The hidden cost of modular church software: when all-in-one wins, and when it doesn't

We're going to start with a finding that surprised us. We modelled the five-year cost of running three Australian churches on Planning Center's modular pricing versus Floways' all-in-one Complete plan. For a 240-attendee suburban church, all-in-one was cheaper by AU$10,260 over five years. For an 850-attendee multi-site church, all-in-one was cheaper by AU$37,000. For a small church plant of 80 people running just a couple of modules, modular was cheaper by AU$2,400.

That last number is the one that surprised us. The conventional pitch from any all-in-one platform (including ours) is that modular pricing is a trap. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't. The honest answer depends on which church you are.

Below is the working: three real-shape church profiles, all the numbers based on publicly published pricing as of 28 April 2026, and the places where each model wins. If you're reading this much later, treat the figures as a model and re-run the math against current vendor pricing.

How modular pricing actually works

Planning Center is the canonical example of modular. People is always free with unlimited records, and Church Center (the member app) is always free. Each additional product (Services, Giving, Check-Ins, Groups, Calendar, Registrations, Publishing) is priced by usage tier from US$15 to US$239 per month, with the tier set by usage of that specific module.

The genius: a small church running People + Giving + Check-Ins might pay US$30 per month total. Compare that with any all-in-one platform charging AU$99 to AU$170 per month and the small-church math is obvious. Modular wins decisively at small scale.

The catch: as a church grows and adds modules, each module's tier ticks up at the same time. A church running five modules at the US$69 tier pays US$345 per month, plus the inevitable upward pressure as people counts grow.

The three church profiles we modelled

Profile A: suburban church plant

80 regular attendees. One paid staff member. 18 months old, growing at about 8% per year. Runs People, Giving, and Check-Ins. Adds Groups in year two.

Profile B: established suburban church

240 regular attendees. Four paid staff. Growing at about 3% per year. Runs People, Giving, Services, Groups, Check-Ins, and Calendar.

Profile C: multi-site mid-large church

850 regular attendees across two sites. Twelve paid staff. Runs the full stack: People, Giving, Services, Groups, Check-Ins, Calendar, Registrations, plus Publishing for app customisation.

The numbers, year by year

All Planning Center figures are taken from their published pricing page as of 28 April 2026. Floways figures are AU$99/mo for Core, AU$169/mo for Complete. USD-to-AUD conversion uses the late-April 2026 rate of approximately AU$1.39 per US$1.

Profile A: church plant, 80 attendees

Planning Center Year 1: People (free) + Giving (US$15) + Check-Ins (US$15) = US$30/mo. At current exchange rates: about AU$42/mo, AU$500/yr.

Year 2 onwards with Groups added: US$45/mo (AU$63/mo). Five-year Planning Center total: about AU$3,500.

Floways Core: AU$99/mo flat — all modules except Sites and App. Five-year Floways total: AU$5,940.

Modular wins by AU$2,440 over five years. This is the honest scenario where Planning Center's per-module pricing is the right answer. A church running just two or three modules pays less on Planning Center than on any all-in-one platform.

Profile B: established suburban, 240 attendees

Planning Center Year 1: Services (US$32), Giving (US$32), Groups (US$69), Check-Ins (US$69), Calendar (US$15) = US$217/mo (about AU$300/mo, AU$3,620/yr).

Year 5, with 3% annual growth pushing Groups into the next tier: about US$263/mo (AU$4,390/yr). Five-year Planning Center total: about AU$20,400.

Floways Complete: AU$169/mo flat — no tier increases as the church grows. Five-year Floways total: AU$10,140.

All-in-one wins by AU$10,260. This is the inflection point where modular pricing stops being the cheaper option for an average AU church. The gap widens with growth because Planning Center tiers up while Floways stays flat.

Profile C: multi-site, 850 attendees

Planning Center Year 1: Services (US$69) + Giving (US$115) + Groups (US$179) + Check-Ins (US$115) + Calendar (US$32) + Registrations (US$69) + Publishing (US$15) = about US$611/mo (AU$10,200/yr).

Year 5, with growth pushing several modules into the next tier: about US$775/mo (AU$12,930/yr). Five-year Planning Center total: about AU$58,000.

