Best Church Website Builder

How do you keep in touch with your congregation? With a church website, of course. Here are your best options to make that happen.

Say the church service goes well. The congregation still has to go home, right?

Once they leave the church, how will you let them know when the next study session is? Or the next prayer meeting?

Or that a charity drive is scheduled for next week? How do you reach your church members when it isn't time for church?

Visitors to a church website are there to seek information that they don't have access to off-hours.

So, read on for a handy list of church website builders. These will help you spread the information your congregation needs.

10 Best Church Website Builders

Church websites need very specific functions. There are many website builders on the market, but some of them are more suited for small businesses.

So we've narrowed down the selection for you. Let's start with the easiest website builder you can use.

Squarespace

Best for flexible and easy-to-use templates

Squarespace is our top pick in terms of flexibility. Its drag-and-drop editor allows you to place elements almost anywhere on the page. This can make it easier for you to get the look you prefer.

Also, the website builder comes with blogging tools. You can use them to publish announcements, schedules, and news for your church members.

But what's the point of setting up announcements if no one gets to read them, right? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) features can help with that. By improving your website's ranking on search engines, you can attract more people to attend your events.

Pricing:
The 14-day free trial can be enough time to test if Squarespace's interface works for you. But once the trial ends, you'll have to upgrade to a paid plan.

You can choose from:^[1]

• Personal: $16/month billed annually
  
• Business: $23/month billed annually
  
• Commerce Basic: $27/month billed annually
  
• Commerce Advanced: $49/month billed annually

Other Features:
With Squarespace's website builder interface, you don't need to dig through options for design tools. Every tool you need is displayed neatly on the sidebar, making it intuitive to use.

It's easy to upload audio and video files, too. That means you can put sermons, podcasts, and live streams for your members who can't commute to physical locations.

Although, take note that there are no church-specific templates. You'll have to design the site yourself. Or just start from one of the nonprofit templates.

Weebly

Best for a simple church website

Weebly is a website builder that's simple, minimalistic, and intuitive to use. It's a drag-and-drop builder usually used by small businesses. But it can handle your church website just as well.

It's an affordable option, too. And your website will load quickly, which is always essential for a great user experience.

Pricing:
Weebly has a free plan for a basic-use website. You can try it out before committing to a paid plan.^[2]

If you decide to upgrade, you can choose from:

• Personal: $10/month billed annually
  
• Professional: $12/month billed annually
  
• Performance: $26/month billed annually

Other Features:
Weebly is great if you have multiple members working on the site. Even though it's a drag-and-drop builder, they'll be able to access the code together simultaneously.

And if you have upcoming events? You can update church members through Weebly Promote. It's an email marketing feature that also lets you use email templates.

You can be on a budget and still get the most out of Weebly. The Personal plan comes with 500 GB of storage, so you can upload ample sermons and videos of activities.

Wix

Best drag-and-drop builder with church templates

Wix is another drag-and-drop builder that's easy to use. The aesthetically pleasing templates are highly customizable. You'll find church templates, too.

It's suitable for building websites with lots of content. This makes it a good option if you regularly publish blog posts, sermons, and mass videos.

Pricing:
Wix has many options for paid plans. But these three are essential if you plan to accept online payments and donations:^[3]

• Business Basic: $17/month
  
• Business Unlimited: $25/month
  
• Business VIP: $35/month

Other Features:
Wix has a good number of built-in SEO tools. This can help your church website rank higher on search results, making it easy to find for churchgoers.

Of course, donations are essential to help keep your organization running. You can easily accept donations through the free Get Funding app (by Wix).

You can also integrate the app into your website and link a PayPal account with it.

Sharefaith

Best Church Management System (ChMS)

Sharefaith is one of the few website builders dedicated to creating church websites. You can manage your church's daily operations easily through their Church Management System.

It's a feature not available with previous website builders. Through the ChMS, you can set up membership databases, email newsletters, community programs, fundraisings, etc.

You can also stream services or events to Facebook, YouTube, or right from your website. That way, you can cater to more audiences and attract more church members.

Pricing:
Sharefaith's paid plans have a credit system. This means you'll need to spend some credits to publish worship videos, graphics, print designs, etc.

Depending on what you need, you can choose from:^[4]

• Standard: $25/month
  
• Premium: $55/month
  
• Ultimate: $85/month

Other Features:
The free demo is useful in testing the website builder features. You can tinker with the Church Graphics and downloadable Kids Ministry content, for example.

