Procare vs TUIO
Procare Solutions sells child care management software and processes the payments itself. TUIO is billing, enrollment and student records for schools and childcare centres in Canada and the United States.
Both run payment plans, take payments automatically and invoice families. They differ on who holds the money, what they cost, and what is included.
The short answer
Procare has been in child care software for over 30 years and is built, in its own words, “specifically for supporting child care centers, before and after school organizations and youth programs”. Billing is one part of it: the same product runs attendance and check-in, classroom management, staff scheduling, payroll, financial reporting and family engagement.
TUIO is one platform. Tuition management, enrollment, student records, communication and fundraising come together in TUIO Professional, and the same team answers the school and the parents.
Neither one sits on the money waiting for a remittance date. Procare says payments transfer “from each payer’s bank account or credit card (if applicable) directly to your account”, and describes itself as a first-party payment processor; its own footer states that “Procare Software is a registered ISO of PNC Bank, N.A., Pittsburgh, PA”. With TUIO the school is its own merchant of record, with its own banking relationship and its own settlement, so a family’s payment moves to the school’s own account. TUIO never holds the funds.
Procare advertises next-business-day funding with a footnote of its own attached: “Subject to bank funding and processing approvals”. TUIO payouts start at 5 business days for pre-authorized debit and 3 for cards, and a school can apply to move to next business day after three months of processing.
TUIO publishes its plan price and its bank-debit rate. TUIO Professional is $500 a year per location, in Canadian dollars for Canadian schools and US dollars for US schools, and bank debit is $0.75 per transaction.
What each one is
- Procare
Procare Solutions, of Denver, Colorado. Over 30 years in child care software.
Built, in its own words, “specifically for supporting child care centers, before and after school organizations and youth programs” — procaresoftware.com.
Billing sits inside a centre-management product that also covers attendance and check-in, classroom management, staff scheduling, payroll, financial reporting and family engagement.
Procare processes payments itself. It calls itself “a first-party payment processor”, and its site footer states “Procare Software is a registered ISO of PNC Bank, N.A., Pittsburgh, PA.”
Families pay by electronic funds transfer, online, through the child care mobile app, or in person on a card reader.
Its Capterra listing stands at 4.6 out of 5 from 2,809 reviews, with customer service scoring 4.6 and reviews running through 2026.
- TUIO
TUIO, of Toronto. Sold to independent and private schools, faith-based schools, Montessori schools, preschools and childcare centres, and public schools across Canada and the United States, in roughly equal numbers.
One platform: tuition management, enrollment and waitlists, communication, fundraising, student information forms, attendance, roles and permissions, GL exports and tax receipts.
Each school is its own merchant of record with its own settlement. TUIO never holds the funds.
Support runs 09:00 to 21:00 Monday to Friday and is unlimited, for school staff and for parents alike.
CRA and IRS tax receipts are produced by a school administrator from the records already in the system, so they can be edited and signed off before they go out.
Onboarding is one live hour with a TUIO specialist. Prices are published.
