Impact Early Years vs On the Button - A practical comparison for early years providers

We created On the Button, so this is not an independent review. This article uses information published by both providers. Where Impact Early Years does not explain a feature publicly, it is stated that it is unclear rather than assuming it is not available.

If you have found both systems while looking for safeguarding software, you may be wondering whether they are direct alternatives.

They are not, quite.

Impact Early Years covers a wide range of management and compliance work. On the Button stays much closer to safeguarding, child and staff well-being, complaints and the records that sit around them. That difference matters more than the number of boxes on a feature list.

The answer in a few lines

Impact Early Years is worth considering when you want one place for staff records, audits, room checks, risk assessments, fire safety, tasks and safeguarding.

On the Button is more likely to suit a setting that already has its general administration under control but wants a clearer safeguarding route, immediate senior alerts and records that show what was noticed, what was done and what happened next.

One is broad. The other is deliberately specialised.

What Impact Early Years is built to do

Impact Early Years describes itself as an all-in-one compliance and quality improvement platform. Its published features include staff applications and induction, supervisions, observations, training records, DBS and qualification checks, safeguarding and SEND audits, medical care, fire safety, room audits, accident and incident reports, risk assessments, trip logs and a setting calendar.

Its RAG system gives leaders a quick view of what is complete, what is underway and what still needs attention. For a setting that is trying to replace several paper files or spreadsheets, that breadth could be genuinely useful.

What On the Button is built to do

On the Button starts at a different point: somebody notices something.

It may be a mark on a child, a change in behaviour, a comment made during play, a parent complaint, a staff concern or something that does not feel serious enough to call a safeguarding incident yet. The system is there to make sure that information is recorded, reaches the right senior person and does not disappear into a notebook or a conversation.

The record then holds the decisions, actions and outcomes. Over time, separate entries form a chronology and can reveal patterns that would be easy to miss when information is stored in different places.

On the Button also includes child and staff well-being, complaint management, confidential whistleblowing, injury recording, safer recruitment records and a training matrix. It does not try to become the setting’s full operational management system.

At a Glance

Question Impact Early Years On the Button
What is it mainly for? Broad compliance, staffing, auditing and task management, with safeguarding included. Safeguarding, well-being, complaints and the records closely connected with them.
How are concerns recorded? Cause for Concern forms, safeguarding audits, child profiles and vulnerability records are listed publicly. Members of the wider team can record concerns and lower-level observations as they arise. Each child’s vulnerability is automatically considered against set criteria.
What happens next? The website describes accountability, actions, reminders and RAG ratings. The exact urgent-alert route is not explained publicly. Safeguarding entries trigger SMS and email alerts to the relevant DSL or senior. Actions and outcomes stay with the original record.
What about injuries? Accident and incident reporting is included. 3D body maps help staff record the location of an injury accurately.
Can staff whistleblow? A feature called Time to Talk is listed. The public information reviewed does not say whether it can be anonymous. There are separate confidential reporting routes for well-being for colleagues and an anonymous whistleblowing path.
What can be shared externally? The public pages do not show the format of safeguarding chronologies or external reports. Chronologies and fixed, read-only reports can be prepared for Social Care, the LADO or Ofsted.

The part a feature list cannot show

A list can confirm that a form or report exists. It cannot tell you what happens on a busy Tuesday afternoon when a practitioner records an urgent concern and the manager is not on site.

It also cannot show whether permissions make sense, whether bank staff can use the system without seeing information they should not see, or whether an exported record is clear enough for a social worker to follow without somebody rewriting it first.

Impact Early Years may already handle some of these things. Its public website simply does not give enough detail to compare them properly. Those are the points I would ask to see in a live demonstration.

How the published prices compare

Price is easy to put in a table, but it is not a completely like-for-like comparison. Impact includes a much wider range of operational tools. On the Button has a narrower purpose and charges by registered place.

Impact Early Years

• Preschool: £999.99 plus VAT a year, or £99.99 plus VAT a month.

• Nursery: £1,199.99 plus VAT a year, or £119.99 plus VAT a month.

• The annual option is described as 12 months for the price of 10.

• Its current terms say that each setting needs its own licence.

On the Button

• One-off set-up fee: £1 per registered place.

• Annual subscription: £8 per registered place.

• Monthly subscription: 73p per registered place.

• The minimum charge is based on 25 registered places.

• VAT is not applicable.

At 125 registered places, the annual On the Button subscription is £1,000. At 150 places, it is £1,200. Those figures are close to Impact Early Years’ annual prices before VAT, but the systems are still not offering the same package. Impact includes more operational functions; On the Button has a separate one-off set-up fee and focuses more deeply on safeguarding processes.

For groups ordering together, On the Button’s current pricing offer is that orders covering 4 to 14 settings, or 500 or more registered places, receive a 25% implementation credit against the one-off set-up fee. Orders covering 15 or more settings receive a 50% credit.

Guarantees and leaving the system

Impact Early Years’ published terms include a 14-day cooling-off period from the initial subscription and say that refunds are not provided after that point.

On the Button has a 90-day practice guarantee. A setting can use the system properly for 90 days and request a full refund if it does not do what has been described. After that, it can be cancelled with one calendar month’s notice from the payment date.

When Impact Early Years may be the better choice

Impact is likely to make more sense when your main problem is the amount of management and compliance work being handled in different places. If you want staffing, audits, checks, tasks and safeguarding brought together, its broader approach is an advantage.

That is not what On the Button was built to replace.

When On the Button may be the better choice

On the Button is more likely to fit when your existing management arrangements work reasonably well, but safeguarding records are still spread across paper forms, emails, conversations and separate files.

It will also matter if you want the wider team to record concerns as soon as they notice them, senior people to be alerted immediately, and the later decisions and actions to remain attached to the original entry.

What about EYFS safeguarding, well-being and complaints?

Providers use several search terms for the same underlying questions, including EYFS safeguarding and early years safeguarding. The real issue is whether concerns can be recorded quickly, seen by the right people and followed through clearly.

The same applies to EYFS well-being and early years well-being. A well-being entry may not meet the threshold for a safeguarding referral, but it can still become important when it is seen alongside other information.

For EYFS complaint management and early years complaint management, ask whether the original concern, acknowledgement, investigation, actions and outcome remain connected. Complaints should not sit in isolation when they contain information that may also affect safeguarding or a child’s well-being.

Seven things to ask both providers:

• What happens from the moment a practitioner submits an urgent concern?

• How is the relevant DSL or senior alerted, and how quickly?

• Can bank staff, students and volunteers record a concern safely?

• What can each role see after an entry has been submitted?

• Can somebody raise a whistleblowing concern anonymously?

• Can I see a full chronology with decisions, actions and outcomes?

• What would an exported record look like when it reaches Social Care, the LADO or Ofsted?

Ask to see those processes working. Ten minutes following one concern through the system will tell you more than a long list of features.

Final Thoughts

It isn't a good idea to choose a system that does the most, because you will likely end up paying for features you may not use or want.

The better question is whether you need breadth or safeguarding depth.

If you want one broad compliance platform, put Impact Early Years on your shortlist. If you want a dedicated route for safeguarding, well-being, complaints and whistleblowing, with immediate alerts and clear chronologies, that is the job On the Button was created to do.

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Sources

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

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