EasyWorship vs. Proclaim: Software Comparison Guide
More and more ministries are discovering they need more than what PowerPoint or Google Slides can deliver. Maybe you can relate: you keep running into limitations with your current presentation solution, or you’re frustrated with all the manual work that’s needed week after week.
You need presentation software built for the church, not the conference room or the classroom. If you’re starting to look for worship presentation software, a few names are probably near the top of your list (or search results). Beyond ProPresenter, two options you might be considering are EasyWorship and Faithlife Proclaim.
We know that directly comparing features between applications like this is tricky. So we’ve done the heavy lifting for you: here’s what you need to know about EasyWorship vs. Proclaim.
What Is EasyWorship?
Just like the name suggests, EasyWorship is worship software designed to be easy, straightforward, and simple to use.
Without losing sight of that goal, the EasyWorship team has added more and more functionality over the years. EasyWorship can do a lot that free software or office-oriented solutions can’t. The slide designer and presentation view are both effective and aren’t too complicated to learn.
In EasyWorship, you can simultaneously view live slides, preview what’s coming up, schedule events, and even pull in resources (like media files) — all without changing modes or views.
EasyWorship recently added support for up to three outputs, too. With live-streaming becoming the norm, this addition is a welcome one.
What Is Faithlife Proclaim?
Faithlife is the company that makes the powerful and popular Logos Bible study software, and Proclaim is the company’s church presentation solution. It’s a cloud-based app that emphasizes collaboration, allowing the pastor to add sermon slide content (directly from Logos if desired!), the worship leader to add or check the song lyrics, and the AV and comms teams to handle the rest.
Proclaim has some clever features for handling multiple outputs from the same file, including distinct outputs for in-person and live stream. There’s also a robust Faithlife media library available.
Proclaim’s interface prioritizes the intuitive over the technical, so it’s great for teams that don’t want to invest heavily in slide design.
Wait— Isn’t Proclaim Locked in a Big, Expensive Bundle?
Not anymore— which is good news, at least for churches that weren’t using the bundle.
Until recently, all of Faithlife’s major products were offered only as a bundle, which meant that you couldn’t buy Proclaim alone if you wanted to. But the company is realigning and paring down its options in mid-2023. One result is that its leading apps — including Proclaim and Logos — are now available for standalone licensing.
We’ll cover the pricing on that license later on.
Language and OS Compatibility
EasyWorship is a Windows-only app that supports only English as a native language. If those limitations aren’t going to work for you, Proclaim may be a better option. The cloud-based solution works equally well on PC and Mac, and it can do Spanish as a second native language.
Both EasyWorship and Proclaim offer free remote apps for iOS and Android that allow you to control content from your mobile device.
Slide Capabilities
Both EasyWorship and Proclaim offer effective tools for designing and editing slide content. The interfaces take very different approaches, though.
Proclaim is a little more visual-forward, with intuitive smart design tools. Faithlife advertises that all you have to do is type into a field, and the design and formatting all happen automatically. This sounds fantastic, but your mileage may vary. And the manual editing tools aren’t as robust as some.
EasyWorship is a little more manual, but it’s easy enough to use and has plenty of slide design capabilities.
Alternate Views
For most churches, a single output (or a single output along with a basic, non-customizable presenter view) doesn’t cut it. With live streaming, lobby feeds, stage monitors, and other use cases, ministries need more than what PowerPoint can give them.
Good news on this front: both Proclaim and EasyWorship support alternate views within a single presentation. Here again, they take pretty different approaches.
EasyWorship gives you up to three schedule layouts and output options: a main feed, a stage or confidence monitor, and a live stream seem to be the assumed use cases. It uses defined themes to differentiate what displays on which outputs.
Proclaim’s option is more powerful but perhaps more complicated to implement. It uses virtual screens, where you create an onscreen representation of what each output should be and then map those virtual screens to real outputs. Faithlife doesn’t advertise how many outputs or virtual screens you can build, but their press imagery suggests at least five (slides, confidence monitor, notes, live stream, and center screen).
While it’s great to see these companies adding more multi-output capabilities than they had in the past, they still don’t match ProPresenter in terms of power, flexibility, or number of outputs.
Live Video and Streaming
Both companies advertise “compatibility” or “support” for streaming, and we aren’t arguing there: they do include tools and technology that integrate with your live streaming and live video management.
EasyWorship supports wireless NDI, multicamera, and even sending alpha channel out to a video mixer. Proclaim also supports NDI, and it offers overlays that can match or vary from in-person thanks to included tools for reformatting one presentation to fit both online and in-person needs
Only Proclaim has native output support for lower thirds. EasyWorship can do lower thirds, but as a templated overlay, not natively.
One thing neither application can do is handle your live video content. They can’t become your single program for presentations and live streaming; they rely on an external video switcher and associated software. ProPresenter can do both, pulling numerous functions into a single powerful interface.
Scripture, Media, Song Lyrics
Here both applications are quite capable, with only a few differences. Both give you quick access to Scriptures in a host of translations, with quick importing of any passage. The same goes for song lyrics, as both apps integrate with CCLI SongSelect. Here Proclaim has the edge, though, adding integrations with Planning Center, Worshipplanning.com, and Faithlife’s own Hymbase.
Both apps give you access to free and premium media sources; Faithlife’s offerings are broader and seem higher in quality.
Pricing
Both applications offer campus- or ministry-wide subscription licenses. EasyWorship runs $180 annually (or $280 for the premium version with more media choices and an online media designer).
Proclaim’s pricing is more complicated and changes based on the size of your congregation. As an example: if your average weekly attendance is 150-349, Proclaim On Air (the base package) is $249.99 per year, On Air + Pro Media is $374.99 per year, and the ultra-deluxe package with troves of premium partner media jumps to $924.99 per year.
EasyWorship vs. Proclaim – ProPresenter 7 Does Even More
While EasyWorship and Proclaim are both effective church presentation software products, they both have key limitations that keep them from being the right choice for some ministries. In every category discussed here, ProPresenter does more, offers more options, or offers entire functions and features missing from the others.
Here’s just a sample of what ProPresenter 7 delivers that EasyWorship or Proclaim (or both) can’t match:
- Cross-platform compatibility
- More native language support (10 languages)
- A far more advanced pro-grade slide editor that gives you detailed control over results
- A unique and powerful seven-layer approach to presentation architecture
- Unlimited output views
- Robust live video and live stream support
- More included Bible translations (and dual translation support)
- And much more
The real debate should be EasyWorship vs. Proclaim vs. ProPresenter, and we think the best option is clear. But you don’t have to take our word for it: start your unlimited two-week trial today to see what ProPresenter can do.
Want to go deeper on how ProPresenter compares to the Proclaim vs. EasyWorship discussion? Check out these other comparison guides.
