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13 Best Free Church Presentation Software for Easy Worship

It’s always amusing to see some folks still using PowerPoint to project song lyrics during worship.

I mean it’s such a painfully inefficient way of doing things—especially when there are so many superior and free church presentation software that take just a few clicks to setup and get going.

If you want a PowerPoint alternative or simply want to learn more about the best church presentation software available for free to support your worship services, you should read this article.

A screen displaying lyrics and Bible texts is more or less replacing printed material at most places of worship. Depending on how it is used, the screen can be a purposeful aid or an unfortunate distraction.

Choosing the right church software to run your slides is therefore an important decision to support the worship environment.

If you’re on a tight budget, here are a number of free worship software in no particular order that offer a variety of features to suit your church presentation needs.

13 of the best free presentation software for easy worship in your church

1. OpenLP

One of the most popular open source worship presentation program out there, OpenLP packs a ton of features for managing and displaying songs, Bible verses, images, videos (not video backgrounds though) and more.

It facilitates custom alerts, Bible import through CSV files, CCLI/SongSelect integration, PowerPoint file import etc.

Managing worship songs

  • OpenLP can import songs from a wide variety of sources like Easyslides, Opensong, Videopsalm, Zionworx, DreamBeam, MediaShout etc.
  • You can tag verse types, preset verse sequence, add formatting and manage songwriter information
  • A quick song search is also available


Managing Bible verses

  • Bibles can be imported from OSIS by the CrossWire Bible Society, any CSV file, OpenSong, Zefania etc.
  • You can even download a few selected verses from a Bible site, display verses in many custom formats, easily search verses by scripture reference (e.g. John 3:16-17) or by a search phrase to add into your set list


Media

  • OpenLP integrates with one of the most popular open source media player of our times: VLC!
  • This means you can use almost any video / audio file format in OpenLP that is compatible with VLC
  • Slides and templates
  • OpenLP can be used to set up custom liturgies/set lists as per your church’s needs
  • Announcements, alerts or custom slides are also possible—custom slides can also be looped if required
  • OpenLP also integrates with PowerPoint, PowerPoint Viewer, LibreOffice Impress on Windows and LibreOffice Impress on Linux/FreeBSD. Imported presentations (sermon slides for example) can be controlled from inside OpenLP
  • Support for video background is under development. However, you can use a transparent theme as a workaround for now until this feature rolls out


Extra cool features

  • OpenLP also has a FREE Android remote app to control the presentation from anywhere inside your church using an Android device—as far as I know, this is a first of its kind app!
  • Built-in stage view accessible from any device with a web browser. Use any device on the local network as your stage monitor, meaning unlimited stage monitors without any extra hardware constraints.
  • Ability to add backing tracks to songs


Platforms

  • OpenLP is available for Windows, Linux, Mac or FreeBSD

OpenLP is a fantastic option for anyone looking for a free and feature-packed church presentation software.

2. OpenSong

If you need a super simple, free and easy worship presentation software, then look no further than OpenSong.

It may not have all kinds of bells and whistles when it comes to features, but it does just enough to meet the most important church projection software requirements.

Managing worship songs

  • OpenSong can easily double up as a worship song management tool—you can type in songs yourself or import them from CCLI’s SongSelect
  • Or you can always go to any site providing lyrics and chords for worship songs and just copy paste from there
  • Songs can be stored with chords, which of course won’t appear in presented slides. There’s a quick song transpose option also if you want to practice a song in a different key—it’s extremely convenient for musicians
  • OpenSong also provides many free song packs in various languages to help get you started


Managing Bible verses

  • OpenSong’s website hosts a wide variety of Bibles that you can download for free and import into your system.
  • Zefania XML Bibles, NRSV, NIV, KJV and more are available and supported for import apart from Bibles in other languages (French, Filipino, Portuguese, German etc.)


Media

  • Any image file can be set as a background for songs and Bible verses
  • Fonts, colors etc. can be custom formatted separately for song slides, scripture slides and alerts
  • While video backgrounds are not natively supported, it’s not completely impossible either if you can learn this workaround


Slides and templates

  • With OpenSong, you can present songs, Bible verses and alerts specifying the order of slides, such as verse 1, then chorus, then verse 2, then bridge, then chorus again and so on
  • You can also present a preset timed loop of defined slides, create custom set lists in just a few minutes, search and find any Bible verse or song in seconds.


Platforms

  • OpenSong can be installed on Windows, Mac and Linux machines.

OpenSong is great for anyone switching from PowerPoint—its simplicity and ease-of-use (I’ve taught people to use it in like 10-15 minutes flat!) make it a standout option!

3. Holyrics

Holyrics is a free Church presentation software developed with the objective of facilitating the presentation of lyrics and verses in worship and other events.

Managing worship songs

  • Save song lyrics and use custom themes to display.
  • Search and add a song quickly using the available search options.
  • Holyrics has an offline database with more than 15 thousand songs! 
  • We can separate the song lyrics of different groups or singers using groups
  • Allows to save the time and date of each song played


Managing Bible verses

  • Supports display of Bible verses and transmission to other devices
  • Facilitates access to any Bible verse with just 3 clicks
  • Can save lists of favorite verses to bring them up quickly
  • Visualize the Bible in different versions simultaneously
  • Change the version of the verse on the fly in real time


Media

  • Has stage view support—we can use return monitors with unique settings. Slides can also be customized for the Holyrics app
  • Show messages and alerts only on return monitors
  • Colors, images or videos as background with opacity control
  • Can show alert messages at any time, even during a presentation


Slides and templates

  • Create various themes and use in any song lyrics and verse
  • Schedule the songs that will be played and the media that will be performed in each service


Extra cool features

  • Access program data and control presentations by mobile through the Holyrics mobile app
  • We can register our worship team members in the system and create schedules for the services
  • Play audio and video through the program without dragging windows (needs VLC media player to work)
  • Use videos to create Themes with animated background
  • Mobile app can be used to remote control presentations of songs and verses
  • Clock
  • Countdown


Platforms

  • Windows, Mac and Linux machines
  • The mobile app is available for Android and iOS

Holyrics is a well-designed free church presentation software with excellent features and functionalities—highly recommend you to try it out!

4. FreeWorship

FreeWorship can be used to display worship songs, Bible passages, videos and more.

This church worship software supports themes, slide transitions, quick search, import of a variety of lyrics and Bibles etc.

FreeWorship is a solid free worship software that should cover most of your church presentation needs.

Managing worship songs

  • For quick setup, worship songs can be imported many, many sources!
  • FreeWorship accepts songs from CCLI SongSelect, Easy Worship (2009 & 6), DreamBeam, Mission Praise, OpenLP, OpenLyrics, OpenSong, SongPro, SongShow Plus and Words of Worship
  • So if you’re switching from some other software, FreeWorship makes it incredibly easy to migrate your existing song base in no time


Managing Bible verses

  • FreeWorship can import Zefania and OpenSong Bibles, which should take care of most of your scripture projection needs.


