What is B1Admin?

B1Admin is a free, open-source church management platform from a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. It bundles a staff dashboard, member portal and website, REST API with websockets, and MySQL into one Docker stack behind Caddy for automatic HTTPS. Features include member and household profiles with AI search, attendance tracking with automated follow-ups, online and recurring giving via Stripe, PayPal, or KingdomFunding with zero platform fees, a drag-and-drop website builder, a progressive web app members install from the church site, and a self-service children's check-in kiosk with name tags and pickup codes. Also included: worship planning with song libraries, custom forms, unlimited groups, multi-campus support, role-based permissions, and reports. Self-hosting uses a one-line installer that generates secrets, pulls prebuilt images from ghcr.io, and provides a helper script for upgrades, backups, and rollbacks. Minimum requirements are roughly 2 GB RAM and 5 GB disk. The code is MIT-licensed with no paid tiers; donations accepted via GitHub Sponsors.

Should you self-host B1Admin?

B1Admin scores 50/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #3 of 6 in Community. It has 165 GitHub stars.

It shipped 1 stable release in the past year. The latest, selfhost-2026.10.1, came out on 18 October 2026.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in Typescript.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is Decidim (63/100, 1 841 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See B1Admin vs Decidim side by side.

Features

AI-powered people search
Attendance Tracking
Children's check-in
Church website builder
Custom forms & registrations
Groups & ministries
Member & household management
Multi-campus support
Online giving
Reports & exports
Roles & Permissions
Song library
Workflows & automations
Worship planning

How to configure B1Admin

API_BIBLE_KEYAPI.Bible key for scripture content
API.Bible key for scripture content
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_IDAWS access key for S3
AWS access key for S3
AWS_REGIONAWS region for S3
AWS region for S3
AWS_S3_BUCKETS3 bucket name when FILE_STORE=S3
S3 bucket name when FILE_STORE=S3
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEYAWS secret key for S3
AWS secret key for S3
B1_VERSIONstableRelease tag to pull (stable or specific version)
Release tag to pull (stable or specific version)
values: stable or version tag like 2026.10.1
DEFAULT_CHURCH_SLUGchurchSlug of the default church served at /
Slug of the default church served at /
DOMAINDomain name for public install
Domain name for public install
ENCRYPTION_KEYPleaseChangeThisDockerDefaultKey32-character key for encrypting stored credentials; never change after storing credentials
32-character key for encrypting stored credentials; never change after storing credentials
values: exactly 32 characters
FILE_STOREdiskFile storage backend
File storage backend
values: disk, S3
GOOGLE_RECAPTCHA_SECRET_KEYreCAPTCHA secret for forms
reCAPTCHA secret for forms
JWT_SECRETplease-change-this-jwt-secretSecret for JWT token signing
Secret for JWT token signing
MAIL_SYSTEMEmail provider (SMTP or unset to disable)
Email provider (SMTP or unset to disable)
values: SMTP
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORDchurchappsRoot password for MySQL
Root password for MySQL
OPENAI_API_KEYOpenAI API key for AI features
OpenAI API key for AI features
OPENROUTER_API_KEYOpenRouter API key
OpenRouter API key
PEXELS_KEYPexels API key for stock images
Pexels API key for stock images
PUBLIC_URLhttp://localhostHow browsers and emails reach the site (https://domain or http://localhost)
How browsers and emails reach the site (https://domain or http://localhost)
SITE_ADDRESShttp://localhostWhat Caddy serves; bare domain for public, http://localhost for local
What Caddy serves; bare domain for public, http://localhost for local
SMTP_HOSTSMTP server hostname
SMTP server hostname
SMTP_PASSSMTP password
SMTP password
SMTP_SECUREfalseUse TLS for SMTP
Use TLS for SMTP
values: true, false
SMTP_USERSMTP username
SMTP username
SUPPORT_EMAILFrom address for system emails
From address for system emails
VIMEO_TOKENVimeo API token for video hosting
Vimeo API token for video hosting
WEB_PUSH_PRIVATE_KEYVAPID private key for push notifications
VAPID private key for push notifications
WEB_PUSH_PUBLIC_KEYVAPID public key for push notifications
VAPID public key for push notifications
WEB_PUSH_SUBJECTVAPID subject (mailto: or https://)
VAPID subject (mailto: or https://)
YOUTUBE_API_KEYYouTube API key for sermon embedding
YouTube API key for sermon embedding