Display Church vs Planning Center

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In the age of digitalization, having an easy-to-use, customized, and professional embedded church calendar is crucial to engaging your congregation, organizing events, and facilitating management.

Two widely used options available for churches are Planning Center and Display.Church. While many things are similar, there are some important differences.

Before we begin: ‘Thank you!’ Planning Center for giving us the opportunity to integrate with you. It’s because of your provision of a calendar option that we’re able to collect all the necessary details to display our partners' church events.

Thank you, Planning Center, for being such an amazing partner!

 

 

Comparison

The main difference is that Planning Center offers a wide range of church-centric services while Display.Church specializes in calendar or group views and event alerts.

Display.Church PCO
Calendar templates 7 different views Basically 3 views
Embed options Calendar views, group widgets, event alerts Calendar only
Filtering Show/hide hidden events, Include group-specific events, Show events with images only, Merge recurring events, by tag / tag group / group / approval status

*NEW* Powerful Advanced Filtering: Mix and match all options to create virtually any filtering combination you need.
By campus, tag
Customize colors & fonts Over 100 customizable options Font - no; Each tag can have a different color
Removing the calendar Remove the calendar without modifying the website Must remove the code from the website

Pros and Cons

Display.Church

Pros

  • Versatile with multiple calendar views
  • Automated event alerts
  • Can embed calendar views, groups widgets, and events alerts
  • Advanced filtering options for events
  • Full customization with colors and fonts, ideal for branding
  • Simple process to remove or unpublish calendar

Cons

  • May require more time to get familiar with the interface and features
  • Need to buy a plan

 

 

Planning Center

Pros

  • Easy-to-use and simplified user interface
  • Adequate customization with tag colors
  • Popular and widely recognized in the industry
  • Included in plan

Cons

  • Limited to three calendar views
  • No event alerts
  • Cannot embed group widgets
  • No advanced filtering
  • No font customization

 

 

Choice of Calendar Views

Planning Center offers three main embeddable calendar views: Monthly, Small Month + List, and Table. Each view can be customized depending on your unique needs and audience.

Display.Church provides multiple embeddable views for different needs (7 templates at the moment), making it a more versatile option.

In addition, we offer 4 templates to display your small groups, and 1 template that creates an event alert banner.

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Group Widgets

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Chances are, you already have some kind of small groups display or page. Chances are, it could be much better: more exciting, eye-catching, engaging…not to mention kept up-to-date automatically.

Our new, easy-to-use, cloud-based groups widget is the solution. The big advantage with Display.Church is that you can embed your groups widgets on your church website.

Event Alerts

Event ALERTS is an automated, 'set it and forget it' statement which gives information about an upcoming (or happening now) event. This innovative tool drives conversion and saves you time. You can customize when and where to the event highlight display based on different settings, and you won't have to manually update – the highlight will disappear once the event is over!

Note: Beta testing phase

Banner Alerts

Filtering Options

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The Planning Center platform allows filtering events based on campus and tag.

Display.Church offers more advanced filtering options, such as showing hidden events, displaying events with images only, merging recurring events, and filtering by tag, group, and approval status.

We are also ready to handle Groups via Feed and Groups via Connection.

In addition, our *NEW* Powerful Advanced Filtering lets you mix and match your filtering options (according to your integration) in an infinite number of combinations using the connectors:

  • and

  • or

  • is

  • is not

image

Customizing Colors and Fonts

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While Planning Center doesn't offer font customization, it does let you assign unique colors for each tag, making events easily distinguishable.

Display.Church allows complete color and font customization to suit your church's branding. You can play around with over 100 customizable options.

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Removing the Calendar

To remove a Planning Center embedded calendar from your website, you need to go to your website and remove it from the website code.

Removing the Display.Church calendar is much easier and more convenient. You just unpublish it without modifying the website. Your calendar waits for you in case you wish to use it again. For example, for special events calendars such as Christmas, Easter, VBS, etc.

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Testimonial

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We had a clunky website hosted by a platform that required us to manage a calendar, in addition to Planning Center. This was ineffective & repetitive. This is prior to signing up for Display Church.

Display.Church enabled us sync with our Planning Center calendar and manage one calendar internally and on our website. The tiled option on Display.Church is appealing and exactly what I wanted.

The Display Church interface and auto-sync feature have made it very easy and time efficient for our admin and communication department.

Andrew Barris, Creative Arts Director, Calvary Chapel WestGrove

Awesome Features For Today’s Ministries

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Typography

Choose the font type, weight, and size for each
major element to ensure it matches your
website!

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Colors & Layout

Choose the colors and calendar or group widget's layout type to
match your specific needs.

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No Coding

Set up a calendar view or group widet in 5 minutes or less. No
coding required. A one-time add of one line of
script to your website enables the views to
work.

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Automatic Syncing

We’ll ensure your calendar or group widget is always
updated. We update the widgets views once or
twice per day (according to your plan). You can also
push unlimited changes from within the app.

Responsive Design and Mobile App Ready

Your calendar and group widget views meet your congregation on whichever device they are using. Our widgets work on the most modern websites and respond nicely on all devices. Your people can see your widgets via their desktop and mobile browsers. Even more exciting is that you can meet your ministry on their phones via our mobile app.

And Tons More!

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Setup

Responsive Format

Our calendar view works on the most modern websites and responds nicely on all devices.

Multiple Views

Choose from Full Calendar, Weekly View, Events List, Cards (Grid), Cards (List), Slider, and the new Detailed List.

Auto and manual sync

Automatic: We will ensure your calendar is always updated. Depending on your plan, updates happen once a day

(3 am UTC or 4AM UTC depending on plan) or twice a day (12 am and 12 pm UTC).

Manual: You can always push unlimited changes from within the app.

Design
Events
Install
Branding / SEO
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How it Works

1. Sign up & Integrate

Sign up and Integrate your Google Calendar account or Church Management Software Account.

2. Customize (No Coding)

Choose the calendar type, group widget, or event alert you want. Customize the design.

3. Publish and Embed

Publish and embed your calendar, groups widget, and/or event alert on your website.

Real Clients

Pricing

FAQ

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