Media

  • All popular image formats can be handled in FreeWorship
  • Like OpenLP, FreeWorship also integrates with VLC for video playback—so any file format supported by VLC can be run here!
  • This free presentation software also handles PowerPoint files (versions 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016)
  • The presentation slides can also be spanned across multiple projectors.


Slides and templates

  • Songs, bible passages, images, videos, PPTs, webcams, clocks and timers can all be setup to display on screen just a few minutes
  • There are flexible slide customization options too with the ability to tinker with the fonts, colors and backgrounds


Extra cool features

  • There’s a really cool auto verse feature, using which FreeWorship finds a related Bible verse when you search for a song!
  • Stage/foldback display to give your worship team and speakers on stage more information about the current slide and what is coming up next
  • You can use a file synching service like Dropbox to edit songs on one PC while presenting on another


Platforms

  • FreeWorship is Windows only at the moment

FreeWorship is feature-rich, provides terrific import options and flexible enough to fulfill even demanding church presentation needs—this is a keeper!

5. EasySlides

EasiSlides is a free worship song projection software designed for projecting lyrics and Bible texts—basically, it’s designed for church worship.

With over 80,000 downloads and counting, EasySlides is a very popular option for anyone looking for free church presentation software.

Managing worship songs

  • EasiSlides installer (version 4 onwards) comes with built-in worship song lyric databases from the public domain in multiple languages apart from English
  • If you want to migrate your existing song base from another church presentation program, you’re out of luck though—you’ll have to recreate your worship song data all over again
  • Similar to OpenSong, worship song lyrics can also be stored with chords


Managing Bible verses

  • Bible versions are limited as there’s no native ability to import Bibles from third party sources
  • However, EasySlides offers 3 English translations and a few more in other languages. Plus, there is a third party tool to convert Bibles from Unbound and XML versions into a format that can be imported and used in EasySlides


Media

  • EasySlide shines in media playback—it can play audio and video files including live video backgrounds through feeds from an attached camcorder
  • The usual features to edit slide backgrounds, add gradients or usage of custom images are also available

Slides and templates
There’s another third party transfer tool to work on one machine and then migrate the presentation including the underlying files to the church computer that will be used for the actual projection.

Extra cool features

  • Project lyrics in two different languages at the same time for multi-lingual services
  • Generate worship song books to print customized praise and worship song books
  • HTML Generator to output all the necessary files to publish worship song lyrics on your church website

Platforms

  • EasySlides is Windows only at the moment

EasySlides is an actively developed software with a huge user base—its ample set of features is sure to satisfy worship teams and Church tech enthusiasts.

6. Quelea

Quelea is an open source church projection software with a nice set of features to serve your church presentation needs.

Quelea’s stated aim is to “incorporate the best features of existing solutions as well as leveraging new, useful technologies that existing solutions don’t have—providing it all under a free, open source license.”

Managing worship songs

  • In terms of importing existing worship songs from other software, Quelea stands tall with the best of them.
  • Worship songs can be imported from just about anywhere—OpenSong, OpenLP, ZionWorx, Sunday Plus, Kingsway Online, EasyWorship, EasySlides and more.


Managing Bible verses

  • By supporting Zefania XML Bible formats, Quelea gives us access to import and use a vast list of Bible translations.
  • So getting your favorite Bible translation into Quelea shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.


Media

  • With Quelea, you can add images and video files as slide backgrounds
  • All other regular customization and formatting options are also available


Unique features

  • Quelea helps with the church projection setup providing many test patterns you can use to ensure the screen is calibrated and positioned correctly.
  • Quelea can push song lyrics to any mobile device with a browser—in real time—and you can choose the display colors to best suit your viewing needs.
  • It also supports a separate stage view, enabling display of worship song chords only to the band onstage.
  • Its interface is available in English, German, Spanish, Swedish, Czech, Hungarian, Norwegian, Dutch, Lithuanian and Portuguese


Platforms

  • Quelea is Windows only at the moment.

Quelea is a superb church presentation program with a remarkable set of functionalities that should delight any Church.

7. VideoPsalm

If you need a worship software option with all kinds of features rivaling even paid alternatives, then VideoPsalm would be your No. 1 choice.

Of all the church presentation software I’ve had the pleasure to try out, VideoPsalm is the most exceptional—you’ll find just about any and every feature you might need!

Is it an easy worship software? Maybe not, but once you spend some time to learn it, there’s no looking back—you’ll love it.

Managing worship songs

  • Like Quelea, VideoPsalm can import songbooks from several sources—EasySlides, EasyWorship 2009, MediaShout, OpenLP, OpenLyrics format, OpenSong (Chords get imported too), Psalmo and plain text.
  • Moreover, the VideoPsalm online library itself provides over 10,000 worship songs!
  • Songs can also be stored with chords in ABC or Do-Ré-Mi notation apart from ChordPro compatibility.
  • Just like OpenSong, there’s a useful transpose feature here too.


Managing Bible verses

  • How does 330+ Bible translations in 100+ languages sound? Yes, that’s the number available!
  • Apart from all the regular Bible verse display features, VideoPsalm also supports dual language verse projection.


Media

  • VideoPsalm displays video, audio, photo, countdown, alert, PPT files and more. It’s a truly all-in-one worship software that can manage whatever you throw at it.
  • Slides can also be edited on-the-fly right in the middle of a presentation.
  • Media files can also be found quickly with the built-in search function.


Slides and templates

  • The slide setup features are vast and comprehensive. VideoPsalm provides granular control of every aspect of your slides and templates.
  • Fonts, backgrounds, media, colors etc.—all of it is easily customizable and editable.
  • Even during a live presentation, background image/video can be changed on-the-fly.


Extra cool features

  • Apart from adding images and videos as slide backgrounds, VideoPsalm also facilitates varying the background for each part of a song—the background for verse-1 can be different from that of verse-2 or chorus of bridge
  • VideoPsalm is also portable—the application can be run from a USB drive
  • Screen resolution is not a dependency at all. You can create the presentation in a 4:3 system and then project it on a 16:9 screen seamlessly
  • Portable set-list files to work and project in different systems
  • Available in 40+ languages
  • Single click live video background is also possible


Platforms

  • VideoPsalm is Windows only at the moment.

At the price of free, VideoPsalm—with its massive feature-set—is a splendid option for your church presentation requirements. I doubt you’ll find a better option than this.

8. Praisenter

Praisenter is a free Church presentation software to project worship songs, Bible verses and custom slides with images, audio/video etc.

If you’re looking for a reliable free option for your worship software requirements, you should take a serious look at Praisenter.

