MasterSchedule.app vs UniTime

MasterSchedule.app helps K–12 schools build and check a master course schedule before moving it into a student information system (SIS). Its visual grid assigns courses to teachers and periods, and a guided Excel walkthrough imports a course catalog and teacher roster. Real-time checks flag teacher double-bookings and scheduling gaps. Schools can create requirement groups that inherit base requirements, allowing subgroups such as honors, IEP, or ELL to extend them. The validator checks requirements for each student type, and finished schedules can be exported for an SIS or records system. Listed data exchange includes Excel import and CSV export; an SIS connection is not required. The web app is intended for school staff and, according to its privacy policy, does not create student accounts or collect students’ personal information. The site describes school data as isolated by tenant, role-based access, a five-year audit log, and automatic data expiry. The School Plan costs $100 a year, billed per school per year. The pricing page says a trial will be available at the School Plan launch.

UniTime is a free educational scheduling system for course and exam timetables, room sharing, and student class assignments. Course scheduling can account for student demand, curricula, historical patterns, faculty and room preferences, and relationships among classes. Its examination module builds term schedules intended to minimize student exam conflicts and can schedule midterms and finals. The web-based Events interface lets staff and students request events or search for available times and locations, with notices sent to organizers. Student scheduling assigns students to available class spaces using course requirements and timetable information, but cannot guarantee that every conflict will be resolved. UniTime runs as a server-client application with a web interface and platform-independent distributions. It can operate independently or connect to an existing student information system; documentation describes XML imports and exports and RESTful interfaces. Installation guidance covers Linux, Windows, and Mac. Administrators may configure SSL access through Tomcat and LDAP authentication. The application is distributed under Apache License 2.0. The installation page recommends UniTime 4.8 for production, while UniTime 4.9 is still in development.