Notebird vs Undershepherd

At Undershepherd, we are always working to ensure our users have the most information possible when considering services to help with their pastoral care. Because of this, we have built comparison guides to provide churches with as much data as possible, comparing Undershepherd with competing services so they can make the best decision for them and their church.

Today, we’re comparing Notebird, a pastoral care software created and managed by two brothers in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, built to address the frustrations of tracking care with spreadsheets and notes, with Undershepherd, a streamlined pastoral care tool.

Notebird Background

Notebird was developed by two brothers, Chris and Taylor Doe, who experienced firsthand the challenges of using memory, notes apps, and email threads to manage care information. Their mission stems from the frustration of seeing people “fall through the cracks” when using inadequate tools like spreadsheets, group texts, and sticky notes. Notebird aims to provide a comprehensive platform for churches to centralize their pastoral care efforts. Since starting in 2019 or 2020, they have been the go-to tool for pastoral care.

While both brothers still own and solely run the company, they have since diversified their professional focus. Chris is now listed as the Creative Director of a design company called Winston, and Taylor is still listed as employed by Notebird as per their company Linkedin page and has also founded and is operating two other organizations as well according to his Linkedin profile: “And Then Moments” and 3EAST.

Notebird Features

Notebird positions itself as a “people-first technology” and centers around “Updates”, “Tasks”, and “Milestones”. This simplistic approach we agree with at Undershepherd and has shown to be the core functionality of what a pastoral care tool needs.

1. People (where congregant profiles are stored)
2. Tasks (for follow-ups and action items)
3. Activity (real-time updates and milestone feeds)

On top of that, they offer custom groupings, an activity feed, and an “early bird report” which is a daily email digest which can be quite helpful for pastors and care teams. This breadth of functionality provides solutions for different church sizes and needs.

Notebird Platform Availability

Notebird is available as a web application optimized for mobile browsers, which can be saved to your home screen for app-like functionality, but is not a native mobile app that can be downloaded from the app store.

Undershepherd is available as a web application that can be installed on your phone as a progressive web app in the same way as Notebird. We’re also in the process of developing a native mobile applications that will soon be available in both the Google Play and Apple App Stores.

Notebird Privacy & Security

Undershepherd and Notebird have similar security best-practices to ensure the safety of your data.

Notebird Pricing

Notebird pricing varies based on church size, with packages starting at $12 per month per user and going down from there when adding each additional user.

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 free trials to new users.

Making the Right Choice for Your Ministry

When choosing between Notebird and Undershepherd, both tools offer similar functionality. If you’re looking for a longer established tool, or have specific reporting requirements, Notebird is a great option. If you’re looking for something that has a few more features, is continuing to be developed, and is slightly cheaper then Undershepherd is a great option!