Financial Management
School Management
Subscription Billing
Preschool and Childcare Billing Software: Tuition, Subsidies and Autopay
Last updated: October 8, 2026 · Independent buyer’s guide · We do not sell rankings or coverage.
Preschool billing software creates recurring tuition charges for each family, collects them by autopay, applies sibling discounts and late fees, tracks state subsidy (CCAP) payments separately from family copays, and produces family statements and year-end tax receipts. The main US options, including Procare, brightwheel, Playground, Famly, iCare and MyKidReports, bundle billing with attendance and differ most on subsidy handling, QuickBooks connections and whether they publish a price.
Key takeaways
- Subsidy handling separates the products: look for a separate agency ledger, a copay split and an attendance upload to your state.
- The federal CCDF rule changed on July 13, 2026. States may now pay providers by reimbursement instead of in advance, but must pay within 21 days of a complete invoice.
- Year-end tax statements should show only what the family paid, with your TIN on the page. The 2026 dependent care FSA limit is $7,500 and the maximum credit rate rose to 50%.
- “QuickBooks integration” means different things. Procare documents a live sync with QuickBooks Online, illumine introduced one in June 2026, and brightwheel and Playground use report exports.
- Famly, iCare, MyKidReports and DailyConnect publish prices. Procare, brightwheel, Playground, Lillio, Kangarootime and illumine quote privately.
How preschool billing works, and where it goes wrong
Most centers bill tuition weekly or monthly from a rate tied to the child’s age group and schedule, then add registration and supply fees, sibling discounts and one-off charges such as late pickup. Families pay by card or ACH, ideally on autopay, and balances unpaid after a grace period attract a late fee.
Subsidized children add a second payer. Under a state Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), funded by the federal Child Care and Development Fund, the agency pays part of the rate and the family a copay. You submit attendance to the state and reconcile the remittance. Missouri’s KinderConnect guide describes providers submitting attendance “to the state agency for invoicing” and then viewing remittance details (Missouri KinderConnect overview, no date shown).
The rules behind that payment just changed. HHS’s “Restoring Flexibility in the Child Care and Development Fund” final rule, effective July 13, 2026, removes the 2024 requirement that states pay providers in advance and based on enrollment. States may now pay prospectively or by reimbursement, but must pay within 21 calendar days of receiving a complete invoice. The same rule removes the federal 7% cap on family copayments, though states may keep it (Federal Register, May 12, 2026). Expect payment timing and copays in your state to change.
Billing tends to break in four places:
- Mixed-payer accounts. If agency and family money sit on one balance, you cannot tell whether a shortfall is a late copay or a short agency payment.
- Failed autopay. Without retries and alerts, a declined card becomes a two-month balance.
- Year-end statements. Including agency payments or omitting your TIN causes problems at tax time.
- Bookkeeping handoff. One lump deposit in QuickBooks hides tuition, fees and subsidy income.
What the tax rules mean for your family statements
Parents who claim the Child and Dependent Care Credit must report each provider’s name, address and taxpayer identification number on Form 2441, plus the amount they paid. The credit can be disallowed without correct provider information, which the IRS suggests collecting on Form W-10 or another listed source (IRS, Instructions for Form 2441 (2025), April 30, 2026; IRS, About Form W-10, April 29, 2026).
Beginning with tax year 2026, the maximum credit rate increases from 35% to 50% of qualifying expenses, still capped at $3,000 of expenses for one child and $6,000 for two or more (IRS, October 2, 2026). Employees can also exclude up to $7,500 of dependent care assistance in 2026, up from $5,000 in 2025 (IRS Publication 15-B (2026), no date shown). Your software should produce statements by payer and date range, showing your legal name, address and EIN, and excluding subsidy payments the family did not make.
How software handles preschool billing
You will meet three kinds of product. All-in-one childcare platforms put billing next to enrollment, attendance and parent messaging, so attendance can drive subsidy claims. General invoicing tools such as QuickBooks Online can bill recurring tuition but know nothing about children, copays or attendance. Payment processors such as Stripe sit underneath most platforms, and the platform usually chooses the processor.
