Compare / Lillio vs Centerly
Lillio vs Centerly
Lillio, formerly HiMama, is a well-liked childcare app with deep classroom, curriculum and training tools. Centerly is a new system built around AI agents that do office work instead of waiting for someone to type. This page compares them area by area, including the places where Lillio is the better choice.
Last reviewed September 30, 2026. Written by Centerly. We have not used Lillio ourselves. Everything on this page about Lillio comes from published materials, which are named at the end.
How to read this page
Statements about Lillio come from Lillio's own website, help centre, blog and app-store listings as they stood on September 30, 2026, plus a few other published sources listed at the end. Where we could not confirm something, we say it was "not found" in Lillio's published materials instead of saying "no": we looked and did not find it described, which does not mean the feature does not exist. Some help centre articles were last modified in 2023 or 2024, and we give the date where it matters. Software changes quickly, so check anything that matters to you with Lillio directly. If we have something wrong, write to [email protected] and we will correct it.
The short version
| Lillio | Centerly | |
|---|---|---|
| In one line | A childcare app that began as a parent-communication tool and now also covers center management, billing, curriculum and professional development. | An agent-first system: software that reads, checks, files and follows up, and asks your staff to confirm. |
| Best for | Centers that put classroom documentation, developmental observations, curriculum and staff training first, want a highly rated native app, or operate in Canada. | Centers whose office time goes to paperwork, licensing files, billing exceptions and chasing follow-ups. |
| AI today | As of September 30, 2026 we could not find any AI features described on Lillio's website or help centre. | An office assistant that reads documents and prepares changes, a compliance watch, a website chat agent for parents, and managed advertising. |
| Compliance | Per Lillio's help centre: immunization records stored on the child's profile with a report, expiry alerts for staff certifications, and ratio alerts based on a number the director enters for each room. | Every child and staff file checked each night against your own state's rules, with reminders sent for you. |
| Track record | Founded in 2013 as HiMama. Lillio's homepage says thousands of childcare centers use it. | New. Built inside a working licensed center. |
| Published pricing | Not published; quote on request. | Not published; quote on a demo. |
What Lillio is
Lillio is the company and product that used to be called HiMama. If you see both names, they are the same thing.
- Origins. HiMama was founded in Toronto in 2013 by Ron Spreeuwenberg and Alana Frome, according to a 2021 press release from its lead investor. A Lillio blog post from September 2026 is signed by Alana Frome as CEO and co-founder.
- The rebrand. The change of name was announced on November 15, 2023. Lillio said the product had grown beyond parent communication into center management, curriculum and professional development, and that the old name did not fit the full range of families and programs it serves.
- Funding and acquisitions. In November 2021 the company announced a C$70 million minority growth investment led by Bain Capital Double Impact. This was an investment, not an acquisition, and we did not find a later round. Lillio's own acquisitions include FunShine Express, a curriculum publisher (June 2021), and Pie for Providers, a nonprofit maker of subsidy-management software (May 2024).
- Who it serves. Childcare centers, preschools, multi-site organizations and home daycares in the United States and Canada. In November 2021 the company reported more than 10,000 centers; we did not find a current count, and Lillio's homepage today says thousands.
- Ratings. The Lillio app is rated 4.9 out of 5 from about 37,000 ratings on the US App Store and 4.5 from about 10,500 reviews on Google Play. Capterra shows 4.6 out of 5 from 3,623 reviews, and G2 shows 4.7 from 79 reviews. One app serves directors, teachers and parents, so the app-store ratings mix all three groups.
Lillio's pricing page lists four products, each quoted separately: Center Management with Billing and Payments; Lillio Academy, online professional development courses for staff; and Lillio Learning by FunShine Express, sold as monthly physical curriculum kits and as a digital curriculum inside the app. Below, "Lillio" means the center management product unless we name one of the others.
The real difference
Lillio started in the classroom. By its own account it began as a parent-communication app and grew from there into center management, curriculum and training. In our reading of its published materials, the product goes deepest there: daily reports, photos and messaging, developmental observations tied to state and provincial frameworks, lesson planning, its own curriculum and a training academy.
