ParentCom vs School Stream

ParentCom provides branded school apps and websites for communication between schools and parents, managed through a shared Communication Cockpit. The CMS lets schools publish to online channels in one step and is included free with every solution. Schools can send news, calendar items, personal messages, and push notifications to parents’ phones. Class Book lets schools share photos and stories from the school day for parents to like or respond to. Parents can submit sickness reports and holiday requests through the app. Other listed features include forms, surveys, PDF support, staff contacts, and volunteer recruitment. The app can link with school websites and social platforms, while the cockpit can post to Facebook and Twitter. ParentCom lists Light App, Business App, and Pro App licenses; the latter two add personal inboxes, requests, Class Book, custom layouts, and other features at their respective tiers. Plans and prices require a request for the full overview. The platform is available in English, Dutch, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, and Norwegian; the CMS is available in English and Dutch. Schools can request a free trial app, with no duration stated.

School Stream is a school communication app for connecting schools with families. Schools can send targeted notices, reminders and newsletters, and create digital forms for permission slips, excursions and absences, including digital signatures. Its messaging supports unlimited conversations between school and home, with private messages to families and groups. Schools can publish event details such as permission notes, times and maps, and sync online calendars. Payments can be collected through School Stream Forms, with processing handled by Stripe. On-demand translation supports over 100 languages. Schools can see who has read notices and when, and manage parent accounts and groups. School Stream runs on Android, iOS and the web. Families have free access; school pricing is on request, with the school plan billed annually. The company says its servers are in AWS’s Sydney region in Australia, and that data at rest uses 256-bit AES encryption while services use at least TLS 1.2. Each school is assigned a Customer Success Manager for support and training.