For church leaders seeking to strengthen their pastoral care efforts, choosing the right software tool is an important decision. Both Undershepherd and Carenote offer solutions for pastoral care management, but with distinctly different approaches and feature sets. This comparison will help you determine which platform better suits your church’s specific pastoral care needs.
Today, we’re comparing Carenote, a pastoral care software created by a current pastor based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Undershepherd, our streamlined pastoral care tool developed by the team behind SolaSites.
In this comparison guide, we are going to discuss and contrast Carenote’s background, features, user experience, privacy & security, platform availability, and some pros and cons.
CareNote Background
Carenote was founded in 2021 by Donnell Wyche, who has served as pastor of Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor for over 25 years, is the founder of prayer meditation app “Prayetic”, and is the City Planning Commissioner of Ann Arbor. The platform was developed to address the challenge of delivering individual care through decentralized teams at churches and non-profits. Wyche’s extensive pastoral experience has influenced Carenote’s comprehensive approach to care management.
Undershepherd was developed with a focused mission: to create a simple, intuitive pastoral care tracking tool that helps pastors and churches stay organized while ensuring no member falls through the cracks. Our philosophy centers on providing just what you need—nothing more, nothing less.
Feature Comparison
Carenote: Comprehensive but Complex
Carenote positions itself as a “comprehensive platform” that “combines powerful automation with a personal touch.” Their system offers an extensive feature set including:
- People tracking
- Updates
- Care requests
- Tasks
- Milestones
- Live events
- Notes
- Groups
- Volunteer management
- Workflow automation
- Analytics dashboards
This breadth of functionality provides solutions for many different church sizes and needs. However, with this extensive feature set comes notable complexity:
- Multiple ways to accomplish similar tasks (creating redundancies in the system)
- Overlapping feature categories (like tracking life events through either “Updates” or “Milestones”)
- Need for team alignment on which processes to use for specific situations
- Higher learning curve for new users
- Potential for feature overload for smaller ministries
For churches with technical staff, complex pastoral care needs, and the resources to invest in system setup and training, Carenote offers powerful customization options.
Undershepherd: Focused Simplicity
At Undershepherd, we’ve intentionally streamlined pastoral care management to focus on three essential pillars:
- Interactions (conversations)
- Life Events
- Tasks
Our approach eliminates overlapping features and provides a clear, intuitive structure that requires minimal setup. Team members can begin using the system immediately with shared understanding of how each feature should be used.
For pastors and care teams seeking a solution that works right out of the box regardless of technical background, Undershepherd offers the perfect balance of functionality and simplicity.
Platform Availability
Carenote is available as a web application without a dedicated mobile app, though their website is optimized for mobile browsers.
Undershepherd is available as a web application that can also be installed on your phone as a progressive web app. We’re also developing native mobile applications that will soon be available in both the Google Play and Apple App Stores!
Pricing
Carenote pricing:
- $12/month for a single user
- $9/month per user for teams with under 25 users
- 3 free volunteer slots then $5/month per 5 volunteers
Undershepherd pricing:
- $10/month for a single user
- $9/month per user for 2-4 users
- $8/month per user for 5-9 users
- $7/month per user for 10+ users
Both platforms offer a 14-day free trial to new users.
Privacy & Security
Both Carenote and Undershepherd maintain similar high standards for privacy and security, recognizing the sensitive nature of pastoral care information.
Making the Right Choice for Your Ministry
When choosing between Carenote and Undershepherd, consider your church’s specific needs and resources:
Consider Carenote if:
- Your church has dedicated technical staff
- You need extensive customization and complex workflows
- You want to integrate volunteer management and analytics
- You have time and resources for setup and training
- You prefer a “swiss army knife” approach with many specialized tools
Consider Undershepherd if:
- You value simplicity and ease of use
- You want immediate implementation with minimal setup
- Your focus is on the core elements of pastoral care
- You prefer a purpose-built solution that does fewer things exceptionally well
- Your team needs intuitive tools that require minimal training
Conclusion
Carenote offers an impressive array of features and customization options, making it suitable for churches with complex needs and technical resources. While powerful, its comprehensive approach inevitably introduces complexity that may overwhelm some users or require significant setup time.
Undershepherd takes a different approach by focusing exclusively on what matters most in pastoral care: tracking interactions, life events, and tasks. This intentional simplicity ensures that churches of any size can implement effective pastoral care tracking without complex setup or technical expertise.
Both tools serve the vital mission of strengthening pastoral care, but Undershepherd’s focused design ensures that no member falls through the cracks—without unnecessary complexity.
Ready to experience the difference? Start your free 14-day trial of Undershepherd today!