Holy Insights vs. Church Metrics: What You Get for Paying
Church Metrics by Gloo is free. Holy Insights isn't. This page answers the only question that matters when you compare them: what does paying actually get you, and when is free the right call?
Short answer: Church Metrics is free and fine for recording attendance, salvations, giving, and volunteers. Holy Insights ($40 to $80/mo) is for churches that want those numbers synced from Planning Center, Rock RMS, Breeze, or Pushpay ChMS and turned into trends, ratios, and a weekly brief.
By Braden Murray, founder of Holy Insights · Updated
Competitor details checked against Church Metrics, Church Metrics features, Church Metrics API help, Gloo help: Church Metrics dashboard on .
At a Glance
| Holy Insights | Church Metrics | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $40–$80/mo + $35/campus (MAX only) | Free |
| Built by | One person (Braden Murray) | Created by Life.Church; now owned and run by Gloo |
| Planning Center sync | Direct integration (daily, and about every 30 minutes on Sunday) | No direct sync found; manual entry, mobile app, CSV, or API |
| AI assistant | MAX (3 coaching styles, Staff Meeting Prep, Ask MAX) | None standalone; AI insights with an optional Gloo connection |
| Built-in benchmarks | Yes (Barna, Pew, Unstuck data baked in) | None standalone; national-average benchmarks with an optional Gloo connection |
| Auto-formatted board reports | Core & MAX tiers | Scheduled and custom reports; no auto-written board summaries |
| NextGen breakdown | Nursery / Kids / Middle School / Youth / Young Adults | No built-in breakdown; custom categories available |
| Salvation-to-baptism conversion rate | Yes | No built-in ratio found; custom categories available |
| Giving units (vs. total giving) | Yes | Giving is a built-in category; giving units not built in |
| Visitor conversion ratio | Yes | No built-in ratio found |
| Volunteer coverage / recruiting gap | Yes | Tracks volunteer counts; no coverage ratio published |
| Metrics tracked | 75 calculated metrics and ratios | 4 built-in categories (attendance, salvations, giving, volunteers) plus unlimited custom categories |
| Best fit | Pastors who want their numbers interpreted | Pastors who just want to record numbers |
What Church Metrics Does Well
Three real strengths worth naming:
- It’s free, and a large organization runs it. Created by Life.Church and now owned and run by Gloo, it’s available at no cost. If your only requirement is recording weekly counts, that’s a real value proposition.
- Mobile entry from the back row. The iOS and Android app makes it easy for a staff member to count attendance live during the service.
- Custom categories, scheduled reports, and an API. Beyond its four built-in categories, you can add unlimited custom categories of your own, schedule reports, and send data in through its API. An optional Gloo connection adds national-average benchmarking and AI insights.
That’s a high bar for a free tool. The rest of this page is about what changes once your leadership starts asking “is this number good?” and the raw count stops being enough.
Why Pastors Graduate from Church Metrics
Church Metrics is excellent at recording numbers. Holy Insights is built for interpreting them. Here are five places where Holy Insights goes further than the free tool.
1. "Is this number good?" without built-in benchmarks
On its own, Church Metrics shows you that your visitor count was 14 this week. An optional Gloo connection adds national-average benchmarking and AI insights. Holy Insights tells you 14 is roughly 2.7% of your attendance, that the healthy benchmark for your size is 3–5%, and that you’re trending below your prior 4-week average. Built-in benchmarks from Barna, Pew, and The Unstuck Group are the difference between data and interpretation.
2. No auto-written board summaries
Church Metrics has scheduled and custom reports, but when the board asks “how are we doing?”, you still write the narrative yourself. The Holy Insights Reports module (Core and MAX tiers) auto-formats the last 90 days into a document your elders can read. MAX writes the talking points for you.
3. NextGen age bands built in
Church Metrics has no built-in NextGen breakdown, though you can add custom categories for each age group. Holy Insights breaks NextGen into Nursery, Kids, Middle School, Youth Group, and Young Adults out of the box, so you can see whether the kids’ bump is actually flowing through to youth, or whether you have a transition gap. For churches investing real money in NextGen, this distinction matters.
4. Salvation-to-baptism rate, giving units, and visitor conversion
Three of the most diagnostic metrics in church health aren’t among Church Metrics’ built-in categories, and we did not find calculated ratios for them in its documentation. You can record the raw counts as custom categories. Holy Insights tracks all three: salvation-to-baptism conversion (are decisions becoming commitment?), giving units vs. total giving (are more people giving, or are the same people giving more?), and visitor conversion ratio (are first-time guests becoming returning ones?). All three are leading indicators of church health that total attendance and total giving don't reveal.
5. Built-in categories vs. 75 calculated metrics and ratios
Church Metrics keeps its built-in set small: attendance, salvations, giving, and volunteers, plus unlimited custom categories that you define yourself. Holy Insights calculates 75 metrics and ratios from your data, including weekly, online, midweek, and small group attendance, NextGen broken out by age band, giving units and giving per attendee, visitor conversion ratio, salvation-to-baptism conversion, volunteer ratios and recruiting gap, weather and event impact, congregation demographics, and full Reports for staff and board. If anyone on your team pays attention to data, they will likely want ratios and benchmarks they don’t have to build themselves.
