A ChurchSuite Alternative for Small UK Churches
ChurchSuite is a UK company and a strong choice for larger churches. It does a lot, and it’s built from modules you add one at a time. If you run a small church, you may only need the core: your people, your giving and your Gift Aid.
Church Member Software does that core in one place. Gift Aid is in every plan, children sit on their family’s record and the data protection paperwork is built in.
Side by side
| Church Member Software | ChurchSuite | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | In pounds, including VAT: £12, £22 or £35 a month for up to 75, 200 or 500 adults. Children are free. | In pounds, priced by the number of modules and active contacts. Gift Aid needs the Giving module. |
| Gift Aid | Included in every plan, with declarations, claims and the 4-year deadline checked for you | Supported in the Giving module, with declarations backdated up to 4 years |
| Small Donations Scheme | Included, with the £8,000 limit and the 10 times rule worked out | Supported, with an allowance tracker |
| Sending a claim to HMRC | Fills in HMRC’s own claim spreadsheet, ready to upload to Charities Online | Sends claims to HMRC directly, or downloads a file in HMRC’s format |
| Children | On the same record as their family, and free | Kept in a separate Children module, with their own fields and tags |
| Givers | A gift belongs to the person who gave it | Separate giver profiles, which can be linked to a contact or left unlinked |
| Data protection requests | Requests tracked against their deadlines, a one-click download of everything about someone, and erasure that keeps what HMRC needs | Right to be forgotten opts the person out of everything and emails your data protection contact. It never deletes automatically. |
| Log retention | You choose how long records of people who’ve left and old emails are kept | Change, login and communication logs are deleted after 3 years, set by ChurchSuite |
ChurchSuite details are from its own website and help centre, checked October 2026. Things change, so check with ChurchSuite too.
When ChurchSuite is the better choice
ChurchSuite has been serving UK churches since 2012, and it covers far more ground than we do. Choose it if you need:
- Gift Aid claims sent straight to HMRC from the software
- room bookings, event tickets or children’s check-in
- rotas where volunteers swap dates with each other
- several sites run from one account
- online giving by card or Direct Debit, or its Tap to Donate app
- member apps for iPhone and Android
Bringing your records across from ChurchSuite
Export your Address Book from ChurchSuite as a spreadsheet and upload it. We match the columns for you and show what will change before anything is saved. Your gifts and Gift Aid declarations come across separately, from ChurchSuite’s Giving reports.
Children live in ChurchSuite’s Children module, so you export them as a second file and import it after the adults, matched to their households.
Questions churches ask
- Is Church Member Software a UK company?
- Yes. It’s built for UK churches, prices are in pounds and Gift Aid is included in every plan.
- Can I bring my Gift Aid declarations from ChurchSuite?
- Yes. Download your declarations and donations from ChurchSuite’s Giving reports and import them. Each declaration keeps its date, so past gifts stay claimable.
- Does Church Member Software send claims to HMRC directly?
- Not yet. It fills in HMRC’s own claim spreadsheet, which you upload to Charities Online in a few minutes.
See it with your own records
Try everything free for 30 days, with no card needed. Import a spreadsheet from your current system and see how your church looks.
Sources
ChurchSuite is a trademark of its owner. We’re not connected with ChurchSuite.