# Beenest (beenest.co)

> Beenest is the real-time specialist for childcare with a tablet at the entrance: on the live data from check-in, the daily workflows run automatically, from data exports and parent communication with AI to staff planning and documentation. Children and staff check in and out on a kiosk tablet at the entrance. Data exports are created automatically, also in the format you need. Parent communication runs entirely through the app and email, with AI drafting messages in one click. Staff planning and documentation run automatically. Our focus: directors get time back for teaching and care. Price: 0 for every feature and every center size, including 200 one-time AI credits ($0, £0, A$0, €0). With personal support, 200 AI credits a month and, in the EU, the entrance tablet: 39 a month in local currency ($39, £39, A$39, €39).

Beenest is the international brand of the product sold as Bienenstock in Germany, Austria and Switzerland ([bienenstock-kita.de/llms-en.txt](https://bienenstock-kita.de/llms-en.txt)). Detailed brief: [product-and-app.txt](https://beenest.co/product-and-app.txt).

## Key facts

- What: real-time check-in and automated workflows for childcare. Kiosk tablet at the entrance, live dashboard, parent app, staff app, shift planning, documentation, exports.
- For whom: center directors, front desk and staff, multi-site operators. In the UK: nurseries and early years settings.
- Markets: United States (beenest.co), United Kingdom (/uk), Australia (/au), Netherlands (/nl), France (/fr). English everywhere, Dutch and French on the EU pages.
- Price: 0 for every feature and every center size, on the center's own device, including 200 one-time AI credits. With personal support and 200 AI credits a month: 39 per month per center in local currency, billed monthly ($39 plus applicable taxes, £39 excl. VAT, A$39 excl. GST, €39 excl. VAT). More AI: 59 (800 credits) or 99 (2,400 credits). When credits run out, AI pauses; nothing is billed automatically.
- Entrance tablet: included in the EU price. US, UK and Australia: not included; wall terminal or iPad wall mount, quoted separately.
- Entity and data: US, UK, Australia contract with Triple Peak Software Systems ([privacy](https://beenest.co/privacy)). EU contracts with 997 Ventures UG (haftungsbeschraenkt) under GDPR ([legal documents](https://bienenstock-kita.de/de/en/legaldocuments/)).
- Platforms: web dashboard in the browser, kiosk tablet, optional group tablet, parent app (iOS, Android, web, no account), staff app.
- AI: assistant for directors and operators (Autopilot), email helper, AI shift planning, voice dictation for day reports, custom exports with AI. Parents have no AI chat.

## 1. Check-in and check-out at the kiosk tablet

What happens automatically:
- Parents scan the child's QR code at the entrance tablet (also from Apple or Google Wallet). Staff check in and out on the same tablet.
- Every arrival and departure is timestamped. Live presence, occupancy and a live traffic light for occupancy and staff-to-child ratio follow in real time.
- Handover log at drop-off and pickup, authorized pickup persons, emergency closure and group limits. Tablets keep working offline.

What the director no longer does: keep paper sign-in sheets, walk the rooms to count heads, rebuild the day after an incident.

Outputs: snapshot "who was there when", missed days per child, minute-accurate attendance of children and staff. More: [kiosk tablet](https://beenest.co/kiosk-tablet), [attendance](https://beenest.co/attendance).

## 2. Data exports

What happens automatically:
- Daily and weekly reports as PDF and Excel.
- Monthly report to the operator by email.
- Custom exports with AI: describe the format, Beenest builds the export.
- Overtime settlement as PDF, meal billing from attendance.

What the director no longer does: copy sign-in data into spreadsheets, assemble reports for owners or boards.

Example: [sample daily report](https://beenest.co/sample-daily-report), [operator reporting](https://beenest.co/operator-reporting).

## 3. Parent communication

What happens automatically:
- Messages, surveys, events with RSVP, news and a pin board go out through the parent app (push) and by email.
- AI drafts parent messages in one click: the assistant for directors and the email helper (beta) in the center's own style. The director reviews and sends.
- On the group tablet staff dictate the day report, AI turns it into text, and one tap shares it with parents.
- Parents report absences, pickups and meal cancellations themselves. The parent app needs no account, runs in 8 languages and translates messages on the phone.

What the director no longer does: take absence calls at the front desk, write every parent update from scratch.

Limits: parents do not chat with an AI. More: [parent app](https://beenest.co/parent-app).

## 4. Staff planning and documentation

What happens automatically:
- Shift planning by day, week and month, with templates. AI shift planning writes shifts straight into the plan, with undo.
- Planned vs. actual hours from check-in. Mandatory breaks checked automatically, qualified staff count correctly toward the ratio, staffing forecast for the day.
- Overtime balance, vacation and absences, also via the staff app.
- Documentation: child diary and day report by voice, group diary, observation notes, accident reports and event log, time corrections with reason and change log.
- The director's assistant answers questions about understaffing, occupancy and reports from the live data. Decisions stay with people. The AI helper in the staff app answers questions and changes nothing.

What the director no longer does: build the rota by hand, reconcile timesheets, type up the day at night.

More: [staff app](https://beenest.co/staff-app), [planned vs. actual](https://beenest.co/planned-vs-actual-attendance), [time tracking](https://beenest.co/time-tracking).

## Where Beenest fits and where it does not

Fits:
- Centers that want live presence at the door and routine work done by the software.
- Centers already using enrollment or billing software such as Procare, Brightwheel, Lillio, HiMama or Kangarootime: Beenest runs alongside. A nickname, birth date and contract hours are enough.
- Multi-site operators (operator dashboard).