And to help keep your organization running, you can take donations through text, on your website, through the app, or through kiosks.

The Sharefaith Giving app makes accepting these donations and tithes easier.

Nucleus

Best for church engagement

Nucleus promises to provide you with everything you need to manage your church. They offer a specific plan to communicate with your church members. That way, you can engage with them outside of service hours.

Do you usually organize events? The built-in form builder can help with that. You can keep churchgoers posted for news or updates through email.

The website builder has great mobile optimization, too. So it can provide a smooth user experience as members engage with your website and content.

Pricing:
Nucleus offers a free 30-day trial for its paid plans. But you can use the launcher and prayer hub for free.

If you need an upgrade, you can choose from:^[5]

• People: $29/month
  
• Flows: $29/month
  
• Media: $49/month
  
• Giving: $29/month
  
• Web: $129/month

Other Features:
The website builder is a drag-and-drop builder, like the previous options on this list. It comes with design tools and integrations. You can also easily upload sermons, services, and study materials with it.

As for the Church Management System, you can get started with Next Steps Launcher. It allows church leaders to display all the information the congregation needs in one place.

Also, the launcher is fully customizable. So you can change its look based on your church's logo and colors.

Tithe.ly

Best for accepting donations

Tithe.ly is another website builder especially suited for churches. Its main selling point is its digital tools that help you accept donations. That means you'll easily be able to gather the funds you need for events or day-to-day operations.

Church members can donate through text, which means they can do so from anywhere. But it's even more convenient using the Giving mobile app.

And as a church, you surely have regular churchgoers. You can set up recurring donations for them. Then you can generate in-depth reports to get an overview of how much money you've gathered.

Pricing:
Tithe.ly offers a free Giving Platform that can handle donations, tithes, and general finances.

Every donation is subject to processing fees:^[6]

• Debit/Credit: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
  
• ACH/Bank: 1% + $0.30 per transaction
  
• AMEX: 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction

If you need more features, here are the other products they offer:^[6]

• Sites: $19/month
  
• Messaging: $19/month
  
• ChMS: $72/month; $149 one-time setup fee
  
• Church Apps: $89/month; $149 one-time setup fee

Access to all of Tithe.ly can be purchased with a $119/month subscription. There's also a one-time setup fee of $149.

Other Features:
Just like Nucleus, Tithe.ly comes with its own ChMS that consolidates all the back-end administrative tasks for you.

You can check reports, track donations, and manage other affairs. You can also coordinate service plans and schedules more easily.

Ministry Designs

Best customer support

Ministry Designs offer a drag-and-drop website builder with hands-on support. You don't need to worry about troubling yourself if you're confused with any feature. Although, the interface is already intuitive to use.

A few of Ministry Designs' staff have ministry and church administration backgrounds. So they understand how a church really works and what it would need in an online platform.

Pricing:
Ministry Designs offer a free demo for you to test their website builder. If the interface works for you, you can choose from one of their paid plans:^[7]

• Omega Lite: $57/month
  
• Omega Plus: $97/month

Other Features:
The website builder is designed for churches. You can choose from many professionally designed templates to start.

Some features allow you to collect donations. You can also upload recordings of your services and events.

And to help spread the word regarding your church? You can make use of the built-in SEO tools. They'll help your website gain traffic and show up higher in the search results.

WordPress

Best for uploading church content

WordPress started as the go-to website builder for blogs. It has grown considerably and is now one of the best website builders for content-driven sites. You can publish streamed services, podcast series, blogs about activities, etc.

Also, WordPress is known for its many themes and templates. There are free and paid templates available specially for churches.

Pricing:
WordPress offers a free plan, though this comes with a subdomain. If you plan to upgrade, you can choose from one of the paid plans:^[8]

• Personal: $4/month billed annually
  
• Premium: $8/month billed annually
  
• Business: $25/month billed annually
  
• Commerce: $45/month billed annually

Other Features:
The website builder itself is flexible and customizable. If you need more features, you can always check out their library of available plugins. Many of them are free and can add different functions on your website.

WordPress also lets you create multiple user accounts. So the site can be accessed by several people, which is handy if you have a team working on it.

GoDaddy

Best all-in-one general website builder

Although GoDaddy is best known for being a domain provider, they offer a website builder as well. The interface is easy to use. But unfortunately, it's not specially made for churches.

