# PewRota, full reference text > Every guide and the FAQ from https://pewrota-web.pages.dev, converted from the published pages at build time. The short index is at https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/llms.txt. For parish schedulers # The parish ministry rota that fills itself Tell PewRota your Masses or services, how many lectors, communion ministers, servers, ushers or sidespeople each one needs, and who can do what. It builds the rota for a month, a quarter or a year, keeps every rule you set, shares the turns out fairly, and prints it. Names never leave this computer: the list, the rota and every printout are made and kept in this browser, and nothing is uploaded. ## A quarter, built The sample parish has 56 people, three Masses a weekend and four ministries. From December to February that is 39 Masses over 13 weekends and 442 places to fill, 34 a weekend. PewRota fills 442 of them with no rule broken. Everyone serves between 6 and 9 times and nobody serves twice on one weekend, and every Mass has at least one of the parish's 6 senior servers (out of 13 servers). Try it with the sample, then with your own list. Nothing needs an account, and [names stay on your computer](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/keeping-minors-names-off-the-cloud/), which matters when half the servers are children. The rota builder Services, ministries, people and rules in; a fair rota, a review grid and printouts out. Fair rotation rules What makes a rota fair, and how fairness carries from one quarter to the next. Sidespeople and flower rota The same tool in Church of England words: readers, intercessors, sidespeople and flowers. Scheduling software compared What the paid and free tools cost, as their own pages list it, with the date read. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is PewRota? A rota builder for parish ministries. You enter services, ministries and people with their availability, choose the rules, and it builds a fair rota for a month, a quarter or a year, with a review grid and printouts. ### Is it free? Yes. Everything on the site is free, with no account. No paid plan is offered at present. ### Where are the names kept? Names never leave this computer: the list, the rota and every printout are made and kept in this browser, and nothing is uploaded. There is no account and no server copy. Save a backup file to keep a copy or to move the rota to another computer. ### Does it ask for birthdates or ages? No. Altar servers are often children, so PewRota never asks for a birthdate, an age, an address or a phone number. A senior tick box does the job an age would. --- Guide # How to schedule parish ministries fairly A fair parish rota starts from the services and how many lectors, communion ministers, servers, ushers or sidespeople each one needs. Add who can do what and when they are away, choose the rules (never twice in one weekend, families together, a senior server at every Mass), and share the turns out evenly, prime services included. Anything that cannot be filled should be listed with its reason, not quietly doubled up. ## The four inputs **Services.** The weekly pattern (a Saturday Vigil and two Sunday Masses, or an early service, a parish Eucharist and Evensong) plus one-off feasts such as Christmas Eve. **Ministries.** The roles, with how many of each are needed at each service. **People.** Names or initials, what each person is trained for, the services they prefer, the dates they are away, how often they are willing to serve, and who serves as a family or a pair. **Rules.** The parish's own: PewRota ships none of its own beyond the three that every rota keeps (trained, available, one role at a time). ## A quarter, worked The sample parish in the rota builder has 56 people and three Masses a weekend. From December to February that is 13 weekends, 39 Masses and 442 places, 34 each weekend. Built with every rule on, 442 of the 442 places are filled with no rule broken, and turns range from 6 to 9 per person over the quarter. A spreadsheet can hold that grid; keeping 442 places consistent with every person's dates, limits and family by hand is where it goes wrong. ## Every guide - [How to make an altar server schedule](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/how-to-make-an-altar-server-schedule/): an altar server schedule step by step: senior servers, families, school holidays and fairness. - [Lector and communion minister rota](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/lector-and-communion-minister-rota/): a lector and extraordinary minister rota, and why a template breaks at forty people. - [Sidespeople and flower rota](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/sidespeople-and-flower-rota/): sidespeople, readers, intercessors and the flower rota for a parish church, in its own words. - [Fair rotation rules](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/fair-rotation-rules-for-ministries/): the rules that make a ministry rota fair: counts, prime services, gaps, weekends and carrying fairness between quarters. - [Keeping minors' names off the cloud](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/keeping-minors-names-off-the-cloud/): why altar servers' names should stay on the parish