Breeze vs Planning Center: 2026 Comparison
Breeze and Planning Center are two of the most popular church management platforms — but they are built for very different churches. Breeze is simple, flat-rate, and easy to learn. Planning Center is modular, feature-rich, and built for scale. Here is an honest side-by-side to help you decide — plus a third option most churches evaluating these two haven't considered.
How pricing compares
The biggest difference is the pricing model — flat rate vs. per module.
Breeze is dramatically simpler to budget for. Planning Center's flexibility comes at a cost — literally. For churches focused on visitor retention specifically, Passport starts at $9.95/month.
Feature comparison
How the three platforms compare across what churches actually need.
| Feature | Breeze | Planning Center | Passport |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat $72/mo | Per module | Flat $9.95–$99/mo |
| Typical all-in cost | $72–$119/mo | $100–$300+/mo | $9.95–$99/mo |
| People / member database | |||
| Online giving | Module ($) | Via Stripe | |
| Worship / service planning | Basic | ||
| Volunteer scheduling | Module ($) | ||
| Check-in | Module ($) | ||
| Small groups | Module ($) | ||
| Consumer mobile app | Tithely bundle $119 | ||
| Visitor retention focus | — | — | |
| Newcomer journey / milestones | — | — | |
| Engagement scoring | — | — | |
| Gift cards for first-time guests | — | — | |
| Visitor follow-up automation | — | Manual workflows | |
| Ease of setup | Minutes | Days to weeks | Under 1 hour |
Which tool is right for your church?
The right choice depends on your church's size, budget, and biggest challenge.
Choose Breeze if…
You're a small to mid-size church that values simplicity above all else. You want one flat price, one product, and something your volunteer admin can learn in an afternoon. Breeze covers people management, giving, attendance, and volunteer scheduling without the complexity of a modular system. It's the best choice for churches that want organized operations without enterprise overhead.
Choose Planning Center if…
You're a larger church with dedicated staff for worship, admin, and volunteer coordination. Planning Center's Services module is best-in-class for worship planning. Church Center is a polished member app. The modular approach means you can scale each function independently. If your budget supports $150–$300+/month and you have the admin capacity to configure multiple products, Planning Center offers the deepest feature set available.
Consider Passport if…
Your biggest challenge isn't operations — it's that first-time visitors don't come back. Neither Breeze nor Planning Center was built to solve visitor retention. Passport was. Structured newcomer journeys, automated follow-up, engagement scoring, and gift card incentives — starting at $9.95/month. Many churches pair Passport with Breeze (native integration) for a complete stack at a fraction of Planning Center's cost.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions from churches comparing Breeze and Planning Center.
Breeze is significantly cheaper for most churches. Breeze costs $72/month flat with all features included. Planning Center starts free but most churches pay $100–$300+ per month once they add Check-Ins, Giving, Services, and Groups modules. For churches on very tight budgets, Passport starts at just $9.95/month for visitor retention specifically.
Breeze is widely recognized as easier to set up and learn. It is a single product with a consistent interface. Planning Center is a collection of interconnected modules, each with its own settings and logic. Reviews consistently mention Planning Center's learning curve as a friction point for smaller teams.
Neither platform was built for visitor retention. Breeze can flag first-time visitors at check-in but has no automated follow-up. Planning Center offers People workflows that can trigger follow-up tasks, but they require manual setup and maintenance. For churches where visitor retention is the primary challenge, Passport is purpose-built for that problem and integrates natively with Breeze.
It is possible but uncommon. Most churches choose one as their primary ChMS. A more common combination is Breeze (for member records, giving, and basic operations) paired with Passport (for visitor retention and newcomer engagement), since Passport has a native Breeze integration.
Breeze was acquired by Tithely and is being integrated into the Tithely ecosystem. The Breeze blog now redirects to Tithely. The product remains available, and Tithely offers an All-Access bundle at $119/month. The long-term product roadmap is evolving under Tithely's direction.
The option most churches miss
Breeze and Planning Center are strong operational tools. But if your real challenge is visitor retention — keeping the people who walk through the door — neither one was built for that. Passport was. Try it free and see the difference.
Or read the full breakdown: Breeze vs Planning Center vs Passport blog post →
See also: Passport vs Planning Center → · Passport vs Breeze →