# Page 14 | Planning Center Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra

> Page 14 - Is Planning Center the right Church Management solution for you? Explore 1137 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice.

Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/76708/Planning-Center/reviews

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Planning Center

4.7 (1137)

Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/)

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Last updated March 13th, 2026

# Page 14 - Reviews of Planning Center

## Showing most helpful reviews

Showing 326-350 of 1137 Reviews

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Most Helpful

Rating

Company Size

Reviewer's Role

Length of Use

Frequency of Use

JA

Jacob A.  
Minister  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "One-Stop for Church Management Software"

March 13, 2019

5.0

Planning Center has made organization/administration of church volunteers a breeze!

Pros

I love the music organization side of PCO, with Services and Music Stand. The timing functions in Services allow us to stay on schedule. The People and Groups app lets us manage our members and track attendance. All products have worked extremely well.

Cons

Would like the ability to stream church services live through the Church Center app.

Review Source

Response from Planning Center

March 14, 2019

Hi Jacob, Thanks for writing an honest review of us. The best way to communicate what you would like to see in the future is by sending in a feature request to our support team. If you haven't already, would you mind emailing us at support@planning.center in order to tell us more about streaming on Church Center? Thanks!

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Senior Consultant  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 6-12 months

### "Great for Complex Church Scheduling of Volunteers and Church Service"

November 14, 2018

5.0

Pros

The church that I attend has recently implemented the Planning Center software and it has been amazing. I like the functionality of emailing the volunteers their scheduled assignments and sending out reminders. It also allows the schedulers to see the availability of various volunteer's schedules so that people aren't accidently getting double booked (which has happened on several occasions in the past). It also allows the volunteers to decline in advance an assignment if there is a conflict (scheduled vacation, etc.) so that the assignment can be filled by another way in advance and alleviate last minute problems.

Cons

I only have had a short exposure to the program as it has been only implemented earlier this year, but I do not see any cons associated with it. It has been a "life-saver" in terms of scheduling church volunteers and not accidently overextending them. I would highly recommend Planning Center.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Project Manager  
Media Production  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "The Gold Standard in Church Service Planning"

January 1, 2019

5.0

I've been a Planning Center user for about 8 years at a few different churches.

Pros

Planning Center changed the worship planning game. I've served on a variety of worship teams over the past 20 years, and I don't know how we all stayed on the same page before PCO was around. Having setlists, service flow, audio files, chord charts, lyrics, media files, etc all in one place where everyone can see it is so beneficial, and makes rehearsals and prep go so much smoother. (And that's just ONE of Planning Center's world class tools)

Cons

Searching is sometimes a little clunky. I don't do admin stuff very often, but it's not always intuitive.

Review Source

Gregory M.  
Attorney  
Law Practice  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Planning Center is fantastic for this worship team member"

January 31, 2020

4.0

My experience has been wonderful. I look forward to receiving notifications and find the product very useful.

Pros

I love that Planning Center is loaded with features. I can see the set list we will be using for our worship service, listen to the songs, and be fully prepared prior to rehearsal. I also love the ability to block out times that I will be unavailable.

Cons

The ease of use is not the greatest, however, once you understand the tabs/icons, it becomes much easier to use.

Review Source

Response from Planning Center

February 3, 2020

Hi Gregory! Thank you so much for the review! If you ever have trouble navigating through any of our apps, feel free to contact our Support Team. We'd love to help you through any issues! Have a blessed day!

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Co-Founder and COO  
  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "The best way to organize a service"

April 23, 2018

5.0

The best way to manage service programming!

Pros

Planning Center is the industry standard in service programming. It helps to streamline communication between our programming team and the many contractors and volunteers that are needed for the weekly services across our campuses. You will get more value out of it as you put more time into the content and detail offered to your team.

