Best Daycare Software of 2026

Here's what we'll cover:

What you need to know about daycare software

What is daycare software?

Essential features of daycare software

Benefits and competitive advantages of using daycare software

How to choose the best daycare software for your business

Software related to daycare

More resources for your daycare journey

What you need to know about daycare software

In a nutshell: Daycare software helps professionals manage operations in multiple types of childcare centers, including preschools, kindergartens, early education centers, after-school programs, drop-in programs, and camp facilities. These tools automate administrative tasks, keep attendance records, store parents’ contact information, track children’s health data, and help users schedule classes and appointments.

What’s new? The increased digitization of K-12 education has benefited learning and educational progression but has also raised concerns about infrastructural sustainability. In fact, according to a Gartner report, K-12 directors are re-evaluating IT infrastructure strategies to address rising technology demands, financial constraints, and increased security needs by shifting towards operationalizing costs through cloud Software-as-a-Service (Saas) and integration platform as a service iPaaS models. They are collaborating with financial professionals and superintendents to explore subscription licensing and equipment leasing as sustainable solutions for infrastructure upgrades and enhanced school safety measures. [1]

How we can help: Capterra lists over 100 daycare products on our site, and we’ve published nearly 2,600 verified user reviews for this category in the last two years, which allows us to present unique insights about daycare software and create a comprehensive buyer guide that illustrates how the software can help daycare businesses with their specific operational needs. [2]

Types of daycare software users: When analyzing daycare reviewers' profiles, we see that the vast majority (76%) of all reviewers in the last two years come from companies with fewer than 50 employees. This may be because small and medium-sized companies need to streamline administrative tasks and regulatory compliance with a cost-effective solution.

Most daycare software solutions on the market are priced on a monthly subscription basis. Entry-level plans start at $44, mid-tier platforms cost about $95, and more advanced plans, which typically include development assessments, staff management, and advanced reporting, can cost around $201. [3]

When selecting daycare software for the first time, consider whether a daycare-specific solution or a broader school management software is more suitable for your needs, as the latter often serves K-12 schools and universities. To make an informed decision, evaluate your budget, the number of users, and the necessary integrations. Engage stakeholders by asking critical questions to assess potential systems, such as:

• How does the software support communication between teachers and parents, and what features are available for sharing updates and concerns?

• What capabilities does the system offer for tracking and managing children's health and safety records, including allergies and emergency contacts?

• How user-friendly is the interface for staff, and what kind of training or support is provided during implementation?

• What options are available for customizing the software to fit our daycare center's specific needs, such as branding or unique reporting requirements?

With over 100 daycare products listed on our site, it can be difficult to narrow down your options and find the right tool for your business. This guide will help you understand the essential features of daycare software, as well as pricing, benefits, and tips for selecting and onboarding your new software. 

What is daycare software?

Daycare professionals are busy, and it can be difficult for them to keep up with their young charges and manage administrative, scheduling, and financial duties. That’s where daycare management software comes in: it helps daycare workers simplify and streamline the manual processes they do every day, including recordkeeping, generating activity reports, managing billing and attendance, and immunization tracking.

Daycare technology is useful for all kinds of childcare centers, including:

• Licensed family childcare homes

• Early childhood education programs/preschools

• After-school programs

• Drop-in programs

Busting myths: Some center administrators may think that a single-application software, such as an accounting program from an industry-agnostic vendor, will be enough to fulfill their needs. However, that isn’t ideal for long-term growth. It’s usually better to get a dedicated daycare management solution because it lets you streamline every specific aspect of the business, eliminating the need to buy different applications from multiple vendors that don’t interface with one another.

Example of an activity report generated within a daycare software solution (Source)

Essential features of daycare software

When choosing a daycare software solution, it’s crucial to select one with specific features for your business needs. All software in this category comes with a set of core features for managing attendance and registration, tracking calendars, and communicating. Other common features that may or may not come as standard incude a parent portal, payment processing, resource scheduling, and lesson planning. We analyzed thousands of reviews to show you the most critical daycare software features, according to real users.

Core daycare software features

Common daycare software features

Benefits and competitive advantages of using daycare software

We analyzed over 2,600 verified reviews from users across industries including education, non-profit, and hospitals and health care to understand how daycare software benefits their businesses. Some of the most important findings include:

• Enhanced teacher and parent communication

By providing a seamless platform for real-time updates, messaging, and sharing of daily activities, such tools improve the overall communication experience within the educational environment and between parents and daycare providers. 

• Simplified child progress tracking

Daycare systems offer a platform for logging daily activities, developmental milestones, and essential records. This tracking system enhances communication between parents and daycare providers, offering real-time insights into children's progress and fostering a collaborative environment for supporting children's development.

• Improved parental controls

Functionalities like real-time updates, photos, and messages about children's daily activities and well-being enhance parental control. These allow parents to stay informed and connected with their children's experiences at daycare, making it easier for parents to manage their child's care and stay engaged with the daycare staff, ultimately fostering a more collaborative and transparent environment.

How to choose the best daycare software for your business

Step 1: Assess your business’s needs

Before you start your daycare software selection process, it’s critical that you define your business’s specific needs, such as managing scheduling, keeping track of immunization records, and monitoring attendance. Not only will this guide you to the childcare management software tool that meets your current needs—you’ll end up with software that supports your long-term goals as well.

Know which processes you need to optimize 

Depending on your business model, you may need a system to automate attendance tracking, centralize communications, store information such as health records and emergency contacts, and manage resource allocation. Make sure these or other features you need are available before making a purchase.

