Church Community Builder (Now ChurchStaq) Alternative
Church Community Builder (CCB) was acquired by Pushpay and rebranded as ChurchStaq. Many churches evaluating their options are looking for clarity on pricing, features, and migration paths. This guide provides a neutral comparison between ChurchStaq and ChMeetings to help you decide what fits your church best.
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If you’re evaluating alternatives to Church Community Builder (CCB / ChurchStaq), here’s how ChMeetings compares and when it might be the right solution for your church.
What is ChMeetings?
ChMeetings is an all-in-one church management software focusing on ease of use, high value for money, and features that suit most churches, regardless of size or denomination.
ChMeetings may be for your church if:
- You are looking for a lower-cost alternative to ChurchStaq/CCB
- You want simple onboarding and a system your team can start using quickly
- You need features like appointments, forms, multi-language support with minimal setup
What is Church Community Builder?
Church Community Builder is a long-standing church management system and has been recently acquired by PushPay and is now known as ChurchStaq, though many churches still refer to it as CCB. It provides a wide range of features, historically chosen by churches with complex administrative needs.
Church Community Builder may be for you if:
- You have complex administrative or operational workflows that require an extensive feature set.
- You need specific tools like facility management, sacrament tracking, or text giving.
- Your team prefers a feature-rich system with customizable workflows.
Ease Of Use Comparison
ChMeetings Ease Of Use Review
Chmeetings is designed to serve a wide range of church software users, including administrators, pastoral leaders, volunteers, and members, focusing on modern design and ease of use. Let’s see how people in your church may find working with ChMeetings:
- Church administrators benefit from comprehensive tools for managing members, events, donations, and communication, all in one platform. The user-friendly interface and comprehensive help center make it easy to start quickly with minimal training.
- Pastoral and ministry leaders can use Chmeetings to track engagement, attendance, and group activities, with structured reports, lists, and communication tools designed for clarity and efficiency.
- Volunteers and event organizers can smoothly manage schedules, organize events, and coordinate activities, with clearly organized features that support efficient planning.
- Church members can use the platform to stay connected, and register for events, submit forms, browse content, volunteer, give, and more. These functions are accessible through both desktop and mobile devices.
Overall, Chmeetings is designed to be used by everyone in your church. Its modern interface is optimized for simplicity and efficiency, to allow people in every role to benefit from using it. The intuitive user interface, comprehensive help center, and highly responsive support team enhance effectiveness and reduce the need for training when first getting started.
Church Community Builder Ease Of Use Review
Church Community Builder caters to a variety of software users within a church setting, each with specific needs. Here are a few use cases you may consider:
- Church administrators benefit from comprehensive tools for managing members, events, donations, and reporting, though some aspects may require some setup and training.
- Pastoral and ministry leaders can manage engagement, follow-ups and small groups through dedicated workflow tools.
- Volunteer coordinators and event planners may find it useful for scheduling and organizing church events and volunteers.
- Church members can manage communication, attendance, and participation, with features accessible through mobile apps.
Overall, Church Community Builder provides an extensive feature set, which may involve a more structured learning process for administrative roles. Training and onboarding resources are available to support implementation.
Value For Money
ChMeetings Value Overview
ChMeetings offers high value for money in several key ways that make it a strong choice for church management:
- 1. Pricing structure: ChMeetings offers tiered pricing plans designed to scale based on church size and feature needs. A free plan is available, and paid tiers adjust based on member count and selected features. This allows churches to align costs with operational requirements.
- 2. Feature coverage : ChMeetings includes member management, event scheduling, attendance tracking, donation management, and communication tools within a single platform. This reduces the need to use multiple systems for core administrative tasks.
- 3. User-friendly interface: ChMeetings is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, reducing the time and resources needed for training. Churches can get started quickly, maximizing benefits without extensive technical support.
- 4. Accessible: ChMeetings is cloud-based and accessible via desktop and mobile devices, removing the need for on-premise infrastructure. This flexibility is valuable, particularly for remote servants or volunteers, and eliminates the need for costly on-premise hardware or software maintenance.
- 5. Product updates and support: Ongoing product updates and support resources are available to assist churches during implementation and long-term use. This active improvement cycle ensures churches always get the most out of their investment with us.
