Every school management platform pretends its competition is other software. It mostly isn't. The system most tutoring centres and language schools actually run on is a Google Sheet for the timetable, an Excel file for the fees, WhatsApp for the parents, and the owner's memory for everything else.
And that stack is genuinely hard to beat on the two things people care about first: it's free, and everyone already knows how to use it. If software wants to replace it, it should have to earn the switch. Here's the comparison, run honestly.
Quick takeaway: Under roughly twenty students and three hours of weekly admin, a well-kept spreadsheet is the right tool and you should keep it. Above either number, the spreadsheet is already costing more than software would — you're just paying in evenings instead of euros.
Spreadsheets vs school management software
| Task | Spreadsheets + WhatsApp | School management software (Teach 'n Go) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | €69/month (up to 100 students) |
| Building the timetable | Manual grid; conflicts found when two classes turn up | Conflict detection blocks double-booking a teacher or room |
| A student joins mid-term | Recalculate fees by hand | Rolling enrolment with pro-rata billing |
| Class fills up | Nothing stops the 13th enrolment | Capacity enforced with a hard cap |
| Collecting fees | Chase by message, mark paid by hand | Invoices generated automatically, parents pay online |
| Who owes money right now? | Filter, sort, hope the sheet is current | One screen, always current |
| Parents checking attendance or grades | They message you; you check; you reply | They open the parent portal themselves |
| Reminders | You remember, or you don't | Automatic |
| Two people edit at once | Version chaos or overwrite | Single system, role-based access |
| A tutor leaves | They keep a copy of everything | Access revoked in one click |
| GDPR / data protection | Student data in personal Drive accounts and chat histories | One system, one place to secure, one place to delete from |
| Setup time | Zero — you have it already | An afternoon, plus data import |
The honest case for spreadsheets
If you run fewer than about twenty students with one or two teachers, a well-kept spreadsheet is probably the right tool. The failure modes that kill spreadsheets — double-bookings, missed payments, version conflicts, a parent asking a question whose answer lives in three different files — scale with student count and staff count. Below a certain size they just don't happen often enough to justify changing anything.
The spreadsheet also has one permanent advantage: total flexibility. No software will ever let you model something as weird as your school actually is with the freedom of an empty grid.
Where it breaks
The breaking point is rarely dramatic. It's cumulative. Three signals show up over and over in schools that eventually switch:
You've become the database
Parents message you to ask what they owe. Teachers message you to ask where their Tuesday class is. Every question routes through one person, and that person is you. The spreadsheet holds the data, but you are the interface — and you don't scale.
Money leaks
Not stolen — just unbilled. A student who joined in week four and never got a first invoice. A class that ran but wasn't recorded. Fee sheets and attendance sheets that don't reconcile, and no one has an afternoon to find out why. Schools switching to management software routinely discover revenue they were owed and had simply lost track of — the "uninvoiced" category exists in billing software because the problem is universal.
The Sunday admin block
Somewhere between twenty and fifty students, spreadsheet upkeep stops being minutes-per-day and becomes an evening per week: reconciling payments, updating the timetable, answering messages that the sheet was supposed to answer. Price that evening at anything reasonable and the software is cheaper than the spreadsheet.
What switching actually costs
Fairness demands the other column: the software isn't free and the migration isn't nothing. You'll pay a monthly fee (€69 at Teach 'n Go's entry band, and see our cost calculator for how platforms compare), you'll spend a few hours importing students and setting up classes, and your staff will grumble for a fortnight about the new thing. Some platforms also charge per lesson or take a percentage of payments, which spreadsheets never will — check the pricing model, not just the headline price.
The switch pays for itself when the admin hours it removes are worth more than the fee. For a school of twenty-plus students, that's nearly always true. For a school of eight, it may honestly not be.
A rule of thumb
Count two things: students, and hours per week spent on admin that isn't teaching. Under twenty students and under three hours, keep the spreadsheet with our blessing — revisit in a year. Over either number, the spreadsheet is already costing more than software would; you're just paying in evenings instead of euros.
Frequently asked questions
Can you run a tutoring school on spreadsheets?
Yes, and plenty of schools do. Below roughly twenty students with one or two teachers, a well-maintained spreadsheet for the timetable and fees is genuinely adequate — it's free, flexible, and everyone already knows how to use it. The problems that break spreadsheets scale with student and staff numbers, so they simply don't occur often enough at that size to justify switching.
When should a school switch from spreadsheets to management software?
Count two numbers: how many students you have, and how many hours a week you spend on admin that isn't teaching. Under twenty students and under three hours, keep the spreadsheet. Over either number, the admin time the software removes is usually worth more than the subscription costs.
What do spreadsheets actually cost a school?
Two things, neither of which appears on an invoice. The first is your evenings — reconciling payments, updating the timetable, and answering questions the sheet was supposed to answer. The second is unbilled revenue: the student who joined in week four and never got a first invoice, or the class that ran but was never recorded.
What does switching from spreadsheets to school software involve?
A monthly fee, a few hours of importing students and setting up classes, and a fortnight of staff grumbling about the new thing. Ask whether there's an import tool, whether onboarding help is included, and whether you can export everything back out again if you leave.
How much does school management software cost?
Teach 'n Go starts at €69/month, or $79 in USD, for up to 100 active students, with every feature included on every plan and a 14-day free trial that needs no credit card. Other platforms price per student or per student lesson, which changes the total considerably — our cost calculator compares six platforms on your own numbers.
Compare Teach 'n Go against other platforms
Honest, platform-by-platform breakdowns — and a calculator to run your own school's numbers.
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- Glossary — every term in school software, explained
- Free cost calculator — plug in your own numbers
Try Teach 'n Go free
Move one term's timetable and fees across and see the difference for yourself — 14-day free trial, no credit card required, with sample school data pre-loaded so you can explore straight away.
