Seesaw vs SM Home
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Seesaw
This educational platform empowers elementary students to showcase their thinking and creativity through multimodal tools. It facilitates authentic assessments and fosters inclusive communication between students, teachers, and families, enhancing the learning process for all.
- Student digital portfolios
- Multimodal learning tools
- Inclusive family communication
- Standards-aligned instruction
- Formative assessments
- Ready-to-teach lessons
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Beloved by teachers around the world, Seesaw is the only educational platform built specifically to address the unique needs of elementary classrooms. Seesaw brings together high-quality instruction, authentic assessments that drive deep learning insights, and inclusive communication – in one place. With Seesaw, students have the power to show their thinking and share their learning, ideas and creativity with their teachers and families. Used by 10M teachers, students and families in over a third of elementary schools in the US. Beyond the US, Seesaw is used in over 130 countries! Teachers love Seesaw—out of 1000 teachers surveyed, 92% said Seesaw makes their lives easier. Built on extensive educational research, Seesaw is validated by industry-leading third-party LearnPlatform as a designated evidence-based intervention, eligible for ESSA Federal Funding with Tier IV designation. Awarded the ISTE Seal of Alignment. Grounded in learning science research and based on practitioner experience, the ISTE Standards ensure that using technology for learning can create high-impact, sustainable, scalable and equitable learning experiences for all learners. High Quality Instruction - Enable teachers to deliver high-quality, standards-aligned instruction that encourages student voice and choice - Multimodal tools make learning accessible and engaging. Tools include video, voice, screen recording, photos, drawing, labeling and more! - Present to Class mode designed for front of class modeling, whole class instruction and discussions - Assign activities to all students for center/stations work or whole class independent work. Use student groups to easily differentiate assignments - Over 1600 research-based and ready-to-teach lessons created by Seesaw’s curriculum experts with whole group instruction videos, 1:1 or small group practice activities and formative assessments. Includes robust lesson plans to support teacher implementation. - 100k ready-to-assign activities created by our community of educators and 1600+ ready-to-teach scaffolded lessons Inclusive Family Engagement - Engage families as partners in the learning process through inclusive two-way communication through portfolios and messages - Provide a window into the classroom and insight into their child's progress with frequent sharing of student posts and assignments - Robust messaging with built-in translation into over 100 home languages - Message Progress Reports to families to keep them informed Digital Portfolios - Capture learning completed within and outside of Seesaw through digital portfolios that showcase student growth. - Organize student work by folder and skill - Simplify parent-teacher conferences and report cards Assessment to Support Data-Driven Decisions - Routinely assess student learning to glean meaningful insights into their understanding and make data-informed instructional decisions - Formative assessments with auto-graded questions provided detailed and actionable reporting - Tie skills and standards to activities for easy progress monitoring of key learning objectives Accessible and Differentiated Learning - Enable developmentally appropriate, accessible, and differentiated instruction to reach and engage all learners Seesaw is COPPA, FERPA and GDPR compliant. Learn more at web.seesaw.me/privacy Need help? Visit our Help Center at help.seesaw.me.
SM Home
Stay connected with your child's school. This app consolidates all school communications, including phone calls, emails, and SMS messages, into a single inbox. Manage your preferences, and optionally chat with teachers or report absences.
- Consolidated communication inbox
- Manage communication preferences
- Optional chat with teachers
- Report student absences
- Search, sort, and filter messages
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For parents/guardians and students, the easy-to-use app allows users to quickly review any broadcast sent from the SchoolMessenger service (Phone/Email/SMS) in one place, manage your communication preferences and, optionally, Chat with teachers** or report absences.** Requires WIFI or data plan for internet access. Requires SchoolMessenger Communicate service subscription by the school or district. Note: SchoolMessenger Home is used for receiving SchoolMessenger Communicate messages sent by district or school personnel. If you are a school administrator or staff member looking to send messages, please download the SM Sender App. ** Chat and Attendance options may not be available depending on your School/District Here’s what’s new in v1 Inbox: All broadcasts sent from Communicate to you (Phone/SMS/Email) will also live in the app Inbox giving you one place to easily access all communications regardless of the delivery method. You can search, sort, filter and delete any of these communications My Profile: This is where you can see your students, manage your communication preferences, Access Help and Delete Your Account Chat**: Have one on one or class group conversations with teachers Attendance**: Report your students absent from school or respond to absences not reported to the school **Optional items and may not be available to all schools
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Seesaw at 4.8 against SM Home's 2.1. Seesaw also leads on review sentiment (46% vs 15%) and ratings volume (100K vs 12). SM Home's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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. Seesaw sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. SM Home asks for nothing beyond the download.
Seesaw holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 2.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Seesaw has 100K ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Seesaw's written reviews are positive against 15% of SM Home's.
Seesaw ships an update weekly, SM Home monthly. Both last shipped on November 4, 2026.
| Parameter | Seesaw | SM Home |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (100K ratings) — better | 2.1 (12 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 45.7% of reviews — better | 15.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 100K — better | 12 |
| Update frequency | Weekly — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #159 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 86 MB | 37 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Seesaw Learning, Inc. | PowerSchool Group LLC |
Customer experience
Seesaw
SM Home
Bugs and requests
Seesaw
Reported bugs
5 issues- Crashes and freezes
- Losing work when switching apps
- Inconsistent performance on different devices
- Issues with uploading and sharing content
- Notification problems
Requested features
6 requests- Allow parents to post and comment
- Improve text editing capabilities
- Add auto-save functionality
- Provide better organization and tracking of assignments
- Enhance video recording and editing options
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- Allow for easier switching between student accounts
SM Home
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Seesaw
- 1 Month of Seesaw Plus$12.99
SM Home
No in-app purchases









