What is the best free daycare enrollment software?

NestliCare includes the inquiry form, the admissions pipeline, enrollment packets, and one-step conversion to an enrolled family at $0, with no cap on leads or children. For most of the others, enrollment is in a paid plan: MyKidReports puts admissions on its Pro plan, and brightwheel's free plan excludes online forms and waitlist management. Bloomily is free for "licensed home daycares and small in-home programs" with up to 18 children.

What does daycare enrollment software do?

It takes a family from first inquiry to first day: an inquiry form on your website, a list of every prospective family and the stage they are at (inquiry, tour, waitlist, admitted), reminders to follow up, the enrollment paperwork with signatures, and then turning the new family into an enrolled one without typing everything in again.

Can I manage a daycare waitlist in NestliCare?

Yes. Waitlisted is a stage on the Admissions pipeline, alongside Inquiry, Tour Scheduled, Toured, Admitted, and Lost. You drag a family between stages, and the Today view lists overdue tasks, today's tours, and leads that have gone quiet or have nobody assigned.

Can parents sign enrollment forms online?

Yes. In NestliCare you build fillable forms with signature fields from your own PDFs, or acknowledgements that parents sign with their typed name, and send them as an enrollment packet by email or by link. Brightwheel, MyKidReports (on Pro), Bloomily, and Daily Connect also describe online forms with signatures on the pages linked below.

How do I put an enrollment form on my daycare website?

In NestliCare, you link to your inquiry form or embed it on a page of your own site, and change its questions to fit your program. A new form gets a quick review before it goes live, usually the same day. Inquiries then land on the pipeline on their own.

How was this compiled?

Every quoted line is the vendor's exact wording from the page linked in Sources, read on October 22, 2026. Prices and free plans come from our weekly check of each vendor's own pricing page, last run October 19, 2026. "Not stated" means the page we read did not say, not that the product lacks it. Lillio is not listed because the pages we read did not describe its enrollment tools. We make NestliCare.

Enrollment software, compared, October 2026

Best daycare enrollment software in 2026

Enrollment software catches the family who finds you at night, books the tour, holds their place on the waitlist, collects the signed paperwork, and turns them into an enrolled family without retyping. Below, nine tools are compared on what each vendor publishes about that, and on whether it is in a free plan. On NestliCare the whole admissions side is free.

Updated October 22, 2026 · Every quoted vendor line was read on that vendor's own site on October 22, 2026. Prices are from our weekly price check.

Create your free account Read the how-to guide

Software	Inquiries, tours, and pipeline, as published	Forms and signatures, as published	In a free plan?
NestliCare	Inquiry form you link to or embed on your own site, with your own questions. Pipeline stages: Inquiry, Tour Scheduled, Toured, Waitlisted, Admitted, Lost. Assign leads, log calls, set tasks, and email a family from the lead.	Enrollment packets of fillable forms (with signature fields) and acknowledgements, each required or optional, or a ready-made starter packet. Converting a lead creates the family, child, parent invite, and classroom placement, and copies the completed forms over.	FreeYes. Admissions is part of the free product, with no cap on leads or children.
brightwheel	"Capture inquiries, schedule tours, manage your waitlist, and plan for future capacity." "Let families book available tour times themselves." "Track every family from new inquiry to enrolled or waitlisted."	"Send forms, packets, and fees to prospective families as they move toward enrollment."	Not the forms or waitlist: brightwheel lists online forms and waitlist management among the features its free plan excludes.
Procare	"Procare tracks children and families from when they're first interested in your center all the way through enrollment."	Families can "register online and customize registration questions," with "creating wait lists, taking payments at the time of registration."	No. The price is not published.
MyKidReports	On the paid Pro plan: "Admissions — inquiry forms, tours, pipeline, enrollment packets." "Tour booking & pipeline" is listed for Pro and Enterprise.	"Enrollment packet: Forms, e-sign and the registration fee in one link," on Pro and Enterprise.	No. The free Lite plan lists "Paperwork, admissions & learning" as "on Pro."
Playground	"Capture leads directly from your website." "Schedule and confirm tours automatically." "Drag-and-drop dashboard for enrollment stages." "Move families directly into enrollment from your CRM."	"Families can complete everything in one seamless flow: forms, payments, schedules, and add-ons." "Automatically charge application, enrollment, or deposit fees."	No. The price is not published.
Bloomily	"Tour requests land in the pipeline on their own." Listed features: "Tour scheduling," "Waitlists that promote themselves," "Offers & deposits."	"Missing signatures get gentle reminders in each family's language, until the packet is done." Listed feature: "Digital signatures."	Free for "licensed home daycares and small in-home programs" with up to 18 children. Otherwise $249 a month per location, or $2,388 a year ($199 a month, billed yearly); every feature included.
Daily Connect	"Enroll new families, manage waitlists, share onboarding forms, collect signed contracts, and accept onboarding fees." "Embrace better waitlist management and build a stronger understanding of enrollment pipelines."	"All contracts are digitally executed and stored in our secure system, with digital signatures and well-organized record-keeping."	No. No. 14-day free trial.
myKidzDay	"Free CRM tool to collect parent inquiries and manage wait list to increase enrollment." "Manage parent inquiries and wait list families."	"Online student registration forms which parents can fill out and submit."	The CRM is described as "free"; the software is $1.00 per child per month, or $10.00 per room per month.
Kangarootime	Its platform includes "a comprehensive enrollment module." No enrollment features are itemized on the page we read.	Not stated on the page we read.	No. The price is not published.