Overall, ChMeetings combines affordability, rich functionality, and ease of use, making it a high-value solution for churches looking to manage their operations efficiently while optimizing costs without missing out on growth opportunities.
Church Community Builder Value Overview
Church Community Builder structures its pricing and feature ecosystem to support churches with varied operational requirements.
- 1. Feature Coverage : Church Community Builder includes tools for member management, group coordination, volunteer scheduling, event planning, donation tracking, and communication. The platform integrates with Pushpay’s giving and engagement tools, consolidating financial and community management functions within the same ecosystem.
- 2. Scalability Model: Church Community Builder provides configuration options intended to accommodate churches with evolving operational structures. This flexibility ensures that churches get the right level of service for their current needs, and they can continue using the software even as their community expands.
In summary, Church Community Builder combines feature depth and ecosystem integration within the Pushpay platform.
Features Comparison
Let’s start our comparison with an overview of the features provided by Church Community Builder and ChMeetings. Just note that, with both solutions, The table below summarizes core features. Availability may vary depending on the selected plan. If a feature is available with a higher-price plan, but not a lower-price plan, we still list it as Included.
| Feature | ChMeetings | Church Community Builder |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile App | ||
| Member Management | ||
| Custom Profile Fields | ||
| Groups | ||
| Mass Email | ||
| Mass Texting | Extra Cost | Not Publicly Listed |
| Event Management | ||
| Check-In | ||
| Service Planning | ||
| Volunteer Scheduling | ||
| Member Portal | ||
| Web Page Builder | ||
| Website Integration | ||
| Follow-Ups | ||
| Appointments | ||
| Digitally Signed Forms | ||
| Online Giving | ||
| Online Giving Fees |
Yes Paid to payment gateway (PayPal or Stripe), not to ChMeetings |
Yes Paid to CCB/PushPay |
| Giving History | Unlimited | 7 Years |
| Text Giving | No (Coming Soon) | |
| Pledges | ||
| Sacrament Tracking | ||
| Accounting | ||
| Facility Management | ||
| Reports | ||
| Integrations | ||
| Branded App With Media Library |
$50/Month $500/Year |
Included With Plan |
| Diocese Plan | ||
| Multilingual |
Yes - 24 Languages |
English and Giving in Spanish |
Feature Offered By Both Platforms
Both ChMeetings and Church Community Builder include core tools required for church administration. Both platforms support member management, event organization, volunteer coordination, communication tools, follow-ups, pledge campaigns, giving collection, and mobile access for servants and members.
Both platforms also offer a Diocese plan, as well as the option to create a branded mobile app. Church Community Builder includes a branded app within certain plans, though detailed pricing information is not publicly listed. ChMeetings provides this as an additional service, charged at $50/month or $500/year. Churches may evaluate whether a branded mobile app aligns with their current communication and engagement strategy before selecting this option.
Feature Offered By ChMeetings And Not Church Community Builder
The following features are available in ChMeetings and not currently listed within Church Community Builder: :
- Member Portal: Provides members with personal accounts where they can access published content, manage profiles, register for events, volunteer, and review giving history.
- Appointments: You can schedule appointments between people in your church - be they servants or members. Users can schedule and manage appointments directly through their accounts.
- Digitally Signed Forms: Enables creation of forms that can be signed electronically for administrative processes.
- Giving history: ChMeetings does not apply a predefined historical limit, while Pushpay products reference a 7-year data retention window.
- Multiple Languages: ChMeetings offers over 24 languages. Church Community Builder provides an English interface, with giving available in Spanish.
Feature Offered By Church Community Builder And Not ChMeetings
The following features are currently associated with Church Community Builder and not listed within ChMeetings:
- Facility Management: This may be relevant for churches managing multiple facilities or complex space scheduling requirements.
- Sacrament Tracking: This feature lets you track a member’s sacrament journey. It may be important to consider this feature if sacrament tracking is already an established practice in your church. In ChMeetings, sacrament-related information may be recorded within member profile.
- Text Giving: This feature is useful if your members are more accustomed to using text for giving. In ChMeetings, giving is easy to track, both online and in person.
What Else Distinguishes ChMeetings From Church Community Builder?
Transparent Pricing And Fees
ChMeetings publishes detailed pricing information, including costs related to text messaging and payment processing, within its pricing page and documentation. The Diocese plan is customized based on organizational requirements and is therefore not publicly listed.