computer, and how a local tool keeps them there. - [Ministry scheduling software compared](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/ministry-scheduling-software-compared/): the paid and free parish scheduling tools, with prices as listed on their pages and the date they were read. ## How long it takes The first quarter takes an evening: type or paste the list, tick who does what, and add the dates people have already said they are away. After that, each new quarter is a matter of minutes. Close the old quarter on the Drafts and quarters tab so its turns carry forward, add any new volunteers, remove anyone who has stepped down, and build again. Keep the places that are already agreed by locking them before you rebuild; the builder works around them. When someone cannot make a date, change the rota by hand in the review grid. Drag the name to another place or pick someone for the open place from a list that says who is free and why the others are not. A hand change that breaks a rule is allowed, because the scheduler may know something the tool does not, but it is flagged until it is fixed. ## What makes a rota trusted Volunteers stop swapping in private when they can see the rota is fair. Three things help: the same rules for everyone, written down; a fairness report that shows who served how often; and an honest list of the places that could not be filled, with the reason, so the scheduler can ask for help instead of stretching the same five people. PewRota prints all three. Ready to try it? Open the [rota builder](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/rota/) and load the sample parish, or read [fair rotation rules](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/fair-rotation-rules-for-ministries/) first. ## Sources Checked on 28 September 2026. PewRota applies your parish's own policy; it ships no liturgical rules. Where your diocese, your parish safeguarding policy or your clergy say something different, follow them. - **PewRota's rota builder.** Every example on this page is built by the same solver the rota builder runs, at build time, and pinned by a test. ## Frequently asked questions ### Where should a new scheduler start? With the list of services and how many of each ministry each one needs. Then the people, then the rules. The fair rotation guide explains each rule. ### How long does a quarter take to build? Entering a parish for the first time takes as long as typing or pasting the list. The build itself takes well under a second for a quarter on an ordinary computer. ### Can I keep using my spreadsheet? Yes. Paste from it to add people, and export the finished rota as a CSV back into it, or print it. --- Altar servers # How to make an altar server schedule List the servers by first name and initial, tick the experienced ones as senior, and give siblings a shared family name. Enter each Mass with how many servers it needs, add everyone's dates away, then build with three rules on: a senior server at every Mass, families together, and nobody twice on one weekend. Check the open places, then print it by Mass and by family. ## The steps - **List the servers.** Use first names and an initial, or initials alone. Tick the experienced ones as senior; there is no need for ages or birthdates. - **Set the Masses and counts.** Enter each weekend Mass and how many servers it needs, and add feast days such as Christmas Eve as one-off services. - **Mark families and pairs.** Give brothers and sisters the same family name so they serve the same Mass on a weekend, which is how they arrive. - **Add the dates away.** School holidays, exam weeks and family trips go in as date ranges, so nobody is scheduled when they cannot come. - **Choose the rules.** Turn on a senior server at every Mass, families together and not twice in one weekend, and set a monthly limit for younger servers if the parish wants one. - **Build, review and print.** Build the rota, check the open places and their reasons, move anyone by hand if needed, then print the rota by Mass for the sacristy and by person for families. ## Worked example: a small team and the rules at work Take one family of two servers (Leo, who is senior, and Mia) and one more senior server, Quinn, for a parish with a Saturday Vigil and a Sunday Mass, two servers at each, in December. That is 16 places. With the senior rule, families together and not twice in one weekend, PewRota fills 12 of them and leaves 4 open. It does not break a rule to fill them; it says why, place by place: "3 people are trained for Altar server, and none can take it: 1 already serving at this service; 2 already serving another service that weekend." Three servers cannot cover four places a weekend when nobody serves twice. The fix is people, not rules: one more trained server, or a family willing to serve at both Masses (tick "happy to serve twice on one weekend"). In the larger sample parish in the rota builder, 13 servers, 6 of them senior, cover three Masses a weekend for a whole quarter with every place filled. ## Children's details Servers are usually children, so keep the list short: a first name and an initial, what they are trained for, their family, their dates away. PewRota never asks for a birthdate, an age, an address or a phone number, and a