Church Digital

For churches · Comparison

Church Digital vs The Church Co

The Church Co builds custom church websites, has a strong portfolio, and publishes clear pricing — tiered website plans, one-time setup packages, and a free 14-day trial (verified 2026-07-30). The practical difference from Church Digital is the shape of the offer: their entry tiers are self-managed after the build, with the fully managed tier at the top of the menu; Church Digital is one flat monthly number with design, hosting, and ongoing updates handled for you. Neither approach is wrong — they suit different churches.

Get my free homepage demo →See pricing →

Side by side

Church Digital and The Church Co, 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 DigitalThe Church Co
Monthly$120–$297/mo, published$29–$199/mo billed annually ($34–$232 month-to-month), published
Setup feeNone$0–$999 one-time by build size (simple builds free with a yearly plan)
ContractNo contract — cancel anytimeMonthly or annual billing — annual rates are lower
Who builds itWe do — custom design, built for youTheir team — custom build
Custom designCustomCustom
If you leaveCancel anytime; your domain and content stay yoursVendor-hosted — the site does not come with you
SupportA human replies within 1 business day — published SLAVendor support from their team

Want the longer read — the study data on The Church Co sites, the honest strengths, and who should stay? Read our The Church Coalternative guide →

Positioning

Looking for a The Church Co alternative for your church website?

The Church Co is a newer entrant — they came up through the 2020s and grew quickly on the strength of a modern, design-forward portfolio, and their site reports over 5,000 churches served. The offer is a tiered platform with published pricing: website plans from $29/month billed annually, one-time setup packages sized to the build, a free 14-day trial, and optional marketing services on top.

Who they're built for: churches that want a design-forward, church-specific platform with a published menu they can grow through. The entry tiers (Basic and Premium, $29–$49/month billed annually) assume your team makes its own updates after the build; the Ultimate tier ($199/month billed annually, $232 month-to-month) adds their web design and content teams plus a custom mobile app for churches that want the site run for them.

Who they're not really built for: churches that don't want to manage the tier-and-package math, or that know nobody on staff will keep the site updated but can't reach the managed tier's price. That gap — updates done for you at a mid-range flat rate — 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.

The Church Co publishes pricing — verified from their public pricing page on 2026-07-30; prices can change, so confirm current figures with them directly. Website plans billed annually: Basic $348/year (about $29/month), Premium $588/year (about $49/month), Ultimate $2,388/year (about $199/month); month-to-month they run $34, $57, and $232. Setup is a published one-time package: free for simple builds (up to 9 pages) with any yearly subscription, $299 up to 20 pages, $799 up to 40 pages, or $999 up to 50 pages with custom design. Basic and Premium include "Make Your Own Updates" — after the build, content upkeep is your team's. Ultimate is the managed tier, with their design and content teams and a custom mobile app.

Worked math at both ends. Self-managed entry: Basic billed annually plus the $299 Essential setup is about $647 in year one and $348 a year after — genuinely less than Church Digital, with the ongoing content work staying on your team. Managed: Ultimate billed annually is $2,388/year, about $4,776 over two years, plus a setup package for larger builds unless the free simple setup covers yours.

Church Digital has one price: a flat published monthly with $0 setup, custom design, hosting, and ongoing updates included, no contract — see our current pricing page for the number. Against The Church Co's entry tiers we cost more and do more of the ongoing work; against their managed Ultimate tier, our flat rate is the less expensive way to have the site run for you. The fair comparison is against the tier that matches who will actually make your updates.

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.

Design and customization

The Church Co

The Church Co's strongest selling point is the design portfolio. Each build is genuinely custom, the visual language is modern and considered, and the work would not look out of place on a creative-agency site for any industry. If design polish is the primary purchase criterion, they hold up well.

Church Digital

Church Digital also builds custom for each church, on a modern stack with attention to typography, layout, and brand fit. The portfolio is smaller — Church Digital is a smaller operation — but the design ethic is comparable: shape the site around the specific church, not around a theme.

Compare portfolios directly at the visual style level. Both are doing custom work; the question is which design language feels right for your church.

Updates and content management

The Church Co

Depends on the tier, and their pricing page is clear about it: Basic and Premium include "Make Your Own Updates" — your team runs content after the build — while Ultimate adds their content management team and lists unlimited design requests.

Church Digital

Church Digital covers routine content updates with a defined scope as part of the flat monthly plan, spelled out up front so there is no ambiguity.

The real question is your team: a reliable site owner on staff makes their entry tiers efficient; if nobody owns it, price their managed tier against a flat updates-included plan.

Performance and SEO basics

The Church Co

Custom builds on modern frameworks tend to perform well on page speed and indexability, and The Church Co's work generally reflects that. Their Tailored and Custom setup packages list initial SEO configuration, and they sell marketing plans (Google Ads management, Local SEO) on top — ask what's included at your tier if performance is a priority.

Church Digital

Church Digital sites are built on Next.js with Core Web Vitals, optimized images, and structured data (FAQ, local business schema where relevant) baked in by default. Performance baselines are consistent across builds rather than scope-dependent.

Both build on modern stacks. The Church Digital approach standardizes the technical baseline; The Church Co tailors more per project.

Integrations (giving, ChMS, calendaring)

The Church Co

The Church Co handles the standard church tool list — Planning Center, Tithe.ly, Subsplash, RightNow Media, embedded media. Custom builds give them flexibility to integrate unusual tools if the engagement scope covers it.

