Back in the 80s, Meineke ran a memorable advertising campaign based around the slogan, “I’m not gonna pay a lot for this muffler!”

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The ads played on the fear that when you’re in a jam, some opportunistic company is going to take advantage of your situation and shake you down for everything you have.

You may be feeling that way if your church has grown to the point that spreadsheets aren’t cutting it anymore, and you need a church accounting software solution.

If you want to make instructional or informational videos, this tool is ideal.OS compatibility: WindowsFeatures. A built-in editor that comes with several features.

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A word of warning: you know the old saying, “you get what you pay for?” That rings true when it comes to church accounting software. When you’re paying zero dollars and zero cents for something that typically costs hundreds of dollars, you are sacrificing things like added features, updates, customer service, and sometimes even user interface.

There are software programs designed specifically for church bookkeeping that can make the job even easier (see Resources). Single-entry bookkeeping can also be accomplished using the single-column method where expenses are placed in parentheses to denote they should be subtracted from the balance. You can keep a running balance (although it is.

But if all you need is something basic and it must be free, there are options.

After scouring the web, here are the three best free church accounting software solutions available.

Discover online church accounting software that makes it simple to manage the bookkeeping, track giving by fund, accept giving online and create the reports and giving receipts you need. Church Bookkeeping Software software, free downloads and reviews at WinSite. Free Church Bookkeeping Software Shareware and Freeware.

What church accounting software does

In its most basic form, church accounting software manages payroll, tracks budget, and records donations.

If you have stacks of fading receipts wrapped in rubber bands if you find yourself “guesstimating” your budget for the rest of the year, and if you keep track of donations on sticky notes, you most certainly need church accounting software.

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That was a lot of fun, but let’s back to the business at hand.

While there are lots of general free accounting software options available, and even some specifically catered toward non-profit organizations, we all know that churches have unique accounting needs that must be addressed in any church financial software.

For instance, the best church accounting software incorporates membership data to make donation accounting easier at tax time, and uses specific church terminology.

As Jeff Campbell, General Manager at PowerChurch Software, pointed out: “Churches struggle to keep track of donor restriction and track those balances … for example, a college will have a huge donor restriction fund, while a church will have lots of little ones.”

Business apps should integrate with your software Often Mac accounting software has a limited range of business applications or apps that integrate with it. But if you’re a Mac user, you’ll no doubt be used to having a variety of products that play nicely with your Apple devices. The most powerful products for business are the ones people already love to use. Apple products help employees work more simply and productively, solve problems creatively, and collaborate with a shared purpose. And they’re all designed to work together beautifully. NCH Software's many easy-to-use small business applications for Mac are perfect for small businesses using Macs. Free downloads available now. Apple mac small business software. Shop for PC and Mac software for your business needs, including Windows Operating Systems, Microsfot Office, Accounting & Finance Software, and Security Software. Software PC Mac Subscription Software Software for Students Small Business Software Best Sellers New Releases Deals Your Software Library Customer Support 1-12 of 457 results for.

But we’re not just looking for accounting software tailored to the needs of churches. No, that would be too easy. We also need it to be free, because Millennials.

Here is our list of the best FREE and/or open source church accounting software.

GnuCash

GnuCash is a free, open-source double-entry bookkeeping system created with the goal of providing capabilities similar to Quicken.

GnuCash has been around since 1998, so it has almost two decades of development and refinement on its side.

While GnuCash isn’t specifically designed for churches, it does have features tailored for small businesses.

Even more helpful, Jacob Oommen of Finance and Accounting for Churches created a comprehensive, 14-part guide on using GnuCash for church accounting.

Oommen stumbled upon GnuCash when he was tasked with taking charge of the accounting at St. Stephens Mar Thoma Syrian Church in Bangalore.

“On taking over my duties, I discovered that the accounts in our church were maintained using the old method of Physical Ledgers,” he wrote. “We decided at the outset to migrate to a software system to maintain the accounts.”

“I decided to do a prototype bookkeeping implementation using (GnuCash), to evaluate how it could be used for our purposes,” he added. “If it worked, it could potentially save, our church, and possibly other churches, a lot of money.”

Oommen documented the process on his blog, which provides detailed instructions on everything from the basics through advanced features like year-end reports.

Although Oommen originally implemented GnuCash at his church in 2013, he updated the guide in February of 2017 to reflect several new features including auctions and split transactions.

If you have enough free time and computer expertise, you can follow Oommen’s plan to download GnuCash and customize it for your church, all for the bargain price of $0 (minus your own labor).

ChurchTrac 9

ChurchTrac Online is one of the most affordable and user-friendly church management solutions according to Capterra.

Starting at less than $10 per month, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more affordable church management package.

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But it’s not free, and that’s where ChurchTrac 9 comes in.

Retired in 2012 due to compatibility issues after 10 years of service, the desktop based ChurchTrac 9 is still available for free download for churches with less than 100 names, though you may need an older operating system to successfully run the program.

