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The 6 best FACTS (RenWeb) alternatives

For classical Christian schools and other small private schools. Pricing verified September 2026. Written by the Pearspark team, and Pearspark is #1 on this list (how we compare).

The alternatives, ranked

  1. 1.

    Pearspark(ours)

    Pearspark is the opposite trade from FACTS: the whole price is published ($50/month including 20 students, then $2.50/student stepping down to $1.00), and everything — records, gradebook, transcripts, admissions, tuition billing, library, volunteers — is one plan rather than a quote of modules. Tuition doesn't get left behind in the move: plans bill weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or on your own academic calendar, with fixed plan terms, family autopay, one combined invoice per family, and payments landing in the school's own Stripe account — and a school that prefers a third-party tuition service can keep it and import the records into Pearspark. What Pearspark deliberately doesn't do is need assessment from tax documents, or advancement. A school already using an outside assessor — Grant & Aid standalone, Clarity, or SSS — comes out ahead: its decisions import by CSV as awards, the assessor stays, and everything else runs in one published-price plan. Setup is self-serve, with a preview before anything is written and free email support when you're stuck.

    • Met:Published pricing
    • Met:One plan, not line items
    • Met:Self-serve setup
    • Met:Sized for 20 to a few hundred

    Why #1: Against the four reasons: the whole schedule is on the pricing page; everything is one plan with no module line items; setup is self-serve with importers that preview every row; and $50 a month including 20 students is built for exactly the school of 20 to a few hundred students that FACTS is too much for. What it does not fix is need assessment from tax documents — that stays with an assessor like Clarity, whose decisions import by CSV.

    Pricing: $50 a month including 20 students, then $2.50 a student a month, stepping down to $1.00 at volume. No setup fees, month to month, 30-day free trial.

    Setup is self-serve: the importers preview every row before anything is written, and email support is free when you're stuck.

  2. 2.

    Sycamore School

    A K-12 SIS at $4 a student a month, with a $2,500 onboarding fee and an 18-month minimum contract.

    Why it's on this list: All-in-one with integrated payments (Sycamore Pay) at a published $4/student/month and no monthly minimum — a rate card where FACTS has a quote form.

    • Met:Published pricing
    • Met:One plan, not line items
    • Not met:Self-serve setup
    • Met:Sized for 20 to a few hundred

    Why it sits here: Second, tied on the marks with Gradelink and QuickSchools: one published number, one all-in-one plan with no module line items, and no monthly minimum, so a 40-student school pays $160 a month. What it does not fix is the implementation project: its pricing page sets a $2,500 minimum onboarding investment and an 18-month minimum contract, and its product page puts implementation at four to eight weeks. It stays above Gradelink because the whole SIS is one line item where Gradelink sells enrollment and messaging as add-ons.

    Best for: Independent schools of 100–400 students that want per-student pricing and integrated payments.

    At 25 students: $100/mo + $2,500 onboarding · at 100: $400/mo + $2,500 onboarding

    Full comparison: Pearspark vs Sycamore
  3. 3.

    Gradelink

    A student information system for private and faith-based schools, priced by an enrollment calculator, with online enrollment and messaging sold as add-ons.

    Why it's on this list: An SIS for private and faith-based schools — gradebook, standards-based and traditional grading, report cards, with online enrollment as an add-on — at published calculator pricing from $106/month at 25 students, plus a $275 setup fee.

    • Met:Published pricing
    • Met with a qualification:One plan, not line items
    • Met with a qualification:Self-serve setup
    • Met:Sized for 20 to a few hundred

    Why it sits here: Third: a published calculator and a small-school footprint, with two qualifications — online enrollment and messaging are add-ons with their own fees, which is a milder version of the line-item quote, and setup is a $275 fee with a ten-day implementation guarantee rather than self-serve. Above QuickSchools, which ties it, because the whole SIS sits in its base price where QuickSchools holds report cards for a tier.

    Best for: Private schools of 75–400 students that want a conventional SIS and will pay separately for online enrollment.

    At 25 students: $106/mo + $275 setup · at 100: $175/mo + $275 setup

    Full comparison: Pearspark vs Gradelink
  4. 4.

    QuickSchools

    A K-12 SIS at $0.99 to $2.99 a student a month, with a 30-student minimum charge and report cards one tier up from the cheapest plan.