Cons

The audio player doesn't operate consistently. It can take a long time to load or it can time out or it can shut down or it can work flawlessly. There are so many features available that the layout can be tough to navigate on mobile devices.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Choir Manager  
  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Wonderful ChMS to use in Church"

February 26, 2018

5.0

Easy to use people database

Pros

Super easy to use and a great suite of apps to meet each ministry need. Having everything synced up, and cloud based is very helpful

Cons

It is lacking some features of that the larger ChMS solutions offer but for the price you really can't beat it.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Worship Leader  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "What do worship services use other than Planning Center?"

August 21, 2019

5.0

Pros

This has been the standard of production for our church. Don't know what we would have used before. Has past music, a multitude of keys, and the ability to find all respective musicians.

Cons

Don't how we have been able to do modern worship productions with it.

Review Source

lU

lauren U.  
Minister  
Non-Profit Organization Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Planning Center "

July 20, 2022

5.0

Pros

The most impactful part of this software is the communication to members and the ability to organize and manage volunteers.

Cons

I don’t think I can think of anything that needs improvement.

Review Source

HJ

Heather J.  
Children's Pastor  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "I work in Planning Center daily. It's easy to navigate and train others on. "

April 23, 2018

5.0

Easy scheduling of volunteers. An easy way to communicate with everyone on your team. Love the temples for our teams that rotate.

Pros

I love that it's user-friendly and that there are so many training resources. If you can't figure it out on your own you can just jump over to a training video or click on the help questions and usually get the info you need. The customer service is also amazing! We've had to reach out a few times with issues we didn't know how to fix and they jumped right on it.

Cons

I'd say my biggest hurdle is making sure my leaders know how to use it. Because I started as an Admin I never saw what it's like from a "volunteer" standpoint so sometimes I don't know how to answer volunteer's questions or know how to direct them. I've had others log on for me so I could see their account and then walk them through their questions from their.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Customer Success Analyst  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Planning center makes it easy. "

July 22, 2018

4.0

Pros

Coordinating with our band and production crew is easy with the app. Everyone is able to find all the information in a single place.

Cons

Occasionally emails and such will arrive late or not as intended. Also the sync to Google calendar is not reliable.

Review Source

Zachary D.  
Sales Support Specialist  
Telecommunications  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Planning Center"

May 12, 2019

5.0

Pros

Makes it easy to get the whole team on one page, literally, because we are all looking at the same documents. We use the "Music Stand" extension on the praise team at my church and it is very convenient for sharing chord charts and the like.

Cons

Can be a little bit clunky when you are first learning your way around; the zoom feature on the music attachments could use some refining.

Review Source

Response from Planning Center

May 24, 2019

Hi Zachary! Thank you for your kind words and honest review! We are always happy to hear feedback on our apps. If you have any suggestions on zooming we'd be happy to add as a Feature Request. You can submit any suggestion by emailing our support at support@planningcenter

SC

Steve C.  
Executive Pastor  
  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "A one stop shop for church management software. Was very helpful for us to streamline our systems. "

June 8, 2018

4.0

Pros

Very user friendly. Volunteers are able to intuitively use it without a need for training. Works together to give more detail about each user. It's mobile friendly and has various apps across platforms. Very affordable.

Cons

They do lack some more complex reporting features. We've also had issues with the registration module not being very simple for the end user. We've also had issues with registration lacking some basic functionality you would expect it to have.

Review Source

Response from Planning Center

June 11, 2018

Hi Steve, Thanks for your review. Could you please follow up with us and let us know which reporting features are missing for you? We'd also like to hear about which Registrations features were more difficult for people who were signing up. Registrations has just had some significant updates made to it, so it's possible those issues were addressed in the update. You can email support@planning.center with that information. Reagan Helms Support Team Lead

MB

Matt B.  
Executive Pastor  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Planning Center is a major time-saver!"

