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Education · head to head

Aeries Student Information System vs GoGuardian

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
GoGuardian logo

GoGuardian

Education

Web filtering, classroom screen monitoring and self-harm alerting for school-issued devices

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.; GoGuardian beacon generates alerts that a human must act on, often outside school hours, and districts that buy it without agreeing who responds at 11pm have created a liability rather than resolved one.
  • They diverge on capability: Aeries Student Information System covers CALPADS reporting, GoGuardian covers Admin.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Aeries Student Information System and GoGuardian differ
AttributeAeries Student Information SystemGoGuardian
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, WindowsChrome OS, Windows, macOS, iOS, Web

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 GoGuardian

  • Admin
  • Teacher
  • Beacon
  • Beacon 24/7
  • Scenes and sessions
  • Smart Alerts
  • Off-campus filtering
  • Reporting

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 GoGuardian
  • County offices of education that must support many small districts on one shared instancenot GoGuardian
  • Districts with existing Microsoft SQL Server capability that prefer to keep the student record on their own infrastructurenot GoGuardian
  • Replacing a legacy system where average daily attendance accuracy is directly tied to funding receivednot GoGuardian

GoGuardian

  • A US district that must demonstrate CIPA-compliant filtering on federally subsidised broadband and wants the activity logs to survive an audit.not Aeries Student Information System
  • A one-to-one Chromebook programme where devices go home and the district needs the filtering policy to travel with the device rather than stop at the school gate.not Aeries Student Information System
  • A school with a documented safeguarding concern about self-harm that needs flagged language escalated to a named counsellor with a timestamped record.not Aeries Student Information System
  • A teacher running an online assessment who needs pupil browsers locked to a single site for the duration without provisioning a separate lockdown browser.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.

GoGuardian

  • Beacon generates alerts that a human must act on, often outside school hours, and districts that buy it without agreeing who responds at 11pm have created a liability rather than resolved one.
  • Detection is language-pattern based, so it produces false positives on coursework about difficult subjects and misses coded or oblique expressions, meaning it should never be presented to parents as a safety net.
  • Filtering on school-issued devices follows pupils home, which surveils domestic internet use on a household's own connection, and districts have faced public objections when this was not disclosed clearly in advance.
  • No pricing is published, and the multi-year reseller bundles make it hard to compare against a filtering-only competitor without running a full procurement.
  • Coverage is strongest on Chrome OS and thinner on Windows, macOS and iOS, so mixed-device districts get uneven enforcement and end up running a second filtering product for the non-Chromebook estate.

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

GoGuardian

On request
  • GoGuardian Suite$undefined/year
    • Priced per student or per device, quoted by district
    • Admin, Teacher and Beacon licensed individually or as a bundle
    • Sold heavily through education resellers as three, four and five year terms

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 GoGuardian if

  • You need admin.
  • You work on Chrome OS, Windows, macOS, iOS, Web.
  • You also want teacher.
GoGuardian review

Questions people ask

Is Aeries Student Information System or GoGuardian better?
Neither clearly leads. Aeries Student Information System starts at On request and GoGuardian 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 GoGuardian?
Aeries Student Information System starts at On request and GoGuardian at On request.
Does Aeries Student Information System or GoGuardian run on more platforms?
Aeries Student Information System runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows. GoGuardian runs on Chrome OS, Windows, macOS, iOS, Web.
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 GoGuardian is typically brought in for.
What can Aeries Student Information System do that GoGuardian cannot?
Aeries Student Information System covers CALPADS reporting, Attendance accounting, Scheduling and gradebook, Self-hosted or hosted. GoGuardian covers Admin, Teacher, Beacon, Beacon 24/7.

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.

GoGuardian: Is GoGuardian required for CIPA compliance?

No. CIPA requires a filtering policy and technology, not a specific vendor. GoGuardian is one of several products that satisfy it.

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.

GoGuardian: Does Beacon monitor pupils at home?

On a school-issued managed device, yes, including outside school hours, unless the district explicitly limits the policy. This should be disclosed to families.

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.

GoGuardian: Is Beacon included with Admin?

A starter level of Beacon is included with an Admin subscription. The 24/7 human triage service is a separate paid tier.

GoGuardian: Is Pear Deck part of the same licence?

No. Pear Deck Learning products are sold separately from the Admin, Teacher and Beacon suite even though the same company owns both.

GoGuardian: Can teachers view screens outside lesson time?

That depends on how the district configures sessions. Leaving screen viewing available at all hours is a configuration choice, not a product limitation, and it is the setting most worth reviewing.

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