Education · head to head
ClassLink vs Securly
ClassLink
Education
Single sign-on, rostering and usage analytics for school districts
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
Securly
Education
Web filtering, student safety monitoring and device management for K-12 schools
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: 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.; Securly pricing stacks by module and only Filter has rates that surface publicly, so the quoted total for Filter plus Aware plus On-Call is routinely several times the number a district budgeted from the filtering line alone.
- They diverge on capability: ClassLink covers LaunchPad, Securly covers Filter.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which ClassLink and Securly actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), platforms (Web, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows), 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 ClassLink
- LaunchPad
- Roster Server
- Analytics
- MyFiles
- QuickCards and badge sign-in
- ClassLink Extension
- Multi-factor and conditional access
- OneSync
Only in Securly
- Filter
- Aware
- On-Call
- Classroom
- MDM
- Pass
- Home
- Delegated admin
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
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 Securly
- 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 Securly
- 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 Securly
- 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 Securly
Securly
- A district that must show CIPA compliance for take-home Chromebooks used on home broadband, where network-level filtering does nothingnot ClassLink
- A district whose safeguarding policy requires that a human being reads a self-harm alert within minutes at any hour, including school holidaysnot ClassLink
- A one-to-one iPad programme needing Apple device enrolment, filtering and classroom control from a single agent rather than threenot ClassLink
- A district under pressure from parents who want visibility of what their child does on the school device at home, without the school having to field each request by handnot ClassLink
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
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.
Securly
- Pricing stacks by module and only Filter has rates that surface publicly, so the quoted total for Filter plus Aware plus On-Call is routinely several times the number a district budgeted from the filtering line alone.
- The safety scanning generates false positives at volume, including song lyrics, creative writing and health-class assignments, and each one consumes counsellor or administrator time that the vendor does not pay for.
- Alerting on student writing is a surveillance decision with real community consequences, and districts that deploy it without an explicit board policy and parent notification have faced local objections after the fact.
- Coverage is strongest on managed Chromebooks; personal devices, non-Chrome browsers and encrypted apps outside the agent leave gaps that the compliance story quietly depends on nobody testing.
- Per-student pricing is charged on enrolment rather than on devices, so a district that issues devices to only some year groups still pays for every student on the roll.
Pricing, plan by plan
ClassLink
On request- ClassLink$undefined/year
- Priced per student, with rates varying by district size and module mix
- LaunchPad, Roster Server and Analytics are licensed separately or bundled
- Annual district agreements, multi-year discounts negotiated
Securly
On request- Filter$undefined/year
- Web filtering on and off network
- Tiered per-student rates that fall as enrolment rises
- Published in some purchasing co-operative catalogues, not on the vendor site
- Aware$undefined/year
- Automated scanning of email, documents and search for safety risk
- Quoted per student, no public rate
- On-Call$undefined/year
- 24/7 human review and escalation of serious alerts
- Quoted per student, priced on top of Aware
- Classroom, MDM and Pass$undefined/year
- Sold as separate per-student modules
- Quoted
Which should you pick?
Choose ClassLink if
- You need launchpad.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows.
- You also want roster server.
Choose Securly if
- You need filter.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows.
- You also want aware.
Questions people ask
- Is ClassLink or Securly better?
- Neither clearly leads. ClassLink starts at On request and Securly at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, ClassLink or Securly?
- ClassLink starts at On request and Securly at On request.
- Does ClassLink or Securly run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, Windows, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- What is ClassLink best used for?
- ClassLink is most often used for 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., 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., a technology team spending each august rekeying class lists into a dozen vendor portals, wanting oneroster provisioning to do it from the sis instead., 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.. Of those, 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. and 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. are not what Securly is typically brought in for.
- What can ClassLink do that Securly cannot?
- ClassLink covers LaunchPad, Roster Server, Analytics, MyFiles. Securly covers Filter, Aware, On-Call, Classroom.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
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.
Securly: Does Securly publish pricing?
Not on its own site. Tiered per-student rates for Filter appear in some US purchasing co-operative catalogues, falling as enrolment rises, but Aware, On-Call, Classroom, MDM and Pass are quoted.
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.
Securly: What is the difference between Aware and On-Call?
Aware is the automated detection that produces alerts. On-Call is the staffed service that reads the serious ones out of hours and phones your escalation contacts. Buying Aware alone leaves the triage with your own staff.
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.
Securly: Does it filter on home internet?
Yes, filtering follows the managed device rather than the network, which is the point for take-home Chromebook programmes.
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.
Securly: Is student data used for anything else?
Securly signs the US Student Privacy Pledge and district data processing agreements; check the specific DPA rather than the marketing page, since scanning scope and retention are negotiated terms.
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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