Lazarus vs. Procare
Procare runs a childcare center.Lazarus runs a school's front office.
Procare has been around since 1992 and is built for daycares, preschools, and before- and after-school programs. Lazarus is built for K-12 private, charter, and faith-based schools, and every release is about getting families enrolled and tuition collected. They overlap on billing, and not much else.
Details checked October 2026, from each company's own pages.
According to its Capterra listing, Procare serves daycares, preschools, childcare centers, before and after school programs, enrichment programs, youth organizations, and camps. Billing and invoicing, attendance, check-in and check-out, daily reports, and class scheduling are the features named there. Pricing is available on request.
Pick Procare if
- You run a daycare, preschool, or before- and after-care program.
- You need attendance, check-in and check-out, and daily reports.
- You want a long-established childcare-specific vendor.
Pick Lazarus if
- You run a private, charter, or faith-based K-12 school or a co-op.
- Applications, re-enrollment, and a tuition year are your busy seasons.
- You want to start free and be live without a long implementation.
Side by side
Lazarus and Procare, line by line
| Feature | Lazarus | Procare |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Private, charter, and faith-based K-12 schools, co-ops, and microschools. | Daycares, preschools, childcare centers, afterschool programs, and camps. |
| Tuition billing and invoicing | Yes, from the Basic plan. Tuition plans, sibling discounts, autopay, refunds. | Yes: billing and invoicing. |
| Online enrollment applications | Yes. Free to use. One application per household, with review workflows. | Ask Procare. We couldn't confirm it from public listings. |
| Attendance, check-in, and daily reports | No. | Yes. |
| Event registration | Yes. Free events on every plan. | Not listed in public summaries. |
| Published pricing | Yes. Free, $3, and $6 per active student per month. | No. Available on request. |
| Cancel any time | Yes. You're never locked in. | Not published. |
Procare doesn't publish prices; review sites say it's flat-rate and quoted on request. Lazarus is free to collect applications and $3 per active student per month for billing.
Where Procare wins
Childcare operations: attendance, check-in and out, daily reports, and class scheduling, from a vendor that's been doing it since 1992. If that's your world, it's the more natural fit.
Where we pull ahead
Everything a school's front office does around enrollment and tuition: household applications, review workflows, tuition plans, sibling discounts, one-link family checkout, and events. That's all we work on, so it shows.
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 Procare?
For private, charter, and faith-based K-12 schools, yes. Procare is built for childcare centers and similar programs. Lazarus focuses on enrollment applications, tuition billing, households, and events for schools.
How much does Procare cost compared to Lazarus?
Procare doesn't publish pricing; review sites say it's available on request. Lazarus publishes its prices: applications are free and billing and events start at $3 per active student per month.
Does Lazarus have attendance or check-in like Procare?
No. Lazarus doesn't handle attendance, check-in and check-out, or daily reports. It's designed for a school's enrollment and tuition work.
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. FACTS, Lazarus vs. Blackbaud, Lazarus vs. Sycamore, Lazarus vs. Brightwheel, 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.