Pearspark vs QuickSchools

For small private schools and microschools. Pricing verified September 29, 2026. Written by the Pearspark team (how we compare).

The short answer

QuickSchools publishes the lowest per-student rate here — $0.99 on its Gaia plan — and it is cheaper than Pearspark at every size in this table, even on the $1.49 Apollo plan. Two things qualify the headline: a 30-student minimum charge means a small school pays for 30 either way, and report cards, transcripts and the parent portal start on Apollo rather than Gaia. The cheaper bill also buys a narrower system — standards-based grading, lending library, equipment booking, volunteer check-in and records escrow are in Pearspark's price and not in QuickSchools' published feature list.

Pearspark

All-in-one platform for small private schools: records, academics, admissions, library, volunteers, scheduling and the portal.

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.

QuickSchools

A full K-12 SIS with the cheapest published per-student rate in this comparison — and a 30-student minimum underneath it.

Pricing: QuickSchools publishes three per-student plans: Gaia at $0.99, Apollo at $1.49 (marked most popular) and Athena at $2.99 per student per month, with custom pricing above 300 students. "A minimum charge for 30 students applies per school", so 30 is the floor whatever your enrollment. Report Card/Gradebook, Transcripts, the parent and student portals and parent messaging start at Apollo; automated scheduling, lesson plans and phone support are Athena. All plans carry a 30-day free trial.

What each costs at small-school sizes

Students	Pearspark	QuickSchools
25 students	$62.50/mo	$29.70/mo Gaia · $44.70 Apollo (30-student minimum)
50 students	$125/mo	$49.50/mo Gaia · $74.50 Apollo
100 students	$250/mo	$99/mo Gaia · $149 Apollo
What the price includes	Everything 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.	Gaia ($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.

QuickSchools pricing from its published list rates as of September 29, 2026. Sources are below. Always confirm current pricing with the vendor.

Feature comparison

Feature	Pearspark	QuickSchools
Student records (SIS)
Attendance
Gradebook & report cards		Paid add-on
Standards-based grading & mastery
Records protected if the school closes
Transcripts & GPA		Paid add-on
Missing-data reports & scheduled delivery		Partial
Admissions pipeline
Class scheduling & rooms		Paid add-on
Lending library & checkout
Equipment & room booking
Volunteer tracking & check-in
Parent & student portal		Paid add-on
Messaging		Paid add-on
Self-serve transcript & gradebook import
Tuition billing & payments		Partial
Published pricing (no sales call)
Fundraising & donor CRM
SMS / text broadcast to families
Subsidy & agency billing

= varies by plan or not published; check with the vendor. We mark unknowns as unknowns rather than counting them against QuickSchools. The last three rows are jobs Pearspark does not do, listed for the same reason: a school that runs an annual fund, texts its families, or bills an agency should find that out here. Pearspark reaches families by push notification through the installable parent app, and by email, not by text. Underlined feature names open the Pearspark page for that capability, so you can check what our ✓ actually means.

Where QuickSchools shines

The lowest published per-student rate in this comparison, and it's published plainly rather than quoted
A genuine full SIS: student and teacher records, attendance, admissions, fee tracking, report cards, transcripts, discipline tracking and scheduling
Cheaper than Pearspark at 25, 50 and 100 students on either the Gaia or the Apollo plan
30-day free trial on every plan, with no setup fee or contract named on the pricing page
Athena modules can be bought individually onto the cheaper plans for a fixed monthly price, so you aren't forced up a whole tier for one feature

Worth knowing

A minimum charge for 30 students applies per school — a 12-student microschool pays the 30-student price, which is $29.70 rather than $11.88 on Gaia
Report cards, gradebook, transcripts, the parent portal and the student portal are not in the $0.99 Gaia plan; they start at $1.49 Apollo
Text and voice messaging carry telco charges on top of the plan price
Automated scheduling and lesson plans are Athena at $2.99, three times the headline rate
Standards-based grading isn't named on the pricing page — ask directly before assuming it's there

When QuickSchools is the better choice

If per-student price is the deciding factor and you have more than about 30 students, QuickSchools costs less — $44.70/month against our $62.50 at 25 students on the plan that actually includes report cards, and $149 against our $250 at 100 — and it is a conventional, complete SIS rather than a cut-down one. The price difference is the operation around the classroom: standards-based mastery tracking, a lending library, equipment and room booking, volunteer scheduling and check-in, and records escrow are in Pearspark's number and not in their published feature list. The cheaper bill buys a narrower system; whether the difference matters depends on which of those jobs your school actually runs.

When Pearspark is the better choice

Pearspark is built for small private schools of a couple of students to a few hundred: microschools, classical schools, Montessori programs, hybrid schools and homeschool co-ops. One published price includes student records, a spreadsheet-style gradebook with 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 and student portal. Setup is self-serve, and the built-in migration tools import your rosters, transcripts and gradebooks from QuickSchools CSV exports with a dry-run preview.

The parts this comparison turns on

Common questions

Is QuickSchools cheaper than Pearspark?

Yes — at every size in this comparison. On the $1.49 Apollo plan — the one that includes report cards, transcripts and the parent portal — a 25-student school pays $44.70/month against Pearspark's $62.50, a 50-student school $74.50 against $125, and a 100-student school $149 against $250. On the $0.99 Gaia plan it's cheaper still. The trade is scope: standards-based grading, lending library, equipment booking, volunteer check-in and records escrow are included in Pearspark's price and aren't in QuickSchools' published feature list.

What is QuickSchools' 30-student minimum?

Its pricing page states that "a minimum charge for 30 students applies per school". So a school with 12 students pays for 30 — $29.70/month on Gaia or $44.70 on Apollo — rather than 12 students' worth. It isn't hidden, but it does mean the $0.99 headline rate isn't the rate a genuinely tiny school pays. Pearspark's equivalent is its $50 base, which includes the first 20 students.

Which QuickSchools plan do I actually need?

Probably Apollo at $1.49 rather than Gaia at $0.99, if you're running a school rather than a class. Gaia covers student and teacher records, attendance, admissions, fee tracking and reports. Report Card/Gradebook, Transcripts, the parent portal (which is where online payments live), the student portal, parent messaging, homework and discipline tracking all begin at Apollo. Athena at $2.99 adds automated scheduling, lesson plans and phone support — though individual Athena modules can be added to a cheaper plan for a fixed monthly fee.

Do both offer a free trial?

Yes, on different terms. QuickSchools advertises a 30-day free trial on all three plans, with no card asked for. Pearspark also gives 30 days free across the whole school; card details are taken at signup, nothing is charged until day 31, and you can cancel before then.

Sources

Last reviewed September 29, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Email us and we'll fix it.

QuickSchools in a wider comparison

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