Centerly started at the other end of the building, in the office. It holds children, families, staff, attendance and ledgers like any management system, but the reading, checking and first draft of every routine decision is done by software agents. Your staff see what the agent found and what it proposes, and they confirm. That is what we mean by "fully agentic", and it is the thread through everything below.
Per Lillio's help centre, recurring invoices, autopay and registration invoices run on their own once set up, while other routine tasks are steps a director carries out: a manual first invoice for a child who starts after the invoice run, applying a credit, entering each room's ratio. That is a normal design for management software, not a criticism of Lillio's quality, and it is the main thing Centerly does differently. Equally, Centerly has no curriculum, developmental assessments or training courses, which is the main thing Lillio does that we do not.
Office work and AI
| Area | Lillio | Centerly |
|---|---|---|
| Reading documents | Software that reads the content of an uploaded document was not found in Lillio's published materials. Families can be asked for records such as vaccination records during registration. | The assistant reads immunization records, hearing and vision screenings, CPR cards and background-check notices from a scan or phone photo, and matches each to the right child or employee. |
| Filing | Documents are uploaded to the profile of the child or staff member they belong to. Documents collected during registration attach to the child's profile on enrollment. | Each scanned page is named and filed to the right record. A page the assistant cannot place is held for a person. |
| Parent absences and vacations | Parents can report an absence in the app, and directors can schedule absences in bulk. Deactivating a child's profile during an extended absence stops billing for that time. An automatic tuition credit for an absence was not found; the credits and discounts FAQ gives the example of a discount used to give a family a free sick day on the next invoice. | Paste in a vacation email: the assistant records the dates, checks the notice period and prepares the tuition credit from the family's agreement. |
| Staff documents | Staff certifications are recorded with a type, an expiry date, notes and an uploaded file, and Lillio alerts the director when one is about to expire or has expired. Software checking of the uploaded document itself was not found. | Uploads are read at once. A wrong or expired document is turned away with the reason. The I-9 is pre-filled from the uploaded ID for the employer to verify. |
| AI products | None found. Lillio's homepage, pricing page, 2026 feature announcements and help centre do not describe an AI feature, as far as we could find. | The Centerly Assistant for office work, a nightly compliance check, a chat agent on the center's website, and an advertising autopilot. |
| Who is in control | Directors and staff make changes. Recurring invoices and autopay run on their own once set up. | Staff confirm every change the assistant proposes. The one exception is routine staff-document checks, which you can switch off. |
The absence of a published AI feature does not make Lillio a weaker product for the things it does. As far as their published materials show, the two companies have put their effort in different places: Lillio on the classroom, learning and family side, Centerly on the paperwork and follow-up that fill an office day.
See the Centerly Assistant screen by screen.
Billing and proration
| Area | Lillio | Centerly |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring tuition | Tuition plans generate invoices automatically: Smart plans by age group, Custom Group plans and Individual plans, billed weekly, every two weeks, twice a month or monthly, in advance or in arrears, with configurable invoice and due dates. | Weekly, monthly, twice-monthly or your own schedule. Charges are generated from each family's signed tuition agreement. |
| Rate structures | Flat rate, a tiered rate by scheduled days per week (one to five, with optional half-day rates), or a daily rate. Per the help centre, daily and tiered billing follow the schedule on the child's profile, not actual attendance. Individual plans are fixed-rate. | The rate and schedule come from the family's signed agreement. |
| Moving up an age group | With a Smart plan, the child's plan changes automatically when the child graduates to a new age group. | Billing follows a dated enrollment history. Add a line (for example "Vacation from Nov 9") and billing follows it. |
| Proration | Automatic proration of a flat or tiered rate was not found in Lillio's help centre. A daily-rate plan bills the days a child is scheduled in each billing period. Per Lillio's billing guides, a child whose enrollment date falls after a plan's invoice-generation date is not included in that cycle: the director creates a manual first invoice, then adds the child to the plan. A tiered plan picks up a schedule change on the next cycle. | Automatic. Mid-month starts, withdrawals and qualifying absences are prorated from the enrollment dates and the agreement's terms, and posted for review. |
| Discounts | A fixed amount or a percentage; Lillio's credits and discounts FAQ gives a sibling discount as an example. Per the FAQ, a tuition plan takes one discount, discounts do not apply to manual invoices, and a discount cannot be added once an invoice has been generated (the invoice is edited instead). | Sibling, staff and corporate discounts applied by rule to the families they cover. |