Procare (now including Playground)
Procare’s capabilities page lists agency payment tracking for programs such as DHS, DCFS and Head Start, sibling discounts, late fees as a percentage or fixed amount, customer statements, and monthly and year-end tax statements (Procare, no date shown). Its help center documents a QuickBooks Online connection that syncs invoices and payments in real time. Limits: payments are not matched to specific invoices, so only exact-amount payments reconcile automatically, and QuickBooks Desktop is not supported (Procare help center, no date shown). Pricing is quote-only (Procare, no date shown).
Procare also bought Playground. Manatt, which advised Playground, announced the sale on September 22, 2026, describing Procare as serving more than 40,000 centers (Manatt, September 22, 2026). Ask about the combined roadmap.
Playground
In Playground, automatic late fees (in beta, enabled by support) can be flat or a percentage, with a grace period in days, a minimum overdue amount, and a per-student or per-family setting; fees wait in an approval queue before posting (Playground, no date shown). Subsidy money sits on its own agency ledger, and you choose whether the copay is subtracted from the agency rate or added on top (Playground, May 27, 2026). It uploads attendance to subsidy systems in Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, New York, Texas and Virginia (Playground, August 21, 2026). Tax statements print your TIN and list payments by date and method (Playground, April 16, 2026). QuickBooks is an export: you tag charges with GL codes and upload a Grouped Ledger file into QuickBooks (Playground, no date shown). Pricing is not published.
brightwheel
brightwheel’s billing page describes autopay, one-time late fees, a Subsidy Dashboard showing balances by agency and student, and tax statements that families can download themselves. Programs can pass card and ACH fees to parents. QuickBooks Online is handled by downloading billing reports and importing them manually (brightwheel, no date shown). Its preschool page adds sibling discounts and separate CCAP payment logging (brightwheel, no date shown). Year-end statements are generated per payer (brightwheel help, January 29, 2026). Pricing is custom and quoted after a form (brightwheel, no date shown).
Famly
Famly’s US pricing page displays $49 per month, and its structured data lists $49 for up to 30 children, $79 for 30-50, $99 for 50-70, $119 for 70-100, $139 for 100-150, $159 for 150-200 and $179 above 200 (Famly, no date shown). Billing includes auto payments and parent tax statements. Subsidies appear as fixed deductions on the parent’s invoice and must be enabled by support; the agency side is reconciled from reports rather than billed as a separate ledger (Famly help, April 20, 2026). Famly sends attendance to KinderConnect in Virginia, Texas, New York, Missouri and Louisiana (Famly help, no date shown). We found no documented QuickBooks connection.
iCare
iCare publishes per-location monthly pricing: $129 for a center under 70 children, $199 for 71-150 and $249 for 151-250, with 10% off for annual payment and multi-site discounts. A one-time implementation fee applies, and the amount is confirmed after a trial request (iCare, no date shown). Its site describes multi-child discounts, subsidies in its rate setup, subsidy audit records and passing processing fees to parents where state law allows (iCare, no date shown). It mentions accounting integrations generally but does not name QuickBooks on the pages we reviewed.
MyKidReports and DailyConnect
MyKidReports is free for up to five children and $0.99 per child per month on its Pro plan for 1-100 children. Pro includes autopay, split payments between two payers, sibling billing, failed-payment retry, subsidies and GL account mapping; processing fees apply at an unstated rate (MyKidReports, no date shown). Its bookkeeping page describes invoices split into family and subsidy shares, and automatic late fees (MyKidReports, no date shown). DailyConnect’s Professional plan is $16 per month billed annually with 10 children included, then $1.60 per child; its pricing page lists parent billing but not subsidy or tax statements (DailyConnect, no date shown).
illumine, Lillio and Kangarootime
illumine lists subsidy billing, tax statements and autopay on its US plans but publishes no prices (illumine, no date shown). Its QuickBooks Online sync, introduced in a help article dated June 29, 2026, does not yet handle credit notes, refunds, deposits, chargebacks or multiple payers (illumine help, June 29, 2026). Lillio and Kangarootime do not publish pricing, and we could not verify their subsidy, tax statement or QuickBooks details.
