Comparison

Edsby vs SmartTeach

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Edsby

Access key school communication and learning management features on your mobile device. Stay connected with your school community, track progress, and manage assignments. Designed for K-12 education, it offers a streamlined experience for students, parents, and educators.

Highlights
  • On-the-go access to school features
  • Community engagement
  • Learning management
  • Assessment & reporting
  • Student well-being tracking
Features
Read full description

If your school uses Edsby, this free app lets you access some of its features on the go. The Edsby app has many of the capabilities of the main Edsby web browser interface. Some complex features for certain types of users, such as the Edsby gradebook used by teachers, aren't available on devices with small screen sizes. Edsby is helping education transform to the modern digital era. School districts, states, provinces, and countries adopt Edsby for community engagement, learning management, assessment & reporting, and student well-being. Your education organization manages its own, private Edsby system. To log into it, you’ll need to know its Edsby server address. If you don’t know it, ask your school.

About

SmartTeach

This app helps early childhood educators streamline daily classroom tasks. It simplifies documentation, classroom management, and family communication with easy-to-use tools for online and offline use.

Highlights
  • Create documentation and share insights
  • View and teach from daily schedule
  • Communicate with families
  • Save and share photos/videos
  • Assess from curriculum resources
  • Track attendance and care routines
  • Conduct health screenings
Read full description

The SmartTeach® app by Teaching Strategies offers early childhood educators an easy and efficient way to quickly complete essential daily tasks on the fly, online, or offline. The SmartTeach app simplifies teaching, documentation, classroom management, and family engagement throughout the day, enabling teachers to make the most of every moment with easy-to-use tools right at their fingertips. The SmartTeach app is accessible to Teachers and Administrators using Teaching Strategies products such as GOLD®, The Creative Curriculum® Cloud, Kickstart LiteracyTM, and Tadpoles®. Download SmartTeach by Teaching Strategies to access our new and improved features & functionality. SmartTeach offers early childhood educators a single app to support all essential classroom tasks, including: Create documentation and share insights with families View and teach directly from your daily schedule, curriculum, activities, and care routines Communicate with families Save & share photos, videos, and other media across devices View & assess from resources like Intentional Teaching Experiences, Skill Development Cards, and Mighty Minutes®* Identify Infant and Toddler children’s developmental level with the Entry Screener to dynamically populate individualized support for each child* Take attendance, move children or staff, and complete name-to-face checks* Track care routines and share Daily Reports with families* Conduct health screenings for children and/or staff* *Feature availability is dependent on which Teaching Strategies products your classroom licenses.

Screenshots

Edsby4 screens
SmartTeach4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: SmartTeach at 4.8 against Edsby's 1.3. SmartTeach also leads on ratings volume (1.2K vs 9) and update cadence (monthly vs every 3 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

SmartTeach holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 1.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: SmartTeach has 1.2K ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 13% of Edsby's written reviews are positive against 24% of SmartTeach's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Edsby ships an update every 3 months, SmartTeach monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Edsby versus SmartTeach: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterEdsbySmartTeach
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.3 (9 ratings)4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews13.1% of reviews24.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings91.2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB105 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperCoreFour Inc.Teaching Strategies, LLC

Customer experience

Edsby

All ratings9 ratings
Positive0.0%
Neutral11.1%
Negative88.9%
Written reviews274 reviews
Positive13.1%
Neutral5.5%
Negative81.4%

SmartTeach

All ratings1,185 ratings
Positive95.4%
Neutral1.6%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews25 reviews
Positive24.0%
Neutral12.0%
Negative64.0%

User reviews

Edsby

From 9 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Helpful for tracking grades and assignments
  • 🚀 Easy access to school information
  • 💡 Useful communication tool between teachers and students

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and glitches
  • 🔍 Poor organization and navigation
  • ⏱️ Slow and laggy performance
  • 🔒 Login and account issues
  • 💬 Unreliable notifications and messaging

SmartTeach

From 1.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy and awesome app to track notes and submit to Teaching Strategies Gold
  • 👍 Brings together curriculum and assessment
  • 👍 Convenient and easy to use

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent technical glitches and bugs
  • 🐛 Performance issues
  • 🐛 Login issues
  • 🐛 Messaging and communication problems
  • 🐛 Delayed or failed uploads

Bugs and requests

Edsby

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Disappearing grades and assignments
  • Inability to access certain features or content
  • Inconsistent behavior across devices and platforms

Requested features

4 requests
  • Improved notification system with push alerts
  • Better organization and customization options
  • Seamless integration with other educational platforms
  • Streamlined grading and assignment submission

SmartTeach

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Screener not working when clicking plus sign
  • Inability to log in through app, but able to log in on website
  • Delayed or failed message delivery
  • Uploaded documentation still showing in app, causing confusion

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to select and apply objectives to multiple pieces of documentation at once
  • Add ability to select and delete multiple photos/videos at once
  • Add ability to change date on add documentation page
  • Add landscape mode support for easier typing
  • Improve translation and communication features for ESL families

In-app purchases

None

Edsby

No in-app purchases

None

SmartTeach

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Edsby free?
Edsby is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is SmartTeach free?
SmartTeach is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Edsby or SmartTeach?
SmartTeach is rated higher. Edsby averages 1.3 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while SmartTeach averages 4.8 from 1.2K ratings.
Do Edsby or SmartTeach have ads?
Neither Edsby nor SmartTeach shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Edsby or SmartTeach?
Edsby ships an update every 3 months, and SmartTeach monthly. Most recently, Edsby was updated on September 23, 2026 and SmartTeach on September 17, 2026.

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