Broadcasting church service online extends your reach to those who can’t attend worship in person, like members who are ill, injured, too old, or disabled. Using live stream software for your church also allows worship to continue during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

But with so many options out there, which one is the best live stream software for churches? Are there free live streaming software for churches on a budget? Let’s take a look.

Best Live Streaming Software for Churches

Hosting platforms allow you to stream worship services remotely, so that church members don’t have to attend physically. We’ve listed three of the best live broadcast software for churches below. Keep in mind that there’s no one “best” streaming software for churches because each one offers something different.

Tithe.ly Live Stream: Best Overall

If your church’s website is created via Tithe.ly, you have access to its Sites Live Stream feature, where you can embed your virtual event (on YouTube, Vimeo, or Facebook) onto your website instantly.

You can then schedule your live stream, add a countdown, share Scripture or sermon notes, and customize the look of your live stream in Site Design. Church members can then view your live stream with just one click on your website, participate in a chat with other views, and offer tithes through the platform.

Any church with a Tithe.ly website can take advantage of the live stream feature in a matter of seconds.

Features:

• Easy installation for live streaming on your website
• Schedule when your live stream goes live
• Add a countdown at the top of your website
• Share scripture or notes from your sermon
• Set the look and feel of your live stream in Site Design
• Embedded chat for members to converse
• Convenient tithe giving during the live stream
• Ease of sharing the live stream link to friends and family

Tithe.ly’s church website builder rate is $19/month with an initial setup cost of $149. Its tool is perfect for any beginner or expert web designers, allowing you to create a church website easily. Pick a template, add your content, optimize your site, and you’re good to go. There are also no contracts, so you can cancel anytime.

BoxCast: Best for All Church Sizes

BoxCast is an online streaming solution for churches to broadcast their sermons. 

Since acquiring SundayStreams, BoxCast has expanded its features to include Dynamic Adaptive Live Stream Transcoding and Google Analytics integration for real-time analytics. BoxCast offers a 90-day money-back guarantee and responds to customer inquiries within 24 hours, so you can quickly troubleshoot problems before Sunday arrives. 

Overall, it’s simple and beginner-friendly, making it one of the best live broadcast software for churches.

Features: 

• 24/7 ad-free live streaming
• Easy embedding to stream from your website
• Phone and email customer support
• Facebook and Twitter-compatible
• Mobile-compatible
• Analytics dashboard

BoxCast’s rates start at $99/month for its Essential Plan, $149 for its Growth Plan, and $199/month for its comprehensive Experience Plan.

Streamingchurch.TV: Best for Church Engagement

Streamingchurch.TV designed its streaming service for churches. It has unique features that encourage the congregation to interact more, like Integrated Sermon Notes, a moderated chat to keep up with the ongoing sermon, and a visual representation of the viewers “sitting” in service. The platform also offers video-on-demand (VOD) streaming, Ultra HD streaming, and adaptive bitrate for Premium plans and above.

However, one drawback is that Streamingchurch.TV doesn’t stream over a video content delivery network (CDN), meaning the video quality might decrease as your viewers increase.

Features:

• Ad-free live streaming
• Robust customer support
• Facebook and Twitter compatible
• Mobile and Roku compatible
• Moderated chat
• Interactive map of attendance
• Integrated Sermon Notes

Streamingchurch.TV rates start at $79/month for its Basic Unlimited Plan, $127/month for its Premium Unlimited Plan, and $179/month for its Platinum Unlimited Plan. You also need to pay a $79 activation fee to start using your plan, but you can enjoy a one-month free trial first.

Dacast: Best for Churches on a Budget

Dacast is a professional streaming solution for your church to host quality streams. It specializes in live streaming church services of all sizes and has several features, like reliable live event streaming and excellent CDNs that improve the online worship experience. Dacast also delivers content with top-tier CDNs so your viewers can watch quality streams anywhere in the world.

Dacast rates start at $39/month for its Starter plan, $63/month for its Event plan, and $188/month for its Scale plan. It also provides custom plans to fit your church’s specific needs.

Features:

• Live streaming and VOD ability
• 24/7 customer support
• Content delivery powered by the best CDNs
• Social media platform, Zoom, and mobile compatible
• Multi-user access on Scale and Custom plans
• Video analytics dashboard
• Privacy and security features

Dacast packages start at $39/month for its Starter Plan, $63/month for its Event Plan, and $188/month for its Scale Plan. The platform also comes with a free 14-day trial for you to try it out.

Free Church Live Streaming Software

If your church is on a tight budget and needs free streaming software for churches, we recommend that you use YouTube or Facebook to broadcast services. These aren’t specifically designed as church live streaming software, but they’re free. This means you don’t have to raise money to start streaming.

