Church Digital

For churches · Comparison

Church Digital vs Nucleus

Nucleus is the closest offer to ours, so this comparison is worth getting right. Nucleus publishes three plans, Essential at $65 a month, Standard at $99 and Complete at $199, each with a 15-day free trial and no long-term contract. On Standard, their team will also design and build your site with no build fee, then hand it to your team to run. The real differences come after that: who keeps the site current, when billing starts, what happens if the launch runs late, and what you keep if you cancel. Nucleus terms on this page are from nucleus.church, checked October 22, 2026.

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Side by side

Church Digital and Nucleus, line by line.

Pricing and terms are taken from each vendor’s publicly listed pages. If anything looks stale, point it out and we’ll update it.

 Church DigitalNucleus
When billing startsOn website plans, your first payment is the day your new site goes live, after you’ve approved it.The $99 Standard subscription starts at design approval for the free makeover ("Approving it starts your subscription"); 15-day free trial on every plan
Launch date in writingOnce we have what we need from you, your new site is live within 14 days, or your first month is on us.About 4 to 6 weeks after design approval, as an estimate; no remedy stated
If you cancelIf you ever go, you keep a complete copy of your site and your content, and we help you move your domain."If you cancel, your website will come down" (makeover page)
Monthly$120–$297/mo, published$65 / $99 / $199 per month (3 plans)
Setup feeNoneNone listed; free makeover on the $99 plan
ContractNo contract — cancel anytimeNo long-term contract; 15-day free trial
Who builds itWe do — custom design, built for youPlatform build (template/custom mix)
Custom designCustomMixed
SupportA human replies within 1 business day — published SLAVendor support from their team

Positioning

Looking for a Nucleus alternative for your church website?

Nucleus says it has been independently operated since 2017 and is trusted by more than 17,000 churches. It is a church website builder with communication tools built in: website, prayer, flows and people tools on every plan, sermons, posts and email messages from the Standard plan, and giving and media on Complete. It also offers a free makeover: on Standard, their team designs the site, migrates your content, sets up visitor follow-up, and hands it over.

Who they're built for: churches that want one platform for the website and their weekly communication, and that have a staff member or volunteer who will run the site once it is handed over. The makeover takes the hardest part, the first build, off the church's plate with no build fee.

Who they're not really built for: churches where nobody wants to edit the website after launch. The makeover ends with a handover, and from then on the updates are the church's job. That gap, a site kept current for you, is the one Church Digital is built to cover.

Cost

The actual cost math.

Numbers carry the dates we checked them in 2026. Pricing moves — confirm rates with the vendor before you commit.

Nucleus publishes three plans on nucleus.church/pricing (checked October 22, 2026): Essential at $65 a month with the website builder, Standard at $99 a month adding sermons, posts and email messages, and Complete at $199 a month adding giving (US churches only) and media. No setup fee is listed, every plan includes a 15-day free trial, and there are no long-term contracts. The free makeover (nucleus.church/makeovers, same date) has no build fee and runs on Standard: approving a design direction starts the $99 subscription, and the build takes about 4 to 6 weeks after that.

Year one on each plan: Essential $780, Standard $1,188, Complete $2,388. With the makeover, the Standard subscription starts at design approval, so part of that first year is paid while the site is still being built. Nucleus charges nothing for the build itself; the ongoing cost after launch is your team's time keeping the site current.

Church Digital's website plan is $120 a month, or $90 at the founding rate for as long as you stay, with no setup fee: $1,440 a year at full price, or $1,080 at the founding rate. On website plans, your first payment is the day your new site goes live, after you’ve approved it. Updates after launch are included. Against Nucleus Standard, the difference in the monthly is the work after launch: with Nucleus your team makes the changes, with us we do.

Hosting and SSL are included in the Nucleus subscription, per its makeover page, and in ours.

Feature comparison

Feature comparison, with the tradeoffs.

Five places where the two providers actually differ — not a checklist of features, but how each one handles the work in practice.

The first build

Nucleus

Create an account and Nucleus sends a personalized proposal in about 24 hours. If you approve a direction, their team designs the site, migrates your content and sets up visitor follow-up, which their makeover page says takes about 4 to 6 weeks. There is no build fee, and if no direction feels right there is nothing to pay.

Church Digital

We build a free homepage mock-up first, within 3 business days, as a private preview link. If you go ahead, we build the full site. Once we have what we need from you, your new site is live within 14 days, or your first month is on us.

Both start with something free to look at, so the preview is not the difference. The difference is what happens after the build.

Updates after launch

Nucleus

Nucleus hands the finished site to your team: "Once we hand it over, your team has full control." From then on your staff or volunteers edit pages, sermons and posts in the Nucleus builder, and Nucleus reports an average support response of 2 hours 3 minutes.

Church Digital

Routine updates are included in our plan. You send the change, we make it, and nobody on your team has to learn an editor.

If someone on your team enjoys editing the site, Nucleus gives them good tools. If nobody does, the site goes stale on any platform unless someone else does the work.

When billing starts, and the launch date

Nucleus

Every plan starts with a 15-day free trial. For the makeover, approving a design direction starts the $99 Standard subscription, and the build takes about 4 to 6 weeks after that. The makeover page gives that as an estimate and does not describe a remedy if it runs long.

Church Digital

On website plans, your first payment is the day your new site goes live, after you’ve approved it. Once we have what we need from you, your new site is live within 14 days, or your first month is on us.

Our 14 days start once we have what we need from you, so the date depends partly on you. What we put in writing is the remedy if we miss it.

