If you are thinking of starting a daycare business, you have probably been wondering “what software should I use to manage my daycare?”. Everyone, who is considering running their own daycare, wants to know about best software for daycare business. Of course, there are many types of childcare management software programs available for different needs and budgets. Here we will discuss the best preschool management software that are free or cheap and easy to get started with.
If you’re a daycare owner or manager then it’s no secret that software is the backbone of running your business. Just like any industry, daycare has evolved to using more sophisticated software over the years. But unlike most industries, the options available to you as a childcare provider are far less than most others. Finding the right software for your daycare can make or break your business, so do yourself a favor and learn about the best software for daycare business today!
Sandbox Software
Sandbox is a user-friendly and convenient all-in-one child care management software. They provide comprehensive child care management, seamless parent engagement, and relevant business growth resources. Sandbox was designed keeping the needs of educators in mind, and it now has over 140,000 users in North America.
Pricing Overview
Their pricing model is a per feature one and it varies as given below-
Childcare centers with 0-24 children: $59 per month
Childcare centers with 24-49 children: $79 per month
Childcare centers with 49-99 children: $129 per month
Childcare centers with 100-199 children: $169 per month
Childcare centers with more than 200+ children: $199 per month
Pros
“The thing I like most about Sandbox is their customer support. I love that I’m able to start a conversation via messaging and work out any issue or question I may have.”
“It’s great to have a platform that handles all things related to child care.”
“We have been extremely happy with our purchase and implantation of the Sandbox software.”
Cons
“Add description to profile, height/ weight/ eyes/ hair required for licensing. Spot for staff PHN on their profile (emergency cards).”
“Posting pictures and getting my teachers used to using it. Some teachers say it is too hard to post pictures through Sandbox and have continued texting parents.”
“Financial records are confusing and I sometimes have a hard time getting the forms I want.”
Brightwheel
Brightwheel is a child care management software solution platform that facilitates operations for childcare, daycares, and preschools. It specializes in streamlining the processes for the school administrators and staff in centers with mid to low capacity.
Pricing Overview
Brightwheel’s pricing beings at $15.00 per month. They offer a free trial and also have a free version. They have two pricing structures – standard and premium. While the standard version offers basic features, the premium version supports many enhanced features and functionalities.
Pros
“This a great tool for communicating with parents. They love all the photos and I love how easily I can send things to the whole class or individually.”
“So many benefits, parents know their child is safe. Parents see their children doing fun activities and it makes them happy.”
“What I liked most was the free options that Brightwheel had – it had the most features for free use compared to competitors. A good option for a small scale daycare or preschool.”
Cons
“Frustrating, time-wasting and gave me a ton of headaches.”
“The sign-in process was a bit of a struggle and linking multiple devices to one account was difficult.”
“One day (when I did not have auto payments set up) I stopped receiving notifications from Brightwheel about new invoices. As result, I was late to pay and our daycare charged me a late payment fee.”
Procare Solutions
Procare Solutions is the number one child care management software – trusted by 35,000+ child-focused businesses. For over 30 years, child care professionals have used Procare to help them run their operations providing real-time information for making critical decisions, maintaining compliance with local and state regulations, and adhering to business best practices. Let Procare Solutions help you manage every aspect of your child care center, optimize parent communication, and automate the payment collection.
Child Care Business Management – Procare gives you the power to manage every part of your daycare — regardless of the size and structure of your organization. From invoicing, billing and payments to family and child data to staff management and staff-child ratios, everything you need is in one place.
Parent Engagement – When you are looking to build stronger connections with the families you serve, a parent engagement solution is the answer. With a fully integrated and complete parent engagement solution that also includes classroom management, you can immerse parents in their children’s day-to-day activities – from tracking developmental milestones to sharing photos and videos to enabling two-way communication.
Secure & Contactless – Safety has always been a top priority for daycare centers, but it has become even more important in today’s world. Eliminating unnecessary foot traffic is key in providing a safer environment. That’s why Procare enables contactless check-in/out with the choice of either QR codes, GPS curbside or both. And, we offer security hardware so you can ensure your center is truly secure.
Tuition Collection and Payment – Procare’s child care app and web platform take the hassle out of child care billing with all of the touchless payment options you need — electronic fund transfer (EFT), online or completely automated. You can also do an in-person point-of-sale transaction if needed. Tuition collection is a seamless experience for daycare providers.
Staff Management – Easily monitor and comply with staff-child ratios, enable staff clock-in/out and have staff records readily available. With Procare, you can calculate time card hours, deduct withholdings, track and accrue vacation and sick hours, and print payroll checks easily and accurately.
