HiMama rebranded to Lillio in 2023 - same platform, new name. Here is a fair, director-first comparison: what overlaps, where DayLynx is different, and where Lillio is stronger today. So you can pick the right platform, not just the most familiar one.
Last updated: 2026-04-18 — Lillio feature and pricing data verified quarterly.
Side-by-side
Attendance, messaging, curriculum, billing, and COPPA posture - the areas directors ask about most when weighing Lillio against a newer alternative. Lillio claims below are drawn from lillio.com and third-party reviews.
| Capability | DayLynx | Lillio |
|---|---|---|
| Attendance & secure check-in | Guardian PIN check-in, real-time occupancy, ratio tracking | Digital check-in and attendance — core feature of the platform |
| Parent messaging & daily reports | Direct messaging between staff and families, built in | In-app messaging and daily reports are a core product area |
| Curriculum & learning portfolio | Activity notes and daily summaries; no dedicated portfolio module | Learning journals, developmental milestones, and curriculum planning are a marketing focus |
| Educator professional development | Not a current shipped feature | Professional development library with CDA/CEU content publicly marketed |
| Billing & invoicing | Tuition billing included at one flat price | Billing features are offered (commonly cited as a paid add-on) |
| COPPA posture | COPPA-first: guardian consent, no public feeds, no ads — stated on /coppa | Not publicly claimed on the Lillio marketing site as of writing |
| Published per-seat pricing | $100/mo base (5 children) + $7/child — listed on /pricing | Pricing not publicly listed — quote on request |
| Configurable retention policies | Center admins can set key record-retention windows within DayLynx's COPPA-first, licensing-supporting guardrails | Not publicly confirmed on lillio.com |
| Brand continuity | Single product name since launch | Rebranded from HiMama to Lillio in 2023 — older material still references HiMama |
Lillio details reflect publicly available information from lillio.com and aggregate third-party reviews. Where a capability is not publicly documented by Lillio, we note it as "not publicly confirmed" rather than guess. HiMama rebranded to Lillio in 2023.
Pricing transparency
Buyers shouldn't need a sales call to model their monthly bill. We publish ours. Lillio's pricing is not publicly listed on lillio.com - interested centers are directed to request a demo or quote.
DayLynx
Lillio
Want more context? Why we think daycare software pricing should not require a sales call.
Where DayLynx is different
These are shipped or publicly committed features, not marketing promises. Anything in beta or planned is labeled as such.
DayLynx lists pricing on /pricing: $100/month for your first 5 children, $7/child after. Lillio does not publish pricing on lillio.com — interested centers are directed to request a demo or quote. You can model your DayLynx bill before a single sales call.
Photo and media consent is tracked per child. No public feeds, no ad networks, no data harvesting. DayLynx states its COPPA commitment publicly on /coppa. Lillio's public marketing site does not claim COPPA compliance as of writing — a meaningful difference for US licensing reviewers.
Attendance, messaging, photos, compliance, reports, and parent portal are all included at one flat price. No premium tiers and no per-feature add-ons. Lillio reviewers commonly cite billing and advanced modules as priced add-ons on top of the base subscription.
A focused interface designed around the director's and teacher's daily flow — check-in, ratios, messages, and reports are a tap or two away. Centers that do not need a full curriculum/portfolio module get a lighter, faster experience.
Teachers get help drafting the day's activity notes, so families hear back consistently without adding to your team's paperwork.
Directors and staff sign up and sign in with one click using their existing Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account — no separate DayLynx password is ever created. For centers without Google or Microsoft, email magic-link is available as a fallback. Faster onboarding, one less credential to manage.
Honest comparison
We want you to make a fair decision, not a rushed one. Here is where Lillio has real advantages - we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
Lillio's marketing and product heavily emphasize learning journals, developmental milestone tracking, and curriculum planning. Centers that want a documented learning portfolio per child as a core product area will find Lillio's dedicated tooling more mature than DayLynx's lighter activity-notes approach.
Lillio publicly markets a professional development content library, including CDA credential support and CEU-eligible content. That is a genuine feature advantage for centers investing in staff credentialing — DayLynx does not currently ship a PD content library.
HiMama launched in 2013 and rebranded to Lillio in 2023, giving the platform over a decade of production usage across thousands of centers. Public reviews, case studies, and peer references are more abundant than for a newer platform like DayLynx.
Questions directors ask
The practical questions we hear most when a center is evaluating a Lillio alternative - including how the HiMama rebrand affects your decision.
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