church tech

Planning Center vs Elvanto: the 2026 comparison

By Michael Tribett · July 3, 2026 · 4 min read

Elvanto and Planning Center both aim to be the one system a church staff opens on Monday morning, but only one of them is receiving the level of product investment most growing churches expect in 2026.

Key takeaways

Elvanto is an all-in-one ChMS acquired by Tithe.ly, historically popular with mid-size churches for people, groups, and volunteer scheduling in a single interface.

Planning Center is modular and actively developed, with People free at any size and paid products for Services, Giving, Check-Ins, and more.

Tithe.ly has prioritized Breeze and giving products over Elvanto in recent years, which makes long-term roadmap confidence a real factor in any Elvanto evaluation.

Planning Center wins on worship scheduling depth, integration ecosystem, and active development velocity; Elvanto may still win for churches that want a familiar all-in-one UI and are not ready to migrate.

Neither shows relational health. FlockConnect adds that layer on top of either system, connecting to Elvanto by CSV import and to Planning Center natively.

Quick answer: Planning Center or Elvanto?

For most churches evaluating both in 2026, Planning Center is the stronger long-term bet because of worship-team scheduling depth, modular scaling, and continued product investment. Elvanto may still be defensible for churches that are stable on it, have modest worship complexity, and are not ready for a migration project. Churches on Elvanto should also evaluate Breeze within the Tithe.ly family as a simpler alternative before a full Planning Center move. Confirm current pricing and support status with Tithe.ly before deciding.

Where Elvanto still fits

Familiarity and all-in-one simplicity. Churches that have run Elvanto for years often have workflows, volunteer habits, and historical data shaped around its interface. Staying put avoids a migration project, and for churches without a complex worship production workflow, Elvanto's general volunteer and group tools may still be adequate.

Where Planning Center wins

Development velocity and worship depth. Planning Center Services remains the category benchmark for worship-team scheduling. The partner integration catalog is larger, the user community is bigger, and product updates ship on a cadence Elvanto's roadmap has not matched since the Tithe.ly acquisition. Churches planning to grow past a single-campus, single-service model usually outgrow all-in-one tools on the worship side first.

Migration reality check

Moving from Elvanto to Planning Center is a real project: households, giving history, group structures, and volunteer teams all need a migration plan. Churches often run parallel systems for a season. The decision is not only features but staff capacity. FlockConnect can layer on top during migration so pastoral care visibility does not pause while data moves.

Where FlockConnect fits with either

FlockConnect connects to Elvanto by CSV import and to Planning Center with a native two-way sync. It does not replace either ChMS. It answers a different question: who is relationally connected, and who is drifting? See getting the most from Planning Center for pastoral care for the native path.

About the author

Michael Tribett is the founder of FlockConnect, a Church Relationship Manager built to help pastors see who is connected and who is drifting. He holds a Master of Divinity in Christian Ministry from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he focused on missions and discipleship, and he serves as a small group leader at his church in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. FlockConnect is an official Planning Center partner.

Frequently asked questions

Is Elvanto still supported? Elvanto remains available within the Tithe.ly family, but product investment has leaned toward Breeze and giving platforms in recent years. Churches on Elvanto should confirm current support and roadmap terms with Tithe.ly directly.

Is Planning Center more expensive than Elvanto? Often yes for a full module stack, but Planning Center's People database is free at any size and churches pay only for the products they activate. Total cost depends on which Elvanto package and which Planning Center products are compared.

Should every Elvanto church switch to Planning Center? Not automatically. Churches with stable workflows and low worship complexity may stay on Elvanto until a migration becomes necessary. Churches with active worship teams or multi-campus growth plans should weigh Planning Center sooner.

Can FlockConnect connect to Elvanto? Yes, through CSV import, the same path FlockConnect uses for every church management system other than Planning Center.