A handful of child care management software platforms offer some level of billing and payments functionality. Some billing software is purpose-built for the childcare, daycare and preschool industry, while other vendors offer broader solutions that may be worth considering in some cases. Many childcare directors may be looking to bundle payroll and other functionalities into their billing and payment solution as well – but not all billing and software providers offer all capabilities. Ultimately, each childcare or daycare provider will have different needs for features, accessibility and pricing. 

Below are the top billing software for childcare providers, including relevant details for each. Keep in mind most child care management software platforms offer free custom demos where you talk through your business needs with a representative who can walk you through the platform. It may be sensible to book demos with two or three perceived frontrunners from this list to compare features and pricing.

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What Should I Look for in Childcare Billing Software?

If you are searching for the right platform for billing and payments in your childcare or daycare center, you’ll want to first identify which features are important to you. Some common attributes of the best childcare billing software platforms include:

• Automatic invoicing

• Collection of payments from parents

• Expense reporting

• Flexibility of payment assignments for split families

• Intuitive, well-designed user interfaces

• Financial reporting and projections

• Automatic reminders and autopay

• Compliance reporting and submissions

• Collection of payments from subsidy programs

• Ideally, payroll also wrapped into the same program

At the end of the day, any features that help eliminate manual work for you or your team – and even your customers – can prove to be valuable for your business’s bottom line.

Best Childcare Billing Software

1. Playground

Playground is the best billing, payment, payroll and subsidy software combination due to its wide array of features and positive customer sentiment. It offers all of the above core features – automatic invoicing, payment collection, payroll, subsidy integration, and reporting for expenses, finances, and compliance – in addition to more specialized features specific to the childcare and daycare industry.

Some additional unique features include:

• Automatically collecting late fees

• High flexibility in structuring and assigning payment plans

• Multisite breakdowns and reporting

• End of year tax statements provided to families

• Issue physical or virtual spend cards to your staff

• Connecting staff payment cards for receipt uploads and expensing

• Home-based care features such as mileage tracking (for tax deductions)

• Issuing I9s, W2s and 1099s to employees and contractors

• Integrating with Quickbooks and your accounting codes

• Collecting payments from state agencies

• Automatic compliance/subsidy reporting to some states

All of these features, including payroll, or accomplished out of the same app. Just one log in for all of your business needs, and all your information is in one cohesive place. (Click here to book a demo and see for yourself.)

2. Brightwheel

Brightwheel offers automated invoicing, autopay, payment reminders, and financial reporting. Directors and staff can connect their credit or debit cards to automatically track expenses. Parents can pay flexibly depending on how the director splits payments, and directors can accept written checks as payment by uploading them with photos directly from their phone. Families can access their tax forms at the end of the year. With the payroll integration, you can log in to Gusto to get your teachers paid. This integration also includes the ability to automatically file and pay payroll taxes, and employees can get their W2s or PTO balance.

3. Procare

Procare offers billing and payment features, and otherwise emphasizes its internal budgeting and accounting solution. The company offers third-party integration with Quickbooks if the internal budgeting and accounting feature does not suit your needs. You can connect internal staff timecards from the Procare app to Gusto to manage payroll, but you’ll need to log in separately. There are also features that help support organization and tracking for subsidies.

4. Revtrak

While Revtrak is generally oriented to K-12 schools, it also offers childcare businesses a handful of childcare management software features, including billing and payments. In addition to basic operations for accepting and customizing billing and payments, it has a few unique features not found elsewhere, including ticketing for events and a custom online store if desired. You can otherwise create custom forms, choose from a variety of financial reporting styles, and go beyond billing and payments to use attendance, check-in, and lead-tracking features.

5. Lillio

Lillio offers a basic suite of billing and payment functionality, with automatic invoicing, autopay, the ability to track payments, and some subsidy functionality including tracking. Billing and payments is a part of Lillio’s collective offerings spanning family communication, center management, teaching, and professional development.

6. Famly

Billing and payments are widely customizable with Famly, and the program includes financial reporting, parent tax statements for end of year, billing plan templates, and subsidy integration thanks to its partnership with KinderConnect.

7. Kindertales

Kindertales allows users to accept customer payments through kinderPAYTM. It offers recurring payment plans, accepts all sorts of payment methods, and provides tax statements for parents at the end of year.

8. Stripe

Stripe is a large and widely known billing and payment infrastructure vendor that is not purpose-built for childcare, but nonetheless offers comprehensive financial features that some child care businesses might find useful for their unique circumstances. The cost is on a per-transaction basis. A handful of child care providers partner with Stripe to make their advanced billing and payment technology more specifically applicable to childcare and daycare businesses, but you are free to go straight to the source if you find Stripe to be the right billing and payment provider for you.

Consider booking a demo with a few of the providers above to get a better understanding of the costs and benefits of each and which one is best suited for your business. For Playground, you can book a custom demo here.