| Credits | Each child has a credit ledger. Per the same FAQ, credits are applied to invoices by hand, not automatically, including when autopay is on. | Credits for qualifying absences are prepared from the agreement and posted for review. |
| Late-payment fees | An automatic late-fee rule was not found in Lillio's help centre. A Lillio blog post from August 2026 mentions, in general terms, that directors may need to apply late fees. Lillio advertises automated billing reminders and tracking of overdue invoices. | Applied by rule from the tuition agreement. |
| Subsidy billing | A real strength. Children can be marked as subsidized, with subsidy programs, per-child agreements and expiry tracking; subsidy payments are recorded and the difference billed to the payer, with a subsidy payments report. A KinderConnect integration sends subsidy attendance in Texas, New York, Missouri, Arizona, Louisiana and Virginia. Invoicing agencies directly was not found. | Subsidy and co-pay split on one bill. |
| Hold-spot and registration fees | Registration and waitlist fees are set in the registration package. An invoice is generated and sent automatically when a family is invited, and can be paid in the app if the center uses Lillio's payments. | Hold-spot fees replace tuition during an extended absence; annual registration fees post on schedule. |
Lillio also documents split billing between guardians, one-time invoices created in bulk, tax receipts for families, and billing reports that include aged invoices, cash flow, tax summaries and an account statement for each child.
See Centerly billing screen by screen.
Payments
Lillio's help centre describes two processing platforms, Lillio Payments and Worldline (Bambora). Its payments overview page says US customers activated after August 1, 2022 are on Lillio Payments, and that earlier US customers and Canadian customers are on Worldline; help articles from 2026 also describe a Lillio Payments application and portal for Canada. Some details differ between the two, so ask Lillio which one your account would be on.
| Area | Lillio | Centerly |
|---|---|---|
| Methods | Bank payments and cards, paid in the parent app, several invoices at once if wanted. For US dollars, Lillio's payment FAQ for directors lists Visa, Mastercard and Discover; its fees FAQ for families also lists American Express. A parent pays an invoice in full from one account or card; centers can record partial payments. | Bank draft and card, autopay, and offline payments (check, cashier's check, money order) recorded against the family account. |
| Autopay | Parents can opt in, or the center can enforce autopay, which parents cannot switch off, with an optional in-app pre-authorized debit agreement and exemptions for individual families. Per the help centre, autopay runs on the invoice due date; an overdue invoice is not picked up unless the due date is edited or the parent pays by hand. | Autopay by bank draft or card. |
| Funding | Next business day for cards, per Lillio's help centre. For bank payments its documents differ: one article describes next-day ACH funding from August 5, 2025, with a small share of payments held up to five business days as a risk measure; the payment processing FAQ, last modified in September 2026, states three to five business days. | Ask us on a demo; timing depends on the payment method. |
| Failed and returned bank payments | Per the help centre, a bank payment shown as paid can be returned up to 30 days after deposit. The funds are taken back from the center, the invoice moves to Failed, the center and the payer are emailed, and the payer's future payments pause until they verify their payment details. Lillio's guide for families says a failed autopay invoice is retried two more times, and keeps being retried where the center has auto-retry enabled; per the help centre, auto-retry is switched on or off by contacting Lillio support. | Flagged the day it happens, with the reason. Your office can retry on a date it chooses, split the amount, or use the family's other payment method. |
| Returned-payment fee | Lillio's payment FAQ lists a $7 charge to the center for each failed payment for insufficient funds, and says Lillio currently covers it. The family's own bank may charge the family. | Ask us on a demo. Fees are given in writing with your quote. |
| Published processing rates | Not published. Lillio's help centre says fees vary with the center's business set-up and are available from support. Its guide for families says Lillio Payments has no monthly or set-up fee and charges the center a fee per transaction. | Not published on this site. You get the rates in writing with your quote. |
| Passing fees to parents | The center pays by default. Per a help article last modified in November 2023, passing fees to payers is available in the US on Lillio Payments for credit card and bank payments, not debit cards, and not in Puerto Rico, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas or Massachusetts. The center requests it by email and Lillio reviews eligibility. | Ask us on a demo. |
| Security | Lillio's privacy and security FAQ says no payment data is stored in Lillio; its processing partners handle it. The Lillio Payments portal has multi-factor authentication. | Card and bank details are held by a licensed payment processor or kept encrypted. Centerly staff never see full card numbers. |
Per the help centre, card and bank refunds on Lillio Payments are also requested from Lillio's support team by email, and each location needs its own payments application. If payment processing is your main concern, compare the written rates and the funding timeline from both of us side by side.
