Built by a congregation member, for every congregation
Unitae started when a territory servant realised his territories were obsolete — and his tools were making it worse. Here is how it became a full platform, and why it will always be open source.
It started with obsolete territory cards
The founder of Unitae is a ministerial servant in his congregation, responsible for the territory service and the audio/video department (sound, microphones, and stage). The congregation tracked territory assignments in an Excel file and used office software to draw and print territory cards. Every time a publisher reported a change — a new building, a closed entrance, an outdated address — someone had to go verify it, redraw the territory card by hand, print it, and put it in the shared territory book.
One day, during a meeting of the territory service with the field service overseer and all the territory servants, they realised that their territories were globally obsolete. They needed to completely redraw them. In front of the massive amount of work, they also realised it would be even worse because of their tools.
Since he is also a software engineer, he decided to build something better. The first idea was to stop relying on hand-drawn maps and use buildings and addresses as the foundation instead. In France, the government publishes all addresses through an open data project (BANO) — that data could pre-fill the tool automatically. He also wanted to enrich the information for publishers: knowing that a specific address is behind a digicode, so you send a letter instead of finding a closed door.
Our territories were obsolete. Our tools made the problem worse.
Then the elders asked for more
Unitae started as three tools for the territory service: a prospection tool to walk through every address and update building information, a splitting tool to create and redraw territories from that data, and an assignment tool to track which publisher has which territory. It was built for one congregation, to solve one problem.
Then the elders asked for more. The information board came next — a central place for branch letters, announcements, and documents that used to get lost in WhatsApp threads. Then publisher activity reports, to help the secretary stop chasing numbers every month. Then meeting programme scheduling, because the audio/video service was struggling with the same coordination problems.
Each feature came from a real request, from real people doing real congregation work. Nothing was invented. Everything was a workflow that someone was already doing — just with the wrong tools. The code was made open source from the start, because congregation data is sensitive and congregations should be able to read, verify, and run the software themselves.
Today Unitae is used by congregations in France, and the list of features still grows because congregations keep asking for things they need. The entire codebase is on GitHub. The licence is AGPL-3.0. Any congregation, anywhere, can download it, read every line, and run it on their own server — no permission needed, no payment required. That was the point from day one.
Why every line of code is free
100 % open source. Hosted for those who need it.
Unitae follows the same model as Ghost, the blogging platform: the entire application — every line of code — is published under the AGPL-3.0 license. Any congregation can download it, run it on their own server, and use every feature without paying a cent.
For congregations that do not want to manage a server, we offer managed hosting at €9/month. That subscription covers the infrastructure, automated backups, TLS certificates, and priority support. It also funds the development of new features that go back into the open-source codebase for everyone.
There is no "Pro" version with locked features. There is no premium tier that self-hosted users cannot reach. The plan limits on managed hosting only exist to protect shared infrastructure — any congregation running their own instance gets everything unlimited. This is not a marketing promise; it is enforced in the code.
Four promises we make to every congregation
Privacy by design
Congregation data never leaves your jurisdiction without your knowledge. Self-hosted means your server, your database, your rules. Managed hosting runs in Europe under GDPR. No analytics, no tracking, no third-party data sharing.
Radical openness
Every line of application code is on GitHub under AGPL-3.0. You can read it, audit it, fork it, improve it, and run it. The license ensures that improvements made to the code must be shared back. No proprietary fork, no enterprise edition.
Built with congregations
Every feature in Unitae was requested by a real congregation solving a real problem. We do not invent use cases. We listen, we build, we ship, we watch. Features that do not help anyone do not ship.
Sustainable, not extractive
The managed hosting subscription exists to fund development, not to maximise revenue. Pricing is set to cover costs and a single developer's time. If that changes, the community will know why.
Where we're going
Territory servants have been asking for easier day-to-day maintenance — moving an address between cards without redrawing everything, and supporting the territory types that don’t fit neatly on a map: boats, hostels, commercial zones.
On the programme side, we want to make the tool more flexible and capable of gathering even more information to help coordinators in their work.
We are also working on better support for non-French congregations. The application is already internationalised for French and English, but territory sources and address databases are currently only connected for France. Contributions from congregations in other countries are very welcome.
All of this is tracked publicly. If you want to follow along, suggest a feature, or report a problem, the GitHub Issues list is the right place. Report an issue →
Three ways to join
Start a free trial
Managed hosting, ready in 30 seconds. 14-day free trial, no credit card required. We handle the server, backups, and TLS — you handle the congregation.
Start your free trialSelf-host for free
Deploy Unitae on your own server with Docker. Full documentation, all features unlimited, no licence key required. Total control over your data.
Read the self-hosting guideContribute
Found a bug? Have a feature idea? The codebase is open. Open an issue, submit a pull request, or start a discussion. Every congregation using Unitae benefits from your contribution.
View the source on GitHub