YouTube: Best for Convenience

YouTube live streaming is simple and can reach a mass of people instantly. Plus, it’s search engine-optimized and owned by Google, which means your congregation and anyone else interested can easily find the stream online. You can also choose from a wide range of resolutions and bitrates to stream high-quality video.

However, one disadvantage of YouTube streaming is the copyright issues you might face. For example, if YouTube finds a copyright hit on one of the worship songs you broadcast, it’ll pull your video and restrict your account from uploading. You’ll have to obtain CCLI licensing to avoid broadcast copyright issues.

Moreover, you can’t share an ongoing live stream on other platforms without getting disconnected, which can make it more difficult to build your community on YouTube.

Features:

• Monetization capabilities
• Flexibility to customize your live streams
• “Go Live Together” for collaborative streaming
• Alerts for viewers to know when a channel is live
• Cross-channel live redirects
• Uninterrupted split-screen viewing on mobile
• Live question and answer during the stream
• Community moderation

YouTube is one of the best streaming software platforms you can use for free, but you’ll have to deal with its limitations. Because of this, we recommend YouTube only as a temporary solution, such as streaming during heightened COVID-19 restrictions. If your church plans to live stream regularly, it's better to pay for professional platforms that have more useful features.

Facebook: Best for Familiarity

Facebook is another viable option for live streaming without charge. Given that almost everybody has a Facebook account, it’s easy for your congregation to share the stream and build your community. 

Facebook also has a Live Map to check the attendance number and location, as well as unique features to engage with your audience, like real-time commenting and reactions. Moreover, you can boost live videos as paid ads, so your church expands its reach to more viewers.

The platform is also more lax on copyright issues than YouTube and will only mute the copyrighted section until you present your rights. However, unlike YouTube, Facebook doesn’t have great SEO. The live stream won’t appear on Google searches, and Facebook’s search features are not much more useful. You’ll have to send direct links to your church members so they can access the stream.

Features:

• Live Contributors for multiple people to start the stream
• Featured Links to share third-party pages
• Live poll to engage with the viewers
• Co-broadcasting with other profiles
• Spotlight Conversations for interview-type interactions
• Crossposting after the live stream ends
• Video Insights for analytics

Facebook is a great way to live stream your church worship services, especially as most of your congregation (even the older ones) are already familiar with the platform. Like YouTube, however, it’s not the best platform to stream live worship long-term, as its features still come up short compared to professional-grade platforms.

Benefits of Live Streaming Your Service

If the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t convinced your church to use live streaming yet, there are plenty of other benefits that your church will enjoy by broadcasting its services online. Church video broadcasting software programs:

• Allow more members to attend worship without showing up in person, including those who are too old, sick, injured, disabled, or traveling and still want to participate in worship.
• Extend your church’s reach beyond the local community, even potentially attracting a global audience. Plus, you can promote your live streams on social media to spread the word.
• Give you more speaker options, as you can invite far-flung guest pastors without physically flying them in. In-house pastors can take a break from giving sermons, and the congregation will get to hear from other well-known speakers.
• Record the stream, which you can post on your website as on-demand content. Church members can later review the sermon or share it with their friends and family.

What to Think About When Live Streaming

Some things to think about when live streaming sermons include having sufficient lighting, enough number of cameras, and non-distracting camera angles. The only way you can achieve this setup is by investing in the proper equipment.

While you can use someone’s smartphone to stream videos, more advanced equipment can make your streams look more polished and professional. The initial cashout is worth the more advanced features, seamless streaming, and other long-term benefits. 

Here are the key tools you’ll need to make the most out of live streaming software for the church:

• Video camera: Invest in a camera that produces quality video, works well in poor lighting conditions, and gives you artistic control. Some options include the Logitech Brio and the Sigma FP Mirrorless Digital Camera.
• Video mixer: A video mixer allows you to switch between cameras, patch in speakers, and play media content during the live stream. There are plenty of mixers on the market, from a budget mixer like the Roland V-02HD to the professional-grade Roland V-1 HD.
• Camera tripod: The only way to have steady shots throughout service is by having a good tripod. There are many low-dollar options like the JOBY GorillaPod, but we recommend that you invest in something more durable that has a fluid drag head for seamless shots, such as the Magnus VT-4000.

Expanding Your Reach with Live Streaming Worship Services

Leveraging high-caliber software for live streaming church services is an excellent way to engage with your congregation, reach out to new people, and prepare for circumstances that may interrupt in-person services. Invest in live streaming options for churches to provide more ways for your members to listen to Sunday messages!