column of birthdates in a pasted spreadsheet is ignored. The list stays in the browser on the parish computer. Read [keeping minors' names off the cloud](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/keeping-minors-names-off-the-cloud/) for the reasons. ## Common mistakes - Pairing two new servers at one Mass. The senior rule prevents it. - Splitting siblings across the Vigil and Sunday, so a parent drives twice. - Forgetting school holidays and exam weeks, when families travel. - Scheduling the keenest few every week. A monthly limit and the fairness report keep it even. - Posting full names of children online. Build one now in the [rota builder](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/rota/); the sample parish has servers, families and senior servers already entered. ## Sources Checked on 28 September 2026. PewRota applies your parish's own policy; it ships no liturgical rules. Where your diocese, your parish safeguarding policy or your clergy say something different, follow them. - **PewRota's rota builder.** Every example on this page is built by the same solver the rota builder runs, at build time, and pinned by a test. - **Children and the UK GDPR, the UK Information Commissioner's Office guidance (last updated 15 May 2026).** Guidance on handling children's personal information, including a section on sharing it; opened 28 September 2026. ## Frequently asked questions ### How many servers does a Mass need? That is the parish's choice. Two or three at a Sunday Mass is common, with more at feasts; enter the numbers for each Mass and PewRota fills them. ### How do I make sure an experienced server is at every Mass? Tick senior against the experienced servers and turn on the senior rule for altar servers. The first server place at every Mass then goes only to a senior server. ### Should I put the schedule on the parish website? Many parishes print it or email it to families instead, because servers are children. If it goes online, first names and initials are enough. ### What if there are not enough servers? PewRota leaves the place open and says why no one could take it, so you can recruit or ask a family, rather than doubling up the same children. --- Lectors and communion ministers # Lector and communion minister rota for a parish Set how many lectors and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion each Mass needs, enter who is commissioned for what with their usual Mass, limits and dates away, and build the quarter in one go. Nobody takes two roles at one Mass or serves twice on one weekend, turns are shared evenly, and any place that cannot be filled is listed with the reason. ## The steps - **Count the places.** For each Mass, set how many lectors and how many extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion it needs, and add the feast days. - **Enter the ministers.** Paste the list with the ministries each person is commissioned for; many people are both lectors and communion ministers. - **Record preferences and limits.** Tick each person's usual Mass, set a monthly limit for anyone who asks, and add dates away. - **Build and read the open places.** Build the quarter. Any place left open comes with the reason, such as everyone trained already serving that weekend. - **Send it out.** Print the rota by Mass for the sacristy, the rota by person for each minister, and paste the reminders into your own email. ## Why a template breaks at forty people A spreadsheet template is a grid: Masses down the side, roles across the top, names typed in. It works for a dozen people. The sample parish in the rota builder has 56 people and three Masses a weekend, which comes to 34 places a weekend and 442 over a quarter. Each place has to be checked against the person's dates away, their limit, the other roles they already hold that weekend, and their family. Typing one name into one cell can break three rules somewhere else in the quarter, and nothing in the grid says so. PewRota fills all 442 places of the sample quarter with no rule broken, and turns range from 6 to 9 per person. It checks every place against every rule before it keeps a move, and checks the whole rota again at the end. ## Worked example: an honest open place Now send 18 of the sample parish's 26 communion ministers away for all of December, leaving 8. There are 52 communion minister places that month. PewRota fills 114 of all 136 places and leaves 22 open, each with its reason. The first one reads: "26 people are trained for Extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, and none can take it: 18 away that day; 1 already serving at this service; 7 already serving another service that weekend." That sentence is the one to take to the parish council: it says exactly who is missing, not that the schedule "did not work". The fix might be recruiting, or asking some ministers to tick that they are happy to serve twice on a weekend. ## Feast days Christmas, Holy Week and Easter need more ministers than an ordinary Sunday. Add each one as a one-off service with its own counts, and mark it prime so those turns are shared out evenly rather than falling to the same faithful few every year. ## Common mistakes - Giving one person two roles at one Mass when the list is short. - Letting the 10:30 regulars do every major feast; prime Masses need sharing too. - Ignoring a minister's monthly limit because they never complain. - Rebuilding the whole quarter to fix one swap. Lock the places that are settled and rebuild the rest, or swap by hand. Start with the sample parish in the [rota builder](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/rota/), or read the [fair rotation rules](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/fair-rotation-rules-for-ministries/). ## Sources Checked on 28 September 2026. PewRota applies your parish's own policy; it ships no liturgical rules. Where your diocese, your parish safeguarding policy or your clergy say something different, follow them. - **PewRota's rota builder.