Prime Timetable vs TimetableMaster

Prime Timetable provides automatic and manual timetabling for schools, universities, and similar institutions. Users can schedule multiple weeks at flexible times, move timetable cards in master and individual views, and divide classes into groups for electives. Its generator can account for pinned cards and forbidden time slots, then optimize teacher and student loads, gaps, room use, and building moves. Timetables can be customized, accessed from any device, printed as master or individual schedules, and exported to formats and apps. Data can be imported by copy and paste. The maker says timetables are backed up every 24 hours and the service is used in over 120 countries. The free plan is for evaluation and includes a web app for all devices, premium support, and a 30-day trial period; it requires an internet connection. Commercial plans enable offline work. Basic is for small and medium schools with up to 40 teachers, while Premium is for larger and campus schools with up to 100 teachers. Both commercial plans offer a web app and premium support, with pricing dependent on the selected plan duration.

TimetableMaster generates school timetables and handles substitutions, staff leave, calendars and student course choices. Its generator places lessons around teacher availability, room capacity, building transitions and workload limits, with a drag-and-drop editor for changes. When staff are absent, it ranks possible cover teachers using subject familiarity, availability and existing cover workload; it can assign and notify a substitute in one click. Staff can request full or half days off, and approved leave feeds into cover planning. Calendars include holidays, exams, events and activities. The student-choice module gathers course preferences, creates sections, assigns faculty and rooms, and produces conflict-free schedules for individual students. Integrations include Veracross, PowerSchool, ManageBac and SchoolBase; other systems can exchange CSV or Excel files. TimetableMaster generates an import file for a school's SIS importer rather than writing directly into the SIS. A Pro trial runs for 10 days without a credit card, but PDF and Excel timetable downloads require a paid plan. The desktop app requires an internet connection; offline mode is described as coming soon.