Licensing and compliance
| Area | Lillio | Centerly |
|---|---|---|
| Immunizations | Per Lillio's help centre, immunization records are entered on the child's profile, or requested as a document during registration, and an Immunization Records report can be exported or printed (article last modified November 2023). Checking doses against a schedule, due-date alerts and checks against a state's rules were not found in Lillio's published materials. | Doses are read from the record by the assistant, then checked one by one against the schedule your state requires for child care, including doses given too early. |
| Hearing and vision screening | Tracking of hearing and vision screenings was not found in Lillio's help centre. Its Health Screening feature is a questionnaire families answer before check-in. | Tracked by age and enrollment date under your state's rule, with results recorded. |
| Staff certifications | Type, expiry date, notes and an uploaded file for each staff member, with alerts on the director's dashboard and the staff roster when a certification is about to expire or has expired. | CPR and first-aid cards, background-check renewals and affidavits tracked to expiry, with reminders sent to the employee ahead of time. |
| Staff training hours | Lillio Academy issues certificates for its own courses, and Lillio says Academy administrator accounts can track staff training hours and progress in those courses. Counting hours from all sources against a state's annual requirement was not found. | Annual training hours counted against your state's requirement, and only with a certificate attached. |
| Ratios | The director enters a student-to-staff ratio for each classroom. Rooms that are out of ratio are highlighted on the dashboard, teachers see an alert, and there are weekly ratio charts. A built-in library of state ratio rules was not found. | Live room counts against the ratio in your state's rules. |
| State rules | Some state-specific features are documented: the KinderConnect integration in six states, signature, photo and location capture at sign-in for Texas centers connected to KinderConnect, and developmental frameworks by state or province. A rule set for each state's licensing standards was not found in Lillio's published materials. | A rule pack for each US state and DC: required records, immunization schedule, training hours, ratios and forms. |
| One list of gaps | Certification and ratio alerts appear on the director's dashboard. Immunizations, allergies and medical notes, contacts and attendance are separate reports. | One office to-do page lists every gap across child and staff files, by urgency. |
| Inspection day | Lillio's center management page lists meeting licensing standards among the uses of its reports. A dedicated state licensing report pack was not found. Reports can be exported or printed, including attendance (CSV, up to three months per report), immunizations, enrollment and meal counts. | Open the files the inspector names. Each shows every required record, signed forms and dates, and can be printed as one packet. |
Centerly helps you track what licensing requires and shows the gaps. Your center remains responsible for meeting the standards, with either system.
Walk through a licensing visit in Centerly, or read more about licensing compliance.
Parents, classroom and learning
This is Lillio's home ground, and the table shows it.
| Area | Lillio | Centerly |
|---|---|---|
| Parent app | A native iPhone and Android app, rated 4.9 on the US App Store and 4.5 on Google Play. Lillio says the app is free for parents. | Family Journal runs in the browser and installs to the home screen. It is not an app-store download. |
| Daily reports | Entries for activities, food, sleep, toileting, mood, health, temperature checks and notes, with photos, videos and a history parents can look back through. | Classroom posts and photos, daily reports and notices. |
| Messaging | Two-way messaging between parents and teachers, with the director copied on parents' messages; scheduled messages, message templates and newsletters. | Notices and posts to families through Family Journal. |
| Incident reports | Digital incident reports, announced in 2026, with optional parent notification and a digital parent signature. A report is locked once sent. | Incident reports acknowledged by the parent with one tap. |
| Sharing with family | A feature called Crew gives extended family access. Parents can comment on photos and videos. | Moments parents can share with family. |
| Lesson planning | An activity planner, central lesson plans and a Weekly Planner. | Not included. |
| Developmental observations | Teachers tag skills against the center's state or provincial framework from activity entries, with a Development Evidence report for each child. | Not included. |
| Formal assessments | Pearson's Ounce Scale and Work Sampling System, as an opt-in feature outside the standard product. | Not included. |
| Curriculum | Lillio Learning, by FunShine Express, sold as a digital curriculum inside the app and as monthly physical kits. Both are purchased separately. | Not included. |
| For parents | Calendars and menus, milestones, parent education content, invoices and payments, and absence reporting in the same app. | Parents upload immunization records from a phone, manage authorized pick-ups, update contacts, allergies and special needs, and see statements. |
If your teachers document learning against a framework, plan lessons in the software or teach from a purchased curriculum, Lillio does that work and Centerly does not. Centerly's classroom tools cover daily care, photos, notes and incidents.
Enrollment
| Area | Lillio | Centerly |
|---|---|---|
| Online application | A customizable application form reached by a shareable link, with fields shown, required or hidden and up to 100 short-answer questions of the center's own. Lillio says online registration and waitlist are included in the center management subscription at no additional fee. | Parents start enrollment on your school's own web address. |
| Enrollment packet | A registration package with child information, permissions, e-consents, document collection and fees. Details from an earlier application are pre-filled, and submitted information transfers to the child's profile on enrollment. | A full enrollment packet online, including the forms your state requires, pre-filled from what the family has already entered. |
| Forms and signatures | Per Lillio's registration set-up article, a parent agrees to an e-consent by ticking a checkbox, which Lillio treats as the digital signature. Forms the center supplies are downloaded, completed and uploaded again. | Tuition agreement, handbook and state forms signed online, with a dated, versioned copy for the family and the center, and the center's countersignature where a form needs one. |
| Waitlist | Applications, Waitlists and Registrations tabs, with statuses from New through Enrolled, and sorting, filtering and prioritizing. | Every family tracked from first question to first day. |
Lillio also documents an Enrollment Projections dashboard showing open and filled spots by classroom up to a year ahead, and bulk graduation of children, announced in 2026. If forward planning of room capacity matters to you, ask both of us to show it.
Leads, tours and marketing
| Area | Lillio | Centerly |
|---|---|---|
| Lead pipeline | A CRM or lead pipeline was not found on Lillio's website or in its help centre. The closest documented features are the public application link, which feeds the Applications tab, and the waitlist. | Every lead tracked from first question to first day, with source reporting. |
| Follow-up | Directors can invite an applicant to register. Automated follow-up with prospective families was not found in Lillio's published materials. | A follow-up sequence before and after the tour runs on its own until the family enrolls or opts out. |
| Tour booking by parents | Tour scheduling was not found in Lillio's published materials. | Parents book a tour themselves, on your website or in the chat. |
| Website chat agent | Not found on Lillio's website or in its help centre. | An AI chat agent on your own website answers parents at any hour, books tours and hands off to your office when it should. |
| Advertising | Marketing or advertising services were not found among Lillio's products. Lillio publishes marketing advice articles and an Academy course on marketing a center. | Managed advertising to a monthly budget and a target cost per tour, across the major ad platforms, with a dashboard of spend and results. |
| Your website | The application form is shared by link. We could not confirm an embeddable website form beyond that. | Centerly runs on your school's own web address: parents enroll, sign and pay under your name. |
This section rests on what we did not find, which is weaker evidence than a published statement. If lead tracking matters to you, ask Lillio what it offers today.
