Planning Center
👤 Jeff Berg & Aaron Stewart (Two staffers at one church—Berg on web, Stewart on music—felt the exact Sunday pain they later sold to 80k churches.)🌐 siteLinkedIn
A worship-service planner grew into an 11-app church suite, then locked ownership in a foundation so it can't be sold.
Will it work? · our read
Unbuyable. The foundation protects independence, not growth. Bounded to churches at deliberately low ARPU, it will stay mid-sized on purpose, and that is the point.
01How the money moves
Church starts free: People database + Services planner
→
Adds paid apps as it grows: Giving, Check-Ins, Groups, Calendar
→
Monthly subscriptions + giving-processing fees across 90,000+ churches
02The numbers
90,000+Statedchurches
2025-09
the sentence on the page
more questions? We’re here to help. Contact Support . How many churches does Planning Center serve? Over 90,000 churches trust Planning Center. Of those churches, 4 million staff and volunteers use…
Revenue never disclosed; $29B is donations processed, not revenue. planningcenter.com/about
Never disclosed; Owler EST about $19M/yr.
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You have the verdict. Members get the work behind it.
- The CENTS scorecard — where it's strong, where it's soft
- The founder's key move, and the counter-move
- How it could die — the evidence, and how sure we are
- The case against our own call
- A 🚀 launchpad prompt — the case, as a plan for your business
We rate our own confidence — and argue against ourselves. Nobody else in this category does.
Sources always public on all 560 cases · cancel anytime · 14-day refund
See a full teardown, free → ImportYetiSourcesSources last checked 25 August 2026
planningcenter.com/about — 80k+ churches, 4M weekly users, 200+ staff, bootstrappedFounders' 20-year reflection — origin, accept/decline button, 'never be sold'Owler — third-party revenue estimate (about $19M, EST, not first-party)Kenny Lange podcast — Jeff Berg & Aaron Stewart interview
Revenue is EST, not disclosed: Planning Center is private and bootstrapped and has never published a number. Third-party Owler pegs it at about $19M/yr—treat as rough, and possibly low for a 200-person firm. First-party hard facts: 80k+ churches, 4M weekly users, $29B+ donations processed (lifetime), 200+ staff, 20 years, zero funding (planningcenter.com/about). The origin story, bootstrapped stance, and the 2024 Ministry Centered Foundation ('not for sale') are founder-stated and documented, not embellished. The $29B is donations processed, not revenue. We never score you.