You already know what Subsplash costs, so I'll skip that part. If you're reading this, you've decided to leave and you want to know whether something cheaper actually does the job. I run FaithNotes, so take this with that in mind, but I'll be straight about where it wins and where Subsplash holds its own.
One quick gut check before anything else. If your church genuinely lives in the branded app, streams to Roku or Apple TV, and uses push notifications all week, a focused notes-and-bulletin tool will not replace all of that, and you should price out the other full platforms instead. But if the part of Subsplash your people actually touched was the Sunday sermon note, the bulletin, and giving, keep reading, because that is exactly the ground FaithNotes competes on.
So here's the honest comparison, notes against notes:
| On the note itself | Subsplash Fill in Notes | FaithNotes |
|---|---|---|
| Fill-in-the-blanks with reveal | Yes | Yes |
| Building the note | Paste the text, highlight each blank by hand; Word formatting often breaks on paste | Upload Word, Pages, or PDF and AI converts it 1:1 |
| Scripture in the note | Author types the verse text in by hand | References auto-link; built-in Bible in every translation, right in the note |
| Where readers can add notes | Only where you place a note box | Any line, plus an overall note journal |
| Reading & keeping the note | In the Subsplash app; readers can email it | No app to download; save to a built-in searchable library on the phone, email, or PDF |
| Images and banner | Paste an HTML image tag | Upload, or generate one with AI |
| Built-in engagement | Fill-ins and note boxes | Fill-ins, polls, forms, and a weekly study hub |
| Cost to use the notes | Bundled in Subsplash (platform typically $300 to $600+/mo) | $9 to $19/mo, notes included |
The fairest thing I can say: their fill-in-the-blanks work, and if all you want is words on a screen that hide and reveal, Subsplash does that fine. The difference shows up everywhere around the blanks.
What your people get in a FaithNotes note that they don't in a Subsplash one:
- You build it from the file you already made. Upload a Word, Pages, or PDF document and AI converts it to fill-in-the-blanks one to one, all formatting intact. With Subsplash you paste the text in, highlight each blank by hand, and a lot of Word formatting doesn't survive the paste.
- You never touch the verses. FaithNotes auto-detects every reference, links it, and opens the full passage in a built-in Bible that carries every translation, all inside the note. In Subsplash the author types the verse text in by hand.
- Readers add notes or highlight any line they want, not just the spots you set, and allows users to keep an overall note journal for the whole message.
- No one downloads an app, and the note still goes with them. After the message a reader saves the marked-up note to a built-in searchable library right on their phone, emails it, or exports a PDF.
- Polls, connect and prayer forms, and a weekly Dig Deeper hub live inside the note: scripture readings, reflection questions, and devotionals that keep people in the message past Sunday.
