CPOMS vs On the Button - Which is the better fit for a nursery or preschool?

A closer look at the differences that may matter

Alerts are not all the same.

Both systems can alert people to concerns. CPOMS describes real-time alerts, severity ratings and prioritised workflows. On the Button sends an SMS and an email to the people you have chosen when a safeguarding concern is logged, including when they are away from the setting.

Do not settle for being told that a system has alerts. Ask to see what happens on the recipient's phone, whether the message contains sensitive information, how quickly it arrives and what happens if the first DSL is unavailable.

Both systems have body maps.

The difference is not 'body map versus no body map'. CPOMS has digital body maps and allows custom maps to be uploaded. On the Button uses a 3D body map. Look at both and decide which your practitioners find clearer and quicker to use.

Whistleblowing needs a precise answer.

CPOMS says StaffSafe supports confidential whistleblowing. Confidential and anonymous do not always mean the same thing. Ask whether the person receiving the report can identify the person who submitted it, whether there is a concern about a senior bypassing that senior, and whether StaffSafe is included in the price you have been given.

On the Button includes a separate anonymous whistleblowing route. Concerns about a senior are restricted so they do not go back to the senior in question.

Complaints can become safeguarding information.

This is one of the areas where you should ask CPOMS for a practical demonstration. Its customisable forms may be capable of recording complaints, but its public product information does not describe a dedicated complaint process.

On the Button includes EYFS complaint management as a named part of the system. A complaint can be recorded, linked where necessary to safeguarding, followed through with actions, and closed with an outcome. That is useful for early years complaint management because a complaint should not disappear into a general list of incidents.

Well-being should not be treated as a minor extra.

CPOMS describes StudentSafe as a safeguarding and well-being system, so it would be wrong to say that well-being is absent. The practical question is how each system distinguishes a low-level well-being observation from a safeguarding concern, and how the DSL is prompted to review each one.

On the Button keeps EYFS well-being visible alongside safeguarding, while still separating the urgency of the alerts. This helps early years well-being observations build into a picture without treating every entry as an emergency.

What does CPOMS cost?

CPOMS does not publish numerical prices on its website. You need to request a quotation. Its pricing page states that customers who purchase StudentSafe and StaffSafe together currently receive a discount on the StaffSafe list price. NDNA members who are new CPOMS StudentSafe customers can currently receive 5% off for the initial contract period.

That is not enough information to make a fair price comparison. Ask CPOMS to put the following in writing:

• the cost of StudentSafe, including VAT;

• whether StaffSafe is included or priced as an add-on;

• the price after any introductory or bundle reduction ends;

• implementation, training, support and data-import charges;

• the contract length, renewal arrangements and notice period;

• the cost of any integration or extra product you expect to use;

• How do you obtain all of your data if you leave?

What does On the Button cost?

On the Button publishes its prices. They are based on the maximum number of children your setting can accept at one time, usually the registered places shown on your Ofsted report. The minimum charge is 25 places.

Setup cost: £1 per registered place
Annual fee: £8 per registered place
or
Monthly fee 73p per registered place

No VAT is added. A 25-place setting pays £25 for setup and £200 per year. A 50-place setting pays £50 for setup and £400 per year. A 100-place setting pays £100 for setup and £800 per year.

There is a 90-day money-back guarantee. After that, the standard notice period is one calendar month from the payment date. Multi-setting orders may receive an implementation credit against the one-off set-up fee: 25% for 4 to 14 settings, or groups with 500 or more registered places, and 50% for 15 or more settings. The credit is not a reduction in the subscription.

When CPOMS may be the more sensible choice

• Your nursery is attached to a school or sits within a trust that already uses CPOMS.

• You need safeguarding information to connect with a school MIS, Famly or a wider CPOMS system.

• You need MAT-level analytics or local-authority data-sharing tools.

• You want a highly customisable cases-and-forms system and are prepared to configure it around your processes.

• The scale, established customer base, and wider Raptor organisation are important parts of your due diligence.

When On the Button may be the more sensible choice

• You are a nursery, preschool, childminder group or early years organisation and do not need a school-wide ecosystem.

• You want a system built specifically around EYFS safeguarding rather than one configured to cover many education markets.

• Immediate SMS and email alerts are important to you.

• You want safeguarding, staff and child well-being, complaints and anonymous whistleblowing included together.

• You want to see the full price before speaking to anyone, and do not want a long contract.

• You value direct support from people who understand the day-to-day realities of early years practice.

Questions to ask both providers

1. Please show me a practitioner logging a concern from a phone. What does the DSL receive, and how quickly?

2. Can students, volunteers and bank staff log in without being able to read confidential records?

3. How do you separate a well-being observation from an urgent safeguarding concern?

4. What body map is included, and can I see how it appears in the final chronology?

5. Can a member of staff make a genuinely anonymous whistleblowing report?

6. Show me how a parent complaint is recorded, acknowledged, investigated and closed.

7. Show me the report exactly as it would be shared with Social Care, the LADO, a parent or an inspector.

8. What is the total cost for the products and features you have shown me, including VAT, implementation and renewal?

9. What happens to our information if we decide to leave?

Our View

Do not choose CPOMS simply because it is the name a school will recognise. Equally, do not choose On the Button simply because it was built for early years. Recognition and origin matter less than what your team will actually use, what your DSL will see and whether the system helps you act.

CPOMS is a strong, established safeguarding platform with more early years capability than the first version of this article suggested. For a school-linked nursery, a mixed education group or a provider needing extensive integrations, it may be the right answer.

On the Button is for providers who want a smaller, focused system shaped around early years safeguarding, early years well-being and complaint management, with direct alerts and clear published pricing.

The best test is not a feature list. Ask both companies to show you the same real-life journey, from the first concern to the final action, with the chronology. Then let the way the system works, and the full written cost, decide.

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Sources

This comparison uses the providers’ own descriptions of their purpose and approach: CPOMs and On the Button. Product details should be checked directly before making a decision.