Pigeonhole vs Parenta
Parenta's Abacus software is £75 to £105 a month plus VAT, and its lowest price needs a 36-month commitment. Pigeonhole is from £4.13 a month, and £16.50 for 40 children, with every feature included.
£612 a year less than Parenta.
| Children | Pigeonhole, a year | Parenta, a year | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | £49.56 | £810 | £760.44 |
| 30 | £99 | £810 | £711 |
| 60 | £198 | £810 | £612 |
| 90 | £297 | £810 | £513 |
| 120 | £396 | £810 | £414 |
| 150 | £495 | £810 | £315 |
| 200 | £660 | £810 | £150 |
Parenta: Platinum paid annually, £810 a year +VAT, its cheapest published price, which needs a 36-month commitment. Its shortest term, 3-month rolling, is £105 a month. Parenta also offers 20% off to charities, childminders and small settings; that isn't drawn, as it doesn't say what counts as small. 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 Parenta
The best price without a long commitment
One price, a year at a time, with no automatic renewal.
Parenta: Its lowest price, £75 a month +VAT, needs a 36-month commitment. Source
Priced by the size of your nursery
The price is set by the number of children, so a small setting pays a small price.
Parenta: One price per plan; the page shows no bands by number of children. Source
Try it before you pay
Use every feature for 30 days before paying anything, with no card needed.
Parenta: A 30-day money-back guarantee once you've bought. Source
The price, line by line
| Parenta | Pigeonhole | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Parenta: Platinum (36 months) £75, Gold (24 months) £85, Silver (12 months) £95 and Bronze (3-month rolling) £105 a month +VAT, or 10% less paid annually. 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 | Parenta: Fixed for 36 months on Platinum and 24 on Gold, 12 months on Silver, or 3-month rolling on Bronze. 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 | Parenta: Standard onboarding and setup is listed on Silver. Parenta Pay setup is free, with 1% taken from each collection. Source | Pigeonhole: No setup fee for standard onboarding. |
| Free trial | Parenta: No free trial; a 30-day money-back guarantee instead. Source | Pigeonhole: 30 days with every feature switched on, no card needed. |
| What's included | Parenta: Every plan includes the full software suite; the plans differ in support and extras. Source | Pigeonhole: Everything: registers, learning journals, invoicing, council funding forms, custom forms, safeguarding, occupancy, the parent app and more, at every size. |
Parenta'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 Parenta is strong
Parenta has supported early years settings since 1999, and alongside its software offers training courses, nursery websites and recruitment. Source
Moving from Parenta to Pigeonhole
Parenta's Platinum and Gold plans fix your price for 36 or 24 months, and Parenta contacts you 3 months before the end. Bronze is 3-month rolling. Check your term before you plan the 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.”
Other comparisons
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- Pigeonhole vs nursery.clickNursery management, flat price per nurseryFrom £49 a month per nursery, ex VAT
Try Pigeonhole beside Parenta
30 days with every feature, no card, and no setup fee. Run it alongside your current system until you're sure.