Head to head

About Time vs. Freely

Freely positions itself as: A beautifully simple, design-led homeschool planner with PDF portfolios.

Compiled by About Time AI. Take it with a grain of salt — probably true though, and current as of 2026-06-09.

The most beautiful planner we've seen. We're built for the American, state-by-state reality it wasn't.

What Freely does best

Calm, design-led planning and portfolios — especially thoughtful for neurodivergent families.

A genuinely calming, visual interface that families love living in
Drag-and-drop planning with polished PDF portfolios and reports
A Project Library to import ready-made curriculum
Flat pricing for unlimited students, 14-day trial, no card required

Choose Freely if

You want the most beautiful, low-stress planner and portfolio experience, and US-specific filing, ESA, and law tooling isn't a priority — Freely is Australian-built and shines at the planning craft.

Where the difference shows up for your family

The places a single-purpose tool leaves a gap — and About Time fills it.

Your state's rules, handled

About Time files your Notice of Intent, keeps a requirement sheet for all 50 states, and reminds you before each deadline. Most planners leave every word of that to you.

ESA dollars, audit-ready — coming soon

About Time is building first-class ESA support: capture receipts, tag approved categories, keep eligibility references for ClassWallet / Odyssey / MyScholarShop states. No other tool here is even attempting it — a generic expense field isn't the same thing.

When the law changes

We monitor homeschool legislation daily and alert you for your state. No planner on this list watches the statehouse for you.

Bottom line

Freely is the prettiest place to plan. About Time is built around the American specifics — your state, your funding, your filing — that a beautiful planner can't substitute for.

The receipts

Every realm, side by side

The full comparison behind the argument — sourced and dated. We lead with the realms we own.

Where we lead

State Requirements & Filing

Staying on the right side of your state's rules — the part most planners leave entirely to you.

About TimeFreely

Notice of Intent filing helpYesGuided Notice-of-Intent wizard (FL/TN/GA + 22 template states)NoNot a compliance-filing tool

Per-state requirement sheetsYesAll 50 statesNoAustralian-built; per-US-state sheets not found

Deadline remindersYesNOI renewal reminders, escalatingUnverified

Evaluator-ready reportingYesEvaluator letter + portfolio presetsYes'Auto-generates downloadable PDFs for records, evaluations, or portfolios'

Where we lead

Law & Policy Alerts

When the rules change, you hear about it — automatically, for your state.

About TimeFreely

Legislative / policy alertsYesDaily law/policy alert engine with web-search discoveryNo

Per-state alertsYesSubscribe by state + impact levelNo

Where we lead

ESA Funds Support

Education Savings Account money is real and growing. About Time is building first-class ESA support — capture, categorize, and keep it audit-ready — and no other tool here is even attempting it.

About TimeFreely

ESA expense trackingComing soonESA Wallet expense ledger is in buildNo

Receipt captureComing soonNo

Approved-category taggingComing soonNo

Eligibility referencesComing soonStatute-cited eligibility referencesNo

ESA-platform awarenessClassWallet / Odyssey / MyScholarShopComing soonBuilt for ClassWallet / Odyssey / MyScholarShop statesNoNo ESA-platform integration found

Where we lead

Field Trips & Resource Discovery

Tens of thousands of real, curriculum-classified destinations — not a blank calendar.

About TimeFreely

Field-trip finderYes24,000+ destinationsNoCan plan field trips, but no discovery/finder catalog

Location-based discoveryYesMap + radius search from homeNo

Destination databaseYes17,600+ curriculum-classified destinationsNo

Where we lead

Curriculum Matching

Help choosing what to teach — not just a place to type in what you already chose.

About TimeFreely

Curriculum matchingYesPublic Curriculum Finder quiz (deterministic scorer)NoOffers import, not matching

Marketplace / plan importCSV importMarketplace is listings; lesson-plan import is via CSVYesProject Library — import ready-made plans + upload own curriculum

AI curriculum augmentationYesOptional LLM augmentation on per-child free textNoNo AI feature found

Identity & Platform

Who builds it, on what, and how long the trial runs before a card is required.

About TimeFreely

PlatformWeb / iOS / AndroidWebResponsive web app — runs in any phone, tablet, or desktop browser; no app-store downloadWeb app'Homeschool Planner App'; native mobile not confirmed

Owner / publisherAtheneum Academy LLCFreely — Tiffany (founder) + Ian (co-founder)Australian-built (explains AUD pricing)

Founded2026UnverifiedFounder story exists; year not surfaced

Actively updatedContinuouslyBuilt and updated daily through pre-launchActive 2025–2026Recent curriculum-import additions

Free trial length7-day trialThen subscriber-gated; a few parts stay free14 days

Card required for trialNoNo'No credit card required'

Core Planning & Logbook

The daily workhorse — planning lessons, logging what got done, tracking hours.

