Software comparison
Microschool Software Compared: My Academy HQ, Newton, Spark, and SchoolCues
Choose microschool software by testing the work your school actually does: enroll a family, invoice tuition, record attendance, and send a parent update.
A microschool may have a small enrollment and still need a complicated set of workflows. Part-time schedules, charter payments, parent contribution hours, and mixed-age classes can matter more than the number of students.
This comparison is published by My Academy HQ. It uses the providers’ public product and pricing pages, checked October 20, 2026; it is not an independent product test. A feature omitted from a public page is not necessarily unavailable. Confirm plan limits, processing fees, and any migration costs with each provider before purchasing.
My Academy HQ: connected school operations with feature-based tiers
My Academy HQ brings enrollment agreements, tuition billing, attendance, and parent and teacher portals together. Higher tiers add communication, website building, contribution hours, student progress, curriculum, and scheduling. Its microschool workflows include charter-associated enrollments and invoices.
Published monthly pricing is $29 for Starter, $59 for Essentials, $119 for Standard, and $219 for Professional. Those plans allow up to 15, 40, 100, and 250 enrollments per school year respectively. These are enrollment limits, not a promise that every feature is included at every size. Annual billing is available at different effective monthly rates, and payment processing is separate.
For example, a school with 20 annual enrollments needing messaging and a website could evaluate Essentials. A school of the same size needing contribution-hour tracking should evaluate Standard. Curriculum management and advanced scheduling require Professional. Use the 14-day trial to check the particular combination you need.
KaiPod Newton: microschool administration and learning plans
KaiPod’s Newton product page describes task planning shared among students, parents, and educators; messaging; student photos and records; enrollment; attendance; and recurring tuition payments by card or bank withdrawal. Its task planner is worth examining if weekly student plans are central to your program.
The Newton product page reviewed does not state a standalone software price. Ask KaiPod for the price and support terms that apply to your school. Do not treat a Catalyst or network membership price as a software-only quote; those offers can bundle additional services.
Spark: a published microschool plan with student-based expansion
Spark’s pricing page lists its Microschool plan at $34.99 per month for up to 25 students, with additional students at $1.49 each. It lists enrollment, forms, billing, online payments, announcements, advanced attendance, and files, alongside the features of its lower tiers. A 30-day trial is advertised.
That can be a useful starting point for a small school comparing subscription costs. Ask how active students are counted, what payment processing costs, and whether your required workflows fit the plan. The pricing page directs larger schools to contact Spark about custom support and pricing.
SchoolCues: admissions, student information, and family engagement
SchoolCues presents a broad school administration system with admissions, student information, payments, communications, attendance, gradebooks, and parent and administrator apps. Its homepage advertises pricing starting at $75 per month; request a quote for your enrollment, required modules, and payment arrangements.
Include SchoolCues in a demo shortlist if student records and conventional school reporting are major requirements. Ask the team to demonstrate your exact report, parent permission, and enrollment workflows rather than relying on the breadth of a feature list.
Run the same demo in every product
Prepare a fictional family and the same five tasks for each demo. Record whether a task is supported, which plan includes it, who has to do the work, and any unanswered question. This gives you a more useful comparison than a generic feature count.
- Enroll two siblings on different schedules. Check the agreement, permissions, and parent access.
- Create a tuition invoice with a deposit or discount. If relevant, separate charter-funded and family-paid amounts.
- Record attendance, correct an error, and export the record you actually need.
- Send a class update and inspect it from a parent account. Check how replies and notification preferences work.
- Track a contribution-hour requirement or a student observation. Confirm that the correct plan includes the full workflow.
Compare the annual cost and the exit plan
Start with the subscription for the features you will use, then add processing, messages, storage, onboarding, and any services quoted separately. Compare a normal year and a growth scenario. A low base price may still be the best fit, but only after you have priced the same requirements.
Before moving records, request a sample export. Check whether agreements, attachments, balances, and student history can be retained in a usable format. Set a billing cutover date and reconcile balances before inviting the whole school.
Pick the workflow you can run consistently.
Choose the system that your staff can use and your families can understand. Bring your enrollment, tuition, and parent-hours examples to a My Academy HQ demo so we can show how they work and identify the appropriate plan.