Floways Complete (AU$169/mo) covers most of this. For a multi-site church at this scale, there may be volume add-ons — book a call at floways.co to get a precise number. Conservative five-year estimate: AU$20,940.

All-in-one wins by about AU$37,000. The compounding effect of seven modules each climbing through pricing tiers is the dominant factor. The conclusion holds even if the exact Floways number shifts.

What the numbers actually mean

Three takeaways from the model:

1. Modular pricing is genuinely cheaper for small churches running few modules. The crossover point is somewhere between 100 and 200 attendees and three to four modules. Below that, modular wins. Above that, all-in-one wins.
2. All-in-one pricing has a flat-rate advantage that compounds over five years. Floways at AU$99 or AU$169/mo costs the same when you're 200 people and when you're 400 people. Planning Center modules scale with usage. This isn't unfair, it's the structural reason the math diverges over time.
3. Processing fees are a separate calculation from subscriptions. Planning Center's AU domestic Visa/Mastercard rate of 1.4% + $0.30 is the lowest published rate in the market. Floways' card rate is 1.75% + A$0.30. For BECS direct debit, Planning Center charges 0% + $0.50 per transaction; Floways charges 1.5% + A$0.45, capped at A$5. For a church with A$200,000 in annual giving, this difference is worth factoring in alongside the subscription comparison.

What the modular model gets right

Two genuine advantages worth taking seriously:

If you only ever need one or two modules, modular is cheaper. The Profile A math is the proof. A church plant running just People + Giving + Check-Ins on Planning Center pays about US$30 per month total. That's hard to beat.

And the best-of-breed problem is real. If you're already deeply invested in Planning Center Services, switching costs may outweigh the subscription savings. Sunk cost is a real cost.

The hidden costs nobody talks about

The subscription comparison is the easy part. At least five less-visible costs don't show up on a price page.

• Integration drift. When modules don't sync cleanly, staff time becomes the silent invoice. Two hours a week reconciling member counts is 100 hours a year. At A$30 an hour for a part-time admin, that's A$3,000.
• Training overhead. Each new module is a new learning curve. Multiply by staff turnover and you have a slow-burn cost that nobody captures in the procurement decision.
• Procurement friction. 'Just one more module' becomes its own internal approval cycle. You end up not adopting modules that would actually help, just to avoid the awkward conversation.
• Vendor lock-in via export quality. Most platforms advertise data export. Few are tested by their own customers before it matters.
• Renewal compounding. Most SaaS platforms raise prices 5 to 10% per year. Five modules compound at five times the rate of one.

When modular still wins

• Small churches under 150 people running two or three modules. The Profile A math is unambiguous.
• Churches with idiosyncratic workflows that depend on a specific best-of-breed module no all-in-one replicates. Planning Center Services for worship planning is the obvious example.
• Churches deeply invested in a plugin ecosystem. Planning Center has integrations with hundreds of third-party tools. If your operation depends on five of them, switching costs more than the subscription delta saves.

Frequently asked questions

Is Floways really cheaper than Planning Center?

For mid-sized AU churches running five or more modules, yes, by a meaningful margin. For small churches running two or three modules, Planning Center is cheaper on subscriptions, though Planning Center's processing rates are also better. Use the pricing calculator at floways.co/pricing to model your specific situation.

What if my church only needs 2 modules?

Floways People, Giving, Registrations, and Ticketing are all free forever — no subscription charge at all. If you need Groups or Check-Ins too, that's when Core at AU$99/mo kicks in. A church genuinely running only two modules stays free indefinitely on Floways.

Are processing fees the same on all platforms?

No. Planning Center's AU domestic Visa/Mastercard rate (1.4% + $0.30) and BECS rate (0% + $0.50) are the lowest published rates. Floways charges 1.75% + A$0.30 for cards and 1.5% + A$0.45 (capped A$5) for BECS. Tithely uses US rates of 2.9% + $0.30. For a church with A$200,000 annual giving, the spread between cheapest and most expensive is worth knowing.

Where to from here

Build a five-year projection for your own church before you next renew anything. The number that matters is total cost over a real time horizon, not the smallest line item this month.

The pricing calculator at floways.co/pricing lets you model your specific church in under a minute, in AUD, no signup. If Planning Center works better on the math for your size and module mix, that's a fine outcome. Make the decision with the full picture.