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Religion · head to head

Church Alive vs Elvanto

C

Church Alive

Religion

Church management and event software

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Elvanto logo

Elvanto

Religion

Church management with strong volunteer rostering, now owned by Tithe.ly

From
$72/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • They diverge on capability: Church Alive covers Member Management, Elvanto covers Volunteer rostering.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Church Alive and Elvanto actually diverge.

Attributes where Church Alive and Elvanto differ
AttributeChurch AliveElvanto
Starting priceOn request$72/month
Pricing modelsubscriptionPer month by plan
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb, iOS, Android
Founded2006Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Religion).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Church Alive

  • Member Management
  • Event Planning
  • Group Coordination
  • Volunteer Scheduling
  • Email Integration
  • Calendar Systems
  • Payment Processing
  • Giving Integration

Only in Elvanto

  • Volunteer rostering
  • Service planning
  • People and groups
  • Child check-in
  • Online giving
  • Forms and event registration
  • Multi-site support
  • Church website and app

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Church Alive

  • Member managementnot Elvanto
  • Donation trackingnot Elvanto
  • Event planningnot Elvanto
  • Volunteer schedulingnot Elvanto
  • Communicationnot Elvanto

Elvanto

  • A multi-site church rostering several hundred volunteers across campuses where double-booking is a weekly problemnot Church Alive
  • A church outside the United States wanting a management system that was not designed solely around American church practicenot Church Alive
  • A congregation replacing spreadsheets for service planning, song rotation and CCLI reportingnot Church Alive
  • A church that wants management and online giving on one invoice rather than integrating two vendorsnot Church Alive

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Church Alive

Nothing recorded yet. See the Church Alive review.

Elvanto

  • Tithe.ly owns both Elvanto and Breeze, two overlapping church management systems, and has directed most recent product investment towards Breeze and giving, so Elvanto buyers are betting on a product that is maintained rather than actively advanced.
  • The advertised monthly price excludes card processing on donations, which for a church taking most giving online is the larger of the two costs and is set by the payment provider, not the licence.
  • The interface is functional but dated relative to Planning Center, and volunteer-facing screens draw complaints from occasional users who only log in to accept a roster.
  • Reporting is adequate for attendance and giving summaries but weak for pastoral care analysis and cohort tracking, so larger churches export to spreadsheets.
  • Support is documentation-and-ticket based with no phone line on the standard plan, which is difficult for a volunteer administrator troubleshooting check-in on a Sunday morning.

Pricing, plan by plan

Church Alive

On request
  • Basic$49/month
    • Core management
    • Up to 200 members
  • Professional$149/month
    • All features
    • Unlimited members
    • Advanced reporting

Elvanto

$72/month
  • Church Management + Giving$72/month
    • Full church management modules
    • Volunteer rostering and service planning
    • Child check-in
  • Church Management + Giving + Custom App$119/month
    • Everything in the base plan
    • Branded church mobile app
    • Push notifications

Which should you pick?

Choose Church Alive if

  • You need member management.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want event planning.
Church Alive review

Choose Elvanto if

  • You need volunteer rostering.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want service planning.
Elvanto review

Questions people ask

Is Church Alive or Elvanto better?
Neither clearly leads. Church Alive starts at On request and Elvanto at $72/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Church Alive or Elvanto?
Church Alive starts at On request and Elvanto at $72/month.
Does Church Alive or Elvanto run on more platforms?
Church Alive runs on Web, Mobile. Elvanto runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Church Alive best used for?
Church Alive is most often used for member management, donation tracking, event planning, volunteer scheduling. Of those, member management and donation tracking are not what Elvanto is typically brought in for.
What can Church Alive do that Elvanto cannot?
Church Alive covers Member Management, Event Planning, Group Coordination, Volunteer Scheduling. Elvanto covers Volunteer rostering, Service planning, People and groups, Child check-in.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Elvanto: Is Elvanto still being developed?

It is maintained and sold to new customers, but Tithe.ly also owns Breeze and has prioritised that product and its giving tools. Ask the vendor directly what is on the Elvanto roadmap before a multi-year commitment.

Elvanto: What does it really cost?

$72 a month for management plus giving, or $119 with a branded app, plus payment processing on every donation charged by the provider. Budget the processing rate as the main variable cost.

Elvanto: Is it better than Planning Center for rostering?

For availability handling, clash detection and swap requests it is genuinely competitive. Planning Center is stronger on service and worship team workflow and has a larger integration ecosystem.

Elvanto: Can we migrate our data out?

Yes, exports are available, but rebuilding rosters, forms and check-in configuration in a new system is manual work regardless of the export.

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