Managing worship songs

  • Adding songs to Praisenter is not rocket science. It comes with an  import facility, which facilitates bulk import of songs, provided they are in ChurchView or OpenLyrics format
  • Song parts (verse, chorus, bridge etc.) can be tagged easily—in fact, we can add unlimited number of parts to a song!
  • There’s a Quick Send panel to present songs immediately too (with hot key support)
  • A fast song search feature is also available


Managing Bible verses

  • Like songs, importing a Bible is also a piece of cake. Praisenter supports import of Bible translations from The Unbound Bible, which should take care of most scripture projection needs
  • Search for Bible phrases, words, verse locations, present them on the fly
  • Save lists of scripture verses for later reference/study


Media

  • Praisenter is an audio / video presentation program. Images, videos, audio and video files can be added to any kind of slide (songs, Bible verses or custom slides)
  • Videos and images can be used as slide backgrounds or as floating components. And yes, videos can be looped!
  • With respect to format, Praisenter has you covered by using the Xuggler library


Slides and templates

  • With Praisenter, custom slide templates can be created separately for Bible verses, Songs and other content
  • Slide transition effects, notifications (again, with customizable templates) and more round off the wide array of features


Extra cool features

  • Praisenter can display up to two translations at the same time—great for multilingual services!
  • You can create slides and templates in a machine, export them and then import them into another machine including attached media. So we can work on one computer and use another computer for the final presentation


Platforms

  • Praisenter can be installed on Windows, Mac and Linux machines.

Praisenter is a beautifully designed, classy church presentation software that’s sure to thrill any worship ministry.

Other free church presentation software—honorable mentions
9. Datasoul

Datasoul is an open source church presentation software to display lyrics, scripture and other text in worship services.

It has a flexible template system to preset how the slide content is formatted. It can be used to present slides with image and video backgrounds (including live feeds from an attached video camera).

Alerts, support for any display resolution, launch of other files like PPT, Open Office, remote display over network etc. are other useful features of Datasoul.

Presentations can also be exported as PDF files.

10. Songview

Songview is a free worship song projection software for churches that can handle projection of songs and Bible passages with image or video backgrounds.

Songview supports PowerPoint files, addition of guitar chords to songs with stage display for bands, alerts, slide editing during live presentation and more.

Similar to VideoPsalm, Songview can also be installed and run from a USB drive also.

11. EpicWorship

EpicWorship is a free, open source church projection and presentation software focusing on simplicity. It comes with just the most important list of features without complicating anything.

EpicWorship facilitates slide projection with image and video backgrounds (MP4 H.264-encoded only), import of OpenSong Bible formats and playback of audio files (MP3 or AAC).

Like OpenSong, it’s simple and easy to install and use.

12. LyricsPro

LyricsPro is an Android church presentation app.

Using a schedule interface, LyricsPro can be used to present lyrics, videos, images and PPT slides. Font formatting and setting up image and video backgrounds are also possible. Songs can be imported from SongSelect too.

This can be best used in small group worship or band rehearsal sessions I think.

I will be watching this project to see how it develops in future.

12. Praise Base Presenter

Praise Base Presenter is an open source church presentation software to project worship lyrics, photos (JPG only) and Bible passages.

Apart from a simple song editor, it can also import Zefania XML Bibles and display lyrics in two languages.

13. Church Presenter

If the above options have not been able to convince you to ditch PowerPoint, then you should consider using Church Presenter.

This is a free plugin for PowerPoint 2007 that adds quite a bit of church friendly muscle to PowerPoint.

The add-in enables using PowerPoint for presentation, while facilitating quick song search by number, theme, alphabetical index, and keyword.

The layout of lyrics and Bible verses can be customized by using editable templates. Also supports export of songs to regular PowerPoint files with embedded fonts. Windows only.

Have I missed anything in this list? What is your favorite worship presentation software? Do share in the comments.

Image: Environmental Projection

55 Comments

  1. 13 Best Free Church Presentation Software for Easy Worship In Your Church - Churchworker
    February 17, 2017 @ 10:31 pm

    […] Thanks to: Worship Blog […]

    Reply

    • Rev Martin Kwabena Mawuli
      April 17, 2020 @ 8:05 pm

      I appreciate the good work doing to help spread the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks so much. Please help with the various websites to get downloads for my church.

      Reply

    • Brandon Woolcock
      July 18, 2020 @ 4:10 pm

      You can also use Worship.NET – Available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/worship-net/
      It’s made for ministry members who may not have much experience or expertise in managing lyrics, with it’s intuitive and simple-to-use design.

      *Disclaimer: I am the developer*

      Reply

    • Paul smith
      October 29, 2020 @ 7:38 am

      Hi all,
      Looking for a software that can be run directly from touch on a MS Surface Go2 10″ screen.
      Installed Open LP but lots of RMB required. Icons just too small on this screen.
      Cheers – Paul in NZ

      Reply

      • Spread Worship
        April 19, 2021 @ 4:32 am

        Sorry, not aware of a software for that specific requirement.

        Reply

        • Patrick
          July 20, 2022 @ 9:00 pm

          Hello,

          We used MediaShout in my previous parish.
          When one of our volunteer projectionists could not be there, we used an IPad 9.7 to remotely control the video.
          It was a bit small. An IPad Pro is preferable. We used the IPad Pro 12′ as well.
          Since MediaShout is both available in Windows and MacOS, there never was any problem controlling the program remotely, without physically using the “projection booth” (where the control computer is located).

          I don’t know about the other programs but I think it should be possible with any other program, since we did it using Teamviewer which is a program allowing you to use any computer on your network in remote.

          Reply

  2. 13 Best Free Church Presentation Software for Easy Worship In Your Church - Churchworker
    February 17, 2017 @ 10:31 pm

    […] Thanks to: Worship Blog […]

    Reply

  3. Gordon Shrosbree
    May 21, 2017 @ 11:07 pm

    Another option is called Song of Songs http://www.songofsongs.co.uk/

    Disclaimer: I am the developer. 🙂

    Reply

    • Jongil Kim
      May 5, 2022 @ 1:22 am

      Thank you for your help

      Reply

  4. Peter Bowers
    March 25, 2018 @ 3:41 pm

    A chart summarising & comparing these would add a great deal of value to the article.

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      March 28, 2018 @ 11:55 am

      Good suggestion Peter, will try to get it done.

      Reply

  5. Marc Castles
    March 26, 2018 @ 10:36 pm

    Another option worth mentioning is Big Screen. It is cloud based and works in your browser. You can read more about it here: https://bigscreen.show

    Disclaimer: I am a developer for Big Screen.

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      March 28, 2018 @ 11:55 am

      Big Screen is not free Marc.

      Reply

  6. How to Use Great Tech for Worship Ministries on a Small Budget - Spread Worship
    April 10, 2018 @ 5:16 pm

    […] your multitrack package does not handle lyrics, you can use one of several freeware lyric presentation options. With the abundance of free or cheap options, pure software cost should not be a barrier in most […]

    Reply

  7. Kendra
    May 15, 2018 @ 4:11 pm

    Do you have a recommendation for church presentation software that time sync with a project wireless-ly?

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      June 1, 2018 @ 5:36 am

      You could try cloud based solutions like Proclaim or Worship Extreme.

      Reply

  8. albert skylevy
    June 2, 2018 @ 9:51 pm

    how to download this software

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      June 3, 2018 @ 5:01 am

      Choose your software, visit its website and go to the ‘downloads’ page.

