Roots vs Planning Center
Planning Center is a full church management system: people, services, giving, check-ins, groups and more, each sold as its own product. Roots does one thing: it helps a youth ministry team know every student and remember every conversation.
What it costs
Seed: free forever for 1 workspace and up to 15 students.
Grove: $19/mo flat for unlimited students and up to 20 team members.
Forest: $49/mo for up to 5 workspaces and unlimited team members.
People: free.
Check-Ins: from $14/mo, priced by check-ins on your busiest day.
Groups: from $14/mo, priced by group members.
Other products (Services, Giving, Registrations and more) are priced separately.
Planning Center pricing as published on their site, checked October 2026. Prices change, so check there for current rates.
Side by side
| Roots | Planning Center | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Youth ministry relationships | Running a whole church |
| How it's priced | One plan covers everything in it | Each product priced separately, by usage |
| How you start | Free plan, no card needed | People is free; other products are paid |
| Check-ins | Yes, and you can import a Planning Center check-in export | Yes, through the Check-Ins product |
| Giving, services, registrations | Not included | Yes, as separate products |
What Roots gives a youth team
- Every conversation, saved. Each leader logs what they talked about, and it stays on the student's profile.
- The Garden. A Connection score moves each student from Seed to Deeply Rooted as your team invests, and a warmth signal shows who's drifting.
- Check-ins and spiritual decisions on every student, with spreadsheet import from your attendance tool.
- Team chat, events, and a prayer board for your leaders on Grove.
Which one fits your ministry
- You want your youth team focused on students, not church admin.
- You need to see which students nobody has talked to lately.
- You want something your volunteers can learn in a few minutes.
- You need giving, service planning, or church-wide registrations.
- Your church wants one database for every member.
- Your staff already runs Sunday check-in through it.
Using both? Many churches keep Planning Center for church operations and use Roots for the youth team. Export check-ins from Planning Center and import the spreadsheet into Roots, so attendance shows up next to each student's story.
Try Roots with your team
Start free on Seed, no card needed. Move to Grove when your volunteers join.
Also compare: