Firefly for Parents vs SchoolBase
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Firefly for Parents
Stay connected with your child's education. Access school announcements, homework assignments, grades, and learning resources directly from your mobile device. Receive important updates and track your child's progress to better support their academic journey.
- School announcements and news
- Homework assignments and resources
- Child's grades and progress tracking
- Access to learning resources
- Important messages from school
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The Firefly for Parents app is your place to go for school announcements, homework, grades, learning resources and much more. Simply log in using the code provided by your school and you will have access to all the essential information you need to support your child’s learning. You’ll be able to see when homework is set, when it is due and have easy access to the same learning resources your child is using. You can also get important announcements and messages, such as for upcoming school trips, or Parents’ Evenings straight to your phone. Firefly for Parents lets you: • Instantly receive the latest news and announcements from school • See your child’s homework and any related resources • Get information on your child’s progress and grades • Keep up to date with all aspects of your child’s learning experience Log in once and you’re ready to go. Available in English, Arabic, Spanish, French, Portuguese (Brazil) and Chinese. Note: The Firefly for Parents app requires your school to have an active Firefly licence.
SchoolBase
This app provides a secure platform for schools to communicate with parents and pupils. It offers features like timetabling, event notifications, and a notice board. Staff can also manage registers, pupil information, and send messages.
- Timetabling access
- Event notifications
- Notice board updates
- Register taking
- Pupil and group finder
- Message sending
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Furlong's SchoolBase enables fast, simple and secure access to important school information. Parents and pupils have access to key areas including: - Timetabling - Events - Notice Board SchoolBase helps improve communication between schools, parents and pupils. Staff can: - Take registers - Find pupils and groups - Access timetables - See events - Manage cover requests - Send messages to parents and pupils Even more features are in development and will be available soon!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: SchoolBase at 40% against Firefly for Parents's 1%. SchoolBase also leads on iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.0). Firefly for Parents's advantage is rating (3.2 vs 2.8). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Firefly for Parents holds the better App Store score, 3.2 against 2.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 11 and 4 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 1% of Firefly for Parents's written reviews are positive against 40% of SchoolBase's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Firefly for Parents ships an update fortnightly, SchoolBase every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Firefly for Parents | SchoolBase |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (11 ratings) — better | 2.8 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 1.3% of reviews | 40.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 11 — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 67 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Firefly Learning Limited | Furlong Solutions |
Customer experience
Firefly for Parents
SchoolBase
In-app purchases
Firefly for Parents
No in-app purchases
SchoolBase
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Firefly for Parents free?
Is SchoolBase free?
Which has better reviews, Firefly for Parents or SchoolBase?
Do Firefly for Parents or SchoolBase have ads?
Which is updated more often, Firefly for Parents or SchoolBase?
Other comparisons
