Comparison
Schedull vs FET
FET is free software under the GNU AGPL v3, it runs on your own machine, and it exposes one of the largest constraint models in school timetabling. That combination is hard to argue with on price. Schedull is a paid browser product that trades that depth for a guided setup, a check that refuses an impossible run before you wait for it, and the part of the year FET does not cover at all: publishing the timetable, keeping a shared calendar and reassigning lessons when a teacher is out.
Last updated: August 25, 2026 ยท Reviewed by the Schedull product team
Best fit
The decision here is rarely about whether a timetable can be produced. Both produce one. It is about who maintains it, and what happens after the first version exists.
| Need | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| No budget for timetable software | FET | FET is free software under the GNU AGPL v3, with no plan limits and no licence to renew. |
| Guided setup for staff who will not maintain a desktop install | Schedull | Schedull runs in the browser and organises the work as a project with classes, subjects, teachers, rooms and rules. |
| The deepest constraint model available | FET | FET publishes a very large set of time and space constraints, and gives full control over how each is applied. |
| Managing absences and cover during the school year | Schedull | Schedull publishes a timetable to a shared calendar and runs a substitutions workspace on top of it. FET is a generator; it stops when the timetable is written. |
Feature comparison
Last checked: 25 August 2026. FET details come from its own public pages, listed under Sources. Recheck them before a purchase decision.
| Area | Schedull | FET |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Web app in the browser. Nothing to install and nothing to keep in sync between machines. | Desktop application you install and run locally, on Windows, macOS and Linux. |
| Interface languages | English and Spanish. | Interface translated into a large number of languages by its community. |
| Setup and data entry | Guided setup with four starting points: from scratch, from a template, from a spreadsheet, or from last year's project. | Detailed local data configuration with many timetable options, entered by hand. |
| Imports | Excel, OpenDocument, CSV and zip files, plus reverse import that rebuilds classes, subjects and teachers from a finished timetable grid. | Works from its own data files. No spreadsheet import in the product. |
| Teacher availability | Six levels per period, from unavailable through neutral to strongly preferred, so part-time patterns and mere preferences are not the same input. | Supported through FET's time constraints model, with fine-grained control per teacher. |
| Mandatory rules and preferences | Mandatory rules and weighted preferences at subject, class and teacher level: avoid a period, avoid a day, cap lessons per day in periods or minutes, keep lessons consecutive, same break for every class, tutor obligations, reduce teacher gaps. | One of the largest published constraint sets in school timetabling, covering time and space in detail. |
| Split groups and co-teaching | Split groups run in parallel with their own teacher and their own allowed rooms; a lesson can also require two or more teachers at once. | Covered by its constraint model rather than as named product concepts. |
| Classrooms and buildings | Allowed rooms per subject and per split group, room availability on the same six-level scale, and movement penalties between buildings. Professional and Premium. | Space constraints cover rooms and buildings in detail. |
| Before generation | A feasibility check runs first and blocks a run that cannot succeed, naming the class, teacher or room that makes it impossible. | No separate pre-generation feasibility report; an impossible setup is discovered by running it. |
| After generation | A run report lists every preference the timetable had to break, so the result can be judged instead of just accepted. | Generated timetables are reviewed in the desktop application and in exported files. |
| Manual editing | Conflict-checked drag and drop, with edit sessions you can leave and resume before committing. | Automatic, semi-automatic and manual allocation in the desktop application. |
| Daily substitutions | Absence workspace on top of the published timetable: record an absence over a date range, see the lessons it hits day by day, and resolve each one with cover, supervision, a merged class, a cancellation, or no action. Cover suggestions are ranked and say why. No notifications yet. | Not covered. FET generates timetables; it does not manage day-to-day absences or cover. |
| Sharing and publishing | Publish a timetable to a shared day, week and month calendar inside the app. There are no public links and no student or family portal. | Sharing means handing over the exported files. No shared calendar and no accounts. |
| Exports | Excel, OpenDocument, PowerPoint, PDF, PNG zip and CSV zip, by class and by teacher. Professional and Premium; Basic cannot export. | Exports timetables to formats including HTML, XML and CSV. |
| AI assistance | An assistant that turns a plain description into draft setup and rules, always as a change set you apply or discard. Metered at 5, 20 or unlimited messages a day by plan. | None. FET is a generator, not an assistant. |
Pricing comparison (last checked: 25 August 2026)
This is the widest price gap of the six comparisons, and it should be read together with what each product does. FET costs nothing and asks for staff time instead. Schedull charges an annual fee and covers publishing, the shared calendar and substitutions, which FET does not do at any price.
| Plan or aspect | Schedull | FET |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Commercial product, annual subscription per school. | Free software under the GNU AGPL v3. |
| Cost for a small school | Basic: 59.99 the first year, then 99.99 a year, up to 15 teachers. No exports on this plan. | Nothing. |
| Cost for a large school | Premium: 239.99 the first year, then 399.99 a year, unlimited teachers. | Nothing. |
| Support | Included on every plan; priority support on Premium. | Documentation, a public forum and community help. No support contract. |
| The real cost to compare | The subscription. | The hours a member of staff spends entering data, learning the constraint model and rerunning after each change. |
Strengths and limitations
Where FET is stronger: it is free, permanently, with no plan limits; its constraint model is deeper than Schedull's and gives full control over how each rule is applied; it runs offline on your own machine with your data in your own files; and it has been maintained and translated by an active community for many years.
Where Schedull is stronger: there is nothing to install or keep updated; a feasibility check refuses an impossible run and names the cause instead of leaving you to discover it; spreadsheets and even a finished timetable grid can be imported rather than retyped; the assistant drafts setup and rules from a plain description; the timetable can be published to a shared calendar and absences covered from it; and exports run to six formats including Excel, PowerPoint and PDF.
Which should you choose?
Choose FET if there is no budget, if someone on staff is comfortable with a detailed desktop application and has the hours to learn it, if you want your data in local files under your own control, or if your timetable needs constraints Schedull does not offer. Schedull can be a FET alternative for many schools, but it is not a superset of it.
Choose Schedull if nobody on staff wants to own a desktop install, if you would rather import a spreadsheet or last year's timetable than retype it, if you want to be told a timetable is impossible before waiting for a run, or if the job does not end when the timetable is finished and you still have to publish it and cover daily absences.
FAQ
Is FET free?
Yes. FET describes itself as free software and is licensed under the GNU AGPL v3. There are no plan limits and nothing to renew. The cost to weigh is staff time, not licence fees.
Is Schedull a FET replacement?
Schedull can be a FET alternative for schools that want a guided web workflow for setup, generation, review, manual editing, publishing, substitutions and exports. It is not a superset: FET's constraint model is deeper. Test both with the same teacher availability and room constraints before deciding.
What does Schedull do that FET does not?
Three things, mainly. It imports spreadsheets and can rebuild a project from a finished timetable grid rather than asking you to retype the data. It checks feasibility before generation and blocks a run that cannot succeed. And it follows the timetable into the school year: publish it to a shared calendar, then record an absence and reassign the lessons it hits, with ranked cover suggestions. FET stops when the timetable is generated.
Which is easier for non-technical school staff?
Schedull is built around a guided browser workflow, which is usually easier for staff who do not want to install software or manage files. FET is very capable, but its depth asks for more confidence with setup. The decision usually comes down to who will maintain the timetable after the first version is generated.