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The 5 best Jupiter 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 rest of the platform: admissions, barcode lending library, volunteer check-in, equipment booking, scheduling, transcripts and tuition billing in the same login, at $50/month including 20 students. Jupiter's gradebook has features Pearspark's lacks — dropped scores and a rubric-first grading screen — and some schools run both; the whole-school jobs are what Pearspark is for.

    • Met:No school minimum
    • Met:Library, volunteers, equipment
    • Met:Published pricing

    Why #1: Against the three reasons: the $50 base covers 20 students with no annual minimum; the library, volunteer and equipment modules are built in; and the whole schedule is published. What Jupiter keeps is the gradebook itself — dropped scores and a rubric-first grading screen Pearspark's does not match — which is why some schools run both.

    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.

    TeacherEase

    A standards-based learning platform and gradebook priced per teacher.

    Why it's on this list: The other academics-first system — standards-based mastery rather than gradebook features — priced per teacher (about $175.67/teacher/year), which costs less for a teacher-light school.

    • Met:No school minimum
    • Not met:Library, volunteers, equipment
    • Met:Published pricing

    Why it sits here: Second, first of three tied on the marks: per-teacher pricing has no school minimum and is published, so a three-teacher school pays about $44 a month. It shares Jupiter's thinness on operations exactly — no library, volunteer or facility module on its price sheet. Above ThinkWave because it is cheaper for the teacher-light schools this search comes from.

    Best for: Schools focused on standards-based grading with a handful of teachers, especially where per-teacher pricing beats per-student.

    At 25 students: ≈$44–73/mo (3–5 teachers) · at 100: ≈$117–176/mo (8–12 teachers)

    Full comparison: Pearspark vs TeacherEase
  3. 3.

    ThinkWave

    A low-priced cloud SIS for gradebooks, report cards and transcripts, with a free single-teacher gradebook.

    Why it's on this list: Budget academics with report cards and transcripts included from about $17/month, no school minimum and no demo required.

    • Met:No school minimum
    • Not met:Library, volunteers, equipment
    • Met:Published pricing

    Why it sits here: Third: enrollment bands from the smallest sizes and a published all-inclusive license fix both money reasons, with transcripts and report cards thrown in. Operations are the same gap as Jupiter's: nothing for a library, volunteers or equipment.

    Best for: Schools on the tightest budgets that mainly need academics: gradebook, report cards, transcripts.

    At 25 students: $32/mo (16–35 students) · at 100: $109/mo (91–130 students)

    Full comparison: Pearspark vs ThinkWave
  4. 4.

    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: A full SIS with online enrollment and messaging as add-ons, at calculator pricing from $106/month plus $275 setup.

    • Met with a qualification:No school minimum
    • Met with a qualification:Library, volunteers, equipment
    • Met:Published pricing

    Why it sits here: Fourth: a published calculator fixes the demo, but its $106 floor at 25 students is a minimum in another shape, and on operations it carries volunteer service hours and nothing for a library or equipment. Above QuickSchools because the whole SIS is in its base price.

    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
  5. 5.

    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 full SIS at comparable per-student cost ($1.49/month with report cards and the portal) that adds admissions and fee tracking — 30-student minimum.

    • Met with a qualification:No school minimum
    • Not in what it publishes:Library, volunteers, equipment
    • Met:Published pricing

    Why it sits here: Last: published rates fix the demo, but a 30-student minimum swaps Jupiter's $500 floor for a smaller one, and a library, volunteers and equipment are not in its published materials.

    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
Start your 30-day free trial Pearspark vs Jupiter, in full

Jupiter Ed puts rubrics, weighting and dropped scores in one grading screen, at roughly $7–10 per student per year. Schools go looking elsewhere when they need the school around the gradebook: operations like admissions, a library, volunteers and printable transcripts are thin or absent, the ~$500/year school minimum makes tiny schools pay mid-size prices, and exact quotes come via a demo.

The alternatives either bundle the whole school operation or compete on academics.

Why schools look for a Jupiter alternative

  • A ~$500/year school minimum — a 15-student school pays mid-size prices
  • Gradebook/LMS core — thin on operations like library, volunteers or equipment
  • Final pricing requires a demo conversation

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 Jupiter 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.
TeacherEase≈$44–73/mo (3–5 teachers)≈$73–117/mo (5–8 teachers)≈$117–176/mo (8–12 teachers)Per teacher, for the standards-based gradebook and learning platform; admin accounts about two-thirds of the teacher rate and parent/student accounts free. Report cards are a separate purchase, storage past 500MB is $1/GB/year, and subscriptions run through summer without pausing.
ThinkWave$32/mo (16–35 students)$54/mo (36–60 students)$109/mo (91–130 students)An all-inclusive license by enrollment band — gradebook, report cards, transcripts, attendance, scheduling and the parent portal, with no higher tier to buy. No admissions pipeline, lending library, equipment booking or volunteer tooling exists to add. No setup fee or contract term is listed.
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.
Staying with Jupiter≈$42/mo ($500/yr minimum)≈$42/mo ($500/yr minimum)≈$58–83/mo ($7–10/student/yr)The gradebook and LMS core with parent and student access, over a ~$500/school/year minimum. Operations — library, volunteers, equipment — aren't part of it, and a final number comes via a demo.

Pricing as of September 2026. Sources are below.

Where Jupiter still fits

If the teacher gradebook is the whole purchase, Jupiter has rubrics, weighting and dropped scores in one grading screen, at a lower per-student cost past 60 students. If the school also needs admissions, a report card for each grade, transcripts with GPA and ESA invoices in the same login, that is the rest of the platform, and Pearspark includes it.

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

Common questions

What is the best Jupiter Ed alternative for a full school system?
Pearspark, Gradelink and QuickSchools all wrap SIS operations — admissions, records, scheduling, billing — around the gradebook. Pearspark publishes everything-included pricing ($50/month with 20 students); Gradelink a calculator from $106/month plus $275 setup; QuickSchools the lowest rate. None of the three matches Jupiter on dropped scores and its rubric-first grading screen — if that's essential, some schools keep Jupiter for grading alongside a system of record.
Is Jupiter Ed's minimum really $500/year?
Its published starting point is roughly $500 per school per year (about $42/month), with per-student rates around $7–10/year and exact quotes via demo. For a 15-student school that works out near $2.80/student/month — more per student than Pearspark's marginal rate. At 60+ students Jupiter's per-student cost drops well below most alternatives, for a gradebook with little office around it.
Can I import Jupiter gradebooks elsewhere?
Yes — export a class gradebook as a CSV matrix, and Pearspark's per-class import creates the assignments and grades with a preview of unmatched students before saving.

Sources

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

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