Set a budget

When setting a budget, it's vital to calculate initial costs, subscription fees, and the ROI from automating outdated processes. With a detailed cost-benefit analysis, any investment in new childcare management software can be confidently justified, envisioning a future where the team focuses more on nurturing children rather than endlessly juggling paperwork.

Get input from stakeholders

In a childcare institution, many stakeholders will need to use the software for different purposes. For that reason, it’s essential to ensure the software meets administrative and pedagogical requirements. Engage with staff, parents, administrators, and other stakeholders involved in your daycare business to gather insights on the desired and most useful features. 

Step 2: Evaluate your options and make a shortlist

With so many software options to choose from, selecting the best childcare management software for your business can be challenging, but with the right resources and support, it doesn’t have to be.

Explore our list of daycare FrontRunners

You can start compiling your shortlist of daycare software with our 2024 FrontRunners report for daycare software. Only products that earn top user ratings make this list. You can also check out our full methodology description for more details on how the report is compiled.

For more help creating a shortlist and a free comparison chart, check out our Ultimate Software Vendor Evaluation Guide. This will help you compare software evaluation criteria for each prospective vendor by tracking aspects such as functionalities, support offerings, costs, and deployment options.

Step 3: Make your selection

Once your shortlist is narrowed down to two or three options, start contacting vendors to learn more about these products. 

Get ready for vendor demos

During demos, here are some questions you should consider asking vendors that will help you make the right decision:

• What customization options are currently available?

Ask childcare management software vendors if the tool can be tailored to suit the specific way your team manages different childcare tasks, from parent communication to health data recording.

• Do you offer any kind of personalized onboarding or customer support options?

Software onboarding can be a decisive moment to ask questions and familiarize yourself with a tool you will use for a long time. It's crucial to inquire about the vendor's strategy for supporting you and your team with any doubts you might have throughout the implementation process.

• Which are the software’s scalability options?

Understanding scalability options means assessing how the software can grow with your business. This includes its ability to handle increasing numbers of users, children, and data and the possibility to add new features or modules as your needs evolve.

Step 4: Make the most of your daycare software 

Now it’s time to start using your new software. Follow these tips to ensure a smooth outcome:

• Training: Explore online resources and organize training sessions for all staff members to ensure they are comfortable with the software's features.

• Communication: Establish clear communication channels within the software for staff and parents to facilitate seamless information sharing.

• Data storage: Ensure all child and family information is securely stored and easily accessible. In addition, regularly back up data to prevent dada loss and ensure data integrity.

• Compliance: Use the software to track compliance with local regulations, such as child-to-staff ratios, health records, and safety protocols.

Software related to daycare

When selecting daycare software, it's important to understand that certain features may require additional software systems to truly enhance the quality of your child care. While many platforms come equipped with a wide range of tools, you may find that some functionalities are best served by complementary software solutions. Here are a few types of software that are often associated with daycare systems, which may or may not be included in your chosen platform:

• School management software: Helps educational institutions efficiently manage their administrative tasks and day-to-day activities, including attendance tracking, grading systems, and class and exam scheduling.

• School accounting software: Dedicated software to handle the accounting side of an academic institution that helps staff work to their fullest potential by automating error-prone, time-consuming tasks.

More resources for your daycare journey

• 3 Top-Rated Affordable Daycare Software

About our contributors

Author

Alejandra Aranda is a content analyst at Software Advice, specializing in technology trends while always on the lookout for strategic insights for small and midsize businesses. Her areas of focus are brand management, performance marketing, and anything related to digital marketing.

Alejandra’s research and analysis is informed by more than 150,000 authentic user reviews on Software Advice and over 15,000 interactions between Software Advice software advisors and marketing software buyers. Alejandra also regularly analyzes market sentiment by conducting surveys of marketing leaders so she can provide the most up-to-date and helpful information to small and midsize businesses purchasing software or services.

Alejandra led the session “Q-Commerce & M-Commerce in Spain 2023: How is consumption evolving thanks to technology” at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and has had research published in Spanish publications such as El Economista, Corresponsables, and El Español.

When she is not on the lookout for new marketing trends, she is probably exploring a bookshop or researching a new travel destination.

Editor

Mehar Luthra is a team lead at Software Advice and specializes in editing reports that cover the latest trends affecting small businesses. With nearly a decade of experience, she has edited a multitude of research articles, top-rated software reports, and thought leadership articles for diverse markets such as Brazil, Japan, Canada, France, Australia, and India. She finds it particularly rewarding to produce content that provides small-business owners with practical tips and helpful advice on topics such as the digitalisation of small businesses, eCommerce trends, and HR developments.

Armed with a double bachelor’s in law (LL.B.) and business economics from Delhi University, she won a full scholarship to study for a master’s in creative writing at the National University of Ireland, Galway. In addition, she has written blog articles spanning a variety of topics such as fiction and non-fiction books, mental health and anxiety, the latest restaurants, and more. Her articles have been featured in Ireland’s national magazine The Village, among other publications. A die-hard journaling fan, she enjoys watching psychological thrillers, reading fiction books, and drinking iced coffee (even in the winter).

Sources

1. Top Trends in K-12 Education for 2025, Gartner

2. Software Advice reviews data: Software Advice reviews are collected from verified users for individual software products. For this report, we analyzed reviews from the past two years as of the production date. Read the complete methodology.

3. Software Advice software pricing data: Only products with publicly available pricing information and qualified software products within the category, as of May 2024, are included in the pricing analysis. Read the complete methodology.