Staff and HR
| Area | Lillio | Centerly |
|---|---|---|
| Time clock | Staff clock in and out from the classroom attendance page, or are clocked in by a director. Time cards and a weekly time log, with editable entries. | Staff clock in and out on the same tablet parents use. |
| Payroll | A payroll product or payroll integration was not found in Lillio's published materials. The scheduling report exports as a CSV that directors can use for payroll. | Not a payroll system. Hours are recorded for use with your payroll provider. |
| Scheduling | Staff Scheduling was announced in June 2026; the help article, last modified in late September 2026, says it is still rolling out to all users. A visual calendar with drag and drop, shifts, breaks, prep, training and time off, templates and overtime warnings. Per the article, directors send schedules to staff by email or print; changes are not sent automatically. | Weekly schedules by room, shown against ratio coverage. |
| Permissions | Custom staff permissions, including a billing-only administrator role, announced in April 2026. | Role-based access with a full audit trail. |
| Onboarding paperwork | Staff profiles hold uploaded documents and certifications. Offer letters, new-hire paperwork workflows and background-check tracking were not found. | Online application, offer letter, W-4, I-9, direct deposit and policy acknowledgments, with a checklist by role tracked to completion. |
| Training courses | Lillio Academy: online, self-paced courses sold as a license for each staff member. Lillio describes itself as an IACET-accredited provider that issues continuing-education units; approval varies by state and province. Product-training courses are free to all customers. | Not offered. Centerly records training your staff complete elsewhere, with the certificate. |
Platform and attendance
| Area | Lillio | Centerly |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | A web application plus iPhone and Android apps. One app serves owners, directors, teachers and parents, with access by role. | Any modern browser on any device. Nothing to install. |
| Sign-in and sign-out | Teachers record attendance in the app. A Parent Sign-In page runs in a web browser on a center device, with an optional five-digit code for each guardian and, if the center chooses, a typed name or an electronic signature. Lillio also documents contactless check-in from the parent's own phone and a Safe Pickup feature. QR-code check-in was not found. No proprietary hardware is mentioned. | PIN or QR pass on tablets you already own. Only authorized pick-ups can sign a child out. |
| Offline use | Lillio documents offline attendance in the mobile app: check-in, check-out and absences for children and staff, time-stamped and synced on reconnecting. Per the article, last modified in January 2024, the dashboard must be loaded before going offline, and daily reports and profiles are not available offline. | Needs an internet connection. |
| Meals and food program | Food entries in daily reports, menus, a Weekly Meal Count report that combines meals served with attendance and exports as CSV, and a free, reduced or paid meal status for each child. Full preparation of a food-program claim was not found. | Meal counts by room for food-program claims. |
| Accounting and integrations | An accounting integration, including QuickBooks, was not found in Lillio's published materials. Its help centre documents KinderConnect, Plaid for linking a bank account, and Pearson assessments. | Reports for your accountant. No direct QuickBooks sync today. |
| More than one location | Organization administrators with access across all centers, and center-level administrators with scoped permissions. Lillio's FAQ says central staff can follow activity across locations with one login. We could not confirm consolidated reporting across sites. | Handles more than one location. |
| Countries and languages | United States and Canada. The App Store lists English, French and Spanish. Per the help centre, parents can choose the language of automated emails; updates written by teachers are not translated. | United States only: every state and DC. |
| Security | Lillio's privacy and security FAQ, last modified in October 2024, describes hosting on AWS, encryption in transit and at rest, annual penetration testing and a 12-character minimum password. At that date it described sign-in through Google or Facebook for some users, and broader two-factor authentication as planned. | Role-based access, a full audit trail and encrypted sensitive data. No SOC 2 report yet. See security and data. |
| Support | Email, a web contact form, a searchable help centre, videos and webinars. The help centre gives phone support for urgent matters on weekdays, 9 am to 5 pm Eastern. Lillio advertises an onboarding team and a dedicated account manager. | Email support, with the team that built it. Ask about hours on your demo. |
Where Lillio is the better choice
We would rather you choose well than choose us. Lillio is likely the better fit if:
- Classroom documentation is the heart of your program. Lillio ties teachers' observations to state and provincial developmental frameworks and reports the evidence for each child. Centerly has no developmental observations or assessments.
- You want lesson planning, a curriculum or formal assessments in the same system. Lillio has planning tools, its own Lillio Learning curriculum in digital form and as monthly kits, and Pearson's assessments as an opt-in.
- You want staff training from your software vendor. Lillio Academy sells self-paced courses with continuing-education units. Centerly offers no courses.
