The 5 best Jupiter alternatives
For small private schools & micro schools · pricing verified July 2026 · written by the Pearspark team — Pearspark is #1 on this list and we say so plainly (how we compare)
The alternatives, ranked
Pearspark
Pearspark is the rest of the platform: admissions, barcode lending library, volunteer check-in, equipment booking, scheduling, transcripts and tuition billing in the same login, at $50/month including 20 students. Jupiter's gradebook goes deeper on power features than Pearspark's — some schools genuinely run both — but the whole-school jobs are what Pearspark exists for.
Pricing: $50/mo including 20 students, then $2.50/student/mo stepping down to $1.00 at volume. No setup fees, no contract, 30-day free trial.
Setup is self-serve, with importers that preview every row before anything is written — no setup fees, and free email support when you're stuck.
TeacherEase
A standards-based learning platform and gradebook priced per teacher.
Why it's on this list: The other academics specialist — standards-based mastery rather than gradebook power features — priced per teacher (about $175.67/teacher/year), very cheap for teacher-light schools.
Best for: Schools focused on standards-based grading with a handful of teachers, especially where per-teacher pricing beats per-student.
At 25 students: ≈$44–73/mo (3–5 teachers) · at 100: ≈$117–176/mo (8–12 teachers)
Full comparison: Pearspark vs TeacherEaseThinkWave
A budget-friendly cloud SIS with gradebooks, report cards, and transcripts — plus a free single-teacher gradebook.
Why it's on this list: Budget academics with report cards and transcripts included from about $17/month, no school minimum and no demo required.
Best for: Schools on the tightest budgets that mainly need academics: gradebook, report cards, transcripts.
At 25 students: Tiered — from ~$17/mo · at 100: Tiered by enrollment
Full comparison: Pearspark vs ThinkWaveQuickSchools
A full K-12 SIS with the cheapest published per-student rate in this comparison — and a 30-student minimum underneath it.
Why it's on this list: A full SIS at comparable per-student cost ($1.49/month with report cards and the portal) that adds admissions and fee tracking — 30-student minimum.
Best for: Schools of 40 students and up that want a conventional SIS at the lowest published per-student rate and don't mind that report cards and the parent portal sit one tier up.
At 25 students: $29.70/mo Gaia · $44.70 Apollo (30-student minimum) · at 100: $99/mo Gaia · $149 Apollo
Full comparison: Pearspark vs QuickSchoolsGradelink
A well-established student information system popular with private and faith-based schools.
Why it's on this list: The full-SIS upgrade with mature academics and an add-on ecosystem, tiers from $121/month plus $275 setup.
Best for: Private schools of 75–400 students that want a mature, widely used SIS.
At 25 students: $121/mo + $275 setup (≤50 tier) · at 100: $164/mo + $275 setup (51–100 tier)
Full comparison: Pearspark vs GradelinkJupiter Ed earns real loyalty from teachers — rubrics, weighting and dropped scores in one fast grading screen, at roughly $7–10 per student per year. Schools go looking elsewhere when they need the school around the gradebook: operations like admissions, a library, volunteers and printable transcripts are thin or absent, the ~$500/year school minimum makes tiny schools pay mid-size prices, and exact quotes come via a demo.
The alternatives either bundle the whole school operation or compete directly on academics-first strength.
Why schools look for a Jupiter alternative
- A ~$500/year school minimum — a 15-student school pays mid-size prices
- Gradebook/LMS core — thin on operations like library, volunteers or equipment
- Final pricing requires a demo conversation
Each point is sourced on the full Pearspark vs Jupiter comparison.
