Pushpay vs. Rock RMS

Pushpay has been fantastic for us in the implementation of events, especially in the processing of registration forms and collecting fees. Pushpay has also been great in helping us receive donations and contributions to the church. Additionally, I have also used Pushpay (specifically, the CRM database) to help in our process of Church Membership (receiving applications, registering attendance at our membership classes, etc).

Rock RMS is a great CMS for churches passionate about technology and innovation. It requires advanced developing skills to operate, which can be a challenge - but there are several partners available for contracting work. Successful usage of Rock RMS opens up the door for endless possibilities - from dynamic and beautiful websites, automations that serve both internal (staff) and external (customer) needs, and unending possibilities for innovative solutions!

• User Friendly
• Secure

Incentivized

• Very customizable
• Content channels are powerful
• Web and mobile app integration

• COST!
• Customer service
• Elimination of contracts

• Group Scheduler is missing some key features
• Event registrations aren't the most user friendly
• Security permissions are a challenge as we grow

In my opinion, you will need to have developers on your team, or partner with contractors in order to get Rock RMS set up properly and keep in maintained. I think you will also need to have Rock RMS Super Users who can troubleshoot bugs and handle basic requests from internal staff. There are also several functions that every day staff use which are very user friendly (i.e. Group Viewer, content channels, Group Scheduler, communication templates.)

The access to support is excellent; however, the turnover with assigned account managers has been high over the years, which makes it challenging to build a lasting rapport. There have been some technical and functionality issues communicated over the years which have been received by the account manager. At the time, with responses such as "yes, we know it's an issue, and we're working on that, but we don't have a timeframe." These problems are never resolved, nor are progress reports or follow up ever addressed, then the account manager changes and the cycle starts again.

Incentivized

We had previously used a program called eGiving to receive online payments and contributions, and we have previously used PowerChurch as our CRM, and Pushpay (including its Church Community Builder program) far excels both of these other programs. Pushpay is more user-friendly, and its financial program and its CRM program work much more effectively with one another.

In my experience, Rock RMS is much more customizable, robust, and community focused than PCO. Planning Center's sweet spot is music management and volunteer scheduling, but I think Rock RMS outshines PCO with its integration of web sites and mobile apps, automations and jobs, workflows, and its focus on community. There are tons of free and paid plugins for Rock RMS, as well as multiple Rock RMS partners to choose from.

• Pushpay served as a fine giving platform and allowed for our church to move digitally well.
• However, the inordinate fees and costs of their platform ate away at much too large of our donations. With the other platforms out there, it doesn't make sense for us to lock into contracts with excessively high fees.

• Fosters amazing data insights!
• Fast and efficient!
• New innovative solutions always being added!