Why is it free?
Most school ERPs are priced for procurement departments: long sales cycles, per-student licensing, and features gated behind tiers designed to upsell. So small and mid-sized schools end up managing 800 students in spreadsheets, because the software that would help them starts with a sales call.
We went the other way. A free plan that schools can actually run on is how we get them to try Premeena, and we would rather earn a school's trust than lock it into a contract. Here is how the money works: we may introduce optional premium plans for larger institutions in the future, and custom feature work is something we negotiate directly. What we will not do is take away core features you already rely on.
What "free" covers, and what it doesn't
Free covers the running of a school: enrollment, records, attendance, scheduling, grading, fees, payroll, and communication, plus the portals for parents, teachers, and students. It is the same platform whether you run one school or several. See the platform overview for how the modules fit together, or read the setup guide to judge the effort yourself. Plan on an afternoon if your student list is already in a spreadsheet.
What free doesn't cover: bespoke feature development for one institution's unique process. That's a conversation, not a price list, and it's the same conversation whether you're on the free plan or not.