Socio Connect vs Gloo
Gloo helps you reach your people. Socio Connect is where they live.
Gloo is a texting and AI layer that sits on top of your church database. Socio Connect is the place underneath: every person, group, gift and check-in on one record, with messages and the Assistant built on top.
14-day free trial, no card needed · First 25 organizations get 30% off
A fair word first: Gloo does low-cost mass texting well, and its free plan still covers a small church. If that’s all you need and you like your database, stay on it. This page sets the two side by side so you can choose.
Harbor Point Church is an example.
What changes
A layer on top, or the place underneath.
Gloo connects to the database you already run, such as Planning Center or Rock RMS, and adds texting, email, keyword workflows and an AI chat on top. The records, the giving and the check-in stay where they are. Socio Connect is those records: people and households, groups, giving, events, check-in, volunteers, courses and your website, in one platform.
A messaging layer knows who is on a list. It doesn’t know who stopped coming, whose gift stopped, or which first-time guest hasn’t found a group. On one record, the Assistant does, and tells your team who needs them this week.
Texting is part of the plan, from the same Messages screen as email and in-app messages.
When the people, the giving and the messages live in one place, the next text goes to the right person for a reason you can see.
$0
platform fee on giving, dues and tickets
$299
a month on Community, up to 750 active people
14 days
free on Community, no card
Job by job
What each one does, side by side.
What Gloo publishes for each job, as of October 2026, and where the same job lives in Socio Connect.
| The job | Gloo | In Socio Connect |
|---|---|---|
| Texting | Texting with keyword workflows. 500 text credits a month on Free, 5,000 on Gloo+, and Powerpacks of 5,000 more for $75 a month | Send any message as a text from Messages, and replies land in a two-way text inbox. 500 texts a month on Foundation, 2,000 on Community and 5,000 on CompleteFoundation and up |
| Email and in-app messages | Email, with 500 credits a month on Free and 5,000 on Gloo+ | Messages, group chat and announcements to everyone or one groupEvery plan |
| People records | Syncs contacts from your church database: Planning Center, Church Community Builder, Rock RMS, MinistryPlatform, HubSpot, Mailchimp or a CSV file | One record per person and household, with everything they’ve done with youEvery plan |
| Online giving | Not listed on Gloo’s pages | Giving to your own Stripe account, with recurring gifts and year-end statements, and no platform feeCommunity |
| Kids check-in | Not listed on Gloo’s pages | Kids check-in with matching labels and a pickup logCommunity |
| Events and ticketing | Not listed on Gloo’s pages | Events and RSVPs on every plan. Paid tickets on Community, to your own Stripe account with no platform feeEvery planCommunity |
| Your website | No website builder listed | A public website, on your own domain from FoundationEvery plan |
| Member app | No branded member app listed | Members sign in on the web, from any phone or computer. Your own app in the stores is coming on EnterpriseOn the way |
| AI | Ministry Chat, an AI assistant for ministry work, in beta. Ministry Chat Pro is $19 a month per seat | The Assistant: who needs your team this week, a reason for each name, and a note drafted for your team to sendCommunity |
| Sermon content | Content Studio turns a sermon into clips and devotionals, $65 or $100 a month after a 14-day trial | Not something we make. The church pack includes a sermon libraryFoundation and up |
| Surveys and dashboards | Insights: surveys and dashboards | Analytics across every person’s record: attendance, groups, giving and servingCommunity |
Gloo’s side is what its own pages and help center say, as of October 2026; “not listed” means we didn’t find it on Gloo’s pages. Gloo connects to your church database rather than replacing it. Sources are linked at the foot of this page.
Pricing, honestly
Gloo is cheaper for texting alone.
If all you need is texting, Gloo costs less than any Socio Connect plan. The comparison that matters is Gloo plus the church database and giving tool it sits on, against one plan.
Gloo Free
$0
a month, with 500 texts and 500 emails. Cut from 10,000 texts on February 1, 2026.
Gloo Gloo+
$49
a month, or $499.80 a year, with 5,000 texts, 5,000 emails and 3 subaccounts.