What each costs at small-school sizes
| System | 25 students | 50 students | 100 students | What the price includes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pearspark (ours) | $62.50/mo | $125/mo | $250/mo | Everything in one plan: records, attendance, gradebook, standards-based grading, report cards, transcripts, admissions, scheduling, tuition billing with family autopay, lending library, equipment booking, volunteer check-in, messaging, and an installable parent app with push notifications. No setup fee, no contract. No fundraising CRM, no subsidy billing, and no SMS broadcast — announcements reach families as push notifications and email instead. |
| TeacherEase | ≈$44–73/mo (3–5 teachers) | ≈$73–117/mo (5–8 teachers) | ≈$117–176/mo (8–12 teachers) | Per teacher, for the standards-based gradebook and learning platform; admin accounts about two-thirds of the teacher rate and parent/student accounts free. Report cards are a separate purchase, storage past 500MB is $1/GB/year, and subscriptions run through summer without pausing. |
| ThinkWave | Tiered — from ~$17/mo | Tiered by enrollment | Tiered by enrollment | An all-inclusive license by enrollment band — gradebook, report cards, transcripts, attendance, scheduling and the parent portal, with no higher tier to buy. No admissions pipeline, lending library, equipment booking or volunteer tooling exists to add. No setup fees or contracts. |
| QuickSchools | $29.70/mo Gaia · $44.70 Apollo (30-student minimum) | $49.50/mo Gaia · $74.50 Apollo | $99/mo Gaia · $149 Apollo | Gaia ($0.99): records, attendance, admissions, fee tracking, reports. Apollo ($1.49) adds report cards, gradebook, transcripts and the parent and student portals; scheduling and lesson plans are $2.99 Athena. 30-student minimum; text and voice carry telco charges. |
| Gradelink | $121/mo + $275 setup (≤50 tier) | $121/mo + $275 setup (≤50 tier) | $164/mo + $275 setup (51–100 tier) | The SIS: records, attendance, gradebook, standards-based and traditional grading, report cards, scheduling, tuition. Online enrollment (EnrollMe, $20.83/mo + $497 setup) and SmartSend Pro ($16.67/mo) are add-ons, over a $275 one-time setup fee. |
| Staying with Jupiter | ≈$42/mo ($500/yr minimum) | ≈$42/mo ($500/yr minimum) | ≈$58–83/mo ($7–10/student/yr) | The gradebook and LMS core with parent and student access, over a ~$500/school/year minimum. Operations — library, volunteers, equipment — aren't part of it, and a final number comes via a demo. |
Vendor list pricing as of July 2026 — see sources below. Always confirm current pricing with the vendor.
When staying with Jupiter is the right call
If the teacher gradebook is the product you're really buying, Jupiter's case is strong — rubrics, weighting and dropped scores in one grading screen, at a low per-student cost past 60 students. If your school also needs admissions, a library, volunteers, and printable transcripts in the same login, that's the rest of the platform Pearspark exists to provide.
The ranking above is for the schools that answer does not cover.
Common questions
What is the best Jupiter Ed alternative for a full school system?
Pearspark, Gradelink and QuickSchools all wrap real SIS operations — admissions, records, scheduling, billing — around the gradebook. Pearspark publishes everything-included pricing ($50/month with 20 students); Gradelink brings the longest track record; QuickSchools the lowest rate. None of the three matches Jupiter on dropped scores and its rubric-first grading screen — if that's essential, some schools keep Jupiter for grading alongside a system of record.
Is Jupiter Ed's minimum really $500/year?
Its published starting point is roughly $500 per school per year (about $42/month), with per-student rates around $7–10/year and exact quotes via demo. For a 15-student school that works out near $2.80/student/month — more per student than Pearspark's marginal rate. At 60+ students Jupiter's per-student cost drops well below most alternatives.
Can I import Jupiter gradebooks elsewhere?
Yes — export a class gradebook as a CSV matrix, and Pearspark's per-class import creates the assignments and grades with a preview of unmatched students before saving.
See Pearspark for yourself
Every task is on video — one minute each — and your first 30 days are free. No sales call.
Support: email support answered by a person is included with every plan, along with how-to videos and guides — there are no paid support tiers.
Sources
- Jupiter Ed
- Jupiter SIS features (records, reports, state reporting)
- Capterra: Jupiter
- TeacherEase pricing
- Capterra: TeacherEase
- TeacherEase Online Registration guide
- Reports in SchoolInsight (official PDF)
- ThinkWave pricing
- ThinkWave support docs (every admin screen, setup option and report)
- ThinkWave's own 2026 buyer's guide
- Capterra: ThinkWave Educator (gradebook edition)
- QuickSchools pricing
- QuickSchools Report Creator
- Gradelink pricing plans
- Capterra: Gradelink pricing
- Gradelink features (module list)
- Gradelink reports list (140+)
- Gradelink: Service Hours Reporting
Last reviewed July 2026. Spotted something out of date? Email us and we'll fix it.