Comparison
PTO Homeroom vs PTBoard
The long-running incumbent — cheap subscription, but the fundraising fee is the one to find.
The short answer
PTBoard charges seven times more on fundraising than on everyday payments — and neither number is on its pricing page.
All figures below are the vendors' own published rates, checked on 22 August 2026. Pricing changes — verify with each vendor before deciding.
Pricing, side by side
| PTO Homeroom | PTBoard | |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | $0 | $64.99 – $399.99 / year |
| Fee on payments | 2% | 0.7% + 20¢ |
| Fee on fundraisers | 2% | 5% |
| Card processing | Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ | Your own PayPal or Stripe |
| Fees passable to the payer | Yes — shown at checkout and covered by the payer by default | Yes — three documented options, including purchaser-covers-all |
| Processor lock-in | No — funds settle to your PTO's own Stripe account | No — you connect your own processor |
PTBoard tiers: Starter $64.99 · Premier $129.99 · Ultimate (for-profit) $399.99. Annual only; 3-month free trial.
What a $22,000 year actually nets
Assumes an average payment of $36.67 and that 55% of the total comes from your big fundraiser — the part vendors price differently.
PTO Homeroom
$22,000
No subscription; our 2% is covered at checkout, so you bank the sticker.
PTBoard
$20,843
$1,157 to subscription and fees
What to watch for with PTBoard
The fundraising fee is 5%
Store, form and donation payments cost 0.7% + 20¢, but campaign fundraisers — read-a-thons, colour runs, walk-a-thons — are charged a flat 5%. That's the event that funds your year.
Neither rate is published on the pricing page
The pricing page says only that “a transaction fee applies for online credit card payment.” The terms state PTBoard “receives a contractually-based percentage of each monetary transaction.” The actual numbers appear inside PTBoard's own training site.
A real subscription, billed annually
$64.99 to $399.99 a year depending on user count and nonprofit status. Homeroom has no subscription at any size.
No built-in bookkeeping
Budget-vs-actual, reimbursements and an audit packet are Homeroom features; a PTBoard school typically pays for accounting software as well.
Where PTBoard is the better choice
We'd rather you pick the right tool than the one that wrote the comparison.
Bring your own processor
PTBoard lets you connect your own PayPal or Stripe, so you're never locked to theirs. That's a genuine advantage and one we match rather than beat.
A three-month free trial
Longer than most, and no card required.
Thirteen years in market
Registered in 2013. If long track record is what your board weights most, that's real — we launched in 2026.
Silent auctions today
PTBoard ships auctions with Buy Now. Ours is on the roadmap, not in the product.
Choose PTBoard if…
PTBoard lets you connect your own PayPal or Stripe, so you're never locked to theirs. That's a genuine advantage and one we match rather than beat.
Choose PTO Homeroom if…
You want one tool instead of three, no annual subscription, a published fee you can explain to any parent, and your fundraiser, roster, communication and books in the same place.
Sources
Checked 22 August 2026. We don't republish figures a vendor doesn't publish; anything unstated is marked “not published” rather than estimated.
See it for yourself.
Free to start, no card required. Set your PTO up in about two minutes.
Start your PTO free