A Tithely alternative for churches that want operations to start with people
Tithely offers a broad giving, administration, and engagement suite. Sanctuary starts with a free people and household foundation, then connects scheduling, service planning, giving, check-in, and Shepherd as a church needs them.
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How to think about Sanctuary and Tithely
Tithely’s center of gravity is broader than a staff database. It combines giving with communication and congregation-facing products such as apps and websites. That can remove vendors for a church that wants the complete bundle, but it can also duplicate a website, streaming provider, or communication system the church has no reason to replace.
Sanctuary makes more sense when the buying question begins with staff work and connected records rather than a new digital front door. Its direct-Stripe giving model is also structurally different: the church operates its connected processor account while Sanctuary connects the resulting gifts to people, funds, reporting, and statements.
When Tithely may be the better choice
- You want giving, a custom church app, a church website, text messaging, groups, and administration from one vendor.
- Your giving strategy depends on text giving, kiosk giving, tap to give, or Tithely’s shared Giving App.
- You want congregation-facing app features such as sermon streaming, group chat, prayer walls, and push notifications.
- Background checks and training inside the same vendor suite are important to your workflow.
When Sanctuary may fit your church better
- You want church people, families, forms, events, registrations, tasks, and follow-up to remain free with no people limit.
- Your priority is an administrative operating system rather than purchasing a website and branded engagement app bundle.
- You want donations processed through the church’s own connected Stripe account, with actual fee tracking and connected statements.
- You prefer adding Serve, Give, Check-Ins, and Shepherd individually as the church’s needs grow.
Questions to answer with your team
- Do you need a custom church app and website, or would those capabilities duplicate tools your church already likes?
- Which giving channels do your donors actually use: web, recurring, text, kiosk, tap, or a shared mobile app?
- How much of your decision is about donor experience versus staff operations and clean people data?
- What records, recurring gifts, statements, groups, and message consent data must move safely?
A safer way to evaluate the move
- Inventory every Tithely product in use, including app, website, messaging, giving, groups, and check-in.
- Separate features that must be replaced from features already covered by another trusted vendor.
- Plan recurring-gift and donor-history migration with finance before announcing a new giving experience.
- Test consent, contact preferences, household matching, statements, and year-to-date totals before launch.