      Reply

    • philip lenox
      September 24, 2020 @ 12:51 am

      please i need the procedure on how to download the free worship video background

      Reply

      • Spread Worship
        April 19, 2021 @ 4:35 am

        There are tons of free sites to get images for free:
        pixabay.com
        unsplash.com
        pexels.com

        etc.

        Reply

  9. Tim Le
    June 30, 2018 @ 1:08 am

    Does any of these app allows to use a remote presenter? Or we need to have someone to sit next to the computer to click?

    Reply

  10. Mike McCraw, with Friendly Christian Church
    September 23, 2018 @ 2:04 am

    We are looking for a program that you do not need an internet connection to use. Can you help us out?

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      September 25, 2018 @ 4:56 am

      Almost all of these programs don’t need an Internet connection to work.

      Reply

  11. Dave
    October 24, 2018 @ 3:44 am

    I still fall back to PowerPoint. I have tried various other products, and while they can do some creative and different things, they all seem to be unable to do some essential thing. One of my main gripes is that many of them cannot do the simple task of displaying a verse with a section of it in a different color for emphasis. In the end, it is just easier and quicker to create my songs and sermon verses in PowerPoint. No CCLI plugin, but I have many songs already created and ready to go anyway. Why reinvent the wheel?

    Reply

    • Kel
      January 26, 2019 @ 3:34 pm

      Just thought I’d point out that VideoPsalm can do this. Once you select your Verse(s) and add them to your agenda, you can right click them to convert them into an editable format in which you can do colors, fonts, and all kinds of things.

      Reply

    • Daniel Carlos
      February 23, 2019 @ 6:20 pm

      Exactly what I need too. People don’t want to see the bible verse by verse, a highlighted verse is way better.

      Reply

  12. Kel
    January 26, 2019 @ 3:30 pm

    VideoPsalm is an awesome piece of software. As a fledgling church, we were looking for presentation software that was free since we had no budget. I tried a few different ones but ended up with VideoPsalm. There is a learning curve to get started but once you get the hang of it, it’s incredibly easy to use. I can’t think of a feature I’ve needed that it couldn’t do. Video background, song imports, multiple import formats (PPT, PDF, etc), and more. Support is also great. I’ve emailed the author a few times and always get a prompt response. If you’re looking for church presentation software, even if you have a huge budget, check out VideoPsalm and you’ll love it.

    Reply

  13. Linda Allen
    March 13, 2019 @ 3:49 am

    Is this video mapping software that will allow you to project custom animation?

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      March 26, 2019 @ 4:36 am

      If you choose a video compatible software, you can project just about any video file.

      Reply

  14. Denaya Dennis
    May 20, 2019 @ 8:27 am

    Well done. I am currently spearheading our media team in church and we recently bought a video camera.
    I would like to know if there is any software that i can connect the camera to the computer so it can be projected.

    Would appreciate your feedback.
    Thanks

    Reply

  15. Miriã Giran
    May 31, 2019 @ 3:29 pm

    Software Holyrics – holyrics.com

    Developed with the objective of facilitating the presentation of lyrics and verses in worship and events.

    • Lyrics
    • Holy Bible
    • Audio and video player
    • Custom Themes
    • Animated background
    • History
    • Access and control by mobile
    • Stage View
    • Communication Panel
    • Schedule
    • Free

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      June 14, 2019 @ 4:49 pm

      Looks great Miria, will add it to the list soon 🙂

      Reply

  16. Holly M
    June 23, 2019 @ 8:23 pm

    Hi, we have been using Mediashout 3.5 for about 10 years, all of a sudden it just stopped working. The new version won’t run on this old computer, and when I installed on my own newer, the program is so completely different I cant comprehend myself having time to learn it, and then teach a bunch of student volunteers.
    Our needs are very simple. ALL of our songs and readings are already in MS Word .doc files. We don’t use any published songbooks or bibles, no video, no audio, no pdf, nothing. I only need a program that can handle matching the pages already set up in the .doc file (text is 48 pt) and populate it onto multiple slides. That’s it. Old mediashout did that just fine. New mediashout has way more features than we will ever use, and I just don’t have time to learn it.

    I just tried VideoPsalm, and although it appears it should be able to do that, it doesn’t. Before I try the other 12 on the list, if anyone knows one that has just this one function, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

    Reply

  17. Jamie
    June 29, 2019 @ 7:50 pm

    this was very informative! I knew there had to be options other than PPT. I use Mac OS, so it helps knowing with programs are supported. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      July 2, 2019 @ 5:24 am

      You’re welcome!

      Reply

  18. Tom Quinlan
    July 1, 2019 @ 12:33 am

    The holyrics graphic takes you to the openlp site when you click it.

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      July 2, 2019 @ 5:24 am

      Thanks for pointing it out, correct now.

      Reply

  19. Oluseye Hassan
    July 31, 2019 @ 5:27 pm

    Easyworship

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      August 2, 2019 @ 5:38 pm

      It’s not free.

      Reply

  20. Rick
    September 17, 2019 @ 6:39 am

    Great site.

    Just wanted to point out that the dark shade on the right side of your background makes it difficult to read the text.

    Reply

  21. Josef Doleček
    January 21, 2020 @ 11:28 am

    OpenSong has some problem with remote control via Android app, so I tried Open LP, but you need to use some openSSL protocol… Seems like I will end up with Quelea. Thanks for tips!

    Reply

  22. John Adams
    March 29, 2020 @ 6:21 pm

    Does any of this accept txt. song files

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      April 1, 2020 @ 11:51 am

      Not sure. But VideoPsalm (and OpenSong too I think) has converters for your existing song library, maybe you could try that.

      Reply

  23. Precious
    April 2, 2020 @ 9:32 pm

    it’s helpful

    Reply

  24. Brian
    July 13, 2020 @ 10:17 pm

    Do any of the free software’s listed provide for a separate output to OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) so that Worshipers can see a projected screen with whatever background image is selected, and OBS sees a transparent screen with white text to use as an overlay?

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      April 19, 2021 @ 4:37 am

      Not aware of software that can do this, sorry.

      Reply

  25. philip lenox
    September 24, 2020 @ 12:53 am

    please what are the gadgets i need to get my church service on life streaming

    Reply

  26. Michael Alexander
    February 13, 2021 @ 3:35 pm

    Hello! I read this article with great interest. We are a Reform Jewish congregation in Scottsdale, Arizona, looking to add “presentation software” for our monthly Rock Shabbat and similar services. Are you aware of (on-line) resources for song lyrics, Torah scripture, background video that would be applicable to our congregation? Thanks!!

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      April 19, 2021 @ 4:33 am

      Sorry, not aware of a resource for that.

      Reply

  27. Mayanja Jeremy
    December 12, 2022 @ 7:38 am

    Can i get bible in one of our local languages in East Africa in any of these,projected? which cauld it be?

    Reply

  28. Jonathan Smith
    June 7, 2023 @ 10:26 am

    There is also Cantara (https://cantara.app), a free open source and very simple Song Presentation Software which we use in our congregation for years and really like it due to its simplicity. Maybe you can add it to the list!