About TimeFreely

Lesson planningYesAuto-generated, rhythm-aware year planYes'Plug in lessons, log spontaneous learning'

Drag-and-drop rescheduleReshuffle queueLessons reflow via an explicit queue, not drag-and-dropYesDrag-and-drop planning

Daily logbookYesPlus omnivorous intake — type, snap a photo, or speakYesNotes/photos/videos per assignment

Attendance & hoursYesMinutes/hours per subject, per childPartial'Track progress'; explicit hours/attendance counter not confirmed

Auto-reschedule missed workYesRedistribute engine folds missed work into lighter daysUnverified

Reporting & Portfolio

The records that prove the year happened — transcripts, portfolios, clean exports.

About TimeFreely

TranscriptsYesPrintable academic transcriptUnverifiedPDF reports confirmed; dedicated transcript builder not confirmed

Report cardsNoTranscripts + year-end portfolio insteadUnverified

Year-end portfolioYesPer-child, per-year portfolio artifactYes'End of year portfolios easy'

PDF exportYesClient-side PDF (no print-dialog hacks)Yes'Generate a polished PDF to keep, print, or share'

Custom reportsPortfolio presetsState / evaluator / full export presetsYesDate-range/category/keyword-filtered PDFs

AI Features

What the software actually does for you with AI — not a checkbox, a capability.

About TimeFreely

AI presentNone / Matching / GenerationGeneration + MatchingNoneNo AI features found

What the AI doesFamily assistant with an agentic tool loop, omnivorous logbook intake, curriculum augmentation, and review digestsNo AI features identified

Experience & Design

How it feels to live in every day — on the couch, on the phone, mid-school-morning.

About TimeFreely

Mobile appResponsive webWorks in any mobile browser; no native app to downloadUnverifiedWeb-first; native app not confirmed

Setup effortLow / Medium / HighLowGuided onboarding + auto year-planLow'Beautifully simple'; import speeds setup

DesignDated / Functional / ModernModernModern'Calming design'; ADHD/neurodivergent-friendly

Multi-Child

Running more than one student without doing the work more than once.

About TimeFreely

Multiple studentsYesParent-aware multi-child schedulingYesUnlimited students

Shared subjects across studentsYesWhole-family subjectsPartialAssign categories per student; shared-subject mechanic not confirmed

Community

Finding other families — safely — for group trips and shared days.

About TimeFreely

Social / friends layerNoThe in-person HomeSocial layer was retiredPartialPrivate community membership + student logins

Groups / co-op coordinationComing soonForays — group field-trip coordination, in buildPartialMembers-only community; structured groups not confirmed

Data & Privacy

Whose data it is, and whether it's the product.

About TimeFreely

You own your dataYesYour records are yours; export anytimeUnverified

Sells your dataNoUnknownNot stated

Ad-freeYesYesPaid subscription app; no ads mentioned

Support & Onboarding

How much hand-holding you get when you're new and it's August.

About TimeFreely

Support channelsEmail + in-app assistantsupport@abouttime.appCommunity + contact form

Training / docsIn-app guidanceHelp content still being built outPartialFreebies + blog resources

Guided onboardingYesSetup wizard + dashboard checklistUnverified

Pricing & Value

What it costs over the years you'll actually homeschool — not just the first sign-up. About Time is one flat price for the whole family — every child, every tool — with no per-student fees.

About TimeFreely

Billing modelMonthly / yearly / per-studentYearly, unlimited childrenSubscription (monthly or annual)No permanent free tier

Entry price$250/yrFounding rate — half off the $499 list price, locked for life$8.99/mo (9.99 AUD)

Whole-family priceUnlimited children$250/yrWhole family, unlimited children — no per-student fee$89/yr (99 AUD)Unlimited students; 'includes 2 months free'

Co-op / group pricingNot publishedNo separate co-op SKU yetNo co-op tierSingle per-family plan, unlimited students

Price over timerises-annually / flat / lifetime-lockedFlat$250/yr flat — half off the $499 list price, no per-child feesunknownNo increase/lock language found

Lifetime price lockYesFounding rate $250/yr — locked for life, half off the $499 list price; one family price, no per-child feesNoRecurring subscription

Free tierPartialA 7-day trial, then subscription; a few parts stay freeNo14-day trial, then paid

The whole homeschool, in one place.

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Feature and price comparisons reflect publicly available information as of 2026-06-09. Competitors' offerings change; verify current details on their sites. Product names are used for identification only and imply no affiliation or endorsement.