Accounting Software for Churches: What Differs, and Six Options Compared
Churches do not file Form 990, and clergy payroll follows its own rules. Six church accounting options compared, with September 2026 prices.
By industry
A trade's books differ in a few specific ways: a fund to track, a trust account to reconcile, a job to cost. Each guide starts there, then says which products respect it.
Requirements are cited to the IRS, the standard-setter or the state regulator that sets them. Prices are the vendors' own list prices, dated. For the field by size of business rather than by trade, see accounting software.
Churches do not file Form 990, and clergy payroll follows its own rules. Six church accounting options compared, with September 2026 prices.
Nine construction products judged on job costing, progress billing, retainage and certified payroll, with September 2026 prices where vendors publish them.
Wave at $0, QuickBooks Solopreneur Lite at $20 and FreshBooks Lite at $23, plus the 2026 mileage rates and the real 1099-K threshold.
Trust accounting decides this purchase. Which tier of Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, CosmoLex and LeanLaw actually delivers it, with prices.
Fund accounting from $79 a month, or QuickBooks Online at $80 a year through TechSoup. What each one gives up, and how to choose.
Schedule E wants per-property books and property managers answer to state trust rules. What Stessa, Baselane, Buildium and DoorLoop each cover.
Restaurant365, MarginEdge and QuickBooks or Xero plus a POS, judged on tip reporting, prime cost and the integration that decides the whole stack.
Puzzle at $30, Digits at $65 and QuickBooks Advanced at $340: which startup ledger keeps accrual books, deferred revenue and runway in one place.
Which manufacturing ERP fits, judged on bills of material, MRP, work orders, costing and traceability, and on what each vendor publishes about price.
Only two of these systems publish a price. What an ERP adds over accounting software, the triggers that justify one, and who each system fits.