    Reply

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13 Best Free Church Presentation Software for Easy Worship

It’s always amusing to see some folks still using PowerPoint to project song lyrics during worship.

I mean it’s such a painfully inefficient way of doing things—especially when there are so many superior and free church presentation software that take just a few clicks to setup and get going.

If you want a PowerPoint alternative or simply want to learn more about the best church presentation software available for free to support your worship services, you should read this article.

A screen displaying lyrics and Bible texts is more or less replacing printed material at most places of worship. Depending on how it is used, the screen can be a purposeful aid or an unfortunate distraction.

Choosing the right church software to run your slides is therefore an important decision to support the worship environment.

If you’re on a tight budget, here are a number of free worship software in no particular order that offer a variety of features to suit your church presentation needs.

13 of the best free presentation software for easy worship in your church

1. OpenLP

One of the most popular open source worship presentation program out there, OpenLP packs a ton of features for managing and displaying songs, Bible verses, images, videos (not video backgrounds though) and more.

It facilitates custom alerts, Bible import through CSV files, CCLI/SongSelect integration, PowerPoint file import etc.

Managing worship songs

  • OpenLP can import songs from a wide variety of sources like Easyslides, Opensong, Videopsalm, Zionworx, DreamBeam, MediaShout etc.
  • You can tag verse types, preset verse sequence, add formatting and manage songwriter information
  • A quick song search is also available


Managing Bible verses

  • Bibles can be imported from OSIS by the CrossWire Bible Society, any CSV file, OpenSong, Zefania etc.
  • You can even download a few selected verses from a Bible site, display verses in many custom formats, easily search verses by scripture reference (e.g. John 3:16-17) or by a search phrase to add into your set list


Media

  • OpenLP integrates with one of the most popular open source media player of our times: VLC!
  • This means you can use almost any video / audio file format in OpenLP that is compatible with VLC
  • Slides and templates
  • OpenLP can be used to set up custom liturgies/set lists as per your church’s needs
  • Announcements, alerts or custom slides are also possible—custom slides can also be looped if required
  • OpenLP also integrates with PowerPoint, PowerPoint Viewer, LibreOffice Impress on Windows and LibreOffice Impress on Linux/FreeBSD. Imported presentations (sermon slides for example) can be controlled from inside OpenLP
  • Support for video background is under development. However, you can use a transparent theme as a workaround for now until this feature rolls out


Extra cool features

  • OpenLP also has a FREE Android remote app to control the presentation from anywhere inside your church using an Android device—as far as I know, this is a first of its kind app!
  • Built-in stage view accessible from any device with a web browser. Use any device on the local network as your stage monitor, meaning unlimited stage monitors without any extra hardware constraints.
  • Ability to add backing tracks to songs


Platforms

  • OpenLP is available for Windows, Linux, Mac or FreeBSD

OpenLP is a fantastic option for anyone looking for a free and feature-packed church presentation software.

2. OpenSong

If you need a super simple, free and easy worship presentation software, then look no further than OpenSong.

It may not have all kinds of bells and whistles when it comes to features, but it does just enough to meet the most important church projection software requirements.

Managing worship songs

  • OpenSong can easily double up as a worship song management tool—you can type in songs yourself or import them from CCLI’s SongSelect
  • Or you can always go to any site providing lyrics and chords for worship songs and just copy paste from there
  • Songs can be stored with chords, which of course won’t appear in presented slides. There’s a quick song transpose option also if you want to practice a song in a different key—it’s extremely convenient for musicians
  • OpenSong also provides many free song packs in various languages to help get you started


Managing Bible verses

  • OpenSong’s website hosts a wide variety of Bibles that you can download for free and import into your system.
  • Zefania XML Bibles, NRSV, NIV, KJV and more are available and supported for import apart from Bibles in other languages (French, Filipino, Portuguese, German etc.)


Media

  • Any image file can be set as a background for songs and Bible verses
  • Fonts, colors etc. can be custom formatted separately for song slides, scripture slides and alerts
  • While video backgrounds are not natively supported, it’s not completely impossible either if you can learn this workaround


Slides and templates

  • With OpenSong, you can present songs, Bible verses and alerts specifying the order of slides, such as verse 1, then chorus, then verse 2, then bridge, then chorus again and so on
  • You can also present a preset timed loop of defined slides, create custom set lists in just a few minutes, search and find any Bible verse or song in seconds.


Platforms

  • OpenSong can be installed on Windows, Mac and Linux machines.

OpenSong is great for anyone switching from PowerPoint—its simplicity and ease-of-use (I’ve taught people to use it in like 10-15 minutes flat!) make it a standout option!

3. Holyrics

Holyrics is a free Church presentation software developed with the objective of facilitating the presentation of lyrics and verses in worship and other events.

Managing worship songs

  • Save song lyrics and use custom themes to display.
  • Search and add a song quickly using the available search options.
  • Holyrics has an offline database with more than 15 thousand songs! 
  • We can separate the song lyrics of different groups or singers using groups
  • Allows to save the time and date of each song played


Managing Bible verses

  • Supports display of Bible verses and transmission to other devices
  • Facilitates access to any Bible verse with just 3 clicks
  • Can save lists of favorite verses to bring them up quickly
  • Visualize the Bible in different versions simultaneously
  • Change the version of the verse on the fly in real time


Media

  • Has stage view support—we can use return monitors with unique settings. Slides can also be customized for the Holyrics app
  • Show messages and alerts only on return monitors
  • Colors, images or videos as background with opacity control
  • Can show alert messages at any time, even during a presentation


Slides and templates

  • Create various themes and use in any song lyrics and verse
  • Schedule the songs that will be played and the media that will be performed in each service


Extra cool features

  • Access program data and control presentations by mobile through the Holyrics mobile app
  • We can register our worship team members in the system and create schedules for the services
  • Play audio and video through the program without dragging windows (needs VLC media player to work)
  • Use videos to create Themes with animated background
  • Mobile app can be used to remote control presentations of songs and verses
  • Clock
  • Countdown


Platforms

  • Windows, Mac and Linux machines
  • The mobile app is available for Android and iOS

Holyrics is a well-designed free church presentation software with excellent features and functionalities—highly recommend you to try it out!

4. FreeWorship

FreeWorship can be used to display worship songs, Bible passages, videos and more.

This church worship software supports themes, slide transitions, quick search, import of a variety of lyrics and Bibles etc.

FreeWorship is a solid free worship software that should cover most of your church presentation needs.

Managing worship songs

  • For quick setup, worship songs can be imported many, many sources!
  • FreeWorship accepts songs from CCLI SongSelect, Easy Worship (2009 & 6), DreamBeam, Mission Praise, OpenLP, OpenLyrics, OpenSong, SongPro, SongShow Plus and Words of Worship
  • So if you’re switching from some other software, FreeWorship makes it incredibly easy to migrate your existing song base in no time


Managing Bible verses

  • FreeWorship can import Zefania and OpenSong Bibles, which should take care of most of your scripture projection needs.


