Notebird vs Rock RMS
Notebird is the better fit for most churches that want a care team logging notes, follow-up tasks, and milestones on day one, with no workflows to build. Rock RMS fits churches with technical staff or a hosting partner that want one free, open-source system for people, giving, check-in, and communications. Notebird has no direct Rock sync; import people by CSV.
Notebird vs Rock RMS at a glance
- You want follow-up tasks with owners and due dates, milestone reminders, and a daily Early Bird email without building workflows or data views.
- You want private care notes, a team activity feed, and printable per-person care reports that pastors and volunteers can use on day one.
- You want a mobile web app for the care team that works on any phone, instead of building your own with Rock Mobile.
Bottom line: Notebird gives a care team its own notes, private notes, assigned tasks, milestone reminders, activity feed, and printable reports the day you sign up, with no server to run and no workflows to build. Rock RMS is a free, open-source church management system that can hold care notes and run follow-up through Connections and Workflows, if you have the technical help to set it up and host it. Choose Notebird for a simple care tool next to whatever database you run; choose Rock if you want one customizable system and can support it.
Notebird vs Rock RMS: features side by side
Rock RMS is a free, open-source church management system for people, giving, check-in, groups, workflows, and communications that churches self-host or run through a Rock hosting partner. Sources for every Rock RMS fact are listed at the end of this page.
| Feature | Notebird | Rock RMS |
|---|---|---|
| Care notes per person The Rock person profile has a Timeline of notes with Alert, Normal, and Private note types. Some notes are system-generated, such as joining a group. | Yes | Yes |
| Private (restricted) notes with permission control Rock private notes are viewable only by the person who entered them. After a note is saved you can also restrict it by security role, such as pastoral staff. | Yes | Yes |
| Follow-up tasks assigned to a team member with due date Rock workflow activities can be assigned to a person or group, and a Connection Request can be frozen in a Future Follow-up state until a date. Reminders (Rock 15+) alert you about events and tasks. A simple per-person care task with a due date takes setup. | Yes | Partial |
| Milestone tracking (birthdays, anniversaries, baptisms, custom) with reminders Rock stores birth dates and anniversary dates on the person record and supports custom person attributes. Automatic birthday or anniversary reminders for a care team are not documented out of the box. | Yes | Partial |
| Care reports (printable per-person care history) Rock Data Views and Reports filter on any field in the system, and the History tab lists changes to a record. A printable per-person care history is not documented. | Yes | Partial |
| Team activity feed Rock shows a Timeline per person and a Connections board per opportunity. One team-wide feed of care activity is not documented. | Yes | Not documented |
| Groups / care teams with per-team-member access Rock groups have types, roles, and leader toolboxes. Connections assign a connector to each request. Security roles control who can see notes and pages. | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile access (phone and tablet) Rock Mobile is a framework for a church to create, configure, and publish its own app. Rock does not offer a ready-made staff app in the app stores. | Mobile web app; add to home screen on iOS and Android, no store download | Build your own |
| Full-text search across notes Rock Smart Search finds people by partial name, phone, email, address, and birthdate. Search across the text of notes is not documented. | Yes | Partial |
| Daily email of who needs attention Notebird sends the Early Bird report automatically. In Rock you build the email with workflows, data views, and communications. | Yes | Via Workflows |
| Sync with a church management system Notebird has no direct Rock sync. Export people from Rock and import them into Notebird by CSV for free. | Planning Center, Breeze, Church Windows (direct); CSV import from others | Is the ChMS |
| Membership database Rock manages families, members, and volunteers with duplicate detection and custom attributes. | People profiles only | Yes |
| Online giving Rock includes finance tools and giving; its site reports more than $5B given through Rock. | No | Yes |
| Check-in Rock has built-in check-in for Sunday mornings. | No | Yes |
| Events and volunteer scheduling Rock has event and calendar tools, registrations, and group scheduling. | No | Yes |
| Church website and member app Rock includes websites, content management, mobile access, and TV apps. | No | Yes |
| Hosting Rock runs on Windows Server, IIS, and SQL Server. Rock Cloud and Cloud 9 host it for a fee; self-hosting is for teams with technical experience. | Cloud, included | Self-host or partner cloud |
| Pricing model No license fees. Rock asks for $4.45 per average weekend attendee per year, plus hosting if you use a partner. | Per user, graduated | Suggested donation per attendee |
Which one should you pick?
Why churches choose Notebird
- You want follow-up tasks with owners and due dates, milestone reminders, and a daily Early Bird email without building workflows or data views.
- You want private care notes, a team activity feed, and printable per-person care reports that pastors and volunteers can use on day one.
- You want a mobile web app for the care team that works on any phone, instead of building your own with Rock Mobile.
- You do not have technical staff and do not want to manage Windows Server, SQL Server, or a hosting partner.
- You want per-user pricing that starts small and grows with the care team, instead of a per-attendee donation plus hosting fees.
When Rock RMS may fit better
- You want one open-source system for people, giving, check-in, groups, events, communications, and your website, with no license fees.
- You have a developer or an IT-minded staff member, or a hosting partner, who can install, update, and customize Rock.
- You want deep customization: custom workflows, connection types, data views, and plugins from the Rock Shop.
- You want to own your data on your own servers or with a partner that guarantees export.
- You are a larger church that needs check-in, giving, and a member app in the same database as your notes.
