-drop)
SMS marketing	No	Yes
Direct mail	No	Yes (postcards, letters, handwritten cards)
Marketing automation	No	Donor Journeys
Video fundraising	No	Video Blast

Pricing Comparison

Planning Center

Planning Center pricing is per-module and scales with church size:

Module	Small Church	Medium Church	Large Church
People	Free	$49/mo	$99/mo
Giving	$0-99/mo	$99/mo	$199/mo
Services	$0-49/mo	$99/mo	$199/mo
Groups	$0-49/mo	$49/mo	$99/mo
Registrations	$0-49/mo	$49/mo	$99/mo
Check-Ins	$0-49/mo	$49/mo	$99/mo
Total (all modules)	$0-299/mo	$394/mo	$794/mo

Plus you still need accounting software ($30-200/mo for QuickBooks or $59-99/mo for Aplos).

Alignmint

Plan	Price	What's Included
Starter	Free (up to $100K)	Accounting, donations, CRM, volunteers, events, AI
Pro	$499/mo (5-year)	Everything + marketing, MintBucks, advanced reporting
Enterprise	Custom	Multi-campus, consolidated reporting, dedicated support

Who Should Choose Planning Center?

Churches that prioritize worship service planning above all else
Churches already deeply invested in the Planning Center ecosystem
Churches that have a separate accounting solution they're happy with
Churches that don't need marketing tools, fund accounting, or financial reporting in their church management platform

Who Should Choose Alignmint?

Churches that need accounting and church management in one platform
Churches tired of reconciling giving data between two systems
Churches that need real fund accounting with restricted fund tracking
Churches that want volunteer CRM, event ticketing, and marketing tools included
Small churches that want a comprehensive free tier
Churches that want AI-powered insights into their data

Can You Use Both?

Yes. Some churches use Planning Center for worship service planning (its strongest feature) and Alignmint for everything else — accounting, donations, volunteer management, events, and marketing. This gives you the best of both worlds without the accounting gap.

The Bottom Line

Planning Center is excellent worship planning software. Alignmint is excellent church management software with real accounting. They solve different problems. If your church's biggest pain point is Sunday service coordination, Planning Center is hard to beat. If your biggest pain point is financial management, donation tracking, or running your church operations from one platform, Alignmint is the better choice.

Schedule Your Free Setup | Explore Alignmint for Churches.

Related:

For Churches — Complete Alignmint overview for churches
Alignmint vs ChurchTrac — Comparison with ChurchTrac
Best Free Church Accounting Software in 2026 — Full market comparison