Gibbon vs ThinkWave
Gibbon
gibbonedu.org
ThinkWave
thinkwave.comSide by side
| Figure | Gibbon | ThinkWave |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $2.75/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 20 |
| Spec score · School Management Software | 8.7 (#4) | 8.7 (#5) |
| Spec score · K-12 Student Information Software | 8.7 (#3) | 8.6 (#4) |
| Documentation and support | The project publishes open-source guides for installation, administration and development, with community support available through its forum. | Support materials include videos, a Quickstart PDF, FAQs, screen-by-screen guides, release notes and email support for paid subscribers. |
| Extensibility | Core functionality can be enabled by role and extended with separately installed modules and themes. | Schools can add custom fields, custom grade scales, custom calculations, custom report cards and custom transcripts. |
| Founded | 2010 | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Hong Kong | Sebastopol, California, United States |
| Hosting | Gibbon is self-hosted software installed on a web server, and schools can host it on their own servers. | ThinkWave says its data runs on Google App Engine with redundant servers and continuous backups across multiple U.S. data-center locations. |
| Integrations | Google integration provides OAuth single sign-on and personal or shared Google Calendar connections through the Google Calendar API. | ThinkWave's blog says its gradebook integrates with Google Apps, Microsoft Teams and other digital tools. |
| Messaging | Messenger supports email, SMS and Message Wall announcements to flexible groups, with attachments from the resource bank. | Messages and announcements can target the whole school, groups, classes or individual students, with email delivery and file attachments. |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.5 out of 5 from 2 reviews | 4.2 out of 5 from 16 reviews. |
| Rating on GetApp | 4.5 out of 5 from 2 reviews | 4.2 out of 5 from 16 reviews. |
| Support | Gibbon offers documentation and community forums, with optional team expert support through ad hoc support or a support contract. | ThinkWave lists support by email for paid subscribers and publishes support videos, FAQs, and a quickstart guide. |
| What it does | Gibbon is a web-based school platform for teachers, students, parents and administrators, combining school management, learning and assessment workflows. | ThinkWave is a cloud school-management system combining administration, teacher gradebooks, student and parent access, attendance, assignments, messaging, reports and transcripts. |
Plans
ThinkWave
- Free Solo GradebookFree
- School 1–15 students$17 a month
- School 16–35 students$32 a month
- Premium Gradebook — 151–175 teachers$32.95 a year
- Premium Gradebook — 126–150 teachers$33.95 a year
- Premium Gradebook — 101–125 teachers$34.95 a year
- Premium Gradebook — 76–100 teachers$35.95 a year
- Premium Gradebook — 51–75 teachers$36.95 a year
- Premium Gradebook — 20–50 teachers$37.95 a year
- Premium Gradebook — 10–19 teachers$38.95 a year
In their own words
Gibbon
Gibbon is a free school platform for learning, teaching, and school management, designed by educators. Teachers, students, parents, and administrators use one web-based system with configurable access levels. The Planner supports lesson plans, homework submissions, curriculum mapping, and peer assessment. Student Profiles consolidate academic, behavioural, medical, and special educational needs alerts for authorised users. Markbook, rubrics, tracking, and formal assessment modules support recording and reviewing progress. Messenger can send group communications by email, SMS, or Message Wall. Schools can extend the platform with modules and themes, including BigBlueButton and Moodle integration; its documentation also describes Google calendar and single sign-on integration and Microsoft single sign-on setup. Gibbon is installed on a web server and hosting is self-managed. The v30 download page specifies PHP 8.0 and MySQL 8.0 as minimum requirements. Documentation and community forums are available, as is optional expert support through ad hoc help or a support contract. Older versions are not directly supported, and the security policy advises using the current stable release in production.
ThinkWave
ThinkWave is cloud-based school administration software combining student administration, grades, attendance, teacher gradebooks, and student and parent portal access. Teachers can post assignments and handouts, collect student work online, and upload files up to 25 MB each; the school system includes 100 GB of storage. It generates customizable report cards and transcripts from grades, comments, attendance, and custom student data. Grading options include points, letter, pass-fail, and custom scales, with assignment weighting and term averages. Schools can send messages and announcements by class, group, or school, including group email. ThinkWave also offers a free online gradebook. Its platforms include Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows. A free 30-day trial of the school administration software includes all features. ThinkWave says it uses password-protected accounts and SSL encryption, stores data in Google Cloud data centers, and does not sell user data. Paid subscribers can get email support; support videos, FAQs, and a quickstart guide are also listed.