** Every example on this page is built by the same solver the rota builder runs, at build time, and pinned by a test. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can one person be a lector and a communion minister at the same Mass? Not in PewRota: nobody holds two roles at one service. They can do one role on Saturday and the other the next weekend. ### Why does a template break at forty people? Because every name has dates away, a usual Mass, a limit and a partner, and every change moves other names. Past about forty names the checks outgrow what a person can hold in their head at once. ### How are the places shared out? Evenly, with prime Masses shared evenly on their own, and usual Masses honoured where the rules allow. Last quarter's turns can be carried in. ### What if someone cannot make their date? Move or swap them in the review grid. The grid says before the drop if the new place breaks a rule, and the swap log keeps a record with a note. --- Parish church rota # Church rota for sidespeople, readers and the flowers Choose the Church of England wording, set each service's readers, intercessors, sidespeople, chalice assistants, servers and flower arranger, add the volunteers with the roles they do and their dates away, and build the month or quarter. Nobody does two jobs at one service, nobody is on twice in one weekend unless they say so, and the flower rota turns over with a monthly limit. ## The steps - **Choose the Church of England wording.** The preset sets an 8:00 Holy Communion, a 10:00 Parish Eucharist and 6:00 Evensong, with readers, intercessors, sidespeople, chalice assistants, servers and the flower rota. - **Adjust the services.** Rename, add or remove services to match your pattern, and set how many of each role every service needs. - **Add the people.** Paste the electoral roll volunteers or the old rota list, with the roles each person does and any dates away. - **Set limits for the flower rota.** Flowers usually go to one person a week; give each flower arranger a monthly limit, such as two, so the rota turns over. - **Build and print.** Build the month or quarter, then print the grid for the church porch and the list by person for the pew sheet. ## Worked example: a parish church in January On the Church of England preset the ministries are Reader, Intercessor, Sidesperson, Chalice assistant, Server, Flower rota. Take 18 volunteers for January 2027, across 15 services. That is 75 places, and PewRota fills 70 of them. The flower rota has 5 turns that month, one each Sunday at the Parish Eucharist; 4 are filled, shared among 2 arrangers with nobody doing more than 2, because each arranger has a limit of two a month. Two sidespeople in the example are a couple, entered with one family name, so they are never on different services on the same Sunday. Two of the servers are ticked senior, and 5 of the 5 senior server places are filled, one at each Parish Eucharist. ## Words that change, rules that do not Parishes use different words for the same job: sidesperson or steward, reader or lector, intercessor or leader of prayers. The words are only labels in PewRota. The rules are the same underneath: trained, available, one role at a time, and whatever else the parish chooses. ## Festivals and special services Harvest, Remembrance Sunday, the carol service and Easter morning need more sidespeople and a bigger flower team. Add each as a one-off service with its date and its own counts; the builder fills them with the weekly services and keeps the same rules, so nobody who is on at the carol service is also put down for Evensong that evening unless they have said they are happy to do two. When the rota is built, print the grid for the porch notice board and give each volunteer their own list. The Print and export tab writes a short reminder for each person to paste into your own email, so the parish office never has to type the same dates twice. ## Common mistakes - Keeping the same two sidespeople on Evensong for years because nobody asked. - Putting a reader on to read and lead the intercessions at the same service. - Forgetting that the flower arranger for Christmas is also away for New Year. - Pinning the rota up with home phone numbers on it. PewRota keeps no phone numbers. Open the [rota builder](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/rota/), choose the Church of England wording on the Ministries tab, and replace the services and ministries with the preset. ## Sources Checked on 28 September 2026. PewRota applies your parish's own policy; it ships no liturgical rules. Where your diocese, your parish safeguarding policy or your clergy say something different, follow them. - **PewRota's rota builder.