Frequently asked questions about ChiesApp
Short answers to what churches ask us before they sign up: what ChiesApp does, what the free plan covers, where your members’ data lives, and what the software deliberately does not do. If your question is not here, write to us and a person answers.
What ChiesApp is
ChiesApp is church management software: one place for the people, the rotas, the attendance, the events and the money of a church. It runs in the browser, so there is nothing to install and nothing to keep updated.
It is built in Europe, under European privacy rules, by people who use it in their own church every week. It fits evangelical and free churches of any tradition, Pentecostal, Baptist or independent, and one account can hold more than one church, with a switcher at the top.
What you can do with it
- Keep people and families in one searchable register, with custom fields, labels, saved views and guided duplicate merge.
- Build volunteer rotas: the scheduler drafts them by spreading the load across the team and flags clashes. Only organisers see the draft. Publish in one click and each volunteer sees their shift when they log in. Export to PDF or iCal.
- Take attendance at services by category, with a heatmap, year-on-year comparison and new-visitor tracking.
- Run events and a shared calendar, with two-way Google Calendar sync.
- Open registrations for an event with tiers, add-ons and discount codes, send the ticket as a PDF and check people in with the phone camera at the door.
- Track and plan church finances: income and expenses (tithes and offerings included), recurring costs, project budgets and reports.
- Build forms, send push messages and publish public pages for the community.
- Volunteers install nothing and remember no password: the rota reaches them as a PDF or an iCal feed. Churches on the Ministry plan can also give them a member Space, opened from a link.
Plans and pricing
- Free up to 30 contacts, no credit card. Every person you add counts.
- Above that, the price follows the number of members, and each plan includes a number of admins with login — one on Free: Starter (80 members, 5 admins), then Ministry, Growth and Network. Annual billing is 20% cheaper.
- Starter adds capacity, not modules.
- Two areas are paid, and both open on the Ministry plan: Communication (member spaces, public pages, forms, lists and segments) and Resources (church finances, projects, reports and the café till).
- Everything else is in every plan, the free one included: people, families, attendance, labels, teams and ministries, rotas, events, activities, rooms, calendar and analytics.
- Event registrations come with the Ministry plan: 300 sign-ups a month, unlimited from Growth up.
- Churches joining now during the beta keep a lower price for good (the Pioneer programme). No lock-in either: export your data and close the account whenever you want, with no penalty.
What ChiesApp does NOT do (on purpose)
- It does not process online payments or donations. The Finances module tracks and plans church money, it never collects it, which keeps your financial data outside the PCI and PSD2 scope.
- It does not take event fees either. The church lists its own methods (bank transfer, PayPal, cash at the door), the person signing up declares they have paid, a staff member confirms it. No money passes through ChiesApp, so there is no commission on registrations and no cut of the ticket price.
- It does not record attendance automatically or biometrically. Someone marks it, by category, in a few seconds. No biometric kiosks, no fingerprints, no face scans.
- It does not sell an "AI" badge. What the software does, it does because someone wrote the rules for it.
Your data
- GDPR-compliant and hosted in the EU. Each church sees only its own data, enforced at database level with row-level security (RLS), and nothing is shared with third parties.
- Enterprise-grade infrastructure (Supabase), with data encrypted in transit and at rest.
- Import what you already have from Excel or CSV. We help with the migration during setup, so you start with the register already filled.
- Export any time: people, attendance, finances and the rest to CSV, and to PDF where it makes sense. A member can also be exported or erased on request. Your data stays yours.
Getting started and support
- You are running in about an hour. After you sign up we get in touch and do the setup together, one to one, in 15 to 30 minutes: we add the first people and you are live.
- The interface has an English translation you can switch on from your profile settings.
- It connects to what you already use, Mailchimp, Brevo, Klaviyo, MailerLite and Google Calendar, instead of asking you to drop it.
- Stuck on something? Email gabriele.martucci@chiesapp.com or call +39 351 691 3928. Pioneer churches get a direct line to us.
Frequently asked questions
What is ChiesApp?
ChiesApp is church management software: one cloud platform for members and families, volunteer rotas, attendance, events, registrations and church finances. It is built in Europe and GDPR-compliant, and it runs in the browser.
Is ChiesApp an alternative to Planning Center or ChurchSuite?
Yes. It covers the same ground, people, ministries, rotas, events, attendance, but it is built in Europe under European privacy rules, priced in euros, and free up to 30 contacts. It does not process giving, which is a deliberate difference.
Is ChiesApp free?
Yes, up to 30 contacts, with no credit card. Larger churches move to a paid plan priced by number of members. Churches joining now during the beta keep a lower price for good through the Pioneer programme.
What do the paid plans add?
Capacity first: Starter raises the limits to 80 members and 5 admins without adding modules. Two areas are paid and both open on the Ministry plan: Communication (member spaces, public pages, forms, lists and segments) and Resources (finances, projects, reports, café till). Everything else, people, attendance, rotas, events, registrations, calendar and analytics, is in every plan including the free one.
How does volunteer scheduling work?
The scheduler drafts a rota by spreading the load across the team, and flags clashes on its own. Only organisers see the draft. When it is ready you publish in one click and each volunteer finds the shift in their Space. You can export the rota to PDF or iCal.
Can I track Sunday attendance?
Yes. Someone records who was there, by category, and the module gives you a heatmap, year-on-year comparison, new-visitor tracking and exports to CSV or PDF. There is no biometric kiosk and no face scanning: attendance is entered by a person.
Does ChiesApp collect donations or online giving?
No, and that is a design decision. The Finances module tracks and plans church money, including tithes and offerings already received, but it never collects it. That keeps your financial data outside the PCI and PSD2 scope.
Are there fees on event registrations?
None. ChiesApp does not take the payment: the church lists its own methods (bank transfer, PayPal, cash at the door), the person signing up declares they have paid, and a staff member confirms it. Because the money never passes through ChiesApp, there is no commission on tickets. Registrations come with the Ministry plan, 300 sign-ups a month and unlimited from Growth up.
Is my church’s data safe?
Yes. ChiesApp is GDPR-compliant and hosted in the EU, on enterprise-grade infrastructure with encryption in transit and at rest. row-level security (RLS) isolates every church at database level, so one church cannot see another’s data, and nothing is shared with third parties.
Can I import my existing data, and get it back out?
Both. Import from Excel or CSV, with help from us during setup, and export people, attendance, finances and the other modules to CSV at any time. You can also export or erase a single member on request.
Do volunteers need to install an app?
No. Everything runs in the browser, and volunteers reach their Space through a link, with nothing to download and no password to remember.
Can I run more than one church from one account?
Yes. ChiesApp supports several communities under one account, and you switch between them from the selector at the top.
Is ChiesApp available in English?
Yes. The interface has an English translation you can switch on from your profile settings, alongside Italian.
How long does it take to get started?
About an hour. After you sign up we get in touch and do the setup together, one to one, in 15 to 30 minutes: we add the first people and the church is live.