Lazarus vs. Spark
Spark is a low-cost all-in-one for microschools.Lazarus is a specialist for enrollment and tuition.
Spark is the closest thing to us in size and spirit: built for microschools, hybrid homeschools, and co-ops, with an SIS, gradebooks, and billing at a small-school price. If you want one cheap tool for everything, it's a real option. If your front office is where the pain is, you want the one that puts all its attention there.
Details checked October 2026, from each company's own pages.
Spark's own site describes software for microschools, hybrid homeschools, private schools, and co-ops, with student information, attendance, gradebooks, classrooms, forms, communications, enrollment, and billing. Plans run from $2.99 a month for up to three students to $34.99 a month for up to 25 students, plus $1.49 for each additional student. Enrollment, forms, billing, and online payments are on the Microschool plan.
Pick Spark if
- You want a gradebook, attendance, and classrooms in the same tool.
- You run a small microschool or co-op and the lowest sticker price wins.
- You're a homeschool family or tutor on a plan for a few students.
Pick Lazarus if
- Enrollment is your busy season and you want it free: applications cost nothing on Lazarus.
- You run a private, charter, or faith-based school and need tuition plans for every family.
- You want a school website, event registration, and an AI assistant that knows your records.
Side by side
Lazarus and Spark, line by line
| Feature | Lazarus | Spark |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Private, charter, and faith-based K-12 schools, co-ops, and microschools. | Microschools, hybrid homeschools, private schools, co-ops, tutors, and homeschool families. |
| Student information, gradebook, attendance | No. No gradebook, attendance, or transcripts. | Yes: from the Homeschool plan up. |
| Online enrollment applications | Yes, on the free plan. One application per household, with review workflows. | Yes: Enrollment and Forms are on the $34.99 Microschool plan. |
| Tuition billing | Yes, from Basic. Tuition plans generated for every family, sibling discounts, autopay, one-link checkout. | Yes, on the Microschool plan: installment plans, custom invoices, discounts on line items or whole invoices. |
| Payment processing | Stripe: 2.9% + 30¢ cards, 0.8% ACH capped at $5. Pass through to families or absorb. | Stripe. Spark adds no transaction fee; you or your payers cover Stripe's. |
| Event registration, school website, AI assistant | Yes: events on every plan, websites and Lazzie on Premium. | Not listed on their pricing page. |
| Price | Free, $3, or $6 per active student per month. | $34.99 a month covers up to 25 students, then $1.49 each, with a 30-day trial. |
| Contract | Cancel any time. | Not stated on their pricing page. |
On sticker price, Spark is cheaper for billing. At 100 students that's about $147 a month on Spark's Microschool plan against $300 on Lazarus Basic. Where Lazarus costs nothing is enrollment: applications are free, while Spark's enrollment starts at $34.99 a month. Spark's price also includes the SIS and gradebook that we don't offer.
Where Spark wins
Price and breadth. For a small microschool, $34.99 a month for enrollment, billing, attendance, and gradebooks is hard to beat, and we'd rather say so than have you find out. If you need grades and classrooms in the same tool, Spark has them and we don't.
Where we pull ahead
Enrollment and tuition, designed as one system. Household applications, review workflows, tuition plans built for every family, one-link checkout, free events, websites, and Lazzie all share one set of records. And since we're building toward the rest of what Spark does, you're choosing the team that's moving fastest, not just the longest feature list today.
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 Spark?
For enrollment applications, tuition billing, events, and school websites, yes. Spark is an all-in-one for microschools and homeschools that also includes a student information system, gradebooks, and attendance, which Lazarus doesn't offer.
How much does Spark cost compared to Lazarus?
Spark lists $2.99 a month for up to three students, $6.99 for the Homeschool plan, and $34.99 a month for up to 25 students on the Microschool plan, plus $1.49 per additional student. Lazarus is free to collect applications, then $3 per active student per month for billing and events.
Does Spark include enrollment and billing?
Yes, on its $34.99 Microschool plan. Spark lists Enrollment, Forms, Billing, and Online Payments there, with payments processed through Stripe.
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. Procare, 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.