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TinyGuard vs Procare

Legacy CMS
vs. cameras + management in one platform.

Procare runs 40,000 centers with the deepest desktop CMS feature set in the industry — billing, scheduling, parent comms, lesson plans. The trade-off: it grew up before mobile, before cloud-native cameras, and before CCDF subsidy billing was central instead of bolted on. TinyGuard is mobile-first, cameras-in-the-box, subsidy-tracking-included, on a Pi that stays in your building.

TinyGuard
Mobile-first cameras + ops
on your Pi
Pi on your network · footage never leaves · cameras + billing + subsidy tracking · AI $50/mo add-on · published pricing from $99/mo + $2.50/child
Procare
Legacy desktop CMS
(no cameras)
40,000 centers · 10M+ app downloads · cloud-hosted · pricing requires a demo · no native camera product
01
Cameras are native, not a separate vendor
Procare has no in-house camera product. Centers that want parent video pair Procare with WatchMeGrow, Procare-branded resold cameras, or generic IP cameras — and pay twice. TinyGuard ships cameras + management on one Pi, one subscription. Ratio enforcement and incident review pull live video from the same screen as your billing.
02
Mobile-first, not desktop-first ported to mobile
Procare is a 30-year-old desktop CMS that added mobile in the last decade. Common review feedback: 10M+ app downloads, but the workflows still expect a desktop user. TinyGuard's admin + parent + staff surfaces are mobile-first from line one. Directors who run their day from a phone notice this immediately.
03
CCDF subsidy tracking in every tier — no upsell
Procare stacks subsidy billing add-ons on top of base subscriptions. TinyGuard ships CCDF subsidy tracking in the Facility plan — published pricing, no demo, no module-selection conversation.
Feature TinyGuard Procare
Video & safety
Live parent video (in-app)
In-room camera hardware (PoE) Standard PoE — no lock-in
Body-worn cameras for staff
AV1 cloud backup recordings 30–365 days by plan
Motion alerts + supervision AI
Data locationPi-local — your networkProcare cloud only
No-biometrics covenant in MSA §3 tinyguard.co/legal/covenantsNot contractually disclaimed
Operations & billing
Check-in / check-out (parent + staff)
Billing + tuition management (deep feature set)
ACH payments
CCDF subsidy tracking Every tier, no moduleSubsidy add-on module
Staff scheduling + payroll (deep feature set)
Ratio tracking + live alertsManual / module
Incident reports (print-ready)
Staff certification tracker
CACFP meal reporting
Parent app & communication
Parent mobile app Mobile-first 10M+ downloads
Daily reports + photos AI-drafted (AI add-on) Manual entry
Parent messaging
Milestone tracking
Lesson plans 96-template library
AI & curriculum
AI-drafted daily reports (AI add-on)
Named AI assistant (AI add-on)
AI observation → portfolio (AI add-on)
Vision-AI from in-room cameras Active dev
Pricing & terms
Published pricing tinyguard.co/pricingDemo required
Facility — software$99/mo + $2.50/childDemo required
Brand (multi-location) — software$99/site + $200/mo + $2.50/childDemo required
AI assistant + drafted reports$50/mo add-onDemo required
Live video — per camerafrom $7/camera/mo · you pick retention (30-day $12) No camera product
Hardware lock-in None — standard PoE camerasN/A — no hardware
Pi 5 Setup Kit (one-time)$299
Included Partial / module add-on Not offered Procare pricing requires a demo — "Demo required" reflects their sales-led disclosure model.
When a prospect brings up Procare
Procare is the deepest legacy CMS in the industry. 40,000 centers and 10M+ app downloads is real. If a director is happy with their billing depth, don't try to displace on billing alone — lead with the parts Procare structurally doesn't do:
"Procare has the deepest billing and scheduling feature set in childcare CMS — nobody disputes that. The gap is what's not in their box: native cameras and in-room AI. If your center wants cameras + management in one place, you'd pair Procare with a separate camera vendor — and pay for both. TinyGuard does both on one Pi, on your network, with subsidy tracking included in the Facility plan at $99/mo + $2.50/child. Worth a 15-minute walk-through before you re-sign your Procare contract."
Where Procare has an edge — be honest about this

Other childcare comparisons

Cameras. Billing. AI.
One Pi on your network.

Pi 5 Setup Kit $299 one-time. Published pricing — no sales call required to see what it costs. Compare our Standard tier directly to your Procare quote.