Gloo Powerpack
$75
a month for 5,000 more credits. Unused credits don’t roll over; one credit is one text of up to 160 characters to one person.
| Active people | Gloo+ and Planning Center’s five paid products | Socio Connect |
|---|---|---|
| About 300 | About $283/month | Community, $299/month, with 2,000 texts a month |
| About 750 | About $486/month | Community, $299/month, with 2,000 texts a month |
| About 2,000 | About $752/month | Complete, $599/month, with 5,000 texts a month |
An estimate, not a quote. Planning Center is the first database Gloo lists for sync, so we use it as the example, sized the way our Planning Center comparison explains; its People product is free. Gloo+ is $49 a month as of October 2026. Socio Connect’s plan is the one that includes giving, check-in and volunteers. Gloo+ includes 5,000 texts a month; Community includes 2,000, so a church that texts a lot may need Complete or extra texts. Anyone who signed in, gave, checked in or RSVP’d in the last 90 days. Children and people you imported who haven’t done anything don’t count.
Add up yoursAI
A ministry chatbot, or an assistant that knows your people.
Both are AI. They do different jobs.
Gloo
Ministry Chat
- A general AI assistant for ministry work: sermon help, drafts and ideas
- In beta. Ministry Chat Pro is $19 a month per seat
- Content Studio, sold separately, turns a sermon into clips and devotionals
Socio Connect
The Assistant and Ask
- Works from your own records: attendance, groups, giving and serving
- Each week, tells your team who needs them, with a reason for each name
- Drafts the note, and your team decides what’s sent
- Ask answers members’ questions from your own posts, events, groups and courses, with sources
- Included on Community and above, from $299 a month, with no separate AI bill
A general chatbot is useful for writing. It can’t tell you that a family missed three Sundays and their gift stopped, because it doesn’t hold those records. Meet the Assistant.
Gloo and Socio Connect
Your data, line by line.
What each says about the information you put in.
| Compared | Gloo | Socio Connect |
|---|---|---|
| Where your people live | In your church database; Gloo syncs contacts from it | On one record per person in Socio Connect |
| How it’s used | Gloo’s Data Privacy FAQ says information is used “for market research, product development, and marketing” | We don’t sell personal information |
| AI training | See Gloo’s Data Privacy FAQ | What the Assistant reads is never used to train AI models |
| Getting it out | Your records stay in the church database Gloo syncs with | You own everything you add. Export it any time, and we delete it when you leave if you ask |
Moving over
Moving from Gloo.
Your people are probably in a church database already, so the move is mostly about that, and about texting.
- 01
Sign up. Your 14-day Community trial starts the day you sign up.
- 02
Export People from the church database Gloo syncs with, and import the spreadsheet. You check the columns and duplicates before anything is saved.
- 03
If your people live in Planning Center, import its People export. A direct Planning Center import is on the way.
- 04
Switch on texting. Only people who agreed to texts get them, so check consent before your first send. Every text starts with your organization’s name, and STOP opts someone out everywhere.
Should you switch?
Who each is best for.
If you only need low-cost mass texting and you already like your church database, Gloo will cost you less than Socio Connect. Stay on it.
Socio Connect makes sense when you want your people, groups, giving, check-in and website in one place, and the Assistant telling your team who needs them this week.
Gloo
Stay on Gloo if…
- You only need low-cost mass texting
- You already love your church database and want to keep it
- You want sermon-to-content tools, or research from Barna
Socio Connect
Choose Socio Connect if…
- You want one record per person, in place of a database with layers on top
- You want giving with no platform fee, check-in and events in the same place
- You want the Assistant to tell your team who needs them this week
Need something built just for you? We build custom platforms too, from your own app to a program nobody else runs. See custom builds
Gloo facts as of October 2026, from Gloo’s own pages; prices and credits change, so check theirs. Sources: Gloo Workspace · Gloo People and sync · Free plan credits · Gloo+ · Gloo+ credit change · Powerpacks · Ministry Chat Pro · Content Studio · Data Privacy FAQ.
Ready for one platform instead?
Plans from $99 a month, and we never take a cut of your giving. 14-day free trial, no card needed · First 25 organizations get 30% off.
Everything in one place.