IRIS Reach vs Schoolvoice

IRIS Reach is a parent engagement suite for secondary schools, bringing email, SMS and social media communications into one place. Parents can receive school information through a school-branded mobile app; the MyEd app includes messages, attendance, timetables, absences, achievements and behaviour. Inbound and outbound messages can be automatically translated into over 40 languages, and parents can check attendance through real-time reports based on registration data. Schools can create and collect electronic forms and surveys, host documents online and send links by SMS or email. Up to twenty accounts can create dedicated channels for departments and functions. Reporting, analysis, response management and an audit trail are included. Reach synchronises with school management information systems such as SIMS and Integris; after setup, syncing runs nightly by default. The service is available on web, Android and iOS. Pricing is on request, and the product page offers schools a free demo. The MyEd app is available for iOS and Android; its help page says messages sent to and from the app are free.

Schoolvoice is a school communication platform for connecting schools, teachers, parents, and students across Android, iOS, and web. It combines chat, voice messages, school channels, stories, a teacher drive, and live broadcasts. Messages can ask recipients to acknowledge or approve something, reply, or send absence and tardiness notes. Scheduling, reminders, message recall, approval workflows, delivery reports, and personalization are also listed. Schoolvoice can send an automatic SMS to parents who remain unreachable after an interval chosen by the school, and it names PowerSchool, OneRoster, and Excel as onboarding integrations. The Free plan costs nothing, billed Free Forever, and includes core features and unlimited parent messaging. Advanced costs $15 a year per student, billed once per year, and adds district-level and multi-school management, AI reports and insights, and priority support. Emergency alerts and payment requests are not included in Free; voice calls between parents and teachers, call recording, and transcripts are add-ons on both plans.