Bloomily vs. Square

Square in its own words

Square says its invoices let businesses "create and send professional invoices online" and "get paid securely from any device" (Square Invoices). It is a payments tool, with invoices, payment links, appointment booking and in-person card payments.

Square Invoices go out by email, text or a shareable link. Customers can pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Cash App Pay, ACH bank transfer or Afterpay. You can save a customer's card and automate billing for any invoice. You can request a deposit with a separate due date for the balance. Reminders go out before, on or after the due date, and batch invoices reach many customers at once (Square Invoices).

Square Appointments books "single sessions or recurring classes." Its page lists a waitlist that fills cancellation openings with a paid plan (Square Appointments). Payment Links accept payments "for deposits, classes, recurring subscriptions, and more" (Square Payment Links). The Square Plus plan adds staff shift scheduling and attendance tracking. The pricing page also lists in-person payments by tap, dip or swipe (Square pricing). Square's Australian site has a childcare page that offers Square Appointments as a childcare booking system (Square Australia).

Where Bloomily fits a preschool, camp or drop-in program better

Square starts from the bill. Bloomily starts from the child, and the bill follows from enrollment, the weeks a camper picked, or a drop-in visit.

Preschool tuition. Tuition bills on your charge day, and families on autopay pay without a nudge. You see what came in and who still owes (Bloomily for preschools). Invoices itemize tuition, fees, discounts and subsidy splits. Late fees come with grace periods, and reminders go out by email and SMS. When an autopay fails, the family is asked to update their card, and the payment retries on its own (Bloomily billing).

Camp weeks. A family picks the weeks it wants, and each week keeps its own price. Sibling discounts, early-bird prices and promo codes apply at checkout (Bloomily camp registration). Deposits come in at registration, and the balance bill is made for you (Bloomily for camps). Camp weeks and add-ons land on one family balance, with one autopay and one statement (Bloomily programs).

Drop-in visits. A new family scans your poster, registers on their phone and signs your waiver. They add a card at the door, and it is charged after pickup. When you check a child out from the board, the visit invoices itself. Families can buy visit packs and memberships online, and you see how many visits each has left (Bloomily for drop-in).

Where the money goes. When a family pays, the money goes to your own Stripe account, not to a Bloomily account. Preschool and camp families pay by card or bank transfer, and your program decides who covers the processing fee (Bloomily payments). Drop-in families pay by card (Bloomily drop-in pricing). Card and bank details live with Stripe, not on Bloomily's servers (Bloomily security).

Families in the app. Families use a parent app on iPhone and Android (Bloomily for parents). Preschool and camp families view invoices, pay and set up autopay there (Bloomily parent app). At the door, families check in on a tablet with the last 4 digits of their phone and a PIN (Bloomily check-in).

Using Square and Bloomily together

Square's pricing page lists in-person payments by tap, dip or swipe. Bloomily does not ring up sales at a till. If you sell snacks or shirts at a counter, that counter can stay on Square.

Send each bill from only one tool. When tuition, camp weeks or drop-in visits move to Bloomily, stop the matching Square invoices, so no family gets two bills. Bloomily gives exports for your accountant (Bloomily billing overview). Ask your accountant which files they want from each system.

Moving from Square to Bloomily

For a preschool or camp, bring the list you keep today, as it is. AI help does the reading. A spreadsheet, another system's export, a PDF or a photo of a paper list. Nothing saves until you approve it. When you are ready, send each family one invite. Their child is already on their account. Families add a card when they first pay, and can save it for autopay. Keep your old system running beside Bloomily as long as you like (Switching to Bloomily).

A drop-in program starts at the door instead. Each new family scans your poster and registers on their phone before they sit down (Bloomily for drop-in).

Questions to ask in both demos

• How is a camp week's capacity and waiting list tied to the bill a family gets?
• How does tuition change when a child moves to a different classroom or schedule?
• How is a sibling discount worked out across two children on one family's bill?
• How is a deposit credited toward the balance when a family registers for several weeks?
• How does staff record each check-in and check-out, and who picked the child up?
• Where do families see their bills, payments and messages?
• Who covers the processing fee, and can your program choose?

Which one fits your program

Keep Square for counter sales and one-off payments. Choose Bloomily when your bills should follow enrollment, camp weeks or drop-in visits, next to the children they are for. See Bloomily for preschools, Bloomily for camps, Bloomily for drop-in, Bloomily's pricing for preschools, camps and drop-in, and Bloomily's payment fees.