** Every example on this page is built by the same solver the rota builder runs, at build time, and pinned by a test. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does it work for a group of churches in one benefice? Yes. Enter each church's services as separate services with their own counts. Families together and not twice in one weekend then work across the whole group. ### Can the flower rota be monthly rather than weekly? Give the flower rota a place only at the services where flowers are changed, and set a monthly limit of one for each arranger. ### Can I use the word steward instead of sidesperson? Yes. Every ministry name can be changed, and the printouts use your words. ### Is it tied to one denomination? No. The presets are only starting words. PewRota ships no liturgical rules; it applies the parish's own. --- Fairness # Fair rotation rules for parish ministries A fair rota keeps a few hard rules without exception (trained, available, one role at a time, and the parish's own choices such as not twice in one weekend), then shares the turns as evenly as those rules allow, with prime services shared evenly on their own and last quarter's turns carried in. What cannot be filled is left open and explained, never quietly doubled up. ## The hard rules These are never broken by the builder. If one would have to be, the place stays open, with the reason in these words: - Trained for the ministry (otherwise: not trained for this ministry). - Not away that day (away that day). - One role per service (already serving at this service). - Not twice in one weekend unless the person opted in (already serving another service that weekend). - Families and pairs at the same service on a weekend (family or pair serving a different service that weekend). - A senior person in the first place of a senior-rule ministry (not flagged senior, and this is the senior place). - A minimum gap between turns, if the parish sets one (served too recently). - A personal monthly limit (at their monthly limit). ## The soft costs, and their weights Among the rotas that keep every hard rule, PewRota looks for the one with the lowest total of these costs. The weights are the engine's own: - An empty place costs 1,000,000, more than any spread of turns could save, so a place is never left empty to make the numbers prettier. - Each person's turns, carried turns included, are squared and multiplied by 10. Squaring means one extra turn for the busiest person costs more than one for the least busy. - Prime turns are squared the same way with a weight of 6. - A turn at a weekly service the person did not list as preferred costs 12. - Two turns less than 7 days apart on different weekends cost 4. - Family or pair members serving the same service take 15 off, so families serve together where they can. ## Worked example: carrying fairness Two lectors, Ana and Ben, and one lector place each Sunday in December (4 Sundays). Ana served four times last quarter; Ben did not serve. With fairness carried, PewRota gives Ana 0 and Ben 4. With carrying switched off they start level and get 2 and 2. ## Worked example: a newcomer in the second quarter Carrying turns forward has a flip side. Someone with no history, new to the parish or back from a period away, would start at zero while everyone else starts at what they served, and zero looks like a debt: the builder would load them up. PewRota starts them at the group's average instead. Take 10 lectors with two places each Sunday: the first quarter has 26 places and each serves 2 or 3 times. An eleventh lector joins for the next quarter (26 places). Starting at the average of 2.6, the newcomer gets 2 turns and the regulars 2 to 3. Counted as zero, the newcomer would have got 5. Someone who was on the list and served nothing is carried as zero, because closing a period writes a zero for them. In the sample parish's whole quarter the spread is 6 to 9 turns per person, and the fairness report prints each person's turns, prime turns and carried turns so anyone can check. ## Rules other tools use One paid parish scheduler describes its method as filling every spot between two dates, spacing ministers fairly across the schedule, and never putting a minister in two roles on one weekend. Those are the same ideas as the hard rules and the fairness cost above; the difference here is that every rule is a setting the parish can see and change, and every open place says why. ## Common mistakes - Making a preference into a hard rule, then wondering why places are open. - Letting a monthly limit of zero mean "never"; in PewRota zero means no limit. - Forgetting to close a quarter, so the next one starts everyone level. - Fixing a clash by quietly giving the same person two roles. Try the rules on the sample parish in the [rota builder](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/rota/), or see how they apply to [altar servers](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/how-to-make-an-altar-server-schedule/). ## Sources Checked on 28 September 2026. PewRota applies your parish's own policy; it ships no liturgical rules. Where your diocese, your parish safeguarding policy or your clergy say something different, follow them. - **PewRota's rota builder.