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About brightwheel
Cloud and mobile-based management software for childcare and preschool directors that helps streamline the center's tasks.
Keeps the students information in hand. Very useful and inexpensive if you use the trial version.
The only thing that was sometimes frustrating was the messaging feature-sometimes we did not get an email notifying us there was a message and it would take a while to see and respond to it.
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Filter reviews (3,254)

Best Childcare Program!
Comments: Excellent! I wouldn't switch from this program! Families and staff also are very pleased.
Pros:
The process of adding a child is easy and quick. The daily reports allows the teachers to add a lot of information so the parents know what day their child has had. It creates trust.
Cons:
I do not have any cons at the moment. :)
Easy Setup & Great Parent Engagement
Comments: On the whole, Brightwheel is one of our easier softwares that actually does what it says it will do. I highly recommend.
Pros:
Brightwheel's setup was incredibly easy. Our staff picked it up right away, and we love that parents can easily keep up with what their kids are doing and learning each day. Check-in is a breeze and we love being alerted on the front end if a child is sick.
Cons:
We do wish it had an api or at least a low code connection to Zapier. We use Salesforce as our primary data source of truth and don't love having to do by hand imports and exports to keep both updated. We also aren't using Brightwheel curriculum. If there was an easier way to import what we are using, that would be amazing.
Alternatives Considered: Tadpoles
Reasons for Choosing brightwheel: We wanted a product that had a better user experience for both our staff and our parents.
Switched From: Lillio
Reasons for Switching to brightwheel: It had a better user experience in comparison.
Great parent interface and easy for everyone to navigate, parents and teachers!
Comments: I was very happy with the parent interaction and the easy with the billing. If we were looking to increase our classroom visibility i.e. updates, photos etc. I would have continued to use this application.
Pros:
Brightwheel is a very parent-oriented app. It is extremely user friendly. It has extensive capabilities when it comes to daily reports and updates for the child. It allows parents easy access to staff and to have a in real time picture of the child's day. From a teacher standpoint it is easy and intuitive to use. On the tuition side of things, parents have access to all of their tuition payment records and can schedule payments independently of the school. Posting payments is simple for the administration.
Cons:
I would be very helpful if the data could be used for other purposes and easily adapted to such things a roll call list, classroom rosters. emergency lists etc. While you can export the data to excel spread sheets it would be very helpful if they provided pre-configured options for these necessary reports.
A bright spot in Child Care!
Comments: Overall my experience with brightwheel has been great. We have used it at 2 separate facilities and it works very well for communication with the providers and keeping the parent informed of any and all aspects of their children's daily routine while at the facility.
Pros:
I like that brightwheel does a great job of allowing the staff at my child's preschool to keep me as a parent updated on what is going on throughout the day in many different aspects.
Cons:
While not a huge problem, I would like the chat functionality within the App to send push notifications when my wife responds to messages as well. As it is, I will receive a notification if someone from my child's preschool sends a message, but I will not get a notification that my wife sent one as well in response. This would be helpful so that I would know without having to open the App and navigate to find the exact conversation, just to realize that a question has been answered or situation handled.
Reveiw of Bright Wheel features and Reports
Comments: Overall great product. Families, Teachers and admisistrators love the communication feature, thanks for allowing families to be soo connecected to their child's teachers and their child day
Pros:
easy of making reports, and communication between home and program
Cons:
The new adminstration feature. The prior feature allowed me to delete documents from a family list if it was not applicable or if they were unable to complete online but instead in person. The families are having difficutly moving throught the enrollment process, the way it is set up now. I would love for Bright Wheel to give providers some power to delete and or go back to the previous feature of adminsitaion that was based on forms Another con is the ablity to make reports based on enrollment start and end dates, this would better assist my program in pulling reports based on dates, for our funders. I currently have to pull everyone from active and inactive to a spread sheet only to delete what I do not need based on enrollment and end dates. This is time consuming for me
Brightwheel review
Comments: Overall it has been a really smooth process and transition from the other communication app we were using.
Pros:
parents being able to check in and check out
Cons:
I wish that when you post pictures to the feed, they posted in a cluster(ex. 1 of 10) instead of posting each picture separately.
Highly recommended
Pros:
Staff Time tracking and invoices are the best.
Cons:
Not being able to delete menu items off the list.
Alternatives Considered: Tadpoles
Reasons for Switching to brightwheel: Price and features that fit better for my needs.
Brightwheel is a HUGE time saver that simplifies everything
Comments: Since I'm the Director, Lead Teacher, AND do 100% of the admin work, it has been a huge time saver for me! I used to hand write receipts for every payment I got AND had an old school ledger sheet to keep track of all the money. This has been wonderful. I also love being able to send photos in real time to familes throughout the day.
Pros:
I love that everything is in one single app. Communicating with parents via email is hard since families get so much email that mine would sometimes get lost. The same with text messages. This just streamlines it so that families know they can go look in the BW app to find anything related to our preschool. Also, I have NEVER had a problem in regards to a response to a questions or problem I've had. You all are very quick to respond and always have a well explained answer that is easy to understand.
Cons:
I can't really think of anything right now. I'm looking to see if there's a way to sort out income sources for our benefit. For example, I'd like to be able to calculate how much of our income is "tuition" or "field trip fees" or "registration fees" or "early drop off fees" etc. There may be a feature for this but I haven't even had time to dig to find out. :-)
Brightwheel is Great!
Comments: My overall experience with brightwheel has been great thusfar it is very user friendly and is so far the best app I have used for childcare.
Pros:
I like how easy to use Brightwheel is and how you can message between parents.
Cons:
I don't use the learning or paperwork tool so I would say that would be what I least like since it is not utilized.
Great App that has all you need!