ChurchTrac says that it will still provide basic tech support on ChurchTrac 9 through the end of this year, and ChurchTrac 9 users can easily be migrated to the fully supported ChurchTrac Online product.

While ChurchTrac 9 provides basic accounting features, it lacks some advanced features like online giving, volunteer management, name archiving, family check-in, congregation access, and fund-based accounting.

But if your church’s computer is still running on a Pentium 4 chip and you have a small congregation, ChurchTrac 9 could be all you need.

ACTS

ACTS is a free, open source church management system that has been in development in China for more than 10 years. In 2015, the OpenOffice-based program was translated into English.

Because ACTS is native to China, some of the instructions may be a little difficult to understand for English speakers. But the development team does offer support in the form of a comprehensive manual, a Facebook developer community, and even email support.

The developers report that the program has been downloaded more than 13,000 times as of February of 2017.

ACTS has an impressive list of features—including membership data management, facility management, donation management, and accounting functionality like vouchers, profit and loss and balance sheets, and unlimited account codes—and is completely free.

It is available for download via SourceForge.

For a few dollars more…

It’s probably dawning on you by now that the pickings are slim when it comes to fully functional church accounting software that is also completely free.

Remember that the additional time you spend customizing a catch-all accounting program or wrestling with an outdated, unsupported piece of abandonware could be worth more to you than a few dollars per month.

As this Elexio article argues, the money you save up front could be lost over time in man-hours.

If you come to the conclusion that paying a reasonable price for your church accounting software isn’t the end of the world, check out our Top 20 Most Affordable Church Management Software research.

Also, if we missed an awesome, totally free church accounting software solution, let us know about it in the comments!

Looking for Church Management software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Church Management software solutions.

Choosing an accountant software for your church can be stressful. You know you need to organize your financials so you can best meet the needs of your clergy and congregation, but it’s difficult to find a solution that meets your church’s unique needs without being too expensive. Fortunately, we designed our DIY app to be an affordable solution for every church and every budget, large or small.

With our free church bookkeeping software, you can quickly see exactly where your money is going, which means you can stop hoarding every receipt from activity refreshments ten years back and get back to taking care of your congregation.

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True Fact: ZipBooks users spend 15% less time on mundane bookkeeping tasks.

Best church accounting software

As a busy minister, you need to be able to check in on your church’s finances on-the-go, not just when you’re in the office after the morning sermon. ZipBooks gives you the freedom to access your congregation’s information from anywhere you have an internet connection, whether you’re out visiting a sick widow or planning the Christmas service.

Don’t have time to handle all of the congregational accounting yourself? ZipBooks also offers affordable payroll, tax prep, and virtual bookkeeping services. Now wherever you go, you know your church’s finances are in good hands.

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Sending online invoices with ZipBooks accelerates payment by 17.5 days on average.

Free church accounting software

For many churches, hiring an accountant is not an option. You need an affordable accounting solution you can handle yourself. Our free features include customized invoicing,credit card processing, and advanced financial reporting.

ZipBooks makes quarterly spending reports easy with easy-to-understand charts and graphics so you can tell exactly where your congregation’s money is going and coming from. Now you know exactly how much you donated to the Food Pantry and how much you have left to spend on the Mother’s Day potluck.

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“It's accrual world. ZipBooks makes it sweeter.” - A Real Customer

Easy bookkeeping software for churches

ZipBooks has all of the features you need in a church accounting software without the hassle of annual licenses or complicated spreadsheets. We designed ZipBooks to be intuitive for anyone to use, whether you’re a millennial or have decades of service under your belt.

Quickly and easily drag-and-drop expenses, view transactions, manage bank accounts, view balance sheets and create spending reports all from your mobile app or your office desktop.

Still not sure whether ZipBooks is right for your church? Create a free account today and give us a try. We think you’re going to love it.

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More features for churches

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• ZipBooks lets you create and send beautiful invoices. Automate everything with recurring auto-bills while ZipBooks seamlessly integrates your billing into your books.

• Manage your business on the go. Send invoices, mark payments, store receipts, and categorize expenses with native mobile applications.

• Simplify your work by collaborating with employees, contractors, accountants, or other team members. Manage team permissions on reports, invoicing and billing, time tracking, or other parts of ZipBooks.

• Organize your work into projects and tasks, and track your time right in ZipBooks. Once you’re ready to bill, pull that time into an invoice with a single click.

• Tag any transaction in ZipBooks with a customer, vendor, project, location, or other custom tag — and generate an income statement and other reports based on one or more of your tags.

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Our free phone and desktop app helps keep your church’s finances organized and paperless by backing up all of your data so you’ll never lose it, and securing it with 256-bit SSL encryption.

Your days of agonizing over event budgets are long over. With ZipBooks, you can view all of your incoming and outgoing transactions, generate spending reports, and check your account balances from anywhere.

We won't charge you any hidden fees and you can count on unlimited storage, no matter how much you use ZipBooks. Use our income statements, balance sheets, and expense reports as much as you need––all for free.