Clearstream is a church texting and email platform with keywords, workflows and Planning Center sync. Plans start at $35/month, with a 30-day free trial.
Researched and fact-checked by Bartu Cavusoglu · Updated October 26, 2026
Clearstream is a texting and email service built for churches. It helps staff send announcements to a whole congregation, hold one-on-one conversations with members, and follow up with first-time guests. The company states that more than 11,000 churches use it.
The platform has been developed over 16 years, according to the company. It serves church plants, established churches and large multi-campus congregations, and it also lists use cases for youth ministry and nonprofits. Email is included with every plan alongside texting.
A church signs up and sends texts from a local 10-digit number or a leased five-digit short code. Messages can be scheduled, personalized with custom data fields, and sent to lists. Only outgoing texts use credits, and incoming texts are free.
People join lists by texting a keyword, which triggers an auto-response and can start an automated workflow. Replies land in a shared inbox where the team continues the conversation. Guest details can sync to church management software such as Planning Center.
Messaging tools include mass texting with links, pictures, videos and polls, plus video texting with a saved video library. A texting inbox handles replies, and subaccounts give separate ministries or campuses their own users, number, lists and inbox.
Engagement tools include text-to-join keywords with menus, automated workflows, live polls, a custom-branded microsite, a link shortener with click tracking and a QR code generator. NFC tap tags let people connect, give or volunteer by tapping a phone, and free iOS and Android apps support mobile use.
Clearstream is a texting and email service built for churches. It supports mass texts, a two-way inbox, keywords, automated workflows and NFC tap tags. The company says over 11,000 churches use it.
For the United States, paid plans start at $35 a month for 1,000 credits and rise to $5,899 a month for 500,000 credits. Paying annually gives a 16% discount, and extra credits can be bought separately.
Yes. Clearstream offers a free 30-day trial with no contract or setup fees. Churches less than a year old can use it free, as stated on the pricing page.
Only outgoing texts use credits, and incoming texts are free. A text to 100 people usually uses 100 credits, and longer messages, emojis or pictures may use more. Monthly credits do not roll over.
Clearstream lists Planning Center, Rock RMS, CCB/Pushpay, Breeze, Slack, Mailchimp, Zapier, Simple, X, Facebook and an API. The Planning Center integration is the most detailed in its materials.
Yes. It syncs People lists, creates new profiles without duplicates, adds people to Workflows, creates tasks and retrieves profile data. A Planning Center add-on lets you text without leaving Planning Center, at no extra cost.
Subaccounts are separate accounts under the main account for ministries or campuses. Each has its own lists, inbox, phone number and users. They are not included on the lowest paid plans.
Yes. Free native iOS and Android apps send reminders, deliver push notifications for incoming texts and keywords, and let staff manage the inbox.