# GiftWell vs ServeWire VES

> ServeWire VES, from Ministry Vitals, costs $20 a month or $147 a year for unlimited members and assessments, offers a customisable spiritual gifts test or the full SHAPE, emails each result as a PDF, can show a "% Fit" for positions, and pushes results into Planning Center profile tabs; its site says 750-plus churches since 2017. It is the tool to edit. GiftWell is the tool to follow up with: a ten-minute phone test written against the published research, bands with the margin drawn and no fit score, a follow-up list with the person's words and consent, a 90-day check that looks at Planning Center scheduling, and an AI assistant that works the list for your team. It is free for 50 people and $100 a year for 150. Pick ServeWire for SHAPE and an editable gift list at a flat price; pick GiftWell for a short honest test and the conversation after.

Checked: 2026-10-20 (prices and features are from each vendor's own pages on that date)
Canonical: https://giftwell.app/compare/giftwell-vs-servewire-ves

## At a glance

As of 20 October 2026, from each vendor's own pages.

| | ServeWire VES | GiftWell |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $20/mo or $147/yr, unlimited members and assessments; no discounts; $50 onboarding option | free for 50 people; $100/yr for 150; $500/yr for 500; custom above; leaders free |
| Trial | a demo, with a 90-day guarantee | free plan with no card; try it at giftwell.app/try |
| The test | spiritual gifts or the full SHAPE; DISC can be built; gifts renamable, questions addable, branded | about 60 behaviour statements, 9 gifts, about 10 minutes, no account; written against published research; builder and imports on Growing |
| How a result is shown | emailed as a PDF; optional "% Fit" against positions | bands with a ±2 margin drawn, Romans 12 order, never ranked; no fit score |
| Member account | in standalone mode, members create a free account | none; progress saved on the device |
| For the team | results in Planning Center tabs; position fit | follow-up list with statuses, words and consent; two friends' confirmations; serving teams; placements with a 90-day check; weekly digest; signals and insights |
| Planning Center | results pushed to custom tabs on profiles; also Church Community Builder MyFit | every plan, both ways: band names and date to fields you choose; teams in from Services and People; scheduling checked after a placement |
| AI | not shown | never scores; an assistant that works your list, scoped to a role; reads your website; a bookshelf from a photo; optional staff-only brief on the church's own key |
| Privacy | not shown | a published list of what GiftWell never does, with the switch for each |
| Your website | embed; a WordPress plugin is listed | hosted page, one-line script, branded QR code, or your own subdomain (Small and above) |
| Proof | "trusted by 750+ Churches", "over 200,000 people", since 2017 | a young product; take it and judge the result |

## The test itself

ServeWire is built for churches that want to shape the instrument. A church can run a spiritual gifts test or the full SHAPE (gifts, heart, abilities, personality, experiences), build a DISC, rename gifts, add questions and brand the whole thing. That is a real strength for a church with its own teaching and vocabulary.

GiftWell is built the other way round. The test is about 60 statements about what has happened in the past year, across nine gifts, in about ten minutes on a phone, with no account. The statements are fixed on the Free and Small plans so every result means the same thing, and each one was written against the research on self-report and on gift inventories, published on [why we ask what we ask](/why-we-ask-what-we-ask); the Growing plan adds a builder for a church's own statements and imports SHAPE and homegrown results. If editing the gift list is the first thing you would do, ServeWire is the better fit. If you would rather trust a test someone else did the homework on, that is GiftWell.

## How results are shown

ServeWire emails each person a PDF and can show a percentage fit for positions. GiftWell shows bands: every gift within three points of the highest is in the lead band, the next within two points is "at the edge", and gifts inside a band sit in Romans 12 order. A score from five statements is honest to about two points, so GiftWell does not print an order and does not compute a fit percentage. It shows which serving teams need a person's lead gifts and leaves the fit to the conversation, with the person's own words and two friends' confirmations beside the bands.

## What the team gets after

ServeWire's answer is Planning Center: results land in custom tabs on the person's profile, and the church runs follow-up from there. For a church that lives in Planning Center, that is tidy.