Media

  • All popular image formats can be handled in FreeWorship
  • Like OpenLP, FreeWorship also integrates with VLC for video playback—so any file format supported by VLC can be run here!
  • This free presentation software also handles PowerPoint files (versions 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016)
  • The presentation slides can also be spanned across multiple projectors.


Slides and templates

  • Songs, bible passages, images, videos, PPTs, webcams, clocks and timers can all be setup to display on screen just a few minutes
  • There are flexible slide customization options too with the ability to tinker with the fonts, colors and backgrounds


Extra cool features

  • There’s a really cool auto verse feature, using which FreeWorship finds a related Bible verse when you search for a song!
  • Stage/foldback display to give your worship team and speakers on stage more information about the current slide and what is coming up next
  • You can use a file synching service like Dropbox to edit songs on one PC while presenting on another


Platforms

  • FreeWorship is Windows only at the moment

FreeWorship is feature-rich, provides terrific import options and flexible enough to fulfill even demanding church presentation needs—this is a keeper!

5. EasySlides

EasiSlides is a free worship song projection software designed for projecting lyrics and Bible texts—basically, it’s designed for church worship.

With over 80,000 downloads and counting, EasySlides is a very popular option for anyone looking for free church presentation software.

Managing worship songs

  • EasiSlides installer (version 4 onwards) comes with built-in worship song lyric databases from the public domain in multiple languages apart from English
  • If you want to migrate your existing song base from another church presentation program, you’re out of luck though—you’ll have to recreate your worship song data all over again
  • Similar to OpenSong, worship song lyrics can also be stored with chords


Managing Bible verses

  • Bible versions are limited as there’s no native ability to import Bibles from third party sources
  • However, EasySlides offers 3 English translations and a few more in other languages. Plus, there is a third party tool to convert Bibles from Unbound and XML versions into a format that can be imported and used in EasySlides


Media

  • EasySlide shines in media playback—it can play audio and video files including live video backgrounds through feeds from an attached camcorder
  • The usual features to edit slide backgrounds, add gradients or usage of custom images are also available

Slides and templates
There’s another third party transfer tool to work on one machine and then migrate the presentation including the underlying files to the church computer that will be used for the actual projection.

Extra cool features

  • Project lyrics in two different languages at the same time for multi-lingual services
  • Generate worship song books to print customized praise and worship song books
  • HTML Generator to output all the necessary files to publish worship song lyrics on your church website

Platforms

  • EasySlides is Windows only at the moment

EasySlides is an actively developed software with a huge user base—its ample set of features is sure to satisfy worship teams and Church tech enthusiasts.

6. Quelea

Quelea is an open source church projection software with a nice set of features to serve your church presentation needs.

Quelea’s stated aim is to “incorporate the best features of existing solutions as well as leveraging new, useful technologies that existing solutions don’t have—providing it all under a free, open source license.”

Managing worship songs

  • In terms of importing existing worship songs from other software, Quelea stands tall with the best of them.
  • Worship songs can be imported from just about anywhere—OpenSong, OpenLP, ZionWorx, Sunday Plus, Kingsway Online, EasyWorship, EasySlides and more.


Managing Bible verses

  • By supporting Zefania XML Bible formats, Quelea gives us access to import and use a vast list of Bible translations.
  • So getting your favorite Bible translation into Quelea shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.


Media

  • With Quelea, you can add images and video files as slide backgrounds
  • All other regular customization and formatting options are also available


Unique features

  • Quelea helps with the church projection setup providing many test patterns you can use to ensure the screen is calibrated and positioned correctly.
  • Quelea can push song lyrics to any mobile device with a browser—in real time—and you can choose the display colors to best suit your viewing needs.
  • It also supports a separate stage view, enabling display of worship song chords only to the band onstage.
  • Its interface is available in English, German, Spanish, Swedish, Czech, Hungarian, Norwegian, Dutch, Lithuanian and Portuguese


Platforms

  • Quelea is Windows only at the moment.

Quelea is a superb church presentation program with a remarkable set of functionalities that should delight any Church.

7. VideoPsalm

If you need a worship software option with all kinds of features rivaling even paid alternatives, then VideoPsalm would be your No. 1 choice.

Of all the church presentation software I’ve had the pleasure to try out, VideoPsalm is the most exceptional—you’ll find just about any and every feature you might need!

Is it an easy worship software? Maybe not, but once you spend some time to learn it, there’s no looking back—you’ll love it.

Managing worship songs

  • Like Quelea, VideoPsalm can import songbooks from several sources—EasySlides, EasyWorship 2009, MediaShout, OpenLP, OpenLyrics format, OpenSong (Chords get imported too), Psalmo and plain text.
  • Moreover, the VideoPsalm online library itself provides over 10,000 worship songs!
  • Songs can also be stored with chords in ABC or Do-Ré-Mi notation apart from ChordPro compatibility.
  • Just like OpenSong, there’s a useful transpose feature here too.


Managing Bible verses

  • How does 330+ Bible translations in 100+ languages sound? Yes, that’s the number available!
  • Apart from all the regular Bible verse display features, VideoPsalm also supports dual language verse projection.


Media

  • VideoPsalm displays video, audio, photo, countdown, alert, PPT files and more. It’s a truly all-in-one worship software that can manage whatever you throw at it.
  • Slides can also be edited on-the-fly right in the middle of a presentation.
  • Media files can also be found quickly with the built-in search function.


Slides and templates

  • The slide setup features are vast and comprehensive. VideoPsalm provides granular control of every aspect of your slides and templates.
  • Fonts, backgrounds, media, colors etc.—all of it is easily customizable and editable.
  • Even during a live presentation, background image/video can be changed on-the-fly.


Extra cool features

  • Apart from adding images and videos as slide backgrounds, VideoPsalm also facilitates varying the background for each part of a song—the background for verse-1 can be different from that of verse-2 or chorus of bridge
  • VideoPsalm is also portable—the application can be run from a USB drive
  • Screen resolution is not a dependency at all. You can create the presentation in a 4:3 system and then project it on a 16:9 screen seamlessly
  • Portable set-list files to work and project in different systems
  • Available in 40+ languages
  • Single click live video background is also possible


Platforms

  • VideoPsalm is Windows only at the moment.

At the price of free, VideoPsalm—with its massive feature-set—is a splendid option for your church presentation requirements. I doubt you’ll find a better option than this.

8. Praisenter

Praisenter is a free Church presentation software to project worship songs, Bible verses and custom slides with images, audio/video etc.

If you’re looking for a reliable free option for your worship software requirements, you should take a serious look at Praisenter.

