Pearspark vs NavEd
For small private schools & micro schools · pricing verified July 2026 · written by the Pearspark team (how we compare)
The short answer
NavEd is the closest thing to a mirror of Pearspark: self-serve signup, published per-student pricing, no sales call, and the same stated audience. Which one is cheaper depends entirely on which NavEd tier you need. Its $2.50 Standard tier undercuts Pearspark up to 125 students. But standards-based grading sits in its $8 Enterprise tier, and Pearspark includes that in its single price — so a school that wants mastery tracking is comparing $8/student against Pearspark's $50 base.
Pearspark
All-in-one platform for small private schools — records, academics, admissions, library, volunteers, scheduling, portal.
Pricing: $50/mo including 20 students, then $2.50/student/mo stepping down to $1.00 at volume. No setup fees, no contract.
NavEd
A self-serve school platform sold in three per-student tiers, aimed squarely at microschools and co-ops.
Pricing: NavEd sells three tiers, all flat per-student with no volume relief. Standard ($2.50) covers student and staff records, a core gradebook, attendance, parent portal and basic reports. Premium ($5, their "most popular") adds advanced gradebook and analytics, assignment management, and a staff/family directory. Enterprise ($8) adds learning standards, custom reports, SSO, API access and priority support. Signup is self-serve with no card. Pearspark has one plan containing all of that, so the fair comparison depends on which NavEd tier carries what you need (as of July 2026).
What each costs at small-school sizes
| Students | Pearspark | NavEd |
|---|---|---|
| 25 students | $62.50/mo | $50/mo Standard · $160 Enterprise |
| 50 students | $125/mo | $112.50/mo Standard · $360 Enterprise |
| 100 students | $250/mo | $237.50/mo Standard · $760 Enterprise |
NavEd pricing from its published list rates as of July 2026 — see sources below. Always confirm current pricing with the vendor.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Pearspark | NavEd |
|---|---|---|
| Student records (SIS) | ||
| Attendance | ||
| Gradebook & report cards | ||
| Standards-based grading & mastery | Paid add-on | |
| Records protected if the school closes | ||
| Transcripts & GPA | ||
| Admissions pipeline | ||
| Class scheduling & rooms | ||
| Lending library & checkout | ||
| Equipment & room booking | ||
| Volunteer tracking & check-in | ||
| Parent & student portal | ||
| Messaging | ||
| Self-serve transcript & gradebook import | ||
| Tuition billing & payments | ||
| Published pricing (no sales call) |
= varies by plan or not published — check with the vendor. We mark unknowns as unknowns rather than counting them against NavEd.
Where NavEd shines
- Its $2.50 Standard tier is cheaper than Pearspark up to 125 students
- First 5 students free forever on every tier — a real advantage for a school opening with a handful of kids
- Self-serve signup with no credit card and no sales call — a lower bar to start than Pearspark's card-up-front trial
- Explicitly built for microschools, hybrid programs and co-ops rather than adapted from a district product
- Tiers let a school buy only what it needs, where Pearspark charges one price for the whole system
Worth knowing
- Flat per-student pricing with no volume bands — the bill scales in a straight line as the school grows
- Assignment management isn't in the $2.50 Standard tier — it starts at $5 Premium, so the entry gradebook is narrower than it first reads
- Standards-based grading, SSO and API sit in the $8 Enterprise tier, more than triple the entry rate
- Parent access is a mobile-friendly web portal; no native or installable parent app is indicated
When NavEd is the better choice
Choose NavEd if the Standard tier covers what you need and you are staying small. At 25 students it is $50/month against Pearspark's $62.50, five free students means a genuinely tiny school pays almost nothing, and you can sign up without a card. The honest arithmetic runs two ways. Against Standard, NavEd is cheaper up to 125 students, the two tie there at $300/month each, and Pearspark is cheaper from 126 up ($650/month vs $737.50 at 300). Against Enterprise — the tier you need for standards-based grading — Pearspark is cheaper at every size, $250/month against $760 at 100 students. So the real question is which NavEd tier your school actually needs.
When Pearspark is the better choice
Pearspark is built for small private schools — from a dozen students to several hundred: micro schools, classical schools, Montessori programs, hybrid academies, and homeschool co-ops. Everything is included at one published price: student records, a spreadsheet-style gradebook with built-in student analytics (trends, score distributions, missing-work tracking), report cards, printable transcripts with GPA, school-year attendance calendars, admissions, class scheduling, tuition billing with online payments, a lending library with barcode checkout, equipment booking, volunteer check-in, messaging, and a parent/student portal. Setup is self-serve, and built-in migration tools import your rosters, transcripts, and gradebooks from NavEd CSV exports with a dry-run preview.
Common questions
Is NavEd cheaper than Pearspark?
It depends which of NavEd's three tiers you need, so compare like for like. On its $2.50 Standard tier, yes below 125 students — a 25-student school pays $50 against Pearspark's $62.50, and we'd rather say so than pretend otherwise. Because that rate never steps down while Pearspark's steps to $2.00/student past 100, the two tie at exactly 125 students ($300 each) and Pearspark is cheaper from 126 up: at 300 it's $650/month against $737.50. On the $8 Enterprise tier — the one that includes standards-based grading — Pearspark is cheaper at every size, $250/month against $760 at 100 students.
Which NavEd tier should I compare Pearspark against?
Whichever one carries the features you actually need, because Pearspark has a single plan with everything in it. NavEd's $2.50 Standard tier covers records, a core gradebook, attendance, parent portal and basic reports — worth knowing that assignment management sits in the $5 Premium tier, so the entry gradebook is a narrower thing than it sounds. Premium adds advanced gradebook and analytics, assignment management and a staff/family directory. Learning standards, custom reports, SSO and API are Enterprise at $8. Pearspark includes all of it, so if you'd need Premium or Enterprise, Pearspark is cheaper at every size.
How do NavEd's first 5 free students work?
Check this one directly with them, because their own pages disagree. NavEd's pricing page says the first 5 students are always free on every plan, but its FAQ prices a 12-student microschool at 'about $30/month', which is 12 × $2.50 with nothing deducted. The figures we quote here take the reading more favourable to NavEd — 5 students deducted — so we don't overstate our own case. If the FAQ example is the accurate one, Pearspark and NavEd Standard cost exactly the same from 21 to 100 students, and Pearspark is cheaper above 100.
What does Pearspark include that NavEd gates or lacks?
Standards-based grading is included in Pearspark's single price; NavEd reserves its standards catalog, SSO and API for its $8/student Enterprise tier, more than triple its entry rate. Pearspark also ships an installable parent app with push notifications, plus the wider school operation — lending library, volunteer tracking, equipment booking, records escrow — that NavEd's published materials don't describe.
Do both offer a free trial?
Both, but differently — and NavEd asks for less up front. NavEd's first 5 students are free on an ongoing basis and its signup doesn't ask for a card at all. Pearspark gives you 30 days free across your whole school, then $50/month covering your first 20 students; we do take card details at signup, though nothing is charged until day 31 and you can cancel before it. For a school opening with 6 kids, NavEd is cheaper and lower-commitment; for one opening with 25, Pearspark's trial covers everyone from day one.
See Pearspark for yourself
Poke around a real school — admin, teacher, and parent views — no signup, no sales call. Sample data resets daily.
Sources
Last reviewed July 2026. Spotted something out of date? Email us and we'll fix it.