GiftWell keeps a follow-up list of its own, because a tab on a profile does not say whether anyone has talked to the person. Each result arrives with the person's own words and consent, next to the serving teams that need those gifts. A leader logs the conversation, places the person, and gets a 90-day check on whether it took; leaders see only their own ministries; a weekly digest lists who is waiting. Band names, Ephesians 4 leanings and the date still go to Planning Center fields you choose, and your teams come back the other way. Scores, briefs and notes never leave.

## What GiftWell does that ServeWire's pages do not describe

As of October 2026, none of these appears on the Ministry Vitals pages we read.

- **An AI assistant that works your list.** Connect Claude or any assistant that speaks the Model Context Protocol, scoped to a role and expiring, and ask who is waiting, log a conversation, place someone or walk through setup. It never contacts a member and never scores anyone.
- **Planning Center coming back.** Teams pulled from Services and People into GiftWell, and a check a month after each placement on whether the person was actually scheduled.
- **Your website read for you.** Colours, logo, city, ministries and serving teams offered from your own pages.
- **Two friends' confirmations** on the bands, seen only by the pastoral team.
- **Signals and insights**: watches on what people write and which gifts arrive, and charts of how your church's gifts are shifting, with small numbers hidden.
- **A published list of promises** to the people who take it, with the switch each is kept by, a sealed export for the owner and erase-it-myself for the member.

## Price

ServeWire's flat $147 a year is cheaper than GiftWell for a church that will assess more than about 150 people. GiftWell is free for 50 people and $100 a year for 150, with leaders never charged for and retakes never counted; a church of 500 pays $500 a year. ServeWire lists no discounts and a demo rather than a trial, with a 90-day guarantee; GiftWell's free plan needs no card.

## Who should choose ServeWire

- A church that teaches SHAPE and wants the full SHAPE online.
- A church that wants to rename gifts, add questions and brand the test.
- A church that wants everything to live in Planning Center profiles or Church Community Builder.
- A church of more than about 150 people that wants a flat price.
- A church that wants a fit percentage for positions.

## Who should choose GiftWell

- A church that wants a ten-minute phone test with no account, so people finish.
- A church that wants a test written against the research, with the sources published.
- A church that wants results shown as bands with the margin drawn, never a percentage.
- A church that wants a follow-up list with statuses, the person's words and consent, and a check on whether placements took.
- A church that wants Planning Center both ways and an AI assistant doing the clerical work.
- A church of 50 or fewer that wants to start free, or one that wants its own subdomain.

## Switching

Run both for a month. Create your church (free, no card), give GiftWell your website so it offers your colours and ministries, connect Planning Center, and put the new link and QR code in the bulletin. GiftWell's Growing plan imports SHAPE results, so a church leaving ServeWire's SHAPE keeps what it learned. Planning Center fields written by ServeWire stay in Planning Center; GiftWell writes to fields you choose, so the two never collide.

## Questions people ask

### Is GiftWell or ServeWire cheaper?

For up to 50 people GiftWell is free and ServeWire is $147 a year. For up to 150 people GiftWell is $100 a year, $47 less. Above about 150 people ServeWire's flat $147 is cheaper than GiftWell's $500 for 500. As of October 2026.

### Does GiftWell offer SHAPE?

No. GiftWell measures nine gifts in its own test. The Growing plan imports SHAPE results so earlier work lands in the follow-up list, and the builder lets a church add its own statements, but the SHAPE instrument itself is ServeWire's strength, not GiftWell's.

### Which one shows a fit score for ministry positions?

ServeWire can show a "% Fit". GiftWell never scores fit; it shows the serving teams that need a person's lead gifts, beside the person's own words and what two friends said, and leaves the judgement to the leader and the person. That is a deliberate choice, explained on the why page.

### Do both sync to Planning Center?

Yes. ServeWire pushes results to custom tabs on profiles. GiftWell matches people by email and then by name, writes gift band names, Ephesians 4 leanings and the date to fields you choose, pulls your teams in from Services and People, and checks a month after a placement whether the person got scheduled, on every plan; scores, briefs and notes never sync.

### Can an AI assistant use either tool?

GiftWell's pages describe named, role-scoped, expiring connections for Claude or any assistant that speaks the Model Context Protocol, which can list who is waiting, log conversations and place people, and never score anyone or contact a member. ServeWire's pages do not describe AI, as of October 2026.