- A highly rated native app matters to your families and teachers. Lillio's app has a 4.9 rating from about 37,000 App Store ratings. Centerly's parent app is browser-based.
- You need attendance to keep working without internet. Lillio documents offline attendance in its mobile app. Centerly needs a connection.
- You are in Canada, or need French or Spanish. Lillio serves both countries and lists its app in English, French and Spanish. Centerly serves the United States only.
- Subsidies are a large part of your billing. Lillio documents subsidy programs, agreements and payment tracking, plus a KinderConnect attendance integration in six states. In 2024 it acquired Pie for Providers, a nonprofit maker of subsidy-management software.
- You want a vendor with a longer history. Lillio has operated since 2013, has institutional investors and has kept up a steady run of releases through 2026. Centerly is new.
- You want every parent on autopay as a rule. Lillio lets the center enforce autopay, with an in-app pre-authorized debit agreement.
What Centerly does not have, in one place: no curriculum, lesson planning, developmental observations or assessments; no training courses; no payroll; no app-store app; no offline mode; no direct QuickBooks sync; no SOC 2 report yet; no service outside the United States; and no long track record.
Centerly is likely the better fit if your office spends its week on paperwork, licensing files, billing exceptions and follow-ups, and you want software that takes that work on.
Price and contracts
Neither company publishes prices for centers. Lillio's pricing page lists its four products, each with a button to request a quote; we also quote on a demo. The only fair comparison is two written quotes for your own center. Third-party websites give per-child figures for Lillio that contradict each other and do not come from Lillio, so we do not repeat them.
What Lillio does say in public:
- The app is free for parents, and centers pay custom pricing based on their needs and size.
- A free trial is advertised for centers; we could not confirm its length or terms. An Academy FAQ on Lillio's website describes a 7-day free trial of the Academy, billed monthly afterwards.
- Online registration and waitlist are included in the center management subscription at no additional fee. Lillio Academy licenses, the curriculum and the Pearson assessment tools are purchased or enabled separately.
- Lillio Payments has no monthly fee and no set-up fee, per Lillio's guide for families. Processing rates are not published.
- Parents can buy an optional Photos Plus subscription for original high-quality photos, listed at $2.99 on the App Store. We could not confirm the billing period.
On contract terms, we found very little published. The terms on Lillio's website, as we read them, cover use of the website and do not set out subscription length, renewal, cancellation notice or price changes. One help centre article, last modified in June 2024, refers to monthly subscriptions and to longer terms. We found nothing published about set-up or onboarding fees for the software. None of that suggests anything unfavorable; the terms are in the agreement Lillio sends you. Ask for it before you compare, and read what you sign.
When you ask Centerly for a quote, you get the monthly fee, any usage-based fees and the payment processing rates in writing. You are charged only for the parts that are live, so a staged switch does not mean paying for things you are not using yet.
Switching from Lillio to Centerly
We have not used Lillio ourselves, so the first step is looking at your exports together. From there:
- We convert your data. Our team brings across children, families, contacts, staff and billing history from the reports and exports your Lillio account can produce. Lillio's help centre describes CSV export or printing for many reports, including attendance, billing reports and meal counts.
- You go live in stages. Most centers start with records and compliance, then billing at the start of a month, then the kiosk and the parent app. You do not have to change everything in one weekend.
- Families re-authorize payments once. Bank and card authorizations do not transfer between processors, so each family sets up payment in Centerly. We give you the message to send and track who has done it.
- We stay through your first billing run and your first month.
Settle two things before you give notice. First, we did not find a full account export, or how long access continues after cancellation, described in Lillio's published materials, so ask Lillio and export what you want to keep while you still have access. Second, decide what happens to the classroom side: Centerly does not replace Lillio's developmental observations, lesson planning or curriculum. Lillio lists the Academy and the curriculum as separate products; whether you can keep them on their own is a question for Lillio. More on switching.
Questions to ask both of us
- Show me a child starting on the 13th of the month. Who calculates the first bill?
- A family has a credit on account and autopay switched on. What happens on the next invoice?
- Show me what happens when a bank payment is returned. Which steps can my office do itself, and which need your support team?
- An inspector names three children and two employees. Show me their files.
- Who types in the doses from an immunization record, and who checks them against my state's schedule?
