It usually starts with something small. The church wants its app to look like the church, and finds the branded version is another monthly fee. Or someone asks at a staff meeting who hasn’t been to a group since Easter, and none of the reports can answer it. That’s often when a team starts wondering what it would take to move.
What One Church Software does well
One Church Software is an all-in-one church management system. People, giving, groups, events, volunteers, check-in, forms and messages sit in one product, so unlike a church running a separate tool for every job, its people already share much of one record. That’s a real strength, and it’s why plenty of churches run well on it.
Its app is included with its plans and, in its own words, “uses a static design template.” A fully branded custom app is $295 a month, with a 12-month commitment.
Why a church might leave anyway
An all-in-one system solves the separate-lists problem. It doesn’t change who owns the platform. The record, the app and the roadmap still belong to the vendor: what the product can do next is its decision, the branded app is a monthly fee rather than something you own, and the questions your leaders want answered are limited to the reports the product was built with.
Moving to a platform you own keeps what’s good about one system, one member record and one place for everything, and changes the ownership. The code, the data and the app are yours; the reports and the weekly view of who needs you are built around your church’s questions.
When to stay
If One Church Software does what your church needs, the template app is enough, and nobody is asking questions the reports can’t answer, stay. A move is a real project, and it should solve a real problem. We’ll say the same thing on a call.
Planning the move
We plan every build in the same four phases: Discover, Design, Build, Launch and grow. The Planning Center guide goes through them in detail; here’s what matters most when you’re leaving an all-in-one system.
Discover. Start by asking One Church Software what you can export and in what format, and get a full export before you commit to anything. Then list everything it holds, what you actually use, and how far back you need it. Map your member journey too, from first visit to serving; it’s what the new platform will be built to show you. There’s a guide to that in how to map your member journey.
Design. Design how each person is stored first, households and relationships included, because it’s the hardest thing to change later. Then permissions: who sees what across groups, campuses, care and finance. Then walk through a real Sunday screen by screen, so nothing is slower than it is today.
Build. Import your real data early, check it with the people who know it best, fix what’s wrong, and do it again. Coming from one system rather than several makes matching people simpler, but expect some records to need a human to look at them. During import, the built-in assistant maps your spreadsheet columns and finds likely duplicates, and nothing is merged until a person says so. Build time depends on scope: 16–36 weeks.
Launch and grow. Run the new platform alongside One Church Software until your team trusts it. Switch in an order that protects Sundays: people and groups first, then events and volunteers, then check-in, and giving last. Tell your congregation about the new app early.
An all-in-one system already keeps everyone in one place. Owning the platform means that place, and everything built on it, stays with your church.
Giving needs the most care
Stored card details belong to the payment processor, not to One Church Software or to us, so whether recurring gifts can move without donors setting them up again depends on the processors on both sides. Ask both, in writing, before you set a date. And decide early how the year you switch will appear on donors’ giving statements, so every donor still gets one accurate statement.
What it costs
A Foundation build is $28,000–$38,000, and a Community build, which includes giving, check-in and attendance, and volunteer scheduling, is $45,000–$65,000. Your own iOS and Android app starts at $75,000. After launch you pay hosting to your own cloud provider, $200–$800 a month, and no platform fees. Whether that works out cheaper than staying depends on your plan and what you’d add to it; the calculator runs it with your numbers.
The checklist
- 1Ask One Church Software what you can export, in what format, and get a full export before you commit
- 2List what the system holds: people and households, groups, giving, check-in, events, volunteers, forms, messages
- 3Decide what history you need to migrate and what can stay in an archive
- 4Ask both payment processors, in writing, how recurring gifts move
- 5Decide how the year you switch will appear on donors’ giving statements
- 6Run a full test import with your real data, more than once
- 7Run the new platform alongside the old one until your team trusts it
- 8Switch check-in on an ordinary Sunday, never a major one
- 9Tell your congregation about the new app before launch week
- 10Keep your One Church Software account until nothing is missing
If you’re on One Church Software and thinking about a platform you own, bring what you use today to a call. We’ve made this move before, and we’ll tell you straight whether it’s worth making now.
- The full migration guide, phase by phase →
- One member record: what changes →
- What a church platform includes →
- Book a 30-minute call →
One Church Software’s app details and pricing are from its own site, checked September 2026.