Free school management software compared: what each option really includes
Updated 6 min read
"Free" means three different things in school software: a free plan someone else hosts, open-source code you run yourself, and a trial that ends. Each suits a different school. Here is what the options schools weigh up most actually include, from each vendor's own pages, and how to choose between them. SchoolEasy is one of them, and we make it; it is labelled as ours.
Hosted or self-hosted: decide this first
A hosted free plan works the day you sign up: the vendor runs the servers, backs them up and installs updates. The price is a limit, usually on students or features, and paying when you outgrow it.
Self-hosted open-source software has no student limit and no licence fee, but someone has to install it on a server, keep it updated and secure, take backups and fix it when it breaks. For a school without an IT person, that cost is real even if the software is free.
A free trial is neither: it is the paid product for 14 or 15 days. It is useful for testing, not for running a school.
The free options, side by side
As each vendor describes its own offer. Plans change, so check their pages before deciding.
SchoolEasy Free (ours)
- Who runs it
- SchoolEasy, hosted
- Free limit
- Up to 300 students and one campus; no time limit, no card
- What is free
- Attendance, timetable, exams, report cards, assignments, notices, and parent, student and staff accounts
Gurukul Foundation
- Who runs it
- Gurukul, hosted
- Free limit
- 50 students, 3 staff and 20 AI questions; no time limit, no card
- What is free
- Every module, within those limits
Veda Free
- Who runs it
- Veda, hosted
- Free limit
- No limits published
- What is free
- Student and staff records, notifications, calendar and routine; exams, attendance and billing are paid
Fedena (open source)
- Who runs it
- You, on your own server
- Free limit
- No student limit
- What is free
- The basic version's open-source code, last updated in May 2020; hosted plans are paid, from $999 a year
Gibbon
- Who runs it
- You, on your own server
- Free limit
- No student limit
- What is free
- Open-source software under the GPL, actively developed
OpenEduCat Community
- Who runs it
- You, on your own server
- Free limit
- No student limit
- What is free
- The open-source edition under the LGPL v3; Enterprise modules are paid, from $79 a year each
openSIS
- Who runs it
- openSIS, hosted
- Free limit
- A 15-day trial, no card
- What is free
- The hosted plans are paid per staff member; a community edition is published on GitHub to run yourself
Checked on each vendor's own website and, for Fedena and Gibbon, their GitHub repositories, on 28 October 2026.
What free plans usually leave out
Read the free tier for what is missing as much as for what is there. The parts most often held back for paid plans are:
- Fees: fee plans, receipts and online payment by parents
- Payroll and salary slips
- A school website and online admissions
- Support beyond help articles
- Students past a cap, or more than one campus
How to choose
Five questions settle it for most schools:
- How many students will you have next year, not today? A cap you will pass in six months is not free for long.
- Who will run it? With no IT person, choose a hosted plan; with one, open source becomes an option.
- What does your country need? A Bikram Sambat calendar, local grading or a local payment gateway such as eSewa, Khalti or Razorpay narrows the field quickly.
- Can you get your data out? Make sure students, marks and fees export to Excel at any time.
- Does it work with your real records? Enter one real class, its timetable and an exam before you commit.
Where SchoolEasy fits
SchoolEasy is hosted school management software built in Nepal and used by schools in other countries too. Its Free plan runs a school of up to 300 students on one campus, with no card and no time limit: registers, the timetable, exams, report cards, assignments and accounts for parents, students and staff.
It is not the right choice if you must host the software yourself, need online fee payment outside Nepal and India, or want an iPhone app today. For a large school that would rather pay one flat yearly price, a flat licence elsewhere can cost less than SchoolEasy's price per student.