Tithe.ly Sites

What the product is

Tithe.ly Sites, also written Tithely Sites, is a website builder made for churches, sold by Tithe.ly, a church software company. The product page is headed "Build a Custom Church Website with Ease" and describes "a website your church will love (and your admin won't dread). No coding skills required." It is for pastors, church administrators and volunteers who need a site that holds services, sermons, events and a way for newcomers to get in touch, without hiring a developer. The home page invites churches to "Join over 53,000 churches using Tithely for giving, administration, and engagement".

What you build and how

The editor is template-first. The company says you pick a professionally designed church website template, or create your own design, and it describes the result as a site you can build the same day or customize over a longer stretch. No code is required. The page says the average church website typically takes many weeks or months to build, and that with Tithely Sites you can create one in minutes. Templates are described as professionally designed, mobile-optimized and made for ministries, and the site works on phones, tablets and desktops. Live editing means updates happen in real time: "Just publish and go."

The builder is shaped around what a church site does:

• Sermons. The pages mention uploading sermons and a built-in Tithe.ly Sites sermon player, and the site can host sermon content, podcasts and blogs.
• Live services. You can embed a live stream or premiere from Facebook, YouTube or Vimeo.
• Events. Adding events is listed among the everyday tasks, next to changing features and creating new pages with specific ministry designs.
• Plan Your Visit. Built into every Tithely Site, it lets potential visitors share their information and schedule a visit, and the system alerts the church so someone can prepare for the first visit.
• Built-in church tools. The page lists a sermon library, an events calendar, giving and prayer walls as already integrated, and Online Giving lets people give right on the website.
• Search visibility. The company says Tithe.ly Sites "perform very well with search engines" and that you can tweak and customize the site however you need.

Hosting is part of the price. In the FAQ the company answers that every Tithely Site includes website hosting for no extra cost, and the Fast, Secure Hosting section says: "We handle uptime, maintenance, and security so you don't have to." The page also promises a custom and secure website "without compromising extensibility", with complete design flexibility, so you can build a church website the same day or take your time and customize it.

The most distinctive part is where the site sits. It is one product in a church software suite, and the pricing table lists the others: Free Giving at $0 a month, Church Management at $72 a month, a Mobile Church App at $89 a month and Website at $19 a month, plus an All Access plan at $119 a month. Worship Team Tools are listed at $29 a month and Giving with Text-to-Give at $19 a month as included in All Access. The giving product is described as online, mobile and text donations, with unlimited donations, Apple Pay and Google Pay, pledge campaigns, recurring giving, a Cover the Fees option and end-of-year tax statements, and the company says it is available in English, Spanish, French, Japanese and Chinese. The management product covers service planning, email and text, groups, kids check-in, a church calendar and background checks and trainings from MinistrySafe. The app product is described as a fully branded custom church app with sermons, events, giving and group messaging, and an automatic app builder.

For the congregation, the finished site is the church's public front door. The FAQ says people look for a church's website before they visit, wanting leadership, beliefs, directions and service times, and the Plan Your Visit tool lets them respond before they arrive.

Plans, pricing and what the company says

The product page prices the website at $19 a month. It says the company requires no contracts and you can cancel anytime, offers "Try Free for 30 Days", promises you can get started in minutes with no credit card required, and states that all plans include free giving plus a 30 day free trial. The site is free for customers on the All Access plan, which the page prices at $119 a month, "one flat rate, no matter how much you grow", and says saves $1,500 a year. The page puts All Access as "All five products. One plan. $119/month no matter how much you grow!" Church Management is $72 a month, listed with no setup fees.

Giving is priced by transaction: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction for credit and debit cards, 1% + $0.30 for ACH and bank payments, and 3.5% + $0.30 for AMEX. The Free Giving plan has "no monthly fees or contracts - EVER", and the page says 60% of donors cover the processing fees when offered the option.

The company reports ratings of 4.7 stars from 2,400+ church management reviews, and 2 more 4.7 rating badges with 1,100+ and 650+ reviews. It calls itself the "#1 Church Software Platform" and says Tithe.ly Sites is the "#1 tool for building websites for churches", which are the company's own claims. A blog list on the page links a roundup of 15 church website examples.

Customer testimonials sit on the home page. Jeff Kane opens with "Simple. Efficient. Reliable." and says Tithely "could not have been any easier for us to implement or for our people to use!" Andy Dudley names the digital financial service, the church database system and the web site builder and says: "All have been excellent." Another reviewer writes that they "Would do for the automated tax receipts alone. Add in the sites, background checks, and all the integrations and it's a no-brainer!"

Who it suits and who it does not

Tithe.ly Sites fits a church that wants a managed, ministry-shaped site at a flat low price and does not want to think about hosting. It fits best for a church already giving through Tithe.ly, since All Access includes the website at no extra cost alongside management and an app.

It is less suited to organizations that need an arbitrary design or data model, because the pages describe a template builder for churches, not a general site or app platform. Pricing is also layered: the $19 website is cheap alone, but the full suite runs to $119 a month, and giving carries per-transaction fees.