Ministry Scheduler Pro is a real church scheduler. If a church needs a kiosk, ministry folders, or the Sunday-ministry setup they built, stay on it. VolunteerReminder is not trying to replace that.
Optional SMS is $0.02 per message sent or received. That is on their pricing page, fetched August 17, 2026. The license is a separate charge and scales with volunteer count. There is not a clean monthly number for the license because they use a slider.
The "or received" part is the one that surprises people. A reminder plus a YES reply is two charges. Do that all year and it is not a rounding error. Some coordinators send fewer texts to keep the bill down, which kind of defeats the point.
Online vs Plus
Online lists: flexible scheduling tools, mobile and web based scheduling, online access for volunteers, sub requests, automatic reminders, service notes and resources, and text messages.
Plus adds: online access for leaders, custom fields, a sign-in kiosk, ministry folders, group scheduling, and disaster recovery.
SMS is extra on both. After the initial purchase, the subscription renews annually. The initial purchase has a six-month unconditional money-back guarantee. If it is not the right fit, they refund the initial payment in full if you reach out within six months.
Deluxe and Pro
Deluxe is $9 a month (pricing). That covers scheduled reminders for up to 60 volunteers, two texts per shift. It is not a plan for blasting the whole church directory. If that is the job, MSP's meter or a real SMS tool is the honest answer. Normal reminder volume is what the $9 plan is built for.
Pro is $19, up to 150 volunteers, and adds a third reminder plus a substitute finder that texts a small batch at a time (default 8–10), first YES wins, then the next batch, not the whole roster. YES/NO confirm is optional. Some coordinators do not want to make it easy to say no, and that is fine.
MSP can stay the scheduler. VolunteerReminder can just do the reminders. Start a free trial or email info@volunteerreminder.com.