Church tools beyond the website

Nucleus

This is Nucleus's real strength. Every plan includes prayer, flows and people tools; Standard adds sermons, posts and email messages (email only, no texts); Complete adds giving for US churches and media. One login covers the website and the weekly communication.

Church Digital

Church Digital builds the website and embeds the tools you already use for giving, sermons and events. We do not sell a giving platform, a people database or an email tool.

If you want those tools in the same place as the website, Nucleus Complete does that and we do not.

If you cancel

Nucleus

Nucleus says it plainly on its makeover page: "If you cancel, your website will come down and your account access will end." There is no long-term contract, so you can leave at any time, but the site does not come with you.

Church Digital

If you ever go, you keep a complete copy of your site and your content, and we help you move your domain. Every plan is month to month. Cancel anytime from your account.

Before you cancel anywhere, us included, export what you want to keep and confirm where your domain is registered.

Common scenarios

Common scenarios, and how each one tends to land.

Concrete church profiles, the honest fit for each provider, and which way each one leans.

Church that wants giving, sermons, email and visitor follow-up in the same platform as the website.

Nucleus

A strong fit. Nucleus Complete at $199 a month puts all of it behind one login, and the free makeover sets up visitor follow-up for you.

Church Digital

We would build the website and embed your giving and sermon tools, but email and follow-up would still live somewhere else.

Leans toward Nucleus

Church where nobody on staff wants to edit the website after it launches.

Nucleus

The makeover gets the site built, but after the handover the updates are your team's job. If nobody takes them on, the site drifts out of date.

Church Digital

Routine updates are included, so the site stays current without anyone on staff owning it.

Leans toward Church Digital

Small church with a willing volunteer and a tight budget.

Nucleus

Essential at $65 a month includes the website builder, and the 15-day free trial lets your volunteer test it first.

Church Digital

Our plan costs more than Essential ($120 a month, $90 at the founding rate) because it includes the work your volunteer would otherwise do.

Leans toward Nucleus

Board that wants nothing paid before the new site is live, and a written answer on what the church keeps if it leaves.

Nucleus

On the makeover, the $99 Standard subscription starts at design approval, about 4 to 6 weeks before the makeover is done. In Nucleus's words: "Approving it starts your subscription." Its makeover page also says the site comes down if you cancel.

Church Digital

On website plans, your first payment is the day your new site goes live, after you’ve approved it. If you ever go, you keep a complete copy of your site and your content, and we help you move your domain.

Leans toward Church Digital

Switching

Switching from Nucleus: what it actually involves.

Leaving Nucleus starts with its own terms: "If you cancel, your website will come down and your account access will end." So keep Nucleus running until the new site is built and checked, and copy out what you want to keep before you cancel: page text, images, sermon audio and video links, and form questions. Ask Nucleus which export options it offers.

If you give through Nucleus on the Complete plan, recurring givers will need to set up their gifts again in the new giving tool. Plan a short overlap where both work, and tell the congregation once, clearly. Email lists and people records kept in Nucleus need the same care.

The domain is the simple part: confirm where it is registered, keep it in the church's name, and point it at the new site once that site is ready.

Honest fit

When each one is the right pick.

Pick Nucleus when

When Nucleus is the better fit

  • You want the website, sermons, posts, email messages, prayer and visitor follow-up in one platform, with giving (US churches) and media added on the $199 Complete plan.
  • Someone on your team wants to edit the site directly. After the makeover, Nucleus says your team has full control.
  • You want to try before you commit: every plan has a 15-day free trial, the makeover proposal arrives in about 24 hours, and if no direction feels right there is nothing to pay.
  • A volunteer will run the site and the budget is tight: Essential, with the website builder, is $65 a month.

Pick Church Digital when

When Church Digital is the better fit

  • Nobody on staff wants to own the website after launch. Routine updates are included in our plan: you send the change, we make it.
  • You want nothing to pay before launch. On website plans, your first payment is the day your new site goes live, after you’ve approved it.
  • You want a launch date with a remedy. Once we have what we need from you, your new site is live within 14 days, or your first month is on us.
  • You want to keep the site if you leave. If you ever go, you keep a complete copy of your site and your content, and we help you move your domain.

Bottom line

The bottom line.

Choose Nucleus when you want your website and your weekly communication tools in one platform, someone on your team will keep the site current after the free makeover, and an estimate of 4 to 6 weeks for the build works for you. Choose Church Digital when nobody on staff wants to own the website after launch, and you want three things in writing: nothing to pay until the site is live, a launch within 14 days of having what we need with your first month free if we miss it, and a complete copy of your site if you ever leave.

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Setup fees

What they don't tell you

The monthly sticker isn't the whole price once a setup fee lands on top.

VendorSetup fee
ReachRight$2,000 setup fee*
Clover Sites~$1,000 build fee
Church Plant Media$499 setup fee
Church Digital$0, ever

*waived only with a 12-month contract

Useful next reads

Keep reading on Nucleus and the alternatives.

Two or three picks from our church insights and tools — sized for someone comparing vendors, not someone who already signed.

Pillar

Compare the 10 church website builders

Monthly price, setup fee, hosting, and church features for each builder, Nucleus included, then the DIY or built-for-you fork.

Insight

Read the 2026 church website cost breakdown

What a church website costs over three years once setup, add-ons, and the hours after launch are counted.

Pillar

Read: online giving for churches, an overview

How online giving works for churches, for anyone weighing giving inside the website platform against a separate tool.

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