Kindred Book a demo →

Comparisons

Thinking about switching school software?

Most Indian schools are running something already — a paid per-student ERP, a half-used portal, a paper register, or a set of WhatsApp groups doing the job by accident. This page is about how to compare Kindred against whichever of those you have, without taking anybody's marketing at face value.

A note on how we do comparisons. We don't publish claims about a named vendor's current pricing, features or uptime. Those change without notice, we can't verify them from outside, and a table full of guesses about someone else's product is worth nothing to you. So we compare Kindred against what is typical of paid school ERPs in India, say "varies — check this" wherever the category genuinely varies, and give you the questions to put to your current vendor. Their answers, not ours, are the comparison.

Compare Kindred to a specific platform

Kindred as a MyClassboard alternative →

For schools evaluating a switch away from MyClassboard.

Kindred as a Fedena alternative →

For schools evaluating a switch away from Fedena.

Kindred as a CampusCare alternative →

For schools evaluating a switch away from CampusCare.

Kindred vs running the school on WhatsApp →

For schools with no ERP at all, where class groups became the system by default.

Kindred vs a typical school ERP

The right-hand column describes what is common across paid school ERPs in India. It is not a claim about any particular product. Where the category genuinely varies, it says so — "check this yourself" is more use to you than a tick.

CapabilityKindredTypical school ERP
Cost to the schoolFreePer-student annual licence
Setup / onboarding feeNoneCommonly charged
Features held back behind paid tiers or add-on modulesNone — one version, all of itCommon
Cost as your enrolment growsUnchangedRises with every student
Smallest unit you can start withOne class, about a working dayUsually a campus-wide contract
Annual renewal negotiationNoneEvery year
Advertising in the appNoneUncommon in paid ERPs
Parent appThe primary productUsually a portal beside the admin system
Teacher attendance verified by GPS geofenceRare — register or biometric
Student attendance recorded per periodOften once daily
Live bus GPS trackingEvery 15 secondsCommon, refresh rate varies
Bus fuel accountability per routeRare
Teacher phone numbers kept private in messagingVaries — worth checking
English, Hindi and Kannada, set per userVaries — worth checking
Data hosted in IndiaVaries — ask which country
Data never sold, shared or used to train modelsVaries — ask for it in writing
Boards supportedState, CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE, IBVaries — check yours

Nine questions to ask your current vendor before you renew

These are the questions that decide whether software is working for a school. Ask them in writing, and ask us the same ones.

  1. What is the total annual cost, all in? Including per-student charges, per-module add-ons, SMS credits, payment gateway margins and support tiers.
  2. What will renewal cost next year? In writing. If they won't put a number on it, that's the answer.
  3. How many parents opened the app in the last 30 days? Not how many accounts exist — how many were active. A parent portal nobody opens is a line item, not a system.
  4. Where is the data physically hosted? Which country, which provider, which region.
  5. Is the contract DPDPA-compliant, and who is the data fiduciary? Ask to see the clause.
  6. What does a full data export look like? Which formats, how long it takes, whether it costs anything, and whether it includes message history and attachments.
  7. Is student and parent data ever used to train models or sold to third parties? Ask for it in writing, not on a call.
  8. What's the actual support path when something breaks mid-admissions? A named person, or a ticket queue with an SLA nobody enforces?
  9. Can the school run one class on it as a trial without signing for the campus?

What Kindred replaces

Feature detail: bus tracking, messaging, academic progress, health records, wellbeing.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free alternative to paid school management software in India?

Yes — Kindred. No licence fee, no per-student charge, no setup fee, no paid tier. Full pricing →

How hard is it to switch school management software mid-year?

With Kindred you don't migrate the campus. You start with one class, roughly a working day of setup, running alongside whatever you have now. No cutover weekend, no term-boundary deadline.

Why is Kindred free when other school ERPs charge per student?

Because per-student licensing is a large part of why so many Indian schools still run on paper. There's no paid tier behind a trial, no feature held back, no advertising, and no data sale.

Run one class on Kindred and compare for yourself.

Free, about a working day to set up, alongside whatever you're using now. The founder reads every application and replies within two working days.

Apply to onboard your school →