    Why it's on this list: A conventional full SIS at the lowest published per-student rate here — from $0.99/student with a 30-student minimum — if the FACTS quote was the whole problem.

    • Met:Published pricing
    • Met with a qualification:One plan, not line items
    • Met:Self-serve setup
    • Met with a qualification:Sized for 20 to a few hundred

    Why it sits here: Fourth: published rates, a 30-day trial and no setup fee fix the quote and the implementation project. Three tiers plus modules sold onto them is line-item pricing in a friendlier shape, and the 30-student minimum means the smallest schools on this page pay for students they don't have.

    Best for: Schools of 40 students and up that want a conventional SIS at the lowest published per-student rate and don't mind that report cards and the parent portal sit one tier up.

    At 25 students: $29.70/mo Gaia · $44.70 Apollo (30-student minimum) · at 100: $99/mo Gaia · $149 Apollo

    Full comparison: Pearspark vs QuickSchools
  5. 5.

    SchoolCues

    A small-school system with a long module list, priced from a published monthly floor rather than a rate card.

    Why it's on this list: Aimed at small schools with limited budget and staff, with text alerts, newsletters, yearbooks and alumni tools, from a published $75/month floor.

    • Met with a qualification:Published pricing
    • Not in what it publishes:One plan, not line items
    • Met:Self-serve setup
    • Met:Sized for 20 to a few hundred

    Why it sits here: Fifth: no setup or training fee and a product built for small schools fix the second half of the list, but it publishes a $75 floor and no rate, so the quote conversation is smaller rather than gone, and what sits behind the floor is not spelled out.

    Best for: Small schools whose hardest job is reaching families — text alerts, yearbooks, alumni — and who don't mind asking for a quote rather than reading a rate off a page.

    At 25 students: From $75/mo (no per-student rate published) · at 100: From $75/mo (no per-student rate published)

    Full comparison: Pearspark vs SchoolCues
  6. 6.

    Alma SIS

    A K-12 SIS for independent, charter and district schools, priced per school by quote.

    Why it's on this list: A K-12 SIS sold to independent, charter and district schools. Buying starts with a demo and a quote, so it trades one procurement cycle for another.

    • Not met:Published pricing
    • Not in what it publishes:One plan, not line items
    • Not in what it publishes:Self-serve setup
    • Not met:Sized for 20 to a few hundred

    Why it sits here: Last: it is here for the school that does not mind a quote, which is to say it fixes none of the reasons on this page. No published price, a demo before a number, and a footprint that runs to districts.

    Best for: Independent and charter schools of 150+ students that need district-style state reporting and have time for quote-based buying.

    At 25 students: Quote required · at 100: Quote required

    Full comparison: Pearspark vs Alma
Start your 30-day free trial Pearspark vs FACTS, in full

FACTS (formerly RenWeb) is an enterprise suite for private schools — SIS, tuition management, need-assessed financial aid and advancement under one roof, sold by quote. Schools that go looking for an alternative are often classical Christian schools growing a grade a year, for whom that is too much: no published price, capabilities sold as separate line items, and implementation that is a project rather than a self-serve setup.

Every alternative ranked here publishes at least a starting rate — the thing FACTS doesn't — and the ranking is for schools of 20 to a few hundred students rather than diocesan networks.

Why schools look for a FACTS alternative

  • No published pricing — procurement means sales calls, quotes and contracts
  • Modular pricing: capabilities are often separate line items on the quote
  • Implementation and training are projects, not a self-serve setup
  • Far more system than a school of 20 to a few hundred students needs

These reasons are the criteria. Every system above carries one mark per reason (does it fix that, or share it?), read from that vendor's own published materials through our sourced comparison pages. Alternatives are ordered by how many reasons they fix: a fixed one counts one, a fixed-with-a-qualification one counts half, and neither a shared problem nor an unpublished answer counts against a vendor. Where two tie, the “why it sits here” line says what broke the tie.

  • met
  • met with a qualification
  • not met
  • not in what it publishes

Each point is sourced on the full Pearspark vs FACTS comparison.

