#1 choice for early childhood education
Less admin. More impact. That’s brightwheel.
Less admin. More impact. That’s brightwheel.
Get paid on time, track attendance and streamline family communication. Trusted by educators who want higher staff retention and engaged parents and children.
Already use brightwheel? Join your school
Trusted by millions of educators and families
childcare solution
administrative tasks
(we don’t crash)
Helping every child succeed
Trusted by millions of educators and families around the world.
Why educators choose brightwheel
Modern and intuitive
Set up in hours, not days. Your team is operational from day one, and data migration takes less than 24 hours.
One platform. All you need
Manage billing, communications, check-in, and lessons in one connected platform—saving you hours.
The app parents love
Families stay connected with real-time updates and messaging. Tuition collects itself with no awkward follow-ups.
Unmatched support
Messaging, phone, and chat—connect to a live human via chat in under 30 seconds. The largest support team in ECE with a 95% customer satisfaction rating.
Modern and intuitive
Set up in hours, not days. Your team is operational from day one, and data migration takes less than 24 hours.
One platform. All you need
Manage billing, communications, check-in, and lessons in one connected platform—saving you hours.
The app parents love
Families stay connected with real-time updates and messaging. Tuition collects itself with no awkward follow-ups.
Unmatched support
Messaging, phone, and chat—connect to a live human via chat in under 30 seconds. The largest support team in ECE with a 95% customer satisfaction rating.
What educators are saying
Read more testimonials in customer stories
We chose brightwheel when we were evaluating different tools, because it integrates billing, admissions, and a great visual experience for families.
Our previous software program would crash, and then parents wouldn’t be able to check in and out…Switching to brightwheel has made everything feel more pieced together.
Brightwheel’s customer service is phenomenal. I receive quick answers, and I always tell people to write in to Support. They are so informative.
The billing process has just been great for us as far as we don’t really have past due balances anymore because a lot of people will set up autopay.
We chose brightwheel when we were evaluating different tools, because it integrates billing, admissions, and a great visual experience for families.
Our previous software program would crash, and then parents wouldn’t be able to check in and out…Switching to brightwheel has made everything feel more pieced together.
Brightwheel’s customer service is phenomenal. I receive quick answers, and I always tell people to write in to Support. They are so informative.
The billing process has just been great for us as far as we don’t really have past due balances anymore because a lot of people will set up autopay.
Compare brightwheel to other ECE software
Why choose brightwheel vs. Procare?
Unparalleled ease of use
Delight families and save your staff up to 20 hours each month with tools like automated billing, seamless communication, and contactless check-in—backed by fast, expert support.
All your operations connected in one place
Fully integrated check-in, billing, communication, enrollment, curriculum, and more—with no separate modules, no hidden fees—accessible anytime, anywhere with real-time syncing across all devices.
Reliability
Brightwheel runs 24/7 with real-time syncing across every device. With 10+ years in market and 150,000+ verified reviews, brightwheel is the proven choice when downtime isn’t an option.
Why choose brightwheel vs. Lillio?
Robust billing and management
Programs that need robust billing automation, admissions pipelines, and multi-site management consistently move to brightwheel. You get the full picture, not just the classroom layer.
Commitment to innovation
New features ship every month based on feedback from real educators. Multi-site dashboards, centralized billing, and bulk parent communication — brightwheel grows with your program without adding complexity..
Security and compliance
Brightwheel leads the industry with advanced security features like two-factor authentication and compliance with the highest data protection standards.
Why choose brightwheel vs. Playground?
Proven at scale
Brightwheel has 10+ years of trust with programs of every size. And while Playground users praise their engineering team customizing features for individual customers, brightwheel’s support team handles that at scale — for everyone, without a special request.
Support you can count on
Brightwheel’s dedicated support team has no match in early ed. Live chat, phone support, real humans — when something comes up, we’re there.
Integrated learning and curriculum tools
Brightwheel’s learning tools — including Experience Curriculum with hands on learning materials — are part of the brightwheel platform.