October 13, 2016

5.0

I began using PCO 10 years ago when I stepped into a worship director position, and I didn't want to spend the countless hours it had taken my predecessor to schedule services and people. Planning Center was a huge improvement to the way we were scheduling people, it allowed access to songs, and allowed you to make songs available to worship team members with ease. Since 10 years ago, PCO has expanded in thoughtful and effective ways, we were thrilled when they released a check-in module, that was so much less expensive than any of the competition, and it worked great with our kids ministry. Planning Center has so many various customization options, you could spend hours trying to figure out how you should use it. It's imperative that you set it up in a way that is effective for your own work processes. The Help videos are extremely helpful in learning about all the new features of PCO, and their customer service is excellent as well. I have had quick responses each time I have run into a problem with anything (which is infrequent now). Overall, I highly recommend Planning Center to anyone, and if you aren't using it, I think you're missing out on an effective, cost effective and time-saving product that will allow you to focus on the more important aspects of ministry, like your people!

Pros

Ease of use and intuitiveness

Cons

No major cons, but there are so many options now you need to be intentional in how you set up and schedule your people.

Review Source

Dan H.  
Teacher  
  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Planning Center is a great way to organize future events and notify participants."

April 10, 2018

5.0

Pros

I love the email notification system. When I receive a notice that I am being requested to serve, I can use a button link in the email to confirm or deny without entering the Planning Center system. You can even go in ahead of time and block out dates that you know you will be unavailable. The interface is simple enough for a casual user to use. You can even have several people in one login.

Cons

I'm not sure about the cost of Planning Center, but I believe it is very reasonable. Our organization uses it and it has never been on the chopping block of budget cuts. We use it every week.

Review Source

AS

Aaron S.  
Admin Assistant  
Hospital & Health Care  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Planning Center Will Power You to Victory"

June 15, 2023

5.0

It's been great overall.

Pros

I have used Planning Center in the past with my church. It's been a helpful database useful with church information. It's helped me do my job more effectively as a church staff member. I would recommend it.

Cons

Some of the features may be daunting at first if you're not familiar with it. It may take some time to get used to it.

Review Source

Response from Planning Center

June 19, 2023

Thanks for your kind words! We love partnering with and empowering churches so they can focus on ministry!

TW

Tim W.  
Bus/Tech Admin  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Great for organizing service on Sunday"

October 6, 2020

5.0

We have used for over 2 years and has worked great. We are a 2 campus church with live feeds and approx. 20 tech and worship volunteers each Sunday. This program works great even in a multi-campus environment.

Pros

This is a great product for keeping everyone informed and letting them know what they need to do. It also allow you to add extra information such as video or music needed for service. Great for multi-locations

Cons

There is a learning curve and for small churches this would probably be more work than needed. It does take some time each week on the admin side to keep up and it best if everyone involves has a email to receive information from planning center.

Review Source

SL

Sarah L.  
Bookkeeper  
Construction  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Church backbone"

March 11, 2022

5.0

Excellent customer service and a wonderful place to organize a large group of people.

Pros

To me, I like planning center because we have all of our church members stored in here. Basically like a modern church directory. We use this software to organize and plan all of our events.

Cons

Not much complaint here but I would say if anything it could be a little more user friendly for seniors that are trying to register for events.

Review Source

cL

crystal L.  
Worship Administrative Assistant  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Essential for our church!"

July 25, 2019

5.0

Planning Center helps keep our worship team on the same page. When you have nearly 30 vocalists and musicians it's important that all your schedules and preferences are in line. This program makes it easy to keep track of when people are available, and even helps you keep on top of your reporting for CCLI. Excellent for communicating with our team also. We even use it to plan fellowship events.

Pros

Keeping everyone's information and schedule in one place has been super helpful in scheduling our services. Also being able to have YouTube videos linked to all the songs makes it easy for our team to be rehearsing before services.

Cons

Adding in new templates when you want to create events is a little bit of a hassle.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Production & Media Manager  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Planning Center clearly hired a bunch of church staff members who were fed up with subpar software."

June 21, 2018

5.0

Pros

Everything is bundled together so it all just works. Everything is in the cloud and the mobile apps are sweet.

Cons

Sometimes they're a little slow to roll out some features, but it's extremely reliable which is obviously a non-negotiable.