** Every example on this page is built by the same solver the rota builder runs, at build time, and pinned by a test. - **Parish Solutions Company, Ministry Scheduler product page.** Describes filling every spot between two dates, fair spacing, and never two roles on one weekend; read 2026-09-28. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the difference between a hard rule and a preference? A hard rule is never broken by the builder: if it cannot be kept, the place stays open with the reason. A preference, such as a usual Mass, is honoured when the hard rules allow. ### Does fairness mean everyone serves the same number of times? As near as the rules allow. People with more dates away or a lower monthly limit will serve less, and the fairness report shows each person's count beside everyone else's. ### What is a prime service? The one people most want, or least want, to serve at: the main Sunday Mass, or Christmas night. Prime turns are shared out evenly on their own, on top of the total. ### Why carry fairness from one quarter to the next? Because a quarter is short. Someone who served six times last quarter and someone who served twice should not start level, so last quarter's turns count toward this one. --- Privacy # Keeping altar servers' names off the cloud Altar servers are usually children, so keep their details small and in one place: a first name and initial, what they do, their family and their dates away, on the parish computer and nowhere else. A scheduler that runs in the browser and uploads nothing keeps the parish as the only holder of the names. Print or email turns to families rather than posting a public list. ## The steps - **Collect the least you need.** A first name and an initial, the ministries, a family name, dates away and a senior tick. No birthdate, age, address, phone number or school. - **Keep the list on one parish computer.** Use a tool that stores the list in the browser on that computer and uploads nothing, so the parish is the only place the names exist. - **Print instead of posting.** Print the rota for the sacristy and hand or email families their own turns, rather than publishing children's names on a public web page. - **Back up to a file you control.** Save a backup file to the parish's own storage, and delete old copies when a server leaves. - **Clear it when you hand over.** When a new scheduler takes over, pass on the backup file and clear the browser on the old computer. ## Why it matters for a parish An online scheduler is convenient: families log in and pick their own Masses. It also means a list of children's names, their families and the times they are in church sits on a company's server, under that company's terms, for as long as the account exists. Guidance on children's information, such as the UK regulator's guidance on children and data protection, asks organisations to take particular care with children's personal information and has a whole section on sharing it. The simplest way to share less is not to put it anywhere else. ## What PewRota keeps, exactly Everything lives in the browser's own storage on the computer you use, under the key pewrota.workspace.v1. For each person that is a name or initials (up to 60 characters), the ministries, preferred services, dates away, a monthly limit, a family or pair name, a senior tick and a tick for serving twice on a weekend. There is no field for a birthdate, an age, an address, a phone number or an email address, and a pasted column of birthdates is ignored with a note saying so. Nothing is sent to PewRota or to anyone else. There are no analytics of what you type and no account. If the billing option is ever switched on, the page checks an anonymous purchase id with the payment company; it never sends the list. ## Worked example: a paste with too much in it A scheduler pastes last year's spreadsheet: Family, Name, Roles, Senior, Birthdate, Max per month, Away. PewRota reads the name, roles, senior tick, family, limit and dates away, drops the birthdate column entirely, and reports: "Birthdates and ages are never kept, so that column was ignored." The saved list has no trace of the birthdates. The same holds for a CSV headed First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth (the two name columns are joined), or Surname, Forename, Age. In a paste with no header row, any date or age outside a dates away column is dropped with the note "A date or age was found and not kept." ## Common mistakes - Collecting birthdates to decide who is senior. A senior tick does the same job. - Emailing the whole rota with every child's full name to every family. - Leaving the rota open on a shared computer in the parish office. - Keeping backup files of old lists for years after the servers have left. Read the [privacy page](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/privacy/) for the full detail, or start the [rota builder](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/rota/). ## Sources Checked on 28 September 2026. PewRota applies your parish's own policy; it ships no liturgical rules. Where your diocese, your parish safeguarding policy or your clergy say something different, follow them. - **Children and the UK GDPR, the UK Information Commissioner's Office guidance (last updated 15 May 2026).