Lazarus vs. FACTS
FACTS covers the whole school.We cover the part that's costing you families.
FACTS is the established default at a lot of private and faith-based schools, and it does nearly everything a school does. Lazarus does two things: enrollment and tuition. With all our attention on those, they work the way you'd want them to. Here's the honest side by side, including where FACTS is simply the better answer.
Details checked October 2026, from each company's own pages.
FACTS sells a connected suite: an SIS and academic layer (FACTS IQ), admissions tools, family communication, and financial products like payment plans and financial aid. Pricing isn't published; the site sends you to sales.
Pick FACTS if
- You need a student information system: grades, attendance, transcripts.
- You want financial aid, accounting, or fundraising in the same system.
- Your school is established and wants the incumbent with years of references.
Pick Lazarus if
- Enrollment and tuition payments are what's actually broken.
- You're a small school, co-op, or microschool with one part-time administrator.
- You'd like to know the price before you get on a call, and to leave when you want.
Side by side
Lazarus and FACTS, line by line
| Feature | Lazarus | FACTS |
|---|---|---|
| Student information system | No. No gradebook, attendance, or transcripts. | Yes, FACTS IQ. |
| Online enrollment applications | Yes. Free to use. One application per household. | Yes, through its admissions products. |
| Tuition billing and payment plans | Yes, from the Basic plan. Autopay, invoices, refunds. | Yes: payment plans, incidental billing, online payment collection. |
| Financial aid and accounting | No. | Yes. |
| Event registration | Yes. Free events on every plan. | Not listed on their product overview. |
| Published pricing | Yes. Free, $3, and $6 per active student per month. | No. Contact sales. |
| Setup help | Free onboarding on every plan, with help migrating your data. | Not published. |
| Cancel any time | Yes. You're never locked in. | Not published. |
FACTS doesn't publish prices, so we can't put a number next to theirs. Ask any vendor, us included, for the all-in first-year cost: subscription, setup, training, and payment fees.
Where FACTS wins
Breadth. If you need a gradebook, attendance, transcripts, financial aid, or accounting under one login, FACTS has them and we don't. It's also the name your board and your accreditor already know.
Where we pull ahead
Focus. Enrollment applications, one link per family, tuition plans, and autopay get our whole team's attention instead of a slice of it. You can be collecting applications the same day you sign up, and the free plan means you find out it works before you spend anything.
Why Lazarus
A small team with a lot of road behind it
We're small by choice. It's why we move the way we do, and why you get a partner who's done this kind of thing before instead of a vendor with a queue.
Systems, not features
Anyone can bolt on a button. We design how applications, households, billing, and events work together, so a family's information is entered once and every part of your school uses it.
Nimble on purpose
No committee and no quarterly roadmap to wait for. Dozens of changes ship every month, and when a school tells us what's missing, it gets built instead of logged.
Experience from outside the industry
We've spent our careers building products in fintech and search at scale, and running service businesses. We brought that know-how to an underserved industry to make software that's beautiful, functional, affordable, and intentional.
For the teacher who became a founder
Starting a school means wearing hats you've never worn: admissions director, billing clerk, webmaster. We know that feeling, and we built Lazarus so the move from teacher to school leader is as smooth and rewarding as it can be.
Need grades or attendance? Much of what the bigger systems offer is on our roadmap, and being small means we can build it fast, alongside the schools that need it first. Tell us what matters most.
Your questions, answered
Get quick answers to the most common questions about our platform and services.
See all questionsIs Lazarus an alternative to FACTS?
For enrollment applications and tuition billing, yes. For the rest of what FACTS does, such as an SIS, gradebook, attendance, financial aid, and accounting, no. Lazarus is built for schools where enrollment and payments are the part that's broken.
How much does FACTS cost compared to Lazarus?
FACTS doesn't publish pricing; its site directs you to sales. Lazarus publishes its prices: collecting applications is free, tuition billing and events start at $3 per active student per month, and a website plus the Lazzie AI assistant is $6.
Can I move from FACTS to Lazarus?
Yes, for the enrollment and billing side. Send us the reports or spreadsheets you use today and we'll migrate families, students, and billing data for you. Onboarding is free on every plan.
Sources, checked October 2026
We make Lazarus, so weigh this accordingly. If something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
Also compare: Lazarus vs. Blackbaud, Lazarus vs. Sycamore, Lazarus vs. Brightwheel, Lazarus vs. Procare, Lazarus vs. Spark, or see how we compare feature by feature.
See if it fits your school
Start free, collect applications today, and add billing when you're ready. Bring your spreadsheets and we'll help you move.