CRM
ChurchCRM is a free, open-source church management system written in PHP that handles membership, groups, events, and finances. Licensed under MIT, it supports 40+ languages and has an active community with 909 stars and recent releases.
Key facts
Objective fields from the source. Values we can't verify are shown as “Unknown” rather than guessed.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Repository | ChurchCRM/CRM |
| Owner | ChurchCRM |
| Primary language | PHP |
| License | MIT — OSI-approved |
| Stars | 909 |
| Forks | 553 |
| Open issues | 193 |
| Latest release | 7.4.1 (2026-07-06) |
| Last updated | 2026-07-07 |
| Source | https://github.com/ChurchCRM/CRM |
What CRM is
PHP-based web application providing attendance tracking, calendar management, and database-driven member/finance workflows. Last pushed July 2026 with 7.4.1 release; 193 open issues suggest ongoing development activity.
Get the CRM source
Clone the repository and explore it locally.
git clone https://github.com/ChurchCRM/CRM.gitcd CRM# follow the project's README for install & configurationNeed it deployed, integrated, or customized instead? DEV.co ships production installs.
Best use cases
Implementation considerations
- PHP 7.x+ and database (MySQL/PostgreSQL) infrastructure required; verify hosting environment compatibility before deployment.
- 193 open issues indicate active development; production deployment should account for potential breaking changes between minor versions.
- Localization is crowdsourced via POEditor; translation completeness varies by language—review audit report before targeting specific locales.
- No mention of API documentation, webhooks, or third-party integrations; assess custom integration requirements early.
- Demo environment is read-write and shared; avoid testing with production data; use isolated staging instance.
When to avoid it — and what to weigh
- Enterprise-scale deployments requiring SLA — No formal support, SLA, or hosted commercial service mentioned; not suitable for critical systems requiring guaranteed uptime.
- Require advanced analytics or real-time reporting — No mention of BI tools, real-time dashboards, or export capabilities; may require custom development for complex reporting needs.
- No in-house technical team — Self-hosted PHP application requires DevOps expertise for setup, maintenance, security patching, and database backups.
- Strict regulatory/compliance requirements — No documented compliance certifications (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC2); requires audit before use with sensitive data in regulated contexts.
License & commercial use
MIT License—permissive open-source license permitting commercial use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions (retain copyright notice and license text).
MIT permits commercial deployment and customization. However, no formal support, warranty, or liability indemnity is provided. Organizations offering ChurchCRM-based services should clarify liability, support terms, and upstream attribution in their agreements.
DEV.co evaluation signals
Editorial assessment — not user reviews. Directional, with an explicit confidence level.
| Signal | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Maintenance | Active |
| Documentation | Adequate |
| License clarity | Clear |
| Deployment complexity | Moderate |
| DEV.co fit | Good |
| Assessment confidence | High |
No security audit, CVE history, or formal security policy documented. As a PHP web app handling membership and financial data, review for SQL injection, CSRF, XSS, and authentication/authorization. Deployment must include HTTPS, regular patching, and database backups. Recommend security review before production use with sensitive data.
Alternatives to consider
Planning Center Online (PCO)
Commercial SaaS alternative with built-in support, compliance certifications, and hosted infrastructure; no self-hosting or coding required but involves licensing costs.
Breeze Church Management
Commercial cloud-based CRM with strong UX, real-time collaboration, and vendor support; trade-off: subscription cost and data ownership.
Elvanto
SaaS church management focused on mobile-first design and integrations; vendor-maintained with support tier but recurring fees.
Build on CRM with DEV.co software developers
Assess infrastructure, security, and integration requirements with our technical team. We can help plan deployment, customization, or migration from legacy systems.
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CRM FAQ
Can we use ChurchCRM for free in production?
What data does ChurchCRM store and how is it protected?
How do we get help or report bugs?
Can ChurchCRM integrate with our existing tools (Stripe, Google Workspace, etc.)?
Software development & web development with DEV.co
From first prototype to production, DEV.co delivers software development services around tools like CRM. Our software development agency staffs experienced software developers and web developers for custom software development, web development, integrations, and ongoing support across open-source crm and beyond.
Ready to evaluate ChurchCRM for your organization?
Assess infrastructure, security, and integration requirements with our technical team. We can help plan deployment, customization, or migration from legacy systems.