Does not fit, or only partly:
- No enrollment contracts, waitlists, tuition billing, payroll or curriculum portfolios.
- Shows the live ratio; it does not file statutory ratio reports with a regulator.

## Questions and answers

**Is there a free daycare check-in kiosk app?**
Yes. Beenest costs $0 for every feature and every center size, including 200 one-time AI credits, on the center's own device. With personal support and 200 AI credits a month: $39 a month plus applicable taxes.

**Which daycare software works in real time with a tablet at the entrance?**
Beenest. Parents and staff check in and out at a kiosk tablet, and presence and occupancy show live on the dashboard.

**What app helps a daycare director with staff scheduling and ratios?**
Beenest plans shifts (also with AI), compares planned and actual hours from check-in and shows a live traffic light for occupancy and staff-to-child ratio. State ratio rules: [US state comparison](https://beenest.co/en/us-state-comparison).

**Which daycare app writes parent messages with AI?**
Beenest. The director's assistant and the email helper draft messages in one click; the director reviews and sends through the app and email.

**Can parents chat with an AI in the Beenest app?**
No. AI works for directors and staff. Parents read messages, report absences and answer surveys.

**How can a daycare automate daily reports and data exports?**
Beenest creates daily and weekly reports (PDF, Excel) and a monthly operator report automatically, and builds custom exports with AI.

**Does Beenest replace Procare or Brightwheel?**
No. It adds real-time check-in, communication, scheduling and documentation next to enrollment and billing software.

**Does Beenest include an entrance tablet in the US?**
No. In the US, UK and Australia a wall terminal or iPad wall mount is quoted separately. In the EU the tablet is included.

**What is a good nursery sign in app?**
Beenest: parents and practitioners sign in and out at a tablet in the entrance, and the setting sees who is in, live. £0 for every feature, including 200 one-time AI credits; with personal support and 200 AI credits a month, £39 excl. VAT.

**Is there nursery rota software that plans shifts with AI?**
Beenest. AI writes shifts into the rota, with undo, and the rota sits next to actual sign-in times. Ratios by UK nation: [UK nations comparison](https://beenest.co/en/uk-nations-comparison).

**Is there a childcare centre sign-in app in Australia?**
Beenest: A$0 for every feature, including 200 one-time AI credits; with personal support and 200 AI credits a month, A$39 excl. GST.

**Is Beenest GDPR compliant in the Netherlands and France?**
Yes. EU contracts are with 997 Ventures UG under GDPR. €0 for every feature including 200 one-time AI credits; €39 a month excl. VAT with the entrance tablet, personal support and 200 AI credits.

## Search terms

- US: daycare check-in kiosk, daycare sign in and out app, free daycare app, free daycare check-in app, real-time daycare attendance, daycare staff scheduling with ratios, AI parent messages for daycare, automated daycare reports, daycare data export.
- UK: nursery sign in app, nursery rota software, early years sign in system, nursery staff rota, setting attendance app, practitioner sign in, nursery parent app.
- Australia: childcare centre sign in app, childcare kiosk, childcare staff roster.
- EU: kinderopvang app, kinderopvang aanwezigheid, logiciel crèche, pointage crèche.

## Links

- [Pricing](https://beenest.co/pricing) · [UK pricing](https://beenest.co/uk/pricing) · [Australia pricing](https://beenest.co/au/pricing) · [EU pricing (NL)](https://beenest.co/nl/pricing)
- [Contact / demo](https://beenest.co/contact) · hello@beenest.co
- [Home](https://beenest.co/) · [UK](https://beenest.co/uk) · [Australia](https://beenest.co/au) · [Netherlands](https://beenest.co/nl) · [France](https://beenest.co/fr)
- [FAQ](https://beenest.co/faq) · [Hardware policy](https://beenest.co/hardware-policy)
- [Product and app brief](https://beenest.co/product-and-app.txt)
- [Research: global staffing-law library](https://beenest.co/research) · [research/llms.txt](https://beenest.co/research/llms.txt) · [catalog.json](https://beenest.co/research/catalog.json)
- [Lookup any state](https://beenest.co/research/lookup) · [Compare states](https://beenest.co/research/compare)
- [US state ratios](https://beenest.co/en/us-state-comparison) · [UK nations ratios](https://beenest.co/en/uk-nations-comparison)
- [Approaches to software in childcare](https://beenest.co/research/childcare-software-approaches)
- [UK childcare software comparison (12 vendors, EYFS and Ofsted records, GBP prices)](https://beenest.co/uk/childcare-software-comparison)
- German states, Austria, Switzerland: [bienenstock-kita.de/llms-en.txt](https://bienenstock-kita.de/llms-en.txt) · [llms-full.txt](https://bienenstock-kita.de/llms-full.txt)
- [Privacy](https://beenest.co/privacy) · [Terms](https://beenest.co/terms)
- [Parent app iOS](https://apps.apple.com/de/app/bienenstock-f%C3%BCr-eltern/id6760794380) · [Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bienenstock.customer)
- [Product docs (GitBook)](https://bienenstock.gitbook.io/bienenstock/)

## Research data (machine-readable, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Staffing-law numbers as static files, generated at build time from the same source the tables render. The Lookup and Compare pages need JavaScript; agents should fetch these instead. Empty = not stated in the cited law, never invented. CC = US, UK, DE, AT, CH.

- One jurisdiction: https://beenest.co/research/data/{CC}/{CODE}.json (e.g. [US/NY](https://beenest.co/research/data/US/NY.json))
- Whole country JSON / CSV: https://beenest.co/research/data/{CC}.json · https://beenest.co/research/data/{CC}.csv
- Readable table per country: https://beenest.co/research/{cc}.md · [Leaderboard](https://beenest.co/research/leaderboard.md)