** Guidance on handling children's personal information, including a section on sharing it; opened 28 September 2026. - **PewRota's rota builder.** Every example on this page is built by the same solver the rota builder runs, at build time, and pinned by a test. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does PewRota send names anywhere? No. The list, the rota and every printout are made in the browser and kept there. There is no account and no server copy. ### What if the computer breaks? Then the list is gone unless you saved a backup file. Save one after each quarter and keep it with the parish's other records. ### Can two people share the scheduling? They can pass the backup file between them. PewRota does not sync between computers, because syncing means a copy on someone's server. ### Is this legal advice? No. Follow your diocese's or parish's safeguarding and data protection policy; this page explains how a local tool keeps the footprint small. --- Compared # Ministry scheduling software compared Most parish schedulers are paid subscriptions that need accounts; the free ones cap the list or are built for staff shifts rather than Masses. Choose by how many ministers you schedule, whether volunteers must sign in, and where the names end up. The paid parish schedulers run from $60, $80 or $120 a year (The Church C.R.E.W.) to $50 a month (Parish Solutions Company, Ministry Scheduler), as listed on their own pages on 28 September 2026, and most need an account for the scheduler and often for every volunteer. The free tools either cap the list or need an account. ## The tools, as their own pages describe them Table: Prices and notes as read on each vendor's page on 28 September 2026 | Tool | Price listed | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | [Parish Solutions Company, Ministry Scheduler](https://www.parishsolutionsco.com/ministry-scheduler.html) | $50 a month | Web based, for Catholic parishes. Fills every ministry spot between two dates, spaces ministers fairly, and never puts one person in two roles on one weekend. | | [Ministry Scheduler Pro](https://ministryschedulerpro.com/pricing) | No price shown on the pricing page | A six month first subscription with a money back guarantee; optional text messages at $0.02 each. | | [The Church C.R.E.W.](https://thechurchcrew.com/plans/) | $60, $80 or $120 a year | A one month free trial for 20 volunteers, then Basic ($60 a year, 100 volunteers), Plus ($80 a year, adds text messages) or Premium ($120 a year, 250 volunteers). An automatic schedule generator in every plan. | | [Planning Center Services](https://www.planningcenter.com/pricing) | Free for 5 team members | Paid monthly tiers are priced by the number of team members, chosen on the pricing page. | | [RotaFish](https://www.rota.fish/) | Free, with upgrades of £1.50, £2.00 or £3.15 a rota | No account; free rotas hold 15 sign-ups, 15 occurrences and 10 roles. The upgrades to 50 are sold only to people in the United Kingdom. An auto-complete button assigns by availability. | | [RotaPlanner](https://rotaplanner.app/) | Free | Needs an account. Built for staff shifts and contracted hours, with automatic scheduling and printable PDFs; hosted online. | ## What to compare - **Who has to sign in.** A tool priced by team members who log in grows in cost with the list; a tool with no accounts costs the same at five people or fifty. - **Caps.** A free plan that stops at fifteen sign-ups or fifteen dates will not hold a parish with three Masses a weekend: the sample parish in PewRota needs 442 places over one quarter. - **Parish rules.** Look for one role per Mass, not twice in one weekend, families together, and an experienced server at every Mass. Shift schedulers think in hours and contracts, not Masses and ministries. - **Where the names go.** Online tools keep the list on their servers. That is convenient for volunteer self-service, and a question to ask when the list includes children. - **What prints.** The sacristy wants the rota by Mass, families want it by person, and the bulletin wants one page. ## A worked comparison: one quarter of a three Mass parish The sample parish in PewRota has 56 volunteers and needs 34 places filled every weekend, 442 over a quarter. On a free plan that stops at fifteen sign-ups, the parish would need several separate rotas, and the rule that nobody serves twice on one weekend could not be checked across them. On a plan priced by the number of people who log in, every one of the 56 volunteers would count. On a paid parish scheduler the quarter is routine, and the question is only the monthly or yearly cost against what the parish would otherwise spend in the scheduler's time. PewRota builds the same quarter in the browser with every place filled and no rule broken, turns between 6 and 9 per person, and the names kept on the parish computer. ## Where PewRota fits PewRota is for the parish volunteer who builds the rota alone and hands it out: no accounts, no sync, and the names kept on the parish computer. It fills a month, a quarter or a year against the parish's own rules, explains every open