Church Digital

Church Digital embeds the same standard set — Planning Center, Tithe.ly, Pushpay, RightNow Media, sermon players. Whatever the church already uses, dropped cleanly into the custom design.

Both cover the common stack. Both can handle the unusual case; with The Church Co, an unusual integration may point you at a bigger setup package or a higher tier — ask before you pick a plan.

Support model and ownership

The Church Co

The Church Co is platform-hosted: the site runs on their system, built by their team and, on Ultimate, managed by them day to day. What happens to the site and content if you leave is not something we have verified from their public pages — ask directly, and get the answer in writing before you sign.

Church Digital

Church Digital is fully managed with no contract — flat published monthly, cancel anytime from your account. The build is on a portable modern stack.

Exit terms are worth confirming in writing with any hosted vendor — us included — before you sign.

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.

Larger church (500+ attendance) that views the website as a brand expression and has serious design taste.

The Church Co

A strong fit. Ultimate ($199/month billed annually) brings their web design and content teams, unlimited design requests, and a custom mobile app — a genuinely full-service package with a published price.

Church Digital

Church Digital can absolutely produce design at this level, but the published monthly rate is structured for a smaller engagement. For a larger custom build, scope would be a conversation rather than a published rate.

Either could fit

Church where nobody on staff will make website updates, and the managed tier’s price is the stretch.

The Church Co

The Church Co tier that includes their team managing content is Ultimate, at $199/month billed annually ($232 month-to-month) plus a setup package for larger builds. If that fits the budget, it is a real full-service option; the entry tiers cost less but leave the updates with you.

Church Digital

This gap is exactly what Church Digital’s flat rate covers: custom build, hosting, and ongoing updates done for you at one published monthly — see the pricing page for the current number.

Leans toward Church Digital

Small or mid-size church (75-250 attendance) with a modest, fixed budget for their website.

The Church Co

Basic at $29/month billed annually — with simple setup free on a yearly plan — is a genuinely affordable path if a volunteer or staff member will own the updates after launch.

Church Digital

If nobody will own the updates, Church Digital’s flat monthly includes them — published rate, $0 setup, and the monthly does not scale with church size.

Either could fit

Church that thinks they might leave the vendor relationship in three years and wants ownership clarity.

The Church Co

Site portability is not something we could verify from their public pages. Ask directly what you keep — content, domain, design — if you leave, and get it in the agreement.

Church Digital

Church Digital publishes its terms: flat monthly, no setup fee, no contract — cancel anytime from your account.

Leans toward Church Digital

Switching

Switching from The Church Co: what it actually involves.

Switching off The Church Co involves the same general work as switching off any vendor-managed custom build: content export by hand, asset migration, DNS cutover when the new site is verified. The site itself is not generally portable as a working build — you would be rebuilding on the new platform.

Billing is monthly or annual, with the annual rates lower — so if you are on a yearly plan, time the move against your renewal date, and confirm the renewal and cancellation mechanics from your own agreement before you start. Domain and email handling follow the same playbook as any vendor switch — if email lives on a separate provider, it is independent of the website cutover.

For most churches the practical migration is straightforward enough. The bigger point sits upstream and applies to every vendor, us included: before you sign anywhere, get the term, the renewal language, and what you keep if you leave in writing.

Honest fit

When each one is the right pick.

Pick The Church Co when

When The Church Co is the better fit

  • You want a menu you can grow through — start self-managed at $29–$49/month billed annually, and move to their managed Ultimate tier later if you want their team running content.
  • Someone on your team is happy making updates after a professional build — Basic and Premium are priced for exactly that, and simple builds are set up free with a yearly plan.
  • Design is the main signal you are buying on — the portfolio is genuinely strong — or you want their custom mobile app, which comes with the Ultimate tier.

Pick Church Digital when

When Church Digital is the better fit

  • You want one flat number that already includes the updates being done for you — no tier math about who does the work.
  • You want $0 setup at any build size, rather than a $299–$999 one-time package for larger or custom builds.
  • You want no contract — flat monthly, cancel anytime.

Bottom line

The bottom line.

Choose The Church Co when their menu matches how your church works — a self-managed site at $29–$49/month billed annually after a professionally handled build, or the full-service Ultimate tier at $199/month if you want their team running it, with a strong portfolio either way. Choose Church Digital when you want one flat published number that already includes custom design, hosting, and the ongoing updates — $0 setup, no contract, cancel anytime. Their entry tiers cost less than we do and leave the updates with your team; their managed tier costs more than our flat rate. Match the price to who does the work.

Get my free homepage demo →Compare plans →

What they don't tell you

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

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

Useful next reads

Keep reading on The Church Co and the alternatives.

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

Insight

Read: custom church website vs template (when each makes sense)

The honest decision framework when "custom" means different things to different vendors.

Insight

Read the 2026 church website cost breakdown

Real numbers across DIY, mid-tier, custom, and bundled plans — with the hidden costs counted.

Pillar

Read: online giving for churches — overview

The plain-language overview of online giving for churches, since most custom builds still need a giving platform plugged in.

Want a second pair of eyes on your current site?

Send the URL and we’ll record a 5-minute review through the eyes of a first-time guest. No pitch, no obligation.

Get my free homepage demo →Back to home