Quotation marks are the vendor's exact wording. NestliCare's row is our own description of our product. "Not stated" means the page we read did not say, not that the feature is missing.

How enrollment works in NestliCare

1A family fills in your inquiry form, linked from your website or embedded in it, with the questions you choose. The lead lands on the Admissions pipeline.
2You move them through Inquiry, Tour Scheduled, Toured, Waitlisted, Admitted, or Lost, assign the lead to someone, log calls, and set follow-up tasks. The Today view shows what is overdue and which leads have gone quiet.
3You send an enrollment packet by email or link: fillable forms with signature fields and acknowledgements, each required or optional. Finished packets show under Waiting on you.
4You convert the lead in one step: the family, the child, the parent app invite, and the classroom and start date are created together, and the completed forms are copied to the family.

Two things to know: a new inquiry form gets a quick review before it goes live, usually the same day, and emailing a family straight from a lead is switched on per daycare (you can always copy the message into your own email).

Answered plainly

What is the best free daycare enrollment software?: NestliCare includes the inquiry form, the admissions pipeline, enrollment packets, and one-step conversion to an enrolled family at $0, with no cap on leads or children. For most of the others, enrollment is in a paid plan: MyKidReports puts admissions on its Pro plan, and brightwheel's free plan excludes online forms and waitlist management. Bloomily is free for "licensed home daycares and small in-home programs" with up to 18 children.
What does daycare enrollment software do?: It takes a family from first inquiry to first day: an inquiry form on your website, a list of every prospective family and the stage they are at (inquiry, tour, waitlist, admitted), reminders to follow up, the enrollment paperwork with signatures, and then turning the new family into an enrolled one without typing everything in again.
Can I manage a daycare waitlist in NestliCare?: Yes. Waitlisted is a stage on the Admissions pipeline, alongside Inquiry, Tour Scheduled, Toured, Admitted, and Lost. You drag a family between stages, and the Today view lists overdue tasks, today's tours, and leads that have gone quiet or have nobody assigned.
Can parents sign enrollment forms online?: Yes. In NestliCare you build fillable forms with signature fields from your own PDFs, or acknowledgements that parents sign with their typed name, and send them as an enrollment packet by email or by link. Brightwheel, MyKidReports (on Pro), Bloomily, and Daily Connect also describe online forms with signatures on the pages linked below.
How do I put an enrollment form on my daycare website?: In NestliCare, you link to your inquiry form or embed it on a page of your own site, and change its questions to fit your program. A new form gets a quick review before it goes live, usually the same day. Inquiries then land on the pipeline on their own.
How was this compiled?: Every quoted line is the vendor's exact wording from the page linked in Sources, read on October 22, 2026. Prices and free plans come from our weekly check of each vendor's own pricing page, last run October 19, 2026. "Not stated" means the page we read did not say, not that the product lacks it. Lillio is not listed because the pages we read did not describe its enrollment tools. We make NestliCare.

Start free today

Sources, read October 22, 2026

The other products named on this page are trademarks of their respective owners. NestliCare is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any of them. Their prices, plan limits, and fees are quoted from their own websites as of the date shown at the top of this page and may have changed since; we correct errors the same day they are reported.

Keep reading