Pigeonhole vs Eyworks
Eyworks sells its modules separately: eymanage for finance and eylog for observations come to £41 to £137 a month together, ex VAT, billed annually. Pigeonhole is from £4.13 a month, and £16.50 for 40 children, with every feature included.
£870 a year less than Eyworks.
| Children | Pigeonhole, a year | Eyworks, a year | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | £49.56 | £492 | £442.44 |
| 30 | £99 | £780 | £681 |
| 60 | £198 | £1,068 | £870 |
| 90 | £297 | £1,356 | £1,059 |
| 120 | £396 | £1,356 | £960 |
| 150 | £495 | £1,644 | £1,149 |
| 200 | £660 | £1,644 | £984 |
Eyworks: eymanage (bookings, invoices and funding) plus eylog (observations, diaries and registers), billed annually, ex VAT, at its children-on-roll points of 20, 30, 60, 120 and 200, read as "up to". The sum is ours. Above 200 children it sells top-ups, not drawn here. Source
A year is twelve months of each provider's cheapest published plan at that size. All prices exclude VAT. One-off setup or training fees are left out of the chart and listed below. Checked 10 November 2026; prices change, so please check before deciding.
Where Pigeonhole stands out against Eyworks
One price, not modules
Finance, learning journals, enquiries and forms are all in the one price.
Eyworks: Modules are priced separately: eymanage, eylog, eyenquiries, eypeople, eyengage and eyrecruit. Source
No three months' notice
No automatic renewal: cancel any time and get every whole month left back.
Eyworks: After the first 12 months, cancel with three months' notice. Source
Try it before you pay
A 30-day free trial with every feature, and no card needed.
Eyworks: No free trial is mentioned; a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Source
The price, line by line
| Eyworks | Pigeonhole | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Eyworks: eymanage £22 to £74 and eylog £19 to £63 a month by children on roll, billed annually (a little more monthly), ex VAT. Enquiries, HR and engagement modules are £11 a month each. Source | Pigeonhole: From £4.13 a month, set by the number of children; £16.50 a month for 40 children. Every feature in every size, billed annually, ex VAT. |
| Contract | Eyworks: An initial 12-month licence, then cancel with three months' notice. Source | Pigeonhole: A year at a time, and it doesn't renew automatically. Cancel within 30 days for a full refund, or later for a refund of every whole month left. |
| Setup | Eyworks: No setup fees, with free training calls. Source | Pigeonhole: No setup fee for standard onboarding. |
| Free trial | Eyworks: No free trial is mentioned; a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Source | Pigeonhole: 30 days with every feature switched on, no card needed. |
| What's included | Eyworks: Each module includes all its features. Finance (eymanage) and observations (eylog) are separate modules. Source | Pigeonhole: Everything: registers, learning journals, invoicing, council funding forms, custom forms, safeguarding, occupancy, the parent app and more, at every size. |
Eyworks's details are from its own website, checked on 10 November 2026. Where it doesn't publish something, we've said so rather than guess. Prices change, so please check before deciding.
What every nursery gets with Pigeonhole
Everything, at every size
No modules and no add-ons. The register, learning journals, termly reviews, invoicing, council funding forms, custom forms, safeguarding and occupancy are in the one price, so the only thing that changes it is the number of children.
Council funding forms, done for you
Parents fill in and sign their council's funding declaration online, and you get a correctly completed form every term. If your council isn't set up yet, upload its form and we'll add it.
Invoices from the sessions children attend
Invoices are worked out from each child's sessions, funded hours and extras, then synced to Xero or QuickBooks.
A parent app with nothing to set up
Families get photos, the care diary, news, invoices and forms on iPhone or Android, with a Face ID or fingerprint lock. It already works for every family at your nursery.
Learning journals written faster
Staff capture a photo and a rough note or a voice note, and AI turns it into a written observation for a manager to approve.
Built for a shared room tablet
The staff app signs people in with a PIN, so a key person can do observations and termly reviews on the room's tablet in a quiet moment.
Where Eyworks is strong
Eyworks lets you pay only for the modules you need, sets you up with free training calls, and gives a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Source
Moving from Eyworks to Pigeonhole
Eyworks' licence runs for an initial 12 months and then needs three months' notice, so give notice three months before you plan to move. Source
Start a free trial
30 days with every feature switched on, and no card. Run it alongside your current system until you're happy.
Bring your children and families across
Upload a spreadsheet or an export from your current system, and AI matches each column for you to check. Children come across with their parents, carers and emergency contacts; staff and funding forms import the same way.
Or copy records straight from your old system
The Pigeonhole Chrome extension reads a child's page in your current software and adds them to Pigeonhole, with no export needed.
Switch over between terms
Most nurseries move at the start of a term or month, so invoices and funding claims start cleanly in Pigeonhole.
“Pigeonhole has been the most intuitive and useful software I have used in my career in Early Years.”
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Try Pigeonhole beside Eyworks
30 days with every feature, no card, and no setup fee. Run it alongside your current system until you're sure.