- How will I know a teacher's CPR card is about to expire, and who tells her?
- What are your processing rates, in writing, and when do card and bank funds arrive for my account?
- What is the term on the agreement, how does it renew, and what happens to the price after the first year?
- If I leave, how long can I still sign in and see my records?
Our buyer's checklist has the full list.
FAQ
Is Lillio the same as HiMama?
Yes. HiMama announced its new name, Lillio, on November 15, 2023. The App Store listing still shows Hi Mama Inc. as the seller, and Lillio's terms of service describe the company as formerly known as Hi Mama Inc.
Is Centerly a Lillio alternative for a single center?
For the office side, yes. Centerly covers records, attendance, billing, payments, parent communication, enrollment, compliance and staff onboarding for a single licensed center, and it also handles more than one location. It does not replace Lillio's curriculum, developmental observations, assessments or training courses.
Does Lillio have AI?
As of September 30, 2026 we could not find any AI features described on Lillio's website or help centre. That is a statement about what is published, not proof that nothing exists or is planned. Ask Lillio.
Does Lillio prorate tuition automatically?
We did not find automatic proration of a flat or tiered rate in Lillio's help centre. Its billing guides tell directors to create a manual invoice for the first cycle when a child's enrollment date falls after the plan's invoice-generation date; a daily-rate plan bills by scheduled days. Ask Lillio to show you a mid-month start.
Does Lillio publish its prices or processing rates?
No. Lillio quotes on request, and its help centre says processing fees vary by center. Centerly does not publish prices either. Compare two written quotes.
Can Centerly import my Lillio data?
Our team converts children, families, staff and billing history from the reports and exports your Lillio account can produce. We have not used Lillio ourselves, so we start by reviewing what you can export.
Do I have to move everything at once?
No. You can go live in stages and you are charged only for the parts that are live.
We are in Canada. Can we use Centerly?
Not today. Centerly serves the United States only. Lillio serves both the US and Canada.
Is Centerly's parent app in the App Store?
No. Family Journal runs in the browser and installs to a phone's home screen. Lillio's app is a native app on the App Store and Google Play.
Sources
All read on September 30, 2026. We name the documents instead of linking to them; each is easy to find on Lillio's website or help centre, or on the site named.
- Lillio website: homepage; pricing, childcare app, center management, and billing and payments pages; Lillio Academy page and Academy FAQ; general FAQ; site map; terms of service; announcement of the change of name from HiMama (November 15, 2023).
- Lillio blog: Pie for Providers joins Lillio (May 24, 2024); new-feature posts of April 2, June 2 and June 30, 2026; QuickBooks compared with childcare billing software (August 4, 2026); message from the CEO and co-founder (September 9, 2026).
- Lillio help centre, billing and payments: payments overview; payment processing FAQ; payment fees FAQ for families; payments application FAQs (USA and Canada); passing fees to payers; reserved and returned transactions; failed payments and NSF charges; invoicing overview; enforced autopay; refunds; billing getting started; invoicing students with upcoming enrollment dates; tuition plans, fee structures and rates; credits and discounts FAQ; subsidies overview; waitlist and registration fees; billing reports; payments multi-factor authentication.
- Lillio help centre, other articles: attendance, Parent Sign-In, contactless check-in, Safe Pickup and offline attendance; deactivating a child; health screening; KinderConnect integration and Texas set-up; parent portal, messaging and incident reports; account language; online registration and waitlist; enrollment projections; immunization record report; staff certifications, ratio alerts, staff management and staff scheduling; administrators and access; Lillio Academy; Pearson assessment tools; developmental observations; meal count report and meal subsidy status; Photos Plus; purchasing digital curriculum; data privacy and security FAQ; help centre home page and site map.
- Lillio Payments guide for families (undated PDF).
- Bain Capital press release on its growth investment in HiMama (November 18, 2021).
- Apple App Store, Google Play, Capterra and G2 listings for Lillio.
Lillio, HiMama, Lillio Academy, Lillio Learning, FunShine Express, KinderConnect and the other product names on this page are trademarks of their owners. Centerly is not affiliated with Lillio or Hi Mama Inc.
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