Txt2Give vs Planning Center Giving (2026): Is Planning Center Worth the Cost?
Planning Center charges more as giving grows. See how Txt2Give's fair pricing compares.
No credit card required
- Quick Verdict
Planning Center's giving module has a flaw: it charges churches more as donation volume grows, essentially penalizing growth. Txt2Give is the better alternative with predictable, fair pricing that scales with ministry — not against it.
Why Choose Txt2give
Planning Center is used by 60,000+ churches for service planning, people management, and giving. But its pricing model has a significant catch. This page gives you a transparent, side-by-side analysis to help you decide which platform aligns with your church’s size, budget, and giving priorities.
Feature
Txt2Give
Planning Center Giving
Monthly Fee
✓ No monthly fee
Subscription — scales with donations
Text-to-Give
✓ Core product
⚠️ Basic
Setup Time
✓ Under 5 minutes
Moderate (ChMS onboarding)
Transaction Fee
✓ Competitive rate
2.15% + $0.30
Church Size Support
✓ Any size
Any size
Annual Contract
✓ Not required
❌ Month-to-month
ChMS Integration
✓ Yes
✅ Yes (full suite)
Dedicated Support
✓ Yes
✅ Yes
Which Platform Is Right for Your Church?
- Choose Txt2Give if...
- You want text-to-give as the core donor experience
- You don’t want to pay monthly platform fees
- You need setup in under 5 minutes
- Your church is small, growing, or multi-site
- You want giving-first, not giving-as-a-feature
- You want transparent, predictable pricing
- Consider Planning Center Giving if
- Your church is deeply embedded in Planning Center ecosystem
- You want giving, volunteers, services, groups in one platform
- Your donation volume is low enough that scaling fee is minimal
- You need Planning Center's service planning more than giving
- Your team prefers unified platform management
- You don't anticipate significant giving growth
Pricing Comparison Check
Let’s look at actual numbers to see what each platform costs:
Example: A church collecting $10,000/month in donations
With Planning Center Giving: Approximately $215/month in transaction fees + $Variable/month subscription = ~$215+/month
With Txt2Give: Only transaction fees with no monthly platform fee — keeping significantly more money in ministry.
What our customers are saying on
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Planning Center Giving's subscription fee scales with the number of donations recorded — meaning churches that grow pay more monthly.
Yes. Text-to-give is Txt2Give's core product, while it's secondary in Planning Center's giving module.
Txt2Give is one of the most popular Planning Center Giving alternatives for churches wanting standalone text-first giving.
Yes. Txt2Give is designed to scale from small congregations to multi-site large churches. It handles high donation volumes and supports multiple giving funds.
Most churches complete the switch in under a day. You can run Txt2Give alongside Planning Center's other tools.
Yes. Txt2Give integrates with major ChMS platforms, allowing giving data to sync automatically with your existing records.