ProPresenter is a mature, capable product and plenty of large churches rely on it. Many smaller churches find they pay for far more than they use. Week to week, they need songs and scripture on the wall, a few sermon slides, something for the band to read and maybe a feed for the live stream.
Crater does those things well and costs nothing.
Side by side#
| Crater | ProPresenter | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, with no subscription | Paid. Check their site for current plans |
| Runs on | Windows 10 and 11, macOS 14 or later, 64-bit Linux | macOS and Windows |
| Source code | Open source under the GPL | Closed source |
If your church depends on ProPresenter’s advanced production features, list the ones you use each week and check Crater against that list before switching.
What a Sunday needs, and where Crater has it#
Scripture. Fourteen English translations come built in. Type rom 8:28 or a few words you remember and the verse is ready. Select a range of verses, switch translation with one click, and show Strong’s definitions when the preacher digs into the Greek or Hebrew. See Scripture.
Songs. Keep the whole library in one place, with bold, italic and coloured lyrics. Search by title, author or any line, even with a typo. See Songs.
Sermon slides. Write slides and speaker notes inside Crater. The congregation sees the slides and the preacher sees the notes. See Presentations.
A stage monitor. Point a screen at the platform with the words, the notes, what’s coming next and a clock. Extra mirror screens, like a lobby TV, can each have their own theme. See Outputs and Stage Display.
The live stream. On Windows, Crater sends what’s on the wall to OBS, vMix or any NDI receiver over your network. A separate stream theme, such as a lower third, keeps the camera shot clear. See NDI Streaming.
Looks. A visual theme editor with layers, gradients, shadows and your own fonts. Themes can be shared with another church as one file.
Light enough for the sound booth laptop#
Crater starts quickly and runs on modest hardware. On Windows it’s designed for Intel HD 4000 class graphics and newer, with 4 GB of memory. The download page lists the full requirements.
Try it without risk#
Install Crater next to what you use now. You can practise in a browser before installing anything, and the docs cover every part of the console.