TUIO and Procare, side by side
| What | TUIO | Procare |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds the money between the family and the school | The school does. Each school is its own merchant of record, with its own banking relationship and its own settlement, so the money moves from the family to the school. TUIO never holds the funds. | Procare says payments transfer “from each payer’s bank account or credit card (if applicable) directly to your account”. It describes itself as a first-party payment processor, and its footer states “Procare Software is a registered ISO of PNC Bank, N.A., Pittsburgh, PA.” Procare payment processing |
| How soon the school is paid | Payouts start at 5 business days for pre-authorized debit and 3 for cards. After three months of processing with TUIO, you can apply to move to next business day. | “Funds typically made available to you by the next business day.” The asterisk Procare puts on that sentence reads “Subject to bank funding and processing approvals”. Cards and bank debit are given the same figure. Procare payment processing |
| What the school pays | TUIO Professional is $500 a year per location, billed in Canadian dollars for Canadian schools and US dollars for US schools, and bank debit is $0.75 per transaction. Schools choose whether to absorb transaction fees or pass them on, in full or in part, on both bank and card payments. | Not published. Procare’s payment page advertises “Zero contracts, set-up fees, per-child charges and more!” and asks centres to get in touch. Procare payment processing |
| How it is priced | TUIO Professional is $500 a year per location, with bank debit at $0.75 per transaction. Billing, enrollment, student records, attendance, communication and fundraising are included. | One bundled price, quoted rather than published. Procare says it “offers everything you need to manage your child care business for one low monthly price”, on a page that is itself a request-pricing form. Procare pricing |
| What a family pays | No annual per-family fee. Anything a family pays is a transaction fee the school has chosen to pass on, in full or in part. | Not published. Procare payment processing |
| What comes with it | TUIO Professional includes tuition management, enrollment and waitlists, communication, fundraising, student information forms, attendance and class management, roles and permissions, GL accounts and custom exports, and tax receipts. Nothing is sold as a separate module. | Billing sits inside a centre-management product that also covers attendance and check-in, classroom management, staff scheduling, payroll, financial reporting and family engagement. Procare payment processing |
| How families can pay | Pre-authorized debit in Canada, ACH in the United States, and credit or debit card. Families choose per payment plan. | Electronic funds transfer, credit and debit cards, payments through the child care mobile app, and card readers for taking payment in person at the centre. Procare payment processing |
| Getting started | One live hour with a TUIO specialist, who sets the school up and tailors it to the school’s fee schedules and forms. | Implementation is a staffed phase with an Implementation Manager, and it runs differently in each product. Procare Desktop is four scheduled calls with homework between them and the school keys in its own family and employee data. Procare Online tells the school “you must first attend the training webinars and start completing the Launch Guide steps listed below prior to your meeting with your Implementation Manager”. SchoolCare Works is the one Procare configures, alongside “Integrations (additional fees apply)”, and it publishes eight training sessions each estimated at 30 minutes to 1.5 hours. Procare says “Onboarding, staff training and data migration support are figured into your initial cost”, and a data conversion from a previous system into Desktop “takes 2-5 business days”. Procare Desktop Launch Guide Procare Online Launch Guide SchoolCare Works Kickoff Checklist Procare Desktop, Convert Data to Procare Procare, How much does Procare cost |
| Support, for staff and for families | 09:00 to 21:00 Monday to Friday, by phone, email, live chat or WhatsApp, and unlimited, for school staff and for parents. | Customer service is rated 4.6 out of 5 on Procare’s Capterra listing, across 2,809 reviews running through 2026. Capterra |
| Accounting | Custom reports, general ledger account mapping, and an export that imports into QuickBooks Online. The import runs through Saasant, a third-party tool billed separately from TUIO. A TUIO specialist sets up the ledger accounts and the first mapping with you. | Procare’s accounting export differs by product. Procare Online connects to QuickBooks Online and “will sync invoices and payments received in real time”, but Procare states that “We do not track payments against specific invoices in Procare, payments are received against the account balance”, so where a payment does not match an open invoice exactly it needs “manual ‘closing’ in QuickBooks”. Procare Desktop uses a separate add-on that writes a file imported to QuickBooks “as a journal entry” and is “NOT COMPATIBLE with any QuickBooks online edition”, and SchoolCare Works produces a QuickBooks general journal export report rather than a live connection. Procare Online, QuickBooks Online Procare Desktop, Using the QuickBooks Link SchoolCare Works, QuickBooks general journal export |
| Financial aid | Schools collect what they need on a TUIO form and apply the outcome to the family’s fees as a discount. | Procare records a scholarship as a discount rather than as an assessment. In Procare Desktop the school sets up a “Scholarship Credit” and puts it on a second line of the child’s billing box, so “with a partial scholarship the family will end up owing a reduced amount”. In SchoolCare Works it is a registration coupon, where “Scholarships allow parents the ability to enter a coupon code during the registration process in the Connect Portal”. No family application, means test or sliding-scale assessment is published. Procare Desktop, Scholarships SchoolCare Works, Setup Scholarships |