What each costs at small-school sizes

System25 students50 students100 studentsWhat the price includes
Pearspark (ours)$62.50/mo$125/mo$250/moEverything in one plan: records, attendance, gradebook, standards-based grading, report cards, transcripts, admissions, scheduling, tuition billing with family autopay, lending library, equipment booking, volunteer check-in, messaging, and an installable parent app with push notifications. No setup fee, month-to-month. No fundraising CRM, no subsidy billing, and no SMS broadcast — announcements reach families as push notifications and email instead.
Sycamore$100/mo + $2,500 onboarding$200/mo + $2,500 onboarding$400/mo + $2,500 onboarding$4/student covers the all-in-one SIS with every module, integrated payments (Sycamore Pay) and cafeteria and facility extras, with no monthly platform fee. Underneath it: a $2,500 minimum onboarding fee, an 18-month minimum contract, and volume discounts that don't start until 400 students.
Gradelink$106/mo + $275 setup$129/mo + $275 setup$175/mo + $275 setupThe SIS: records, attendance, gradebook, standards-based and traditional grading, report cards, scheduling, tuition. Online enrollment (EnrollMe, $20.83/mo + $497 setup) and SmartSend Pro ($16.67/mo) are add-ons, over a $275 one-time setup fee.
QuickSchools$29.70/mo Gaia · $44.70 Apollo (30-student minimum)$49.50/mo Gaia · $74.50 Apollo$99/mo Gaia · $149 ApolloGaia ($0.99): records, attendance, admissions, fee tracking, reports. Apollo ($1.49) adds report cards, gradebook, transcripts and the parent and student portals; scheduling and lesson plans are $2.99 Athena. 30-student minimum; text and voice carry telco charges.
SchoolCuesFrom $75/mo (no per-student rate published)From $75/mo (no per-student rate published)From $75/mo (no per-student rate published)A published floor only, stated against a 12-month school year — no per-student rate, so the scope behind the number takes a conversation. No setup, training or support fee.
AlmaQuote requiredQuote requiredQuote requiredQuoted per school or district as a customized package, so what a given quote covers is set in that conversation. Library management is not in it: Alma lists it as an integration with Follett Destiny, a separate system the school buys and runs.
Staying with FACTSQuote requiredQuote requiredQuote requiredQuoted per school by module — SIS, tuition management, financial-aid assessment and advancement are separate line items — plus implementation and training. Third-party integrations note their own fees, such as $500/year for an API connection.

Pricing as of September 2026. Sources are below.

Where FACTS still fits

FACTS fits a school that wants tuition payment plans, need-based aid and fundraising from one vendor: FACTS Grant & Aid calculates an expected family contribution from tax documents it collects and verifies, and advancement is one of its modules. A diocese or network already standardized on FACTS is the same case. Need assessment alone doesn't require FACTS. Clarity and SSS assess aid on their own, their decisions import into Pearspark by CSV as awards, and Pearspark runs the aid from there: sliding-scale bands, automatic sibling discounts, percent or per-bill awards applied during billing, and ESA and SGO money tracked as third-party funding. For a classical school of 20 to a few hundred students, admissions, transcripts, home days, ESA invoices and the board pack run at Pearspark's published price, with no quote and no implementation project.

The ranking above is for the schools that answer does not cover.

Common questions

What is the best FACTS (RenWeb) alternative for a small private school?
It depends what you're keeping FACTS for. If it's the SIS and billing, Pearspark ($50/month including 20 students, everything bundled), Gradelink (from $106/month at 25 students on its calculator) and Sycamore ($4/student, over a $2,500 onboarding minimum and an 18-month term) all publish their rates, and the first two set up in days rather than a project. If it's need-assessed financial aid, no system on this list replicates FACTS Grant & Aid — and that split works in your favor: keep the assessment service, import its decisions into Pearspark by CSV as awards, and run the rest of the school at a published price.
Is there a FACTS alternative with published pricing?
That's most of this list. Pearspark publishes its full schedule ($50/month + $2.50/student after 20, stepping down to $1.00), Sycamore lists $4/student/month, Gradelink lists its tiers, QuickSchools lists $0.99–$2.99/student, and ThinkWave tiers from about $17/month. Alma, like FACTS, requires a quote.
Can I migrate from FACTS/RenWeb without losing records?
Yes — students, transcripts and gradebooks export from FACTS as CSV files. Pearspark imports each with a dry-run preview (what will be created, what didn't match) before writing anything, so the permanent record moves intact. Stuck on an export? support@pearspark.com will help, free.

Sources

Last reviewed September 2026. Spotted something out of date? Email us and we'll fix it.

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