When Church Metrics Is the Better Choice
- You need a free way to start recording attendance, salvations, and giving with zero recurring cost.
- You want a record-keeping tool, not an interpretation tool. No one on the team is asking “is this number healthy?” yet.
- You want to define your own categories, or send data in through an API, at no cost.
When Holy Insights Is the Better Choice
- You have someone on the team who actually cares about the data. A pastor or leader who pays attention to numbers will outgrow Church Metrics fast. Holy Insights calculates 75 metrics and ratios with built-in benchmarks. Church Metrics has four built-in categories plus custom ones you define.
- Your leadership is asking "is this number good?" on a regular basis. Built-in benchmarks from Barna, Pew, and The Unstuck Group answer that question without a Google search. (Church Metrics’ optional Gloo connection also adds national-average benchmarking.)
- You're preparing monthly board or staff reports. Reports module auto-formats the last 90 days. MAX writes the talking points.
- You're investing real money in NextGen. Nursery, Kids, Middle School, Youth, and Young Adults broken out individually. Church Metrics has no built-in NextGen breakdown.
- You want Planning Center to sync automatically. Planning Center syncs daily, and about every 30 minutes on Sunday. Church Metrics takes manual entry, its mobile app, CSV, or its API.
- You want an AI coach grounded in published ministry research. MAX answers questions like "why did our baptism rate drop?" against your real data.
Migrating from Church Metrics to Holy Insights
Switching is straightforward:
- Connect Church Metrics directly (beta). Holy Insights has a direct Church Metrics sync that connects with an API key. You map each Church Metrics category to a Holy Insights metric, and your weekly totals flow in. It brings aggregate numbers only, with no per-person data.
- Or export your historical data as CSV. CSV is the fallback if you would rather not use the beta sync. Check which categories your export includes before you cancel anything.
- Connect Planning Center for going-forward sync. Once Holy Insights is wired in, you stop manual entry. Planning Center syncs daily, and about every 30 minutes on Sunday.
- Connecting takes about 10 minutes, and a full setup typically takes 2 to 4 hours over the first week. Most of that time is mapping your existing categories and importing history. Braden walks you through it directly.
Decide in 30 Minutes
Book a demo and we'll honestly tell you whether to switch.
If Church Metrics covers your needs, we'll say so. If Holy Insights would be a real upgrade, we'll show you exactly which metrics matter for your church size and stage.
Book a free demoFrequently Asked Questions
Is Church Metrics by Gloo really free?
Yes. Church Metrics is available at no cost. It was created by Life.Church and is now owned and run by Gloo. It has four built-in categories (attendance, salvations, giving, and volunteers) plus unlimited custom categories, and it supports multi-site churches.
Why would I pay for Holy Insights when Church Metrics is free?
Three reasons pastors move to a paid tool: built-in benchmarks (so you know whether your number is healthy), board-ready Reports (auto-formatted for staff and elders), and the MAX AI coach (Q&A on your actual data). Standalone Church Metrics has no AI or benchmarks, though an optional Gloo connection adds national-average benchmarking and AI insights. Church Metrics is excellent at recording numbers; Holy Insights is built for interpreting them.
Can I migrate from Church Metrics to Holy Insights?
Yes. Holy Insights has a direct Church Metrics sync (currently in beta) that connects with an API key and maps each Church Metrics category to a Holy Insights metric. If you would rather not use the beta, export your historical data from Church Metrics as CSV and import it during onboarding. Connecting takes about 10 minutes, and a full setup, including mapping your data and importing history, typically takes 2 to 4 hours spread over the first week. Braden walks you through it directly.
Does Holy Insights track salvations and baptisms like Church Metrics?
Yes, and it goes further. Church Metrics has salvations as a built-in category, and you can add baptisms as a custom category. Holy Insights tracks both and calculates the salvation-to-baptism conversion rate, which we did not find as a built-in ratio in Church Metrics.
Does Church Metrics integrate with Planning Center?
We did not find a direct Planning Center sync listed for Church Metrics. It works through manual entry, mobile app input, CSV upload, or its API. Holy Insights integrates directly with Planning Center, which syncs daily, and about every 30 minutes on Sunday, so attendance and giving arrive automatically.
Who is Holy Insights designed for vs. Church Metrics?
Church Metrics is designed for churches that want a free place to record the basics. It has four built-in categories (attendance, salvations, giving, and volunteers) plus custom categories you add yourself. Holy Insights is designed for churches with someone on the team who pays attention to the data. It calculates 75 metrics and ratios with built-in benchmarks, NextGen broken out by age band, giving units, conversion rates, and the MAX AI coach. If a leader on your staff cares whether the number is healthy as well as what the number is, they may outgrow the free tool.
Should small churches use Holy Insights or Church Metrics?
If you just need to record attendance, salvations, and giving without interpretation, Church Metrics is genuinely the right answer. It's free, simple, and gets the job done. If your leadership is asking 'is this number good?' on a regular basis and you want benchmarks, board-ready reports, and an AI coach that explains what's happening, Holy Insights is the upgrade. It is also worth a look at Church Metrics' optional Gloo connection, which adds national-average benchmarking and AI insights.