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?
At a Glance
| Holy Insights | Church Metrics | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $29–$69/mo + $10/campus | Free |
| Built by | One person (Braden Murray) | Gloo / Life.Church |
| Planning Center sync | Direct integration | Manual / CSV only |
| AI assistant | MAX (6 coaching styles, Staff Meeting Prep, Ask MAX) | — |
| Built-in benchmarks | Yes — Barna, Pew, Unstuck data baked in | — |
| Auto-formatted board reports | Pro & Max tiers | Manual export |
| NextGen breakdown | Nursery / Kids / Middle School / Youth / Young Adults | Single Kids count |
| Salvation-to-baptism conversion rate | Yes | Tracked separately, no ratio |
| Giving units (vs. total giving) | Yes | Total giving only |
| Visitor conversion ratio | Yes | — |
| Volunteer coverage / recruiting gap | Yes | — |
| Sweet-spot church size | 200–800 | Any size |
Why Church Metrics Is Great
Before we get into the comparison, give Church Metrics credit where it's due:
- It's free. No paid tier, no expiration, no upsell. Backed by Life.Church and Gloo, which means it's not going anywhere.
- Multi-site at no extra cost. Track unlimited campuses. Useful if you're a network or a large multi-site church.
- Mobile app for quick entry. iOS and Android. Useful for the staff member counting attendance from the back row.
- Trusted by major churches. Elevation, NewSpring, Life.Church themselves. There's a reason it has scale.
For a lot of churches, Church Metrics is genuinely the right answer — and we'd say so out loud. The rest of this page is about when paying for Holy Insights makes sense over staying free.
Why Pastors Graduate from Church Metrics
Church Metrics is excellent at recording numbers. Holy Insights is built for interpreting them. Most pastors hit four ceilings with the free tool, and that's usually when they switch.
1. "Is this number good?" with no answer
Church Metrics tells you your visitor count was 14 this week. That's it. 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 board-ready reports
Church Metrics gives you raw numbers. When the board asks "how are we doing?", you're still pulling from three different tabs and writing the narrative yourself. Holy Insights' Reports module (Pro and Max tiers) auto-formats the last 90 days into a document your elders can actually read — and MAX writes the talking points for you.
3. Surface-level NextGen tracking
Church Metrics tracks "Kids" as one number. Holy Insights breaks NextGen into Nursery, Kids, Middle School, Youth Group, and Young Adults — 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. No salvation-to-baptism rate, no giving units, no visitor conversion
Three of the most diagnostic metrics in church health aren't surfaced in Church Metrics. 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.
Who Church Metrics Is Best For
- Churches under ~200 attendance who just need to start tracking
- Pastors who want zero recurring software cost
- Large multi-site networks (1,000+ attendance) with a dedicated data person who builds reports themselves
- Anyone who only needs basic attendance + giving + salvation counts
Who Holy Insights Is Best For
- 200–800 attendance churches with leadership asking "is this number good?" on a regular basis
- Pastors preparing monthly board reports without a data person on staff
- Churches investing in NextGen who need real age-group-by-age-group visibility
- Multi-campus churches who want predictable per-campus pricing and integrated Planning Center sync
- Pastors who want an AI coach that talks back about their actual numbers
Migrating from Church Metrics to Holy Insights
Switching is straightforward:
- Export your historical data from Church Metrics as CSV. Their export covers attendance, salvations, and giving.
- Connect Planning Center for going-forward sync. Once Holy Insights is wired in, you stop manual entry. It pulls weekly automatically.
- Setup is 2–4 hours over a week. Most of that is mapping your existing categories. 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 completely free — backed by Life.Church and Gloo. There's no paid tier, no upsell, no trial expiration. It covers attendance, salvations, and giving for unlimited campuses.
Why would I pay for Holy Insights when Church Metrics is free?
Three reasons most pastors graduate 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). Church Metrics is excellent at recording numbers; Holy Insights is built for interpreting them.
Can I migrate from Church Metrics to Holy Insights?
Yes. Export your historical data from Church Metrics as CSV, then import it during Holy Insights onboarding. Setup typically takes 2–4 hours over a week and Braden walks you through it directly.
Does Holy Insights track salvations and baptisms like Church Metrics?
Yes — and it goes further. Holy Insights tracks the salvation-to-baptism conversion rate, which Church Metrics does not surface as a metric.
Does Church Metrics integrate with Planning Center?
Not directly. Church Metrics works via manual entry, mobile app input, or CSV upload. Holy Insights integrates directly with Planning Center, so attendance and giving sync automatically.
What size church is Holy Insights designed for vs. Church Metrics?
Church Metrics serves churches of any size, including very large multi-site networks (it was built by Life.Church). Holy Insights is built for the 200–800 attendance sweet spot — the size where you've outgrown DIY tracking but don't have a data team yet.
Should small churches use Holy Insights or Church Metrics?
Under ~200 attendance with no plans to grow into board-level reporting? Church Metrics is genuinely the right answer — free, simple, gets the job done. At 200–800 with leadership asking 'is this number good?' on a regular basis, Holy Insights is the upgrade.