Managing worship songs

  • Adding songs to Praisenter is not rocket science. It comes with an  import facility, which facilitates bulk import of songs, provided they are in ChurchView or OpenLyrics format
  • Song parts (verse, chorus, bridge etc.) can be tagged easily—in fact, we can add unlimited number of parts to a song!
  • There’s a Quick Send panel to present songs immediately too (with hot key support)
  • A fast song search feature is also available


Managing Bible verses

  • Like songs, importing a Bible is also a piece of cake. Praisenter supports import of Bible translations from The Unbound Bible, which should take care of most scripture projection needs
  • Search for Bible phrases, words, verse locations, present them on the fly
  • Save lists of scripture verses for later reference/study


Media

  • Praisenter is an audio / video presentation program. Images, videos, audio and video files can be added to any kind of slide (songs, Bible verses or custom slides)
  • Videos and images can be used as slide backgrounds or as floating components. And yes, videos can be looped!
  • With respect to format, Praisenter has you covered by using the Xuggler library


Slides and templates

  • With Praisenter, custom slide templates can be created separately for Bible verses, Songs and other content
  • Slide transition effects, notifications (again, with customizable templates) and more round off the wide array of features


Extra cool features

  • Praisenter can display up to two translations at the same time—great for multilingual services!
  • You can create slides and templates in a machine, export them and then import them into another machine including attached media. So we can work on one computer and use another computer for the final presentation


Platforms

  • Praisenter can be installed on Windows, Mac and Linux machines.

Praisenter is a beautifully designed, classy church presentation software that’s sure to thrill any worship ministry.

Other free church presentation software—honorable mentions
9. Datasoul

Datasoul is an open source church presentation software to display lyrics, scripture and other text in worship services.

It has a flexible template system to preset how the slide content is formatted. It can be used to present slides with image and video backgrounds (including live feeds from an attached video camera).

Alerts, support for any display resolution, launch of other files like PPT, Open Office, remote display over network etc. are other useful features of Datasoul.

Presentations can also be exported as PDF files.

10. Songview

Songview is a free worship song projection software for churches that can handle projection of songs and Bible passages with image or video backgrounds.

Songview supports PowerPoint files, addition of guitar chords to songs with stage display for bands, alerts, slide editing during live presentation and more.

Similar to VideoPsalm, Songview can also be installed and run from a USB drive also.

11. EpicWorship

EpicWorship is a free, open source church projection and presentation software focusing on simplicity. It comes with just the most important list of features without complicating anything.

EpicWorship facilitates slide projection with image and video backgrounds (MP4 H.264-encoded only), import of OpenSong Bible formats and playback of audio files (MP3 or AAC).

Like OpenSong, it’s simple and easy to install and use.

12. LyricsPro

LyricsPro is an Android church presentation app.

Using a schedule interface, LyricsPro can be used to present lyrics, videos, images and PPT slides. Font formatting and setting up image and video backgrounds are also possible. Songs can be imported from SongSelect too.

This can be best used in small group worship or band rehearsal sessions I think.

I will be watching this project to see how it develops in future.

12. Praise Base Presenter

Praise Base Presenter is an open source church presentation software to project worship lyrics, photos (JPG only) and Bible passages.

Apart from a simple song editor, it can also import Zefania XML Bibles and display lyrics in two languages.

13. Church Presenter

If the above options have not been able to convince you to ditch PowerPoint, then you should consider using Church Presenter.

This is a free plugin for PowerPoint 2007 that adds quite a bit of church friendly muscle to PowerPoint.

The add-in enables using PowerPoint for presentation, while facilitating quick song search by number, theme, alphabetical index, and keyword.

The layout of lyrics and Bible verses can be customized by using editable templates. Also supports export of songs to regular PowerPoint files with embedded fonts. Windows only.

Have I missed anything in this list? What is your favorite worship presentation software? Do share in the comments.

Image: Environmental Projection

55 Comments

  1. 13 Best Free Church Presentation Software for Easy Worship In Your Church - Churchworker
    February 17, 2017 @ 10:31 pm

    […] Thanks to: Worship Blog […]

    Reply

    • Rev Martin Kwabena Mawuli
      April 17, 2020 @ 8:05 pm

      I appreciate the good work doing to help spread the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thanks so much. Please help with the various websites to get downloads for my church.

      Reply

    • Brandon Woolcock
      July 18, 2020 @ 4:10 pm

      You can also use Worship.NET – Available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/worship-net/
      It’s made for ministry members who may not have much experience or expertise in managing lyrics, with it’s intuitive and simple-to-use design.

      *Disclaimer: I am the developer*

      Reply

    • Paul smith
      October 29, 2020 @ 7:38 am

      Hi all,
      Looking for a software that can be run directly from touch on a MS Surface Go2 10″ screen.
      Installed Open LP but lots of RMB required. Icons just too small on this screen.
      Cheers – Paul in NZ

      Reply

      • Spread Worship
        April 19, 2021 @ 4:32 am

        Sorry, not aware of a software for that specific requirement.

        Reply

        • Patrick
          July 20, 2022 @ 9:00 pm

          Hello,

          We used MediaShout in my previous parish.
          When one of our volunteer projectionists could not be there, we used an IPad 9.7 to remotely control the video.
          It was a bit small. An IPad Pro is preferable. We used the IPad Pro 12′ as well.
          Since MediaShout is both available in Windows and MacOS, there never was any problem controlling the program remotely, without physically using the “projection booth” (where the control computer is located).

          I don’t know about the other programs but I think it should be possible with any other program, since we did it using Teamviewer which is a program allowing you to use any computer on your network in remote.

          Reply

  2. 13 Best Free Church Presentation Software for Easy Worship In Your Church - Churchworker
    February 17, 2017 @ 10:31 pm

    […] Thanks to: Worship Blog […]

    Reply

  3. Gordon Shrosbree
    May 21, 2017 @ 11:07 pm

    Another option is called Song of Songs http://www.songofsongs.co.uk/

    Disclaimer: I am the developer. 🙂

    Reply

    • Jongil Kim
      May 5, 2022 @ 1:22 am

      Thank you for your help

      Reply

  4. Peter Bowers
    March 25, 2018 @ 3:41 pm

    A chart summarising & comparing these would add a great deal of value to the article.

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      March 28, 2018 @ 11:55 am

      Good suggestion Peter, will try to get it done.

      Reply

  5. Marc Castles
    March 26, 2018 @ 10:36 pm

    Another option worth mentioning is Big Screen. It is cloud based and works in your browser. You can read more about it here: https://bigscreen.show

    Disclaimer: I am a developer for Big Screen.

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      March 28, 2018 @ 11:55 am

      Big Screen is not free Marc.

      Reply

  6. How to Use Great Tech for Worship Ministries on a Small Budget - Spread Worship
    April 10, 2018 @ 5:16 pm

    […] your multitrack package does not handle lyrics, you can use one of several freeware lyric presentation options. With the abundance of free or cheap options, pure software cost should not be a barrier in most […]

    Reply

  7. Kendra
    May 15, 2018 @ 4:11 pm

    Do you have a recommendation for church presentation software that time sync with a project wireless-ly?

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      June 1, 2018 @ 5:36 am

      You could try cloud based solutions like Proclaim or Worship Extreme.

      Reply

  8. albert skylevy
    June 2, 2018 @ 9:51 pm

    how to download this software

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      June 3, 2018 @ 5:01 am

      Choose your software, visit its website and go to the ‘downloads’ page.