Comparison table
| Product | Published price (checked October 8, 2026) | Subsidy and tax statements (documented) | QuickBooks connection |
|---|---|---|---|
| Procare | Not published | Agency payment tracking; monthly and year-end tax statements | Live sync with QuickBooks Online; no Desktop |
| Playground (Procare) | Not published | Separate agency ledger; attendance upload in 8 states; tax statements with TIN | GL-coded file export and upload |
| brightwheel | Not published (custom quote) | Subsidy Dashboard by agency; per-payer tax statements | Report export, manual import |
| Famly | $49 to $179 per month by enrollment band | Fixed subsidy deductions; KinderConnect in 5 states; parent tax statements | None documented |
| iCare | $129 to $249 per location per month for centers, plus implementation fee | Subsidies in rate setup and audit records; tax statements not described | General accounting integrations; QuickBooks not named |
| MyKidReports | Free to 5 children; $0.99 per child per month | Family and subsidy share split on each invoice; tax statements not described | GL mapping; QuickBooks method not stated |
| illumine | Not published | Subsidy billing; tax statements | QuickBooks Online sync since June 2026, with gaps |
What it costs
For a single center, subscription fees are modest. The bigger variable is payment processing, which none of these vendors publishes as a rate on the pages we reviewed. Ask for card and ACH rates in writing, whether you can pass fees to families, and how quickly deposits land.
Illustration: annual subscription for a 60-child center. Excluding processing fees, list prices give about $713 on MyKidReports ($0.99 × 60 children × 12), $1,152 on DailyConnect ($16 plus 50 children at $1.60, times 12), $1,188 on Famly (the 50-70 band at $99 per month) and $1,393 on iCare ($129 per month less the 10% annual discount), plus iCare’s implementation fee.
Worked example: one family’s month
Illustration only; your rates, state rules and policies will differ. The Rivera family has two children at your center. Maya, a toddler, is private pay at $1,350 per month. Leo, a preschooler, is CCAP-authorized. Your private preschool rate is $1,150, the state pays $980, and the family’s assessed copay is $120. Your sibling discount is 10% off a second child’s private tuition, and late fees are $25 after five days.
| Line | Family ledger | Agency ledger | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maya tuition | $1,350 | – | Autopay on the 1st |
| Leo state payment | – | $980 | Claimed from attendance |
| Leo copay | $120 | – | Set by the state |
| Sibling discount | $0 | – | Policy excludes subsidized children |
| Total | $1,470 | $980 | Two balances, two payers |
Your software has to express three decisions here. First, a sibling discount applied to Leo’s $1,150 rate would give away $115 that nobody owes you. Second, whether you may bill the family the $170 gap between your private rate and the state rate depends on your state’s CCAP policy and provider agreement. Third, if Maya’s autopay fails, a per-family late fee should post once, not once per child.
At year end, the Rivera statement should show $1,470 a month in family payments, or $17,640 for a full year, and none of the $11,760 the agency paid. A short agency deposit should appear as an agency balance, not a past-due notice to the family.
Our independent take
If many of your children are subsidized, rank subsidy handling above price. Playground documents the most complete subsidy workflow we found, but its future depends on Procare’s plans after the acquisition. For QuickBooks Online users, Procare and illumine document live syncs.
For small, mostly private-pay programs, the published-price products (Famly, MyKidReports, DailyConnect and iCare) let you budget before a sales call; confirm processing rates and how data reaches QuickBooks. We name no overall winner; your subsidy mix and state attendance system decide it.
Three buyer scenarios
A 45-child private-pay preschool with one director. You need autopay, a sibling discount and clean year-end statements. A published-price product such as Famly or MyKidReports covers this. Our guide to free small-business accounting software covers the books side if you are not yet on QuickBooks.
A 120-child center where 40% of children are on CCAP in Texas or Virginia. Shortlist products that document an upload for your state, such as Playground or Famly, and ask to see a short agency remittance reconciled in the demo.
A three-site operator with an outside bookkeeper on QuickBooks Online. The bookkeeping handoff is your main risk. Ask whether the product syncs by family or posts summaries, how it maps tuition, fees and subsidy income, and how refunds flow. Procare and illumine document live syncs; brightwheel and Playground rely on exports. If you are weighing a different ledger, see our review of QuickBooks alternatives, and if your preschool is a nonprofit, our nonprofit accounting software guide.
