FreeOpen source worship projection for Windows, Mac and Linux

Put the Wordon the wall.

Scripture, songs, media and sermon slides on the screen from one calm console. Free for every church, light enough for the laptop already in the booth.

No account. No trial. Nothing leaves the building.

The Crater console with Amazing Grace live, the next verse lined up, and the song library below
The projector showing the first verse of Amazing GraceLIVE
  • Scripture
  • Songs
  • Sermon slides
  • Media
  • Countdowns
  • Stage display
  • Strong's
  • Themes
  • NDI output
  • Cast to a TV
  • Profiles
  • Keyboard first
FreeOn every machine, for good
14Bible translations included
4 GBOf RAM is all it needs
3Windows, macOS and Linux

What the room sees

Every slide, beautifully set.

Real output from Crater, straight off the projector. No mockups, no retouching.

It Is Well with My Soul on the projector
01SongsLyrics, verse by verse
John 3:16 with highlighted words
02ScriptureHighlight as you preach
A sermon title slide, The Lord Is My Shepherd
03Sermon slidesBuilt right in Crater
A Strong's definition for agape
04Strong'sThe Greek and Hebrew behind a word
The stage display with current and next slide
05Stage displayNow, next and your notes
A countdown before the service
06CountdownsStart on time

Everything a service needs

Plan in the week. Breathe on Sunday.

Find any verse as you type.

Type a reference, or a few words you remember. Crater reads "jn 3 16" and "for god so loved" the same way, across every translation you have. Strong's numbers are one tab away.

Instant searchMany translationsStrong's
Scripture search results for John 3 16

Themes you set once.

Fonts, colours and backgrounds with a live preview. Save it, reuse it every week, share it in one file.

The theme editor

Media and countdowns.

Videos, images and timers sit in the same schedule as your songs. Loop a background, count the room in.

The media library with a countdown in preview and live

See it before the room does.

Line up the next slide in gold while the room watches red. One key sends it.

Straight into your stream.

Send the screen to OBS over NDI. No capture card, no second laptop.

The schedule with songs, a reading, sermon slides and a video in order

The whole order of service.

Songs, readings, slides and videos in one list. Drag to reorder, it saves as you go.

A Sunday with Crater

From the first song to the last amen.

  1. 9:50

    Countdown

    A timer counts the room in while people find their seats, and the stage display keeps the time for the band.

  2. 10:00

    Worship

    Lyrics go up verse by verse. When the leader goes back to the chorus, Page Up gets you there.

  3. 10:25

    The reading

    Type the reference as it is announced. The verse is on the wall before the reader reaches the pulpit.

  4. 10:35

    The sermon

    Sermon slides sit in the same schedule, with scripture dropped in wherever the preacher turns.

  5. 11:20

    Closing hymn

    One last song, then Ctrl+L puts the logo up while the room empties. The schedule saves as you go.

A countdown on the projector
It Is Well with My Soul on the projector
John 3:16 on the projector
A sermon title slide
Amazing Grace on the projector
LIVE

One laptop, every screen

Every screen in the room, in step.

Add as many outputs as you have screens. Each one mirrors the wall or becomes a stage view, and all of them change on the same key.

The Crater console
Your laptop
A lyric on the projector
HDMI

The projector

Full screen on the second display, with its own theme and transition.

The stage display
STAGE

The stage display

Live text, speaker notes and what is next, with a clock for the band.

The live output in a stream
NDI

The live stream

One NDI source for OBS and other streaming tools, with tally lights.

Scripture on a TV
WI-FI

A TV in the foyer

Open a local address in any browser on the Wi-Fi and the service follows.

Only one screen? Crater can show the output behind the console, the way EasyWorship does.

Themes

Change the whole look in one click.

Crater ships with themes for songs, scripture and slides. Pick one and every slide follows. Make your own in the editor, or send one to the next church as a single file.

Plum & Rose

Keyboard first

Run the service without the mouse.

Eyes on the stage, hands on the keys. Everything that matters on a Sunday is one or two keys away.

Coming from EasyWorship

Bring every song with you.

Years of lyrics should not be retyped. Crater reads your EasyWorship library directly and keeps everything you entered.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."
Colossians 3:16

Learn it in an afternoon

Short videos for every volunteer.

Each one covers a single task in a few minutes. Hand the playlist to whoever runs the booth this week.

Open the channel
  1. 01Getting started
  2. 02Scripture
  3. 03Songs
  4. 04Media and sermon slides
  5. 05Planning the service
  6. 06Themes
  7. 07Screens and streaming
  8. 08Settings and profiles
  9. 09Keyboard shortcuts

Open source

Built in the open, for the church.

Every line of Crater is on GitHub. Read it, build it yourself, report a problem or send a fix. Nothing is held back for a paid version, because there isn't one.

What's new

  1. NextMerged, out in the next release
    • A select toggle on the schedule
    • Home and End for the first and last slide, Page Up and Page Down for the chorus
    • Scroll lists straight from the mouse wheel
    • Auto-scroll you can set for each panel
  2. v0.7.5Songs and scripture polish
    • Song credits as a theme layer
    • Song search matches short words
    • Steadier verse numbers and current-verse highlight
    • Tutorial and docs links inside the app
  3. v0.7.4One Bible library
    • Every profile shares one Bible library and picks its own translations
    • Reorder translations by dragging
    • Text outlines in themes
    • A new logo, and no black flash when it goes up
  4. v0.7.3Profiles and Linux
    • Separate profiles you can switch, import and export
    • Select many library items at once
    • Full video controls in preview and live
    • A Linux AppImage
Every release on GitHub

Feature requests

Missing something? Ask for it.

Every church runs its Sunday a little differently. If Crater is missing something you need, tell us. Requests go straight to the people building it and shape what comes next.

Request a feature

Good questions.

Something else on your mind? Read the docs or ask on GitHub.

Is Crater really free?

Yes. Free to download and use on as many computers as you like, with no trial and no licence. The code is open source, so it belongs to the community rather than a company.

Will it run on our old church laptop?

Almost certainly. Crater is built to feel quick on modest machines with 4 GB of RAM. If it runs Windows 10, it will very likely run Crater well.

Do our volunteers need to be technical?

No. If you can put together a slideshow you can run a service. The tutorial playlists walk through each task in a few minutes.

Can we send the screen to our live stream?

Yes. Crater sends its output over NDI, which OBS and most streaming tools already understand. No capture card needed.

Is our information private?

Completely. No accounts, no tracking, no analytics. Your songs and services stay on your computer.

Ready for Sunday.

Pick your computer, run the installer, open your first service. That is the whole setup.

v0.7.6 · Other downloads and install help