| Tax receipts | An administrator produces CRA and IRS tax receipts from the records already in the system, so they can be checked and signed off before families get them. | Procare’s guidance on year-end invoices for families covers the IRS Form W-10 and the provider’s EIN. A Tax ID Number can be entered so that it prints on statements and receipts. Procare blog |
| Government subsidies | Subsidy amounts are applied to a family's fees as credits. A centre enters them one at a time or imports them in bulk from a spreadsheet, matched on the centre's own student numbers, with a preview before anything is applied. Re-importing a changed amount adjusts the credit without dropping it below what has already been used. | Procare treats a government agency as a payer with its own ledger, in all three products. Procare Desktop bills the agency share and the parent copay on separate lines of the child’s billing box, and where “an agency does not pay the full amount expected” adjustment codes write the balance off or transfer it to the family. SchoolCare Works adds six sponsor types including Title XX and State Readiness PreK, and calculates reimbursement “using the student’s schedule or attendance, whichever is greater”. Attendance is transmitted to state subsidy portals, KinderConnect from Desktop for “Arizona, Louisiana, Missouri, New York and Texas”. The agency money itself is still posted by hand: “When you receive a check from an agency you’ll need to apply the payment to specific charges for each subsidized child.” Every agency and state programme Procare documents is in the United States. Procare Desktop, Agency Accounting Overview SchoolCare Works, Setup Third Party Procare Desktop, Using Procare with KinderConnect |
| Who it is sold to | Independent and private schools, faith-based schools, Montessori schools, preschools and childcare centres, and public schools, across Canada and the United States. About half of TUIO’s customers are in the United States. | Child care centers, before-and-after-school organizations and youth programs, in Procare’s own words. Over 30 years. Procare payment processing |
Procare details checked August 2026.
Where each one fits
- Procare is the better fit if
You run a childcare centre and want attendance, classroom management, staff scheduling and payroll from the same vendor as your billing.
You take payments at the front desk and want a card reader on the counter.
You want a large, current review base to read before you buy. Procare’s Capterra listing carries 2,809 reviews, with reviews still arriving in 2026.
- TUIO is the better fit if
You want the school to be its own merchant of record, with its own banking relationship and its own settlement.
You want to know the price before the call.
Your school is in Canada, or you run locations on both sides of the border and want one system issuing CRA and IRS receipts.
You want families to be able to pay by pre-authorized debit in Canada or ACH in the United States, chosen per payment plan.
You are a private or independent school, a Montessori school or a preschool as well as, or instead of, a childcare centre.
You want families to contact TUIO directly by email for account and technical help.
What schools rate them
Capterra, Procare Child Care Management listing, August 2026.
Moving to TUIO from Procare
A TUIO specialist sets the school up and tailors it during a single live hour: fee schedules, payment plans, families, and the forms the school already uses. Schools move mid-year as well as at the year boundary.
Centres running Procare for attendance, ratios and staff scheduling sometimes keep it for the classroom and move only the billing. The two do not have to move together.
Families are invited by email and set up their own payment method. TUIO’s support line is open to them directly, so the school office is not the help desk for the transition.
Before you give notice, check what your agreement requires and how your current provider handles the final remittance after your last family payment goes through.
TUIO vs Procare FAQ
What does Procare cost a centre?
Procare does not publish a rate, checked 21 August 2026. Its payment processing page advertises “Zero contracts, set-up fees, per-child charges and more!” and asks centres to get in touch. TUIO Professional is $500 a year per location, and the bank-debit rate is on the pricing page.
How quickly does each one pay?
Procare advertises that funds are “typically made available to you by the next business day”, with its own footnote attached: “Subject to bank funding and processing approvals” (Procare payment processing, read 21 August 2026). TUIO payouts start at 5 business days for pre-authorized debit and 3 for cards; after three months of processing with TUIO, a school can apply to move to next business day.
Does TUIO hold our money?
No. Each school is its own merchant of record with its own banking relationship and its own settlement, so a family’s payment moves to the school’s account. TUIO never holds the funds, pools them, or forwards them on later.
Can Procare print our tax number on a receipt?
Yes. Procare has a Tax ID Number field that prints on statements and receipts (Procare support, read 21 August 2026). Its year-end guidance for providers is written around the IRS Form W-10 and the provider’s EIN. On TUIO an administrator produces CRA and IRS tax receipts from the records already in the system, so they can be checked and signed off before families get them.
What do reviewers say about Procare?
The Capterra listing for Procare Child Care Management stands at 4.6 out of 5 from 2,809 reviews, read 21 August 2026. Ease of use scores 4.4 and customer service 4.6, and reviews still arrive in 2026.
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