vs
The power of Sawyer. Without the $219 a month or the marketplace cut.
Everything you run your classes on, on Famlo's free plan. Built for homeschool co-ops, classes and microschools.
With Famlo, you can:
Yes Fill your classes with homeschool families nearby, and see what they want that nobody offers yet Yes Run registration, waivers, the roster and the door, with no $219 upgrade Yes Get paid by card or by Step Up, and keep your full priceNo card. Listing stays free whether or not you ever collect a penny through us.
Sawyer sells your tools back to you, plan by plan.
Sawyer: the tools you need, unlocked one plan at a time
Famlo: every one of those tools on one free plan
You’re ready for Famlo if any of these sound like you
You pay $219 a month before a single family registers
Waitlists and waivers sit behind a plan upgrade
On Launch, Sawyer's marketplace takes 30% of the families it sends you
Families lose Sawyer's fee even when you cancel
Your Step Up families still need invoices built by hand
Fill your classes with families who are already looking
Famlo is where homeschool parents near you search by their kids' ages, and Local insights shows you what they want that nobody nearby offers yet. On Sawyer's Launch plan, its marketplace takes 30% of the bookings it sends; Famlo takes no commission.
No card. Listing stays free whether or not you ever collect a penny through us.
Run registration, the roster and the door in one place
Families add their children once. Allergies, pickup and signed waivers arrive on your roster, and each person on your team sees their own part. On Sawyer, half of this starts on Grow.
No card. Listing stays free whether or not you ever collect a penny through us.
Get paid by card, Step Up or your own scholarship
Cards go straight to your own Stripe account, and dues renew on their own. On the Scholarship plan, Step Up families choose “my scholarship pays” and Famlo writes the invoice, and families who need help can ask for your own scholarship, which you award from a fund you set.
No card. Listing stays free whether or not you ever collect a penny through us.
Pick your Sawyer plan. Here's what it costs on Famlo.
Sawyer needs a credit card on file and 30 days' notice to cancel; Famlo needs neither. Card processing applies on both.
Launch
$79
a month
30% of marketplace bookings, required
Registration, attendance, messaging and family profiles. No waitlists, no waivers, no memberships, roles for instructors only.
Free
$0
a month
No commission
Families pay Famlo’s fee on paid classes, unless you cover it.
All of that, plus seat alerts when a full class opens up, e-signature waivers, memberships and staff roles.
Grow
$219
a month
20% of marketplace bookings, opt-in
Adds waitlists, e-signature waivers, memberships, auto-billing, custom forms, advanced scheduling and full staff roles.
Free
$0
a month
No commission
Families pay Famlo’s fee on paid classes, unless you cover it.
The same tools on the free plan. Step Up invoicing and your own scholarship fund are the Scholarship plan.
Scale
$399
a month
15% of marketplace bookings, opt-in
Adds custom payment methods, store credit, Zapier, analytics and a dedicated account manager.
Website
$99
a month
No commission
Families pay Famlo’s fee on paid classes, unless you cover it.
Your own website on your own domain, with Step Up invoicing and your own scholarship fund. No dedicated account manager.
The complete homeschool platform
Everything a co-op, class or microschool runs on, and everything the families on the other side see.
famlo.co · Find
Riverbend Co-op · Local insights
famlo.co · Creek Day
Riverbend Co-op · Console
Riverbend Co-op · Check-in
Riverbend Co-op · Messages
Riverbend Co-op · Money
Riverbend Co-op · Scholarships
Your family · Records
Riverbend Co-op · Testimonials
“Ivy came home from science lab every Thursday with something new to show us. Lena makes it feel like a real lab.”
June Marsh · Science lab, fall term
“Registration took two minutes, and I never had to retype the allergy list. That alone sold me.”
Maria Reyes · Membership, 60 days in
A platform that moves as fast as your group
757 updates shipped since Famlo was rebuilt on July 18, 2026. About 60 a week.
