Rock RMS is free, open-source and can be shaped into almost anything, if someone can build and host it for you. Passport is hosted for you with guest follow-up ready to switch on, and most churches are live in under 30 minutes.
Rock RMS has no license fee, but hosting, setup and upkeep usually need a developer or a Rock partner; we estimate $100–$300+/month total cost of ownership (July 2026). Passport is hosted and priced flat from $9.95/month, with guest follow-up on Companion at $49/month. Without a developer on staff, Passport is the faster start.
Every competitor price carries the month we last checked it, with a link to where it came from.
Rock RMS is free to license. The running cost is our estimate of hosting plus a partner or developer for setup and upkeep, and it varies widely. Passport prices are monthly list prices.
Rock is the more flexible system by a long way, and it is open source. Passport trades that flexibility for follow-up that works the day you sign up.
| What you need | Rock RMS | Passport |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | Estimated $100–$300+ to runNo license fee; hosting and support estimate as of July 2026 | $9.95–$99/mo, hosted for you |
| Open source, and you can host it yourself | Yes | No |
| Church website builder | Yes | No |
| Custom workflows and reports | YesBuild almost anything | YesCustom forms and workflows, on Plus |
| Hosting and updates | Self-host, or pay a hosting partner | YesHosted and updated for you |
| Skills needed to run it | A developer or Rock partner in most churchesRock is built on .NET | Everyday office software skills |
| Time to start | Weeks to months of setup | Most churches are live in under 30 minutes |
| Automatic texts and emails after a first visit | Possible with custom workflows | YesGuest Journeys, ready on Companion |
| A named person for every first-time guest | Possible with custom workflows | YesCare assignment within 48 hours |
| Check-in and online giving | Yes | YesOn Plus |
| Multiple campuses | Yes | YesUp to 5 campuses, on Pro |
| Works alongside Breeze or Planning Center | No | YesImports and reads attendance from both |
Competitor details come from their public websites. Products change, so check anything that decides your choice with the company itself. Passport details describe what each plan includes today.
The deciding question is usually who will build and look after the system.
There is nothing to install. Most churches are live in under 30 minutes, and your people come across from a CSV file.
Export your people records from Rock RMS as a CSV file.
Import that file into Passport. If you ever leave, every plan exports your data again as CSV.
Publish your Visit page and print your connection card and QR welcome card, so every new guest lands in the Guests hub.
Within 48 hours of a first visit, a named person gets a care assignment, and a Guest Journey sends texts and emails until the guest is connected to a group, class or ministry.
The first few Sundays decide it. In a Lifeway Research survey, 71% of churchgoers who switched churches decided to attend regularly within three visits; only 20% decided after a single visit. Lifeway Research, 2023.
Still deciding? Open the live demo and look around a sample church, or see every plan on the pricing page.
The software is. Rock RMS has no license fee and is supported by donations to the nonprofit Spark Development Network. You still pay to run it: hosting on Rock's own cloud or your own servers, plus a Rock partner or developer for setup and upkeep. We estimate $100–$300+/month total cost of ownership for a mid-size church (as of July 2026). Passport is hosted for you at $9.95–$99/mo.
Yes. Export your people records from Rock RMS as a CSV file and import that file into Passport.
It is if you use Rock for people, groups, classes, check-in, giving and service planning: Passport Plus covers those at $69/month, hosted for you. Passport does not offer a website builder or self-hosting, and it is not open source, so a church that depends on those should stay with Rock.
Guest follow-up is ready on day one. Every first-time guest gets a care assignment for a named person within 48 hours, and Guest Journeys send texts and emails until the guest is connected to a group, class or ministry. Rock can do much of this with custom workflows, which someone on your team has to build and maintain.
No. Passport is hosted for you. Sign up, connect Breeze or Planning Center if you use one, and start capturing guests. Most churches are live in under 30 minutes.
U.S. households that gave to religious congregations gave an average of $2,738 in 2020 (Philanthropy Panel Study, 2020 giving). At that average, one family who stays covers a year of Passport Companion ($588/yr) about 4 times over. You can put in your own church's numbers on the ROI calculator.
Try Companion free for 30 days. Your next first-time guest gets a text on Sunday and a named person to follow up.
