6 Questions for After-School Registration Software (Ep. 23)

Episode 23 · June 22, 2026 · Solo episode

I evaluate registration software from the operator's seat with six questions. Who was it built for? What happens after a family pays? What does it cost at my volume? Who owns the family relationship? How long until I'm live? Can I leave? The right tool is the one built for your business model at your stage. No platform is best for everyone.

Listen or watch: Spotify · YouTube · Apple Podcasts

In this episode of The Youth Enrichment Leader, Best Registration Software for After-School Programs, I go through ten options one at a time: Sawyer, Jumbula, CourseStorm, Jackrabbit Class, ActivityHero, iClassPro, Amilia, Regpack, Mindbody, and the do-it-yourself stack of a Google Form plus a payment app. Then I add enrops as a bonus, bias stated, because my team built it.

One note before you press play. I recorded this in June 2026, and several companies have changed their prices since. Check each company's pricing page, or our side-by-side pages on compare. What holds up is the method, so that's what I wrote down here.

What questions should I ask about any registration platform?

1. Who was it built for?
2. What happens after a family pays?
3. What does it cost at my volume, and at double?
4. Who owns the family relationship?
5. How long until my first registration is live?
6. What does it take to leave?

Why does "who was it built for" come first?

Because every tool on my list serves its main customer very well, and everyone else works around it. Most of the "cons" I found were really one thing: the tool was built for somebody else. I'm not here to drag anybody's business.

Companies tell you who they serve. Jackrabbit Class says "gyms, swim schools, and studios" (jackrabbitclass.com/pricing, checked September 17, 2026). Regpack says it is "Built for programs, camps, courses" (regpacks.com/pricing, checked September 17, 2026). Read that line first.

Then name your own model. If families come to your building and pay monthly tuition, you're fixed-location. If you carry bins into schools, parks and community centers, you're mobile, like Journey to STEAM. A mobile business needs a roster at every site, schedules that follow each school's calendar, and a school partner who gets the list.

What happens after a family pays?

This is where tools separate. Most do the intake well: a form, a payment, a confirmation. Then the week starts. Who is on Tuesday's list at each site? Can you pull every roster for the term at once, or one class at a time? Does the instructor have the list? Does the front office?

My rule from the episode: if a tool covers 60% of what I need, I still do nearly all of the work, and I pay for more tools to cover the rest. Ask to see the day after registration, live.

What does registration software really cost at my volume?

Usually two numbers stacked: a monthly plan, plus a percentage or a flat amount on every registration. Card processing is separate. Do the math for your calendar.

An example with made-up plans. You run summer camps only and take in $40,000 in registrations between March and June. Plan A is $99 a month on an annual term: 12 x $99 = $1,188, and eight of those months you register nobody. Plan B has no monthly price and takes 2%: 0.02 x $40,000 = $800. Plan B wins by $388. Now run year-round at $150,000. Plan A is still $1,188. Plan B is $3,000. The ranking flips.

Run the same math on us. enrops is free for businesses. Families pay the enrops service fee, included in the price they see first: 3% by card or 2% when they pay by bank, per registration, with a $1.99 minimum and a maximum of $14.99 by card or $9.99 by bank. On a $240 program paid by card, the fee is $7.20 and the family pays $247.20. Stripe's processing is $7.47, and you net $232.53. You pay enrops $0 per registration. Your only cost is Stripe's standard processing. The fee is refunded to the family whenever the registration is refunded. Pro is $99 a month when you want the time-saving automations. Everything is on pricing.

Should my registration tool also be a marketplace?

Only if it sends you families you wouldn't have reached, at a commission you'd pay for an ad. I listed Journey to STEAM on a marketplace early on. Setup took real time. I tracked the visits it sent. In my metro area, they did not turn into registrations.

Two things to check. First, the commission. Sawyer, for example, publishes 30% on marketplace orders on its entry plan, where listing is required, and lower opt-in rates on its higher plans (hisawyer.com/for-business/pricing, checked September 17, 2026). Second, the relationship. On a marketplace, a family who arrived through your program can be shown other programs. That's the model doing its job. The full breakdown is in should you list your kids program on a marketplace?

What would I choose at each stage?

• Year one, solo, one to three sites. A form plus a payment app is a real option. You pay in time: matching payments to names and copying rosters by hand. It breaks the day you hire a second instructor. More in Google Forms and Venmo for class signups.
• Families come to your building. Start with tools whose "built for" line names your kind of studio, and check how they handle recurring tuition.
• Mobile, several sites, a team. You need the day after registration as much as the checkout. This is the business I run. I couldn't find a tool built for it, so we built enrops inside Journey to STEAM.

I'll hold enrops to the same questions. It's the newest name on my list. It has no marketplace, by design. Registration, payments, payment plans, waivers, school-calendar schedules and rosters with a live enrolled count are live and self-serve, and your first registration can be live in under 5 minutes. Instructor assignments and roster sends to partner sites are set up with our team. The page for this audience is enrops for after-school programs.

Who should listen to this episode?

Anyone choosing a first platform or thinking about switching. It's 47 minutes, one platform at a time, so you can skip to your shortlist.

Listen or watch: Spotify · YouTube · Apple Podcasts

Frequently asked questions

What is the best registration software for after-school programs?

The one built for programs that run at schools, priced for your season, that handles the day after registration. Run the six questions on every name on your shortlist, enrops included.

What should I ask on a demo?

Ask to see your own scenario run live. The seven questions I use are in after-school software demo questions.

How long should switching take?

Ask every vendor for their time to a first live registration, in writing. Then test one program at one site before you move everything.

Create your first registration. Free for businesses. Live in under 5 minutes. Or click through a sample registration first.

Arielle Hammond, Ed.D. is the founder of enrops and host of The Youth Enrichment Leader, presented by enrops.