Merged pull requests to Famlo's web and app codebases, with dependency and version bumps left out. Milestones are the dates each feature first shipped. Counted October 14, 2026.
Upgrade from Sawyer to Famlo in three steps
Bring your families over in an afternoon, and keep Sawyer until this term ends.
-
1
Download your families from Sawyer
Export your customer list from Sawyer as a spreadsheet. Famlo needs:
- Each family's email
- A role for anyone on your team, if you want one
-
2
Invite them in one go
Upload the file under People. Families already on Famlo join your group; everyone else gets an email to sign up and add their children once.
-
3
Publish next term
List your classes free. They go on the map and your public page, and you send families one link. Keep Sawyer until this term ends, then give it its 30 days' notice. Stuck on a step? famlo.co/support opens a ticket with the team.
Questions about switching from Sawyer
Can Famlo replace Sawyer for my program?
For most classes, programs, microschools and co-ops, yes: registration, payments and payment plans, the roster with allergies and pickup, e-signature waivers, memberships, attendance, reminders and staff roles. Step Up invoicing and your own scholarship fund are the Scholarship plan. What Famlo doesn't have yet: a waitlist that holds a place for one family, an export your accountant can import, and store credit.
Is it really free?
Listing and running your group is free, with no time limit. Families pay a booking fee when they book a paid class, unless you choose to cover it, so you receive your full price. Taking Step Up is the Scholarship plan, and your own website is the Website plan.
Does Famlo take a cut when families find me on the map?
No. A family who found you on the map pays the same as one who came from your own link, and you receive the same.
We already use Sawyer for check-in. Does Famlo do that?
Yes — per-meeting attendance, and parents can check themselves in from a QR code on the door. What Famlo does not have is a waitlist that holds a place for one family; a freed seat alerts everyone who saved the activity at once.
Does Famlo take a cut of scholarship money like Sawyer's commission?
No. Scholarship and ESA money never carries a fee on Famlo. Accepting Step Up is part of the paid Scholarship plan.
Can I run Famlo and Sawyer side by side?
Yes. Set up next term on Famlo while this one finishes on Sawyer, then give Sawyer the 30 days' notice it asks for.
What if we leave Famlo?
Export your registrations, rosters and attendance as CSV, then delete your group. There is no exit fee.
Where Sawyer’s figures come from
Each one is Sawyer’s own published number or wording, linked to the page it came from. Our build fails if any of them goes six months without being checked again.
Launch
$79/mo
Sawyer's help center lists Launch at $149/mo after a first-year offer; its pricing page shows $79/mo.
Source checked 14 October 2026
Marketplace commission
30% on Launch, 20% on Grow, 15% on Scale
Required on Launch; opt-in on the two higher plans.
Source checked 14 October 2026
Booking fee paid by the family
$1.99–$3.99 an order over $30
Non-refundable, even when the provider cancels.
Source checked 14 October 2026
Sawyer's marketplace lists its software customers' schedules automatically, so signing up for the software also places your classes in a directory alongside other providers.
Source checked 18 July 2026
Waitlists, e-signature waivers, memberships and full staff roles start on Grow; Zapier, store credit and an account manager on Scale.
Source checked 14 October 2026
Sawyer's booking fee is non-refundable: when a class is canceled or refunded, only the provider's portion comes back and the fee stays with Sawyer.
Source checked 14 October 2026
Sawyer requires a credit card on file for an active subscription, and asks for 30 days' notice before the next billing cycle to cancel.
Source checked 14 October 2026
Keep the tools. Drop the $219 a month.
Set up next term on Famlo while this one finishes on Sawyer. No credit card, no setup fee, no demo call.
No card. Listing stays free whether or not you ever collect a penny through us.
Sawyer’s plans, prices and features are from its own website and help center, linked above with the date each was checked. Sawyer is a trademark of its owner; Famlo is not affiliated with or endorsed by it, nor by Step Up For Students.