Gertrude vs QikKids

Gertrude is an open-source program for managing early-childhood care facilities, daycare centers, and leisure centers. Its functions cover enrollment, childcare-fee calculations, billing, payments, and schedules for children and staff. It can produce customizable childcare contracts, invoices, tax certificates, and attendance reports, and supports CAF PSU and PAJE pricing modes as well as custom rates. The site lists TIPI payment compatibility for local authorities and statistics export to Filoué (CAF). Gertrude is intended for municipal, workplace, parent-run, and nonprofit nurseries, as well as micro-nurseries. The online service synchronizes actions to its server in real time; local installations store data in an SQLite file and create automatic backups when opened. HTTPS is used for data exchange by the SaaS and shared-database versions. An optional Android tablet module records arrivals and departures and can work offline. The download is free without a use limit, but has no support or warranty.

QikKids is a platform for Kindergarten and out-of-school-hours care services, combining child enrolment, attendance, family communication, lesson planning, and billing. It runs on web, Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, with mobile apps; all plans include the Home parent app and web portal. Digital sign-ins, real-time attendance information, and headcounts support daily check-in, while families can manage additional casual sessions and absences. Payment tools include automatic recurring payments and ad-hoc PayNow transactions. The Core package adds a child waitlist with custom filtering, while Essential includes integrations such as Xero and Ento, API access, and nightly SQL-table database backups. Other listed capabilities include rostering, staff clock in/out, digital timesheets, and multi-service reporting. QikKids lists support and training resources. A free plan is available, and the listed starting price is $204 per month for Lite; prices exclude GST. Monthly and annual pricing options are shown. Plan information includes Playground capacity bands beginning with 0–39 places.