Track Attendance – Record and maintain up-to-the-minute information on the children in your care with attendance tracking.
Monitor Ratios – Manage staff-child ratios to meet state requirements and regulations.
Drop-off & Pick-up – Maximize the safety of students during the busiest time of the day with contactless QR code and GPS check-in capabilities.
Online Registration – Easily set up and offer online registration to streamline your operations.
Early Childhood Learning – Plan weekly lessons, manage curriculum and assess children’s developmental progress.
Typical customersFreelancersSmall businessesMid size businessesLarge enterprises
Platforms supportedWebAndroidiPhone/iPad
Support optionsFAQs/ForumKnowledge BaseEmail/Help DeskChatPhone Support
Training optionsLive OnlineDocumentationWebinarsVideos
EZCare
Enrollment, billing, and scheduling – EZCare simplifies everything. EZCare functions the way you do – thanks to extensive customization of fields, menus, and user permissions, and multi-site support that lets you work through all of your sites at once. Online registration, a parent portal with contactless payments and Check-In, and the EZSmiles family interaction app, all of it is part of the EZCare package.
Pricing Overview
EZCare offers a free trial but has no free version. They have 3 different pricing models – The premier package that begins at $149 / month, the essentials package that begins at $99 / month, and the express package that begins at $59 / month.
Pros
“I loved how much information can be added onto each page as needed.”
“The online version is great I can access the program from anywhere. The tech support is very helpful and will help you step by step when you want to make reports or have a problem.”
“I love the Insta-Charge feature that enables our clerks to take payments on the spot. The information on each tab is easy to read and assess the information needed.”
Cons
“My customers could sign up online. Other than that the software isn’t worth the monthly fees charged. There are other software out there that are much easier for you and your parents to use.”
“We often run into issues with the program crashing.”
“We are still waiting for some features to be developed. Error messages when posting paper payments and when trying to run reports if using Chrome.”
HiMama
HiMama is a simple, easy-to-use childcare management software that facilitates paperless processes in childcare centers. HiMama offers a simple way to capture and share your child’s experiences, from all the adventurous moments to the key milestones. This way the parents stay involved and the outcomes for the children are enhanced. For directors, the software also has strong monitoring and staff management functions.
Pricing Overview
HiMama offers a free trial version and comes in a subscription-based model. They have two pricing models – home daycare & enterprise. Their home daycare plan is priced at $25/Month, whereas, the pricing of their enterprise plan depends on the size of the pre-school.
Pros
“I love the ability the software has to communicate with the staff and the photos and information on this app which help me understand the value of the staff and the program itself.”
“I like the updates that I get from my son’s teachers daily without having to wait until the end of the day. The ability to communicate with the teachers and the director is a great function as well.”
“The best thing about the software is that it is very user-friendly, very easy for my clients to use it. Moreover, it has a lot of features which help our daycare.”
Cons
“Unfortunately when we had to leave the daycare (due to a move) I didn’t access the desktop version in time to save the videos, so we lost those – which I’m still a little sad about.”
“It doesn’t give you notifications when something is uploaded – which is upsetting because you forget to check it.”
“I dislike that I am unable to see what my child ate and how long she napped for until the end of the day once the report is completed.”
Kangarootime
Kangarootime empowers directors to operate their businesses efficiently with automated payments and billing, a digital classroom, and a parent contact tool. With Kangarootime’s childcare management software, you can expand your company, manage your team, and establish relationships with the child’s parents.
Pricing Overview
Kangarootime offers a subscription-based plan as well and also has a free trial version available. Their pricing again also depends on the capacity of the particular institute they are providing services to.
Pros
“Software gives our Administrators constant visibility to room attendance and staffing. Parents love the smartphone app and the ability to communicate directly with Teachers and Administrators.”
“We love the fact that Kangarootime has automated so much of our business processes. It’s great to have one product that handles everything from accounting to employees to parents.”
“Kangarootime has been a great addition to our business. The ability to track all of the children and staff in the center in real-time and the communication features are great.”
Cons
“You have to click on every single icon to get to an account, change an account, it is not on the same screen and makes it difficult to input information. It is very tedious and time-consuming.”
“I think it’s silly to have to “credit” or add line instead of deleting a billing mistake. I don’t like how glitchy the app is.”
“Dislikes would be not being about to put all the children to sleep at once in the rooming module, which I have reported to the company and this is coming as a change in the future.”
Conclusion:
Managing a daycare or preschool can be a lot of work. As an entrepreneur working within this industry, you’re faced with many decisions on a daily basis. One of the biggest (and most important) decisions you have to make is choosing the best software for your business.