Grain Ledger vs PowerChurch Plus
If your church runs PowerChurch Plus on one office PC and the treasurer needs the books at home, Grain is the simpler move. It's fund accounting in any browser, with bank feeds and giving deposits connected, and it's free for churches with up to $20,000 in monthly expenses. You can keep PowerChurch for membership.
$244,570
See Grain Ledger church accounting software for the full product overview, or compare accounting software for churches on fund balances, giving imports, and board-ready reporting.
Short answer
PowerChurch Plus installs on Windows PCs. For a Mac, or to reach the software over the internet, PowerChurch's option is PowerChurch Online, the hosted version, at $47 a month or $499 a year for two people signed in at once. There's nothing to install with Grain. The treasurer and bookkeeper sign in from any computer, including a Mac.
Where Grain fits
Churches whose treasurer or bookkeeper works from home or on a Mac, that want bank feeds and giving deposits in the ledger, and that are happy to keep a separate system for membership.
Feature-by-feature comparison
A skimmable look at the features churches usually compare when choosing accounting software.
Why churches choose Grain
- Grain runs in the browser, so the treasurer can close the month from home or on a Mac without a network share or remote seats.
- Bank transactions come in through Plaid, and you reconcile them with every entry tied to a fund.
- Giving deposits import from Planning Center, Pushpay, Rock RMS, Subsplash and OnlineGiving.org.
- Grain keeps the books on a cash or accrual basis. It's free for churches with up to $20,000 in monthly expenses. Growth is $70 a month with unlimited users for churches up to $1M a year in revenue or expenses.
- Church of the Eleven22, Twin Lakes Church and Wellspring Church are among the churches on Grain.
Move the books to Grain and keep PowerChurch for membership.
PowerChurch's Export Data Utility saves the data from any module to CSV. Export your Fund Accounting data, and Grain's migration support helps you map it into funds, accounts and opening balances, so your first close in Grain starts from balances you've checked. Membership, events and record keeping can stay in PowerChurch.
Common questions
- How much does PowerChurch Plus cost?
- A new PowerChurch Plus license is $445, one time, for Windows PCs, with 90 days of technical support. After that, support is $40 per call, $180 for six months or $330 a year. PowerChurch Online is $47 a month or $499 a year for two people signed in at once, plus $29 a month or $299 a year for each two more. Grain's Starter plan is free for churches with up to $20,000 in monthly expenses, and Growth is $70 a month for churches up to $1M a year.
- Can the treasurer use PowerChurch from home or on a Mac?
- PowerChurch Plus runs on Windows PCs only. PowerChurch Online, the hosted version, lets you reach it over the internet through a client app on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android or iOS. Grain runs in a web browser, so anyone you invite signs in from any computer, and the free Starter plan includes 3 users.
- Does Grain replace PowerChurch?
- Grain replaces the accounting: funds, bank reconciliation, bills, budgets, payroll and board reports. It isn't a church management system, so you can keep PowerChurch for membership, events and record keeping, or run Planning Center, Rock RMS or another ChMS alongside Grain.
- How do gifts get into Grain if we keep PowerChurch for contributions?
- Gifts reach Grain as deposits through the bank feed, or straight from Planning Center, Pushpay, Rock RMS, Subsplash or OnlineGiving.org when the church takes gifts through one of them. If you keep PowerChurch for contributions, the deposit is what lands in Grain.
- What is the best PowerChurch alternative for church accounting?
- For a church that wants to keep its membership system and move the books online, Grain is built for that job: double-entry fund accounting with restricted and unrestricted funds, Plaid bank feeds, giving-platform imports and board reports, in any browser and free for churches with up to $20,000 in monthly expenses.
See how Grain compares with PowerChurch Plus
Start free, or watch a short demo of funds, giving workflows, bank reconciliation, budgets, and board reports.