Free Move-In
ChMeetings offers data migration assistance at no additional cost for churches subscribing to a paid plan.
Free Trial
Access to Church Community Builder typically involves contacting their sales team prior to receiving a product walkthrough or evaluation access.
ChMeetings provides a 30-day free trial with immediate access, allowing churches to explore the platform independently. Demo data and guided resources are available during the trial period. After the trial, users may continue on a free plan or select a paid subscription.
Free Cancellation, Anytime
Church Community Builder’s cancellation terms may include advance notice requirements (90-days). ChMeetings allows subscription cancellation directly within the platform without additional fees.
Both Church Community Builder (now ChurchStaq) and ChMeetings provide tools designed to support church administration and engagement. The differences outlined above relate primarily to pricing structure, feature availability, onboarding approach, and ecosystem integration. Churches may evaluate which model aligns best with their operational priorities. ChMeetings offers a free trial for those who wish to explore the platform directly.
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ChMeetings vs. Church Community Builder (CCB) FAQ
Why is ChMeetings a better fit for large churches than Church Community Builder (CCB)?
ChMeetings is built to scale with you, whether you’re managing a church of 100 or 100,000 members. Unlike CCB, which often requires extensive onboarding and high-cost custom setups, ChMeetings provides a streamlined experience with robust features, enterprise-level tools, and world-class customer support—all at a fraction of the cost. Large churches and dioceses especially value ChMeetings for its dedicated Diocese feature, which offers centralized oversight across multiple churches.
How does ChMeetings compare to CCB in terms of pricing for large congregations?
ChMeetings is significantly more transparent and affordable. While CCB requires a custom quote that can reach thousands of dollars per year for large churches, ChMeetings offers straightforward, per-member pricing with no mandatory contracts and no hidden fees. Many large churches save over 50% annually after switching from CCB to ChMeetings without sacrificing quality or functionality.
Is ChMeetings easier to use than Church Community Builder for church staff and volunteers?
Absolutely. ChMeetings is praised for its clean interface and intuitive workflows that require minimal training even for volunteers or part-time staff. In contrast, CCB often requires in-depth training and can overwhelm new users with its complexity. With ChMeetings, administrators, pastors, and team members can easily manage events, follow up with members, track giving, and communicate, all in just a few clicks.
Does ChMeetings provide a custom church mobile app like CCB?
Yes and with added flexibility. ChMeetings offers a standard mobile app that’s fully equipped for admins, pastors, volunteers, members, and even guests to engage with church life on the go. Additionally, ChMeetings offer a custom church app as an optional service, unlike CCB which bundles it into expensive plans. With ChMeetings, leaders can manage everything including attendance, events, and donations directly from their phone.
Can ChMeetings handle multi-campus or multi-ministry setups like CCB?
Yes, ChMeetings was built for growth. Whether you’re managing a main campus and satellite churches, or organizing ministries and departments across different teams, ChMeetings supports flexible structures with permissions, roles, and filters that scale with your church’s complexity. For large churches and dioceses, our dedicated Diocese feature offers centralized oversight across multiple campuses, making it easy to manage data, roles, and communications across your entire network. Many churches moving from CCB to ChMeetings appreciate the simplified multi-campus management without the usual tech overhead.
How easy is it to switch from CCB to ChMeetings?
Switching from Church Community Builder to ChMeetings is fast, simple, and completely free. Our team handles your data migration, including members, attendance, giving, and groups at no cost. There’s no downtime, and you’ll get personalized support throughout the transition. Many churches report being fully up and running on ChMeetings within just a few days, compared to weeks or months with CCB.
How much does ChMeetings charge in donation processing fees?
The only fees applied are the standard, low processing fees from Stripe (or your chosen payment provider). For example:
U.S. and Canada Stripe fees:
- Credit & debit cards: 2% + $0.30 per transaction
- ACH (U.S. only): 8%, capped at $5 per transaction
These fees are paid directly to Stripe, not ChMeetings. Unlike some platforms that add service charges or hidden fees, ChMeetings does not charge any extra fees on your donations, you keep 100% of what’s given.
ChMeetings keeps giving transparent and affordable. You can also choose your preferred payment processor for added flexibility.