      Reply

    • philip lenox
      September 24, 2020 @ 12:51 am

      please i need the procedure on how to download the free worship video background

      Reply

      • Spread Worship
        April 19, 2021 @ 4:35 am

        There are tons of free sites to get images for free:
        pixabay.com
        unsplash.com
        pexels.com

        etc.

        Reply

  9. Tim Le
    June 30, 2018 @ 1:08 am

    Does any of these app allows to use a remote presenter? Or we need to have someone to sit next to the computer to click?

    Reply

  10. Mike McCraw, with Friendly Christian Church
    September 23, 2018 @ 2:04 am

    We are looking for a program that you do not need an internet connection to use. Can you help us out?

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      September 25, 2018 @ 4:56 am

      Almost all of these programs don’t need an Internet connection to work.

      Reply

  11. Dave
    October 24, 2018 @ 3:44 am

    I still fall back to PowerPoint. I have tried various other products, and while they can do some creative and different things, they all seem to be unable to do some essential thing. One of my main gripes is that many of them cannot do the simple task of displaying a verse with a section of it in a different color for emphasis. In the end, it is just easier and quicker to create my songs and sermon verses in PowerPoint. No CCLI plugin, but I have many songs already created and ready to go anyway. Why reinvent the wheel?

    Reply

    • Kel
      January 26, 2019 @ 3:34 pm

      Just thought I’d point out that VideoPsalm can do this. Once you select your Verse(s) and add them to your agenda, you can right click them to convert them into an editable format in which you can do colors, fonts, and all kinds of things.

      Reply

    • Daniel Carlos
      February 23, 2019 @ 6:20 pm

      Exactly what I need too. People don’t want to see the bible verse by verse, a highlighted verse is way better.

      Reply

  12. Kel
    January 26, 2019 @ 3:30 pm

    VideoPsalm is an awesome piece of software. As a fledgling church, we were looking for presentation software that was free since we had no budget. I tried a few different ones but ended up with VideoPsalm. There is a learning curve to get started but once you get the hang of it, it’s incredibly easy to use. I can’t think of a feature I’ve needed that it couldn’t do. Video background, song imports, multiple import formats (PPT, PDF, etc), and more. Support is also great. I’ve emailed the author a few times and always get a prompt response. If you’re looking for church presentation software, even if you have a huge budget, check out VideoPsalm and you’ll love it.

    Reply

  13. Linda Allen
    March 13, 2019 @ 3:49 am

    Is this video mapping software that will allow you to project custom animation?

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      March 26, 2019 @ 4:36 am

      If you choose a video compatible software, you can project just about any video file.

      Reply

  14. Denaya Dennis
    May 20, 2019 @ 8:27 am

    Well done. I am currently spearheading our media team in church and we recently bought a video camera.
    I would like to know if there is any software that i can connect the camera to the computer so it can be projected.

    Would appreciate your feedback.
    Thanks

    Reply

  15. Miriã Giran
    May 31, 2019 @ 3:29 pm

    Software Holyrics – holyrics.com

    Developed with the objective of facilitating the presentation of lyrics and verses in worship and events.

    • Lyrics
    • Holy Bible
    • Audio and video player
    • Custom Themes
    • Animated background
    • History
    • Access and control by mobile
    • Stage View
    • Communication Panel
    • Schedule
    • Free

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      June 14, 2019 @ 4:49 pm

      Looks great Miria, will add it to the list soon 🙂

      Reply

  16. Holly M
    June 23, 2019 @ 8:23 pm

    Hi, we have been using Mediashout 3.5 for about 10 years, all of a sudden it just stopped working. The new version won’t run on this old computer, and when I installed on my own newer, the program is so completely different I cant comprehend myself having time to learn it, and then teach a bunch of student volunteers.
    Our needs are very simple. ALL of our songs and readings are already in MS Word .doc files. We don’t use any published songbooks or bibles, no video, no audio, no pdf, nothing. I only need a program that can handle matching the pages already set up in the .doc file (text is 48 pt) and populate it onto multiple slides. That’s it. Old mediashout did that just fine. New mediashout has way more features than we will ever use, and I just don’t have time to learn it.

    I just tried VideoPsalm, and although it appears it should be able to do that, it doesn’t. Before I try the other 12 on the list, if anyone knows one that has just this one function, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

    Reply

  17. Jamie
    June 29, 2019 @ 7:50 pm

    this was very informative! I knew there had to be options other than PPT. I use Mac OS, so it helps knowing with programs are supported. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      July 2, 2019 @ 5:24 am

      You’re welcome!

      Reply

  18. Tom Quinlan
    July 1, 2019 @ 12:33 am

    The holyrics graphic takes you to the openlp site when you click it.

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      July 2, 2019 @ 5:24 am

      Thanks for pointing it out, correct now.

      Reply

  19. Oluseye Hassan
    July 31, 2019 @ 5:27 pm

    Easyworship

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      August 2, 2019 @ 5:38 pm

      It’s not free.

      Reply

  20. Rick
    September 17, 2019 @ 6:39 am

    Great site.

    Just wanted to point out that the dark shade on the right side of your background makes it difficult to read the text.

    Reply

  21. Josef Doleček
    January 21, 2020 @ 11:28 am

    OpenSong has some problem with remote control via Android app, so I tried Open LP, but you need to use some openSSL protocol… Seems like I will end up with Quelea. Thanks for tips!

    Reply

  22. John Adams
    March 29, 2020 @ 6:21 pm

    Does any of this accept txt. song files

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      April 1, 2020 @ 11:51 am

      Not sure. But VideoPsalm (and OpenSong too I think) has converters for your existing song library, maybe you could try that.

      Reply

  23. Precious
    April 2, 2020 @ 9:32 pm

    it’s helpful

    Reply

  24. Brian
    July 13, 2020 @ 10:17 pm

    Do any of the free software’s listed provide for a separate output to OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) so that Worshipers can see a projected screen with whatever background image is selected, and OBS sees a transparent screen with white text to use as an overlay?

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      April 19, 2021 @ 4:37 am

      Not aware of software that can do this, sorry.

      Reply

  25. philip lenox
    September 24, 2020 @ 12:53 am

    please what are the gadgets i need to get my church service on life streaming

    Reply

  26. Michael Alexander
    February 13, 2021 @ 3:35 pm

    Hello! I read this article with great interest. We are a Reform Jewish congregation in Scottsdale, Arizona, looking to add “presentation software” for our monthly Rock Shabbat and similar services. Are you aware of (on-line) resources for song lyrics, Torah scripture, background video that would be applicable to our congregation? Thanks!!

    Reply

    • Spread Worship
      April 19, 2021 @ 4:33 am

      Sorry, not aware of a resource for that.

      Reply

  27. Mayanja Jeremy
    December 12, 2022 @ 7:38 am

    Can i get bible in one of our local languages in East Africa in any of these,projected? which cauld it be?

    Reply

  28. Jonathan Smith
    June 7, 2023 @ 10:26 am

    There is also Cantara (https://cantara.app), a free open source and very simple Song Presentation Software which we use in our congregation for years and really like it due to its simplicity. Maybe you can add it to the list!

    Reply

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