Its edge is that it's an all-in-one platform. It can host your domain, build your website, and market your content. You won't need to juggle multiple software or applications.

The website builder comes with block-based builders. That means you'll be choosing from premade sections as needed. But compared to its competitors, the website builder's functionality is a bit limited.

Pricing:
GoDaddy has a free plan, but it comes with limited features. Luckily, their paid plans come with a 7-day free trial. So you can test them out before you commit.

Here are your options:^[9]

• Basic: $9.99/month
  
• Premium: $14.99/month
  
• Commerce: $16.99/month
  
• Commerce Plus: $29.99/month

Other Features:
One of GoDaddy's strengths is in its marketing tools. While a church isn't a business, you'll still definitely want to promote your events like charities and emergency donations.

That said, you can greatly benefit from GoDaddy InSight. It can analyze your site and make recommendations based on location demographics, niches, etc.

It can be really handy for growing your church.

Hostgator

Best for larger church organizations

Hostgator is actually not just an all-in-one website builder, but a trusted hosting provider as well. That means you can count on your website's speed and uptime.

It can mean a smooth user experience even if you're a large organization with plenty of website visitors.

Not to mention, you can get unlimited pages, space, and bandwidth. So you don't need to worry about uploading heavy media like full recordings of services.

Pricing:
There are three paid plans available from Hostgator, each offering a free domain and SSL certificate.

Here's how much they cost:^[10]

• Website: $4.95/month introductory offer
  
• Website + Marketing: $7.95/month introductory offer
  
• Online Store: $13.95/month introductory offer
  
• Online Marketplaces: $19.95/month introductory offer

Other Features:
Unfortunately, you'll need more technical know-how to use the website builder. But their customer service is responsive and always available to help you out.

There are also promotional features available. Some plans let you send email campaigns and set up an online store. An online store would be great for your church merchandise.

How to Choose a Church Website Builder

To choose the best church website builder, you first need to know what you actually need. Website builders specially made for churches will have Church Management Systems (ChMS).

But you can also use the more general website builders and just start with the most suitable template.

Here are some of the main things to look out for:

• Church Management Software Integration
  Church Management Software can help you with the administrative tasks of running a church. You can typically manage your members, events, and announcements from it.

• Map or Similar Location Services
  When someone wants to know more about your church, it's best that they also know where to find it. The physical address or map on your site will make sure no new churchgoers get lost on their first day.

• Social Media Integration
  So much of the population is on some kind of social media nowadays. Having your social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) connected to your website can keep everyone in the loop.

• Mobile Optimization
  Lots of people use their phones to quickly look something up on the internet. If your website is optimized for mobile use, these people will be able to navigate your site easily.

Our Methodology

When choosing the best website builders for churches, we considered the features, ease of use, and pricing.

• Features
  Many website builders are suitable for general use. But we specially took note of the few that cater to churches. They should be able to help with your day-to-day operations. You should also be able to publish content your audience needs.

  If they ever lack in a particular function, we took note of their integrations. We also listed if they can work with your social media platforms so you can reach more audience.

• Ease of Use
  As for the ease of use, we identified website builders with drag-and-drop features. If they're a little more technical to work with, there had to be some customer support to help you out.

• Website Cost
  Of course, we took note of those with affordable pricing. They'll be a great help to smaller churches and nonprofits.

FAQs

What should I put on my church website?
Your church website should contain the dates and times of your services. Also, include the location of your church (typically with a map), so members will know how to get there. It's also helpful to link your official social media pages.

What are the benefits to a church having a website?
Having a website makes your church more accessible to the public. It can serve as a one-stop shop for all information regarding your ministry. Plus, an official website makes your organization more professional and trustworthy.

How do I create a good church website?
A good website should be easy for the audience to navigate. Good visual design won't matter if visitors can't find what they are looking for. Have your information clearly visible to help connect with your visitors.

How to create a church website for free?
You can create a free church website through website builders. Some website builders offer a free plan. But your website will come with a subdomain instead of a custom URL.

Bottom Line

There are lots of website builders out there. It's easy to get confused with the many options available.

Knowing what your church needs will help you pick out what's suitable. You can look for specific features like donations, email marketing for announcements, blogs for news and updates, online store for your merchandise, etc.

The free plans and free trials can help you get started. That way, you get to explore the interface before you commit to a paid plan.

References