When you do not need dedicated software
A small program with one flat rate and no subsidized children can bill with recurring invoices in an accounting package and card or ACH payments through its processor. Our guide to automating recurring invoicing shows how. That approach breaks once you take CCAP children or bill by attendance.
How we researched this
On October 8, 2026, we reviewed vendor pricing pages and help-center articles for Procare, Playground, brightwheel, Famly, iCare, MyKidReports, DailyConnect, illumine, Lillio and Kangarootime, along with the Federal Register CCDF rule and IRS guidance. We also read the top-ranking pages for this topic, most published by vendors that rank themselves first. We report only publicly documented capabilities and label constructed figures as illustrations. No vendor paid for inclusion or reviewed this article.
Related guides
- Childcare Accounting Software: Tuition, Subsidies, CACFP
- Tuition Management Software: Pricing and Fees (2026)
- Student Billing Software for Colleges: A Buyer’s Guide
Frequently asked questions
How much does preschool billing software cost?
Published prices range from free for very small programs (MyKidReports, up to five children) to about $49 to $249 per month for a single center on Famly or iCare, as of October 8, 2026. Procare, brightwheel and Playground quote privately, and processing fees are extra.
Can childcare billing software bill the state for CCAP children?
Most platforms track agency payments separately from family copays, but fewer submit attendance directly to the state. Playground documents uploads in eight states, and Famly in five through KinderConnect. Elsewhere you enter attendance in the state portal and reconcile in the software.
What should a childcare year-end tax statement include?
It should show your legal name, address and taxpayer identification number, plus the total the family paid for the year, because parents report those details on IRS Form 2441. It should exclude amounts paid by a subsidy agency.
Does brightwheel or Procare sync with QuickBooks?
Procare documents a real-time sync of invoices and payments with QuickBooks Online, but not QuickBooks Desktop. brightwheel describes downloading billing reports and importing them into QuickBooks Online manually.
Can I charge late fees automatically?
Yes, on several platforms. Playground supports flat or percentage late fees with a grace period and a per-family option, held for your approval before posting, and Procare and MyKidReports document late fee features.
Sources
- Federal Register: Restoring Flexibility in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), May 12, 2026 (effective July 13, 2026)
- IRS: One, Big, Beautiful Bill provisions, October 2, 2026
- IRS: Instructions for Form 2441 (2025), April 30, 2026
- IRS: About Form W-10, April 29, 2026
- IRS: Publication 15-B (2026), no date shown
- Missouri KinderConnect overview, no date shown
- Manatt: Manatt Represents Playground in Sale to Procare Solutions, September 22, 2026 (Playground’s legal adviser)
- Procare: Child Care Accounting and Bookkeeping Software, no date shown (vendor)
- Procare help: Integrating with QuickBooks Online, no date shown (vendor)
- Procare: Pricing, no date shown (vendor)
- Playground help: Late Charges for Overdue Payments, no date shown (vendor)
- Playground help: Lay the Groundwork for Subsidy Tracking, May 27, 2026 (vendor)
- Playground help: Manage and Submit Subsidy Attendance Data, August 21, 2026 (vendor)
- Playground help: Understand and Generate Tax Billing Statements, April 16, 2026 (vendor)
- Playground help: Reporting for QuickBooks, no date shown (vendor)
- brightwheel: Billing, no date shown (vendor)
- brightwheel: Billing and Payments for Preschools, no date shown (vendor)
- brightwheel help: Tax Season Reporting for Providers, January 29, 2026 (vendor)
- brightwheel: Pricing, no date shown (vendor)
- Famly: US Pricing, no date shown (vendor)
- Famly help: Applying Subsidies to Children’s Profiles, April 20, 2026 (vendor)
- Famly help: KinderConnect Integration, no date shown (vendor)
- iCare: Pricing, no date shown (vendor)
- iCare: Home page billing features, no date shown (vendor)
- MyKidReports: Pricing, no date shown (vendor)
- MyKidReports: For Bookkeepers, no date shown (vendor)
- DailyConnect: Pricing, no date shown (vendor)
- illumine: US Pricing, no date shown (vendor)
- illumine help: QuickBooks Online Integration, June 29, 2026 (vendor)
Sherman Hsieh
Independent analysis of enterprise software — ERP, CRM and more