place, and prints the rota by service and by person, a bulletin grid and a fairness report. It does not let volunteers log in to swap or sign up, and it does not send text messages. If those matter most, one of the online tools above is the better fit. ## Common mistakes when choosing - Choosing on the monthly price alone, without counting the volunteers who must have accounts. - Trying a free plan on a small test list, then hitting its cap at the first real quarter. - Forgetting that a tool built for shift work has no idea what a Vigil Mass is. Try PewRota with the sample parish in the [rota builder](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/rota/), or read the [fair rotation rules](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/fair-rotation-rules-for-ministries/) to see what it keeps. ## Sources Checked on 28 September 2026. PewRota applies your parish's own policy; it ships no liturgical rules. Where your diocese, your parish safeguarding policy or your clergy say something different, follow them. - **The vendors' own pricing and product pages (6 products).** Read on 2026-09-28; each row of the comparison names its page. - **PewRota's rota builder.** Every example on this page is built by the same solver the rota builder runs, at build time, and pinned by a test. ## Frequently asked questions ### Are these prices current? They are what each vendor's own page said on 28 September 2026. Prices change; check the vendor's page before you buy. ### Which tool is best for a small parish? A small parish with one ministry and a few volunteers can manage with a free tool or a spreadsheet. The paid tools earn their price with many Masses, many ministers and text reminders. ### Why would a parish pick a tool without an account? Because nothing has to be managed: no logins to reset, no subscription to renew, and the volunteers' names, including children's, stay on the parish computer. ### Does PewRota send reminders? It writes a reminder for each person for you to paste into your own email or messages. It does not send anything itself. --- FAQ # Questions about the rota builder Yes, PewRota is free, runs in your browser and keeps every name on your own device; the answers below cover building the rota, fairness, swaps and printing. For the method, read [the guide](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/guide/), or open the [rota builder](https://pewrota-web.pages.dev/rota/) and load the sample parish. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is PewRota? A rota builder for parish ministries. You enter services, ministries and people with their availability, choose the rules, and it builds a fair rota for a month, a quarter or a year, with a review grid and printouts. ### Is it free? Yes. Everything on the site is free, with no account. No paid plan is offered at present. ### Where are the names kept? Names never leave this computer: the list, the rota and every printout are made and kept in this browser, and nothing is uploaded. There is no account and no server copy. Save a backup file to keep a copy or to move the rota to another computer. ### Does it ask for birthdates or ages? No. Altar servers are often children, so PewRota never asks for a birthdate, an age, an address or a phone number. A senior tick box does the job an age would. ### Which rules does it keep? Always: nobody serves a ministry they are not trained for, on a day they are away, or in two roles at one service. As you choose: not twice in one weekend unless the person opted in, families and pairs together, a senior person at every service, a monthly limit and a minimum gap. A rule is never broken silently: a place that cannot be filled is left open with the reason. ### How is fairness worked out? Turns are shared as evenly as the rules allow, prime services are shared evenly on their own, preferred services are honoured where they can be, and last quarter's turns can be carried into this one, so whoever served most serves a little less next time. Someone new, or back from a period away, starts at the group's average rather than at zero: with 10 lectors who served 2 or 3 times each, a newcomer gets 2 of the next quarter's 26 places, where counting them as zero would have given 5. ### Can I change the rota by hand? Yes. Drag a name onto another place to move or swap, or pick a place and choose someone. The grid says before the drop if a move would break a rule, and flags it after. Lock a place and it stays put when you rebuild. ### Does it work for a Church of England parish? Yes. Choose the Church of England wording and the ministries become readers, intercessors, sidespeople, chalice assistants, servers and the flower rota. Every name can be changed. ### Can I import from another scheduler? Paste a list from any spreadsheet, or import a CSV with a header row: name, ministries, senior, family, monthly limit, preferred services and dates away. First name and last name columns, or forename and surname, are joined into one name. A column of birthdates or ages is ignored, and in a list with no header row a date or an age is dropped with a note. ### Who runs PewRota? An independent site. PewRota is not affiliated with or endorsed by any church, denomination, diocese or scheduling software company.