Early education resources
Simplify your childcare operations
This comprehensive guide can simplify your decision-making and help you choose the best childcare software for your program:
- Learn how to identify your priorities and evaluate vendors
- Ensure you don’t miss any critical factors during your search
- Focus on features that matter most, like billing, enrollment tracking, and secure communication
- Get tips to implement new software smoothly
Frequently asked questions
Educators choose brightwheel because it’s the all-in-one solution that simplifies center management. With its user-friendly interface, brightwheel streamlines tasks like billing, communication, and attendance tracking, saving educators valuable time. It also provides tools for enhanced family engagement and offers top-tier support, making it the preferred choice for early education programs.
Brightwheel keeps families connected through its real-time updates, photos, and messaging tools, all accessible on an easy-to-use app. This strengthens parent-teacher relationships and enhances family satisfaction, making brightwheel an integral part of the early learning experience.
Yes! Brightwheel was the first early education app to introduce two-factor authentication and offers industry-leading security with 99.9% uptime and 24/7 monitoring. You can trust brightwheel to keep your data safe and compliant with the highest standards.
Brightwheel is designed to get you started fast. With its modern and intuitive platform, setup is quick and painless. Brightwheel migrates your data in under 24 hours for you. Our dedicated onboarding team supports you every step of the way — most centers are fully up and running within days. Plus, brightwheel’s expert customer support team is available to assist you every step of the way with dedicated, live onboarding support.
Brightwheel supports a wide range of early childhood education programs, including daycares, preschools, and after-school programs. Whether you manage a small single-site operation or a large enrollment multi-site center, brightwheel is designed to adapt to your needs with customizable features and robust management tools.
Absolutely! Brightwheel offers robust multi-site management tools to help you streamline operations across multiple locations. You can manage communication, billing, and more from a single dashboard, making it simple to oversee multi-center programs.
Brightwheel offers transparent, all-inclusive pricing plans that scale with your program, often proving more cost-effective as you grow, with no hidden fees for essential features. Request pricing information to explore how brightwheel can benefit your program.
Brightwheel is a cloud-based, mobile-first platform designed for ease of use across billing, communication, check-in, and curriculum. Procare is one of the longest-established names in the category. Programs that switch to brightwheel consistently report faster onboarding, higher staff adoption, and stronger family satisfaction from day one – and no more hidden fees.
Both offer parent communication and billing tools. Lillio is often chosen by programs that prioritize child development analytics and push notifications; brightwheel is typically preferred by programs that need stronger billing automation, multi-site management, and all-in-one operations.
Playground is a newer platform with a strong focus on enrollment CRM, offered partly as a paid add-on. Brightwheel includes admissions, billing, communication, and learning tools in one platform and is rated #1 in childcare software across 150,000+ reviews.
Seamlessly switch to brightwheel from other childcare management software
Easy onboarding trainings
Get access to guided training through brightwheel Academy, a comprehensive learning tool to help you, your staff, and families master using brightwheel.
Speedy support team
Brightwheel has the industry’s largest support team and will ensure that you get quick answers through live chat whenever you need them (response times are less than 1 minute!). Brightwheel’s support team plays a pivotal role in enabling new users to maximize every feature of the software.
Roster and rate card upload tool
Switching to brightwheel is easy when you upload your student rosters. The brightwheel team will import your roster and tuition rates into your brightwheel account so you have all of the information you need from day one.
One simple, transparent price
You won’t pay more as you use more features on brightwheel. Your price is based on enrollment capacity and you get access to all features on the platform.
Brightwheel vs. Procare
Switch to brightwheel, the leading childcare management software with tools for billing, communication, and admissions—all in one easy-to-use platform.
Review the latest ECE insights & resources about childcare management
Why Schools Switch from Procare to Brightwheel
Discover why childcare programs are switching from Procare to brightwheel software. Learn about brightwheel’s intuitive interface, robust features, and superior support.
Why Brightwheel Pricing Reflects Its All-in-One Value for Preschools
Explore how brightwheel pricing delivers unmatched value by combining efficient tools for communication, billing, and management in one easy-to-use platform.
Top Procare Alternatives for Childcare Programs in 2026
Explore top Procare alternatives like brightwheel, Lilio, and Playground. Compare features, usability, and benefits to find the best software for your program.