Comments: It’s a good system to use for updates on your child. With ease you can view your child’s potty, meals and sleep schedule whilst viewing and liking photos of the child. It’s really user friendly and easy to message to teachers and sign forms as required.
Pros:
I like the option to like photos and see real time updates with ease. Especially the part of seeing notes related to their meals.
Cons:
There isn’t anything in particular that I don’t like about this app as yet. I’ve been on it since July 2024, and so far it’s meeting my expectations.
Brightwheel is innovating and exciting to use.
Comments: My overall experience is great. I use most of the features on the Brightwheel app.
Pros:
I like the ability for parents to be able to check their child in and out as a backup to our teachers doing it in the classroom.
Cons:
It doesn't print attendance sheets in the event you have an internet issue.
Perfection
Comments: Perfection! It is easy to get help from tech support.
Pros:
I love the ease of Bright wheel's messaging side. I love the simplicity of Billing.
Cons:
Brightwheel is perfect ! I love everything about this system!
Alternatives Considered: Doodle
Reasons for Switching to brightwheel: Ease and effectiveness as well as the ability to communicate simply
Where has this been the last 20 years!?
Comments: I am so excited that I found brightwheel and have had the best experiences using it and sharing it with my families.
Pros:
I like every feature. From attendance, payment options, documents, menus, curriculum options. The ease of use and set up. Customer service was so helpful when getting started, they have great step by step tutorials if you need, or can talk to someone live, and they were so informative and friendly.
Cons:
Only thing I can say bad is that I wish I would have had this years ago.
All-in-one platform designed to make school management easier
Comments: Personally, I have had a very positive experience using Brightwheel at my daughter's school. The platform has simplified many aspects of school management, such as communicating with parents, tracking attendance, and organizing events. Thanks to Brightwheel, the entire team has been able to work more efficiently and in a coordinated manner.
Pros:
Brightwheel is a comprehensive and easy-to-use tool that allows users to manage all school-related tasks quickly and easily. With features like real-time communication, student progress tracking, and payment management, this platform simplifies the day-to-day life of teachers and administrators.
Cons:
There is nothing not to like about this excellent platform. Everything it offers is very useful and makes it easy to use for people of all ages and skill levels. Plus, thanks to its instant communication features, parents can stay up to date with their children's news and activities at all times.
Fantastic tool!
Comments: From the time I actually signed up for the program, the customer service is always quick and informative. I really enjoy actually speaking to someone rather than a "bot" answer for every question.
Pros:
Brightwheel has opened the door of communication with my parents without taking the time away from the kids when I need to inform the parent of something that is happening. One click and I can immediately text a parent or send a picture to show a parent what is happening.
Cons:
I would really like a document hub that the parents can access so I didn't have to send the same document over and over.
Great app for daycares
Comments: Great experience. When you check out your child, this is shared in real time with the rest of the authorized users.
Pros:
Checking in and out our child at daycare
Cons:
From time to time the system logs you out and it takes a while to log in again, when checking your child in or out
Bright wheel App
Pros:
Keeping parents informed on students activities and progress throughout the day.
Cons:
The least thing is the payment plans that are available.
Brightwheel for the win!
Comments: I used brightwheel as a means to comiunciate with cutomers about their children and daily happenings. I appreciated the ease of use and the implicity of interacting with others.
Pros:
Brightwheel is user friendly and easy to use. It allows for information to be shared in a simple, yet thourough way.
Cons:
I can not think of any cons at this time.
fantastic app
Comments: 10 i totally agree with this app its by far the easiest app to follow
Pros:
easy to login and easy documentation for parents to keep up with everyday events.
Cons:
That a teacher can not remove old students from the list
Good services, the APP is very professional.
Comments:
I have been enjoying to use Brightwheel in my home daycare.
It is great APP and the parents like a lot.
Thanks for let me use it.
Odette Patrocínio
Pros:
It is simple to use and very helpful to the day care providers and teachers. Also, the services provide are very professional and well managed. The costume service and technical supports are excellent and very attentive with the clients.
Cons:
Some services are no provide in Canada, such as payments method.
Quality Product
Comments: Our staff/parents love BW because it is easy access to all, parents also enjoy seeing their children's activities and reminders etc...
Pros:
messages, photos, check in/out, activities, videos, etc...
Cons:
food: it would be nice if we can erase/delete all the previous meal items
Must have app for any daycare or childcare facility
Pros:
Ease of use, functionality, ability to view children's day at a glance (when they eat, have diaper changes, go to naps, and incidents that happen), ability to send and receive pictures/documents with daycare staff, ability to send messages to administrators or teachers
Cons:
There is a small service fee for paying invoices to daycare using brightwheel. Noone likes paying fees, but I think paying the small fee is worth it to be able to quickly and easily pay invoices from daycare from the comfort of your home
Great program for parents with kiddos in daycare
Comments: Fabulous! Thank you for providing a system that easily helps worried parents know what their kiddos are up to throughout the day!
Pros:
Ease of use and appealing mobile layout. Easy for my daycare provider to communicate with me throughout the day with updates on my child and send photos. Easy to pay online, eliminating need to use checks.
Cons:
No cons so far. Easy to access online and easy to use as a mobile application as well.
Happy Parent
Comments: Very positive, especially after each update, seems like they listen to feedback and keep improving.
Pros:
Its a great way to keep in touch with my child's teachers and all the things related to her school.
Cons:
sometimes its hard to tell whether my daughter is checked in or out.
10 out of 10!
Comments: Very good. If there is ever something that I need help with they are right on it.
Pros:
I love how easy it is for the parents and teachers to use. Everything is all in one place. I feel that parents read notifications so much more now-instead of notes in a cubby.
Cons:
Some parents were put off by the weekly fees to pay through the system.