Review Source

CB

Clint B.  
Director of Media & Communications  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "The gold-standard, go-to service planning platform"

August 18, 2019

4.0

Overall, Planning Center has been a great platform to plan services. We've explored using the rest of the modules, but the financials lacked some of the reporting and features our finance team needed to make it the one-stop solution. But the Services portion is great.

Pros

What I like most about Planning Center is how they've expanded into a broader church management system and offers many other entry points for managing your whole church. Specifically what I like most about the Services module is the Music Stand app to use my iPad as my music stand with all the chord charts for any service I'm a part of.

Cons

The thing I like least about Planning Center is the fairly limited number of people you can add to your services teams before you have to upgrade to the next level. It's my opinion that, since the People portion of the ChMS (Church Management Software) is free, then perhaps there should be a different pricing model for Services so that I don't have to keep archiving people in order to add someone new to a service.

Review Source

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Production/ Admin Helper  
Non-Profit Organization Management  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "I use this product all the time- definitely recommend to you!"

April 25, 2019

5.0

Great...basically helps us run our church well. Don't know where we would be if we didn't have Planner to help us every week!

Pros

Use this every week - both on the admin and user sides- to add members, create workflows, update info, as well as keep myself on schedule for team rehearsals/church services on the production side of things (we are busy folks!)

Cons

Sometimes he system will overbook people on scheduling (when they serve in more than one position) and create duplicate files on the admin side, and not indicate this automatically. Would be easier if it would "catch' the mistakes and auto merge for me.

Review Source

BB

Brandon B.  
Lead Pastor  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Simply The Best Church Management Software"

December 22, 2020

5.0

Pros

We use everything Planning Center option and is simply the best and easiest church management software there is. From running reports, to check-ins, to worship team management, to room reservations, to giving...it's by far the most user friendly option there is. We've gone through many other management systems and since switching to Planning Center, we'll never switch again. It's that good!

Cons

It can be a little pricey the higher the tier levels, but for what you get it's well worth the cost!

Review Source

Response from Planning Center

January 5, 2021

Hey Brandon - Thanks so much for the kind words! We're so glad you landed with Planning Center. If you need anything in your transition, definitely let us know!

VR

Verified Reviewer  
Director of Admin Operations  
Computer Software  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Great Software!"

August 16, 2019

5.0

Pros

I use this software to for Church service planning. It's super simple to have all the feedback you need to make sure teams and individuals are in place. I can add songs/time slots with so much ease. It takes all the guess work out of the logistics that no one sees.

Cons

Every so often, the aesthetic can feel kind of bulky. There are a lot of live links on the page of the scheduled day that sort of clog every thing up if you're not used to it. The mobile app is also pretty crowded. When looking at accepted/declined requests, the page is really bulky and not very streamlined.

Review Source

DC

Daniel C.  
Pastor  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 1-2 years

### "Great software for planning worship services"

June 4, 2019

5.0

I really enjoy using PC. It makes planning worship and connecting to church members simple.

Pros

I like that Planning Center's (PC) interface is editable in real-time. It's like a Google Doc in that regard. PC offers a services interface, a people interface (for membership matters), and a giving interface, whereby members can contribute and administrators can track contributions. PC has easy-to-navigate databases for songs and allows users to find archived services and records of song use by date.

Cons

What I like least about this software is that there is a limit on the history of archived services, making it difficult to find services from very long ago. I also wish there was a prayer database and other databases into which you could load prayers, rites, etc., like there is for songs.

Review Source

ST

Stephen T.  
Pastoral Intern  
Religious Institutions  
Used the software for: 2+ years

### "Planning Center Used for Church Services"

November 3, 2021

5.0

Pros

It allows us to compile a lot of information and disseminate it to our members so that we can communicate to them and they can find information when they need it.

Cons

There are times when Planning Center is not consistent in the way it presents itself. For example, sometimes when trying to change a chord sheet to a new key it is really simple, but other times it will not transfer the way it is supposed to.

Review Source

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