Apptegy pricing: what a bundled contract actually contains
Apptegy publishes no figure, and a bundled contract cannot be compared with a per-student communications rate until it is taken apart. This page does not invent contract amounts we cannot verify. It gives you the apportionment method, the line items a bundle usually carries that a SaaS rate does not, and the documents that hold the real number for a district your size.
| Bundle component | How it is priced standalone | Recurring or one-time | Apportionment basis | Comparable to a per-student comms rate? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Website CMS and hosting | Annual platform fee, often flat or by site count | Recurring | Per site, not per student | No |
| Website design and build | One-time project fee | One-time | Amortise across the term | No |
| Branded mobile app | Annual, sometimes per district | Recurring | Per district | No |
| Mass notification (SMS, email, voice) | Per student per year | Recurring | Per student — this is the comparable line | Yes |
| Social media publishing and autopost | Bundled almost everywhere | Recurring | Per district | No |
| Implementation and onboarding | One-time | One-time | Amortise across the term | Only after amortisation |
| Rebrand or logo work | One-time project fee | One-time | Amortise, or exclude if optional | No |
| Training and PD days | Per day or bundled | Usually one-time | Amortise | Only after amortisation |
| Voice minutes above an allowance | Metered | Recurring, variable | Model your worst year | Yes — add to the comms line |
Only two rows here are directly comparable to a per-student communications rate: mass notification, and metered voice above allowance. Everything else is a website, an app or a project. A district that compares a whole bundle against a comms-only per-student rate will conclude the bundle is expensive; a district that compares only the comms line may conclude the opposite. Do the apportionment before you draw either conclusion.
The apportionment method, in five steps
- Get the contract itemised. Ask for the quote broken out by component with recurring and one-time separated. Vendors will often do this on request; a refusal is itself information, and it is worth noting in an evaluation.
- Strip the one-time lines out and amortise them across the term. A $30,000 implementation on a three-year deal is $10,000 a year, and pretending it is a year-one anomaly understates your real annual cost by exactly that amount.
- Price the website and app at market, separately. Get one quote from a specialist CMS vendor for a district your size. That gives you a defensible standalone figure for the non-comms components rather than an assumption.
- Subtract. Bundle annual cost, minus amortised one-time, minus the market value of the website and app components, leaves the implied communications cost.
- Divide by enrolment. That is your comparable per-student communications rate, and it is the only number that belongs on the same line as a comms-only vendor's price.
Two cautions. The implied comms figure is an estimate with a real error bar, because a bundle is priced as a bundle and the vendor may be discounting one component heavily. And a bundle has genuine value the arithmetic cannot capture: one vendor, one renewal, one support relationship, one integration between the website and the notification system. Whether that is worth a premium is a judgement, but it should be a judgement you make with the number in front of you.
Where to find what a district your size actually paid
Apptegy contracts are approved by boards like any other, which makes them findable.
- Board agenda packets in your enrolment band. Search neighbouring districts' archives for the vendor name. A bundled contract is usually a notable agenda item with the quote attached, and the attachment often carries the component breakdown you would otherwise have to ask for.
- Check registers and state checkbook portals for what was actually paid in a fiscal year, which sometimes differs from the contracted figure once one-time work is invoiced.
- Purchasing co-operative awards, which publish unit pricing and often let you skip an RFP.
- A public-records request for the executed agreement and the current-year invoice, when a specific comparable is missing and worth completing.
Whatever you find, divide by that district's enrolment for the matching year rather than a current figure, and record the source and the date alongside the number. A figure without a source cannot be used in a board paper, and a figure without a date will be wrong within eighteen months.
Whether to bundle at all
The unbundling question is more consequential than the price question, and it turns on three things.
- Renewal alignment. A bundle means one renewal date and one negotiation. Unbundling means two or three, and every additional renewal is another opportunity for an increase you did not plan.
- Integration you would otherwise build. Website posts that also become notifications, an app that carries the same content, one place staff publish. That is real convenience and it disappears when you unbundle. Ask precisely how deep it goes, though, since in many suites the integration is thinner than the demo implies.
- Concentration risk. If the bundle vendor's service degrades, or the price rises sharply, or they are acquired, you are moving three systems rather than one. That risk is the reason unbundling exists, and it is why a change-of-control exit clause matters more in a bundled contract than anywhere else.
Our position, since we are one of the unbundled options. We deliberately do not build a CMS, a mobile app or a payments product, and we are not going to. That makes us cheaper and narrower: $3.50 per student per year under 5,000 students, $3.25 to 14,999, $3.00 above, one tier with everything included, fixed 36 months with year four capped at the lesser of CPI-U or 5 per cent. If your district needs a website and an app, buying from us means running a second procurement, and for many districts the bundle is the better answer. We would rather say that than pretend unbundling is free.
Questions people actually ask
How much does Apptegy cost per student?
Apptegy publishes no price, and any figure you see quoted without a source and a date should be treated as unverified. Because contracts are bundled across website, mobile app and communications, a per-student figure only becomes meaningful after the bundle has been apportioned and the one-time components amortised across the term.
What is included in an Apptegy Thrillshare contract?
Typically a website CMS with hosting, a branded district mobile app, mass notification across text, email and voice, and social media publishing, plus one-time design, implementation and training lines. What is actually in your contract depends on the quote, which is why an itemised breakdown separating recurring from one-time is the first thing to ask for.
Does Apptegy charge separately for the mobile app?
It is normally part of the bundle rather than a separate line, which is exactly why the apportionment matters. If the app is included, its market value should be subtracted before you compare the remainder against a comms-only per-student rate, or you will be comparing three products against one.
Is a bundled contract cheaper than separate vendors?
Sometimes, and it is rarely the deciding factor. Bundling buys one renewal, one support relationship and genuine integration between the website and notifications; it costs you concentration risk and a harder exit, since leaving means moving three systems. Do the apportionment arithmetic first, then decide on those grounds rather than on the headline.
One price. Every feature. Locked for three years.
$3.50 per student per year under 5,000 students. No tiers, no add-on modules, no per-message fees. Published on the site because you should not have to book a call to learn a price.