Google Classroom is a classroom tool inside Google Workspace for Education — assignments, submissions, grades — and it is free for qualifying institutions. SprintUp is a school platform: enrolment, payments, the website, the student portal, classes and live video, with published prices from free. On price Google wins for any school that qualifies; the question is whether you need a classroom or a school.
The classroom tool in Google Workspace for Education: teachers post assignments, students submit work, grades and feedback flow back, and Docs, Drive and Meet sit alongside. Included in Education Fundamentals, listed at no cost for qualifying institutions, and in Education Plus at $6.00 per user per year; Google AI Pro for Education is an add-on at $15 per user per month on an annual commitment. It is not a school management system and Google does not present it as one: enrolment, fees, a public website and multi-site management sit outside it. The editions page does not state a data region, and we make no claim about it.
A school platform for independent schools, language schools and tutoring centres: campus, classes, live video, student portal, AI curriculum tools, school websites, enrolment, payments and a curriculum marketplace, with one student record underneath. Free for one educator and ten students, open to anyone; Pro €29 a month; Academy €99 a month for the first 25 active students, €4 each to 100 and €3 beyond, with unlimited teachers. Students pay you through Stripe and SprintUp takes 0%. Data is held in the EU under GDPR by an Irish company. No Google account required.
| Feature | SprintUp Education | Google Classroom |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan; Pro €29/month; Academy per active student from €99 | Education Fundamentals: "no cost for qualifying institutions"; Education Plus $6.00 per user per year |
| Who can use the free tier | Anyone — one educator, ten students | Qualifying educational institutions, as Google determines |
| What it is | A school platform: enrolment, classes, payments, website, portal | A classroom tool inside Google Workspace: assignments, submissions, grades |
| Enrolment and payments | Included — Stripe, 0% platform fee | Not part of Classroom |
| School website | Included — up to 5 sites on Academy | Not part of Classroom |
| Live video classes | Included, link generated per class | Google Meet is part of Workspace |
| AI curriculum tools | Included — unlimited on the relax lane | Google AI Pro for Education add-on: $15 per user per month, annual |
| Student portal | Included — one login for classes, homework, payments | Classroom stream and assignments |
| Curriculum marketplace | Yes — creators keep 80% | No commercial marketplace stated |
| Works without a Google account | Yes | No — requires Google Workspace |
| Multi-site | Up to 5 sites on one campus (Academy) | Not stated on editions page |
| Data residency / GDPR | EU data residency, GDPR — Irish company | Not stated on editions page |
Google figures are as published on the Google Workspace for Education editions comparison page on 23 September 2026. "Not part of Classroom" reflects what Classroom is, not a gap in Workspace as a whole. SprintUp prices exclude VAT; domains sold separately.
Subscription only. Google Education Plus is $6.00 per user per year, counted here as students plus teachers; Education Fundamentals is no cost for qualifying institutions. SprintUp Academy counts active students only.
| School | SprintUp Academy | Google Workspace for Education |
|---|---|---|
| 25 students, 2 teachers | €99 / month | Fundamentals $0 (if qualifying) · Plus $162 / year ≈ $13.50 / month |
| 100 students, 6 teachers | €399 / month | Fundamentals $0 (if qualifying) · Plus $636 / year ≈ $53 / month |
| 300 students, 15 teachers | €999 / month | Fundamentals $0 (if qualifying) · Plus $1,890 / year ≈ $158 / month |
Read honestly: Google is cheaper at every size, and free at every size for an institution that qualifies. What sits inside SprintUp's price that is not part of Classroom — enrolment, payments at 0%, the school website, the student portal, multi-site, the marketplace and AI curriculum tools without an add-on — is what you are comparing it against, along with whatever you currently pay for those separately. A qualifying school that needs a classroom and has the rest handled should stay on Classroom. A school that needs to run its operations from one student record is comparing two different kinds of product.
Enrolment, payments at 0%, the school website with programme pages, the student portal and multi-site are part of SprintUp. Classroom is the assignment layer inside Workspace; the rest of the school lives elsewhere.
Google's free edition is for qualifying institutions, as Google determines. SprintUp's free plan is open to any educator: one teacher, ten students, live classes, portal and unlimited AI generation, permanently.
Course outlines, lesson plans, activities and quizzes are unlimited on SprintUp's relax lane on every plan. Google lists AI Pro for Education as an add-on at $15 per user per month on an annual commitment.
Schools adopt units and courses built by other educators; creators keep 80% of every sale. Classroom has no commercial marketplace stated.
Your school qualifies for Education Fundamentals and is already running on Google Workspace — Classroom then costs nothing and slots into tools staff already use.
You need assignments, submissions and grades, and your enrolment, billing and website are handled by systems you are keeping.
Your students and teachers all have Google accounts and your teaching materials live in Docs and Drive.
You are a large institution and the classroom tool is one piece of a Workspace-wide decision, not a school-platform decision.
For qualifying educational institutions, yes: Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals is listed at no cost and includes Classroom, and Education Plus adds more for $6.00 per user per year, as published. Whether your school qualifies is Google's decision, and a private language school or tutoring centre should check before assuming. SprintUp's free plan is open to anyone — one educator and ten students — and its paid plans are public.
No. For a qualifying institution, Classroom costs nothing and Education Plus is a few dollars per user per year; SprintUp Academy is €99 a month for 25 active students and €399 at 100. We are not going to argue with that. The comparison is what each does. Classroom is a classroom tool: assignments, submissions, grades, inside Workspace. It does not enrol students, take payments, run your public website or hold the student record a school is run from. SprintUp does those things and includes live classes and AI curriculum tools; if you would otherwise buy them separately, add those to Google's column.
It is not a school management system, and Google does not describe it as one. Enrolment and admissions, fees and payments, a public school website with programme pages, multi-site management and a commercial curriculum marketplace are outside it. Schools on Classroom typically run those elsewhere. SprintUp's case is not that Classroom is bad at what it does — it is very good at it — but that a small school needs the rest, in one place.
No. Students and teachers sign in to SprintUp directly; no Google account or Workspace subscription is needed. Live video classes, activities, homework and payments run inside the platform. A school on Workspace can keep using Docs and Drive alongside it.
When your school qualifies for Education Fundamentals, is already in Google Workspace, needs assignments, submissions and grades rather than enrolment and billing, and runs its administration in other systems it intends to keep. At no cost for a qualifying institution, it is the right answer for a lot of schools, and it is the wrong comparison for a school that needs to run its operations, not only its classes.
How we compared: to the seven systems in our buyer's guide, using only what each vendor publishes. Google figures were taken from the Workspace for Education editions page on 23 September 2026. An earlier version of this page stated a hosting region for Google we could not verify; it has been removed. If we have something else wrong, tell us and we will correct it with a note.
Enrolment, payments at 0%, website, student portal, live classes and AI curriculum tools, from one student record. Free for one educator and ten students; Academy from €99 a month with 30 days free.