Which Child Care Management App Should You Use to Run Your Daycare?
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Having a great child care management and parent communication tool is a must for any daycare, preschool, or child care center. There are a variety of options available to help you communicate with parents, create custom invoices, set up automatic payments, share photos, daily reporting, digital check-in and out, and more.
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Here are my top 4 picks for daycare software management for your childcare business.
HiMama
HiMama is an easy-to-use software for savvy child care programs tired of paperwork taking over their centers. HiMama provides an easy way to record and share children's activities, everything from silly and fun moments to learning and development to involve parents and improve outcomes for children. The program also has powerful reporting and staff management features for directors.
Features include:
Billing & Invoicing
Calendar Management
Communications Management
Daily Reports
Employee Management
Immunization & Allergy Tracking
Meal / Nutrition Management
Member Database
Parent Portal
Payment Processing
Registration Management
Self Check-in/Check-out
Free trial? Yes
Pricing: starts at $25 per month
Pros: Easy to use
Cons: Does not have a waitlist feature
Brightwheel
Brightwheel is an all-in-one app is designed specifically for early childhood education and care businesses. Brightwheel is very popular and is one of the most used apps in ECE. It is comparable to Procare and has many satisfied customers.
Features include:
Billing & Invoicing
Calendar Management
Communications Management
Daily Reports
Employee Management
Immunization & Allergy Tracking
Meal / Nutrition Management
Member Database
Parent Portal
Payment Processing
Registration Management
Self Check-in/Check-out
Wait List Management
Free trial? Yes
Pricing: Free limited version. Brightwheel does not disclose its pricing however, premium plans have been said to start at $49 per month.
Pros: all-in-one platform offers a free version
Biggest complaint: notifications are slow to come through and parent billing is complicated
Procare
Procare is a great all-in-one solution for your child care business. It's easy to use and includes everything you need to manage your business and communicate with parents. For over 30 years, child care professionals have looked to Procare to provide real-time information for making critical decisions, maintaining compliance with local and state regulations, and adhering to business best practices.
Procare is what I have used for over 20 years. It started out as software on my desktop but has since evolved to cloud-based software and parent communication app with every feature needed to successfully run your child care business.
Features include:
Billing & Invoicing
Calendar Management
Communications Management
Daily Reports
Employee Management
Immunization & Allergy Tracking
Meal / Nutrition Management
Member Database
Parent Portal
Payment Processing
Registration Management
Self Check-in/Check-out
Free trial? yes
Pricing: Procare does not disclose its pricing, however, our center pays $60 monthly for the cloud-based management software plus $25 for the parent communication app so $85 monthly.
Pros: Simplicity of use, all-in-one system, has the hardware to complement security needs
Cons: Tech support wait times can be lengthy
Playground
Playground management app is a newer app that is getting more and more buzz. It's great for keeping track of your child's schedule, communicating with providers, and sharing photos.
If you're looking for an app that is specifically designed for tracking your child's schedule, communicating with providers, and sharing photos, Playground is a great option. It made this list because I have heard great feedback about it, and It seems to have all the features of Procare plus more.
Features include:
Billing & Invoicing
Communications Management
Daily Reports
Employee Management
Immunization & Allergy Tracking
Member Database
Mobile App
Parent Portal
Payment Processing
Registration Management
Safety Management
Self Check-in/Check-out
Wait List Management
Calendar Management
Meal/Nutrition Tracking & Management
Additional features that I have not seen yet offered on any other platform are:
Carpools
Risky wellness check flagging
COVID-19 test result sharing
Carline queue
Supports additional languages
Extracurricular programs
Free trial? Yes, free for one full month with no feature restrictions.
PRICING: Playground pricing is $2.00 (US) per student per month with no other fees, commitments, or contracts.
Cons: I haven’t found any so far.
Pros: excellent customer service/24/7 (Live Rep). Playground claims their average response time for live chat is less than 30 seconds before getting a real person! No chatbots, no auto-reply emails.
Conclusion:
I'm a Procare lover all the way. We use Procare for our billing, parent communication, staff timecards, payroll, contactless check-in and out, door security, screening questions, newsletters, digital documents, assessments, lesson plans, and the list goes on and on.
However, the Playground Management app may be worth checking into. It seems to have it all. Their promise of 24/7 excellent customer service could be a game-changer that puts them at the top of the list for child care businesses.
Other childcare management software options worth mentioning are:
Whatever child care management app you decide on, make sure you do your research, and take advantage of any free trials before committing to a long-term contract.
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