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Education · head to head

Aeries Student Information System vs ClassLink

Aeries Student Information System logo

Aeries Student Information System

Education

Student information system built around California state reporting for public school districts

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ClassLink logo

ClassLink

Education

Single sign-on, rostering and usage analytics for school districts

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Aeries Student Information System the core advantage is California specific. A district outside California pays for a system whose main differentiator does not apply to its state reporting obligations.; ClassLink it is a single point of failure by design; a ClassLink outage locks pupils out of every application at once, which is a worse day than any individual product failing.
  • They diverge on capability: Aeries Student Information System covers CALPADS reporting, ClassLink covers LaunchPad.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Aeries Student Information System and ClassLink actually diverge.

Attributes where Aeries Student Information System and ClassLink differ
AttributeAeries Student Information SystemClassLink
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, WindowsWeb, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Education).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Aeries Student Information System

  • CALPADS reporting
  • Attendance accounting
  • Scheduling and gradebook
  • Self-hosted or hosted
  • Parent and pupil portals
  • Query and report writer

Only in ClassLink

  • LaunchPad
  • Roster Server
  • Analytics
  • MyFiles
  • QuickCards and badge sign-in
  • ClassLink Extension
  • Multi-factor and conditional access
  • OneSync

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Aeries Student Information System

  • A Californian district that wants CALPADS submissions produced natively rather than by an external consultant each reporting windownot ClassLink
  • County offices of education that must support many small districts on one shared instancenot ClassLink
  • Districts with existing Microsoft SQL Server capability that prefer to keep the student record on their own infrastructurenot ClassLink
  • Replacing a legacy system where average daily attendance accuracy is directly tied to funding receivednot ClassLink

ClassLink

  • A district that has bought dozens of edtech products and cannot answer the board question of which ones are actually being used before renewal season.not Aeries Student Information System
  • A primary school where five and six year olds cannot type passwords, needing badge or QR sign-in that still resolves to a real identity behind the scenes.not Aeries Student Information System
  • A technology team spending each August rekeying class lists into a dozen vendor portals, wanting OneRoster provisioning to do it from the SIS instead.not Aeries Student Information System
  • A district running a mix of Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 that needs one portal over both rather than telling pupils which login to use for which tool.not Aeries Student Information System

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Aeries Student Information System

  • The core advantage is California specific. A district outside California pays for a system whose main differentiator does not apply to its state reporting obligations.
  • The third party application ecosystem is smaller than that of the national vendors, so some education technology suppliers support it only through generic rostering rather than a native integration.
  • The self-hosted option shifts patching, backup and database administration to district staff, and districts that choose it for cost reasons often lack the staffing to sustain it.
  • The interface reflects a long product history and is dense, so training time for new registrars and office staff is longer than for more recently rewritten competitors.
  • Reporting flexibility depends on staff who understand the underlying data model, and when that person leaves, the district loses a large amount of undocumented institutional capability.

ClassLink

  • It is a single point of failure by design; a ClassLink outage locks pupils out of every application at once, which is a worse day than any individual product failing.
  • Pricing is entirely quote-based and per student, so a district cannot budget for it without a sales cycle, and comparisons against Clever come down to negotiated rates rather than list prices.
  • Rostering accuracy is only as good as the SIS data behind it, and districts with messy enrolment or course records find ClassLink faithfully propagates that mess to every downstream vendor.
  • Applications that do not support SAML or OIDC are handled by a browser extension that replays stored credentials, which works but breaks whenever the vendor changes its login page and is a weaker security posture than real federation.
  • Analytics measures logins and session activity, not learning or engagement, so a product that pupils open and abandon still looks used; districts that treat the numbers as proof of value draw the wrong conclusion.

Pricing, plan by plan

Aeries Student Information System

On request
  • Aeries Student Information System$undefined/year
    • Quoted per pupil per year
    • Hosted and self-hosted licensing differ
    • Implementation and data conversion quoted separately

ClassLink

On request
  • ClassLink$undefined/year
    • Priced per student, with rates varying by district size and module mix
    • LaunchPad, Roster Server and Analytics are licensed separately or bundled
    • Annual district agreements, multi-year discounts negotiated

Which should you pick?

Choose Aeries Student Information System if

  • You need calpads reporting.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows.
  • You also want attendance accounting.
Aeries Student Information System review

Choose ClassLink if

  • You need launchpad.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows.
  • You also want roster server.
ClassLink review

Questions people ask

Is Aeries Student Information System or ClassLink better?
Neither clearly leads. Aeries Student Information System starts at On request and ClassLink at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Aeries Student Information System or ClassLink?
Aeries Student Information System starts at On request and ClassLink at On request.
Does Aeries Student Information System or ClassLink run on more platforms?
Aeries Student Information System runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows. ClassLink runs on Web, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows.
What is Aeries Student Information System best used for?
Aeries Student Information System is most often used for a californian district that wants calpads submissions produced natively rather than by an external consultant each reporting window, county offices of education that must support many small districts on one shared instance, districts with existing microsoft sql server capability that prefer to keep the student record on their own infrastructure, replacing a legacy system where average daily attendance accuracy is directly tied to funding received. Of those, a californian district that wants calpads submissions produced natively rather than by an external consultant each reporting window and county offices of education that must support many small districts on one shared instance are not what ClassLink is typically brought in for.
What can Aeries Student Information System do that ClassLink cannot?
Aeries Student Information System covers CALPADS reporting, Attendance accounting, Scheduling and gradebook, Self-hosted or hosted. ClassLink covers LaunchPad, Roster Server, Analytics, MyFiles.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Aeries Student Information System: Is Aeries usable outside California?

Yes, and it is in use in several other states, but the state reporting depth that makes it compelling in California is not replicated everywhere, so it competes on general merit elsewhere.

ClassLink: How is ClassLink different from Clever?

Both do SSO and OneRoster provisioning to schools. ClassLink leans harder on usage analytics and on access to on-premise network file shares; Clever leans on its application marketplace. Vendor support is broadly comparable.

Aeries Student Information System: Can we host it ourselves?

Yes. Aeries still supports district hosted deployment on Microsoft SQL Server, which is uncommon among current student information systems and is a genuine reason some county offices stay.

ClassLink: Does it replace Google or Microsoft accounts?

No. It sits over them. Pupils still have an underlying Google Workspace or Entra ID identity and ClassLink federates to it.

Aeries Student Information System: How does it handle FERPA?

The district remains the data owner and controller of the education record. Aeries acts under district direction, and access is controlled through district assigned roles and permissions.

ClassLink: Is pricing published?

No. It is quoted per student and varies with district size and which of LaunchPad, Roster Server and Analytics you licence.

ClassLink: Does it work outside the United States?

Yes, but the OneRoster ecosystem and the SIS integrations are strongest for US K-12; international deployments get less of the prebuilt vendor coverage.

ClassLink: Can Analytics prove a product is worth renewing?

It proves whether people log in. It cannot tell you whether the time spent was useful, so treat low usage as a firm signal and high usage as a weak one.

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