“Free parish management software” is a phrase that gets used loosely. Before you invest time migrating your records into any system, you deserve a clear answer to the question: what is actually free?
Here is an honest breakdown of what ParishRecords.in offers permanently free — and what requires a paid plan.
What is completely free, forever
The following features are available on our Free plan with no time limit, no record limit, and no credit card required:
Complete member and family registry — unlimited families and members, zone and ward assignments, transfer records, and member status management. There is no cap on the number of records. A parish with 5,000 members uses the same free plan as one with 150.
Sacramental registers — baptism, first communion, confirmation, marriage, ordination, and death registers. Each register supports all canonical fields, scanned document attachments, and the approval workflow that makes records immutable once a priest approves them.
Certificate generation — baptism certificates, marriage certificates, transfer certificates, and membership certificates, all generated as PDFs in a standard diocesan-compatible format. You can customise the header with your parish name, logo, and diocese details.
Basic member search — search the register by name, baptism date, parents’ names, godparents, or register number.
Two staff users — the parish priest and one secretary or admin.
5 GB of document storage — for scanned registers, uploaded photographs, and issued certificates.
What requires a paid plan
We are direct about this because we think parishes deserve honest information when planning their technology investments.
The Growth plan (₹999/month) adds: the full finance and contribution ledger, online payment collection (UPI, cards via Razorpay), mass stipend management, email and SMS communications, WhatsApp notifications, events and hall booking management, ministry and volunteer tracking, up to 10 staff users, and advanced analytics and exports.
The Diocese plan adds multi-parish management, a consolidated diocese dashboard, REST API access, custom domain and branding, cemetery records, property and asset management, and a dedicated account manager.
Why we keep core records free
Parish records — baptism, marriage, death, membership — are not a differentiating feature. They are a canonical obligation. Every church in India deserves to maintain these records properly, regardless of financial resources.
Our business model is built on the Growth and Diocese plans, which add the operational management tools that larger and more resourced parishes need. By making the core free, we reach every parish — including rural parishes with very limited budgets — and earn their trust for when they are ready to grow.
How the free plan compares to Excel
The most common “free” alternative is a combination of Excel spreadsheets, Google Sheets, and WhatsApp. Here’s the honest comparison:
- Excel/Sheets: free, but requires manual certificate creation (hours of work), no search, no audit trail, no approval workflow, no scanned document attachments, no automated certificate numbering, and one person owns the file
- ParishRecords Free: free, with PDF certificate generation, a full audit trail, an approval workflow, document attachments, and multi-user access with role-based permissions
The free plan of ParishRecords replaces the most time-consuming manual workflows without costing anything.
Create your free account — no credit card, no time limit.