CIRCLETIME vs Lillio (formerly HiMama)
When HiMama became Lillio, prices climbed and the feature roadmap slowed. CIRCLETIME keeps the warm parent experience HiMama centers love, and adds tuition billing, autonomous compliance, marketing, and AI parent updates — for less per month.
CIRCLETIME from $89 flat/mo · Lillio (formerly HiMama) $199 – $399/mo
Feature by feature.
Lillio is the rebrand. CIRCLETIME is the upgrade — communication plus billing, compliance, and AI.
Where Lillio (formerly HiMama) is fine
- Beautiful, calm parent experience that toddler-room parents love.
- Strong photo and observation workflows for teachers.
- Recognizable brand among long-tenured directors.
Why centers leave Lillio (formerly HiMama)
- Communication-only — billing, compliance, and marketing are not included.
- Post-rebrand price increases without a matching feature jump.
- AI daily-report quality varies; no guardrails against hallucination.
- Owners with 2+ sites need to bolt on a separate billing tool.
- Limited reporting for state subsidy reconciliation.
Switching from Lillio (formerly HiMama) takes about a week.
Our migration importer reads Lillio (formerly HiMama) CSV exports directly. No re-keying.
- 1Export Lillio rosters, classrooms, and parent contacts as CSV.
- 2Upload to the Migration Importer — children, parents, and rooms map automatically.
- 3Connect Stripe to enable autopay and ACH (we walk you through it).
- 4Invite parents — most centers see >90% reactivation within 48 hours.
- 5Keep Lillio running for one billing cycle while autopay catches up.
"After the HiMama → Lillio rebrand our renewal jumped 38%. CIRCLETIME gave us communication parity plus billing and lead capture for less than we were paying before the bump."
Common questions about switching
Will my teachers lose their photo + observation workflow?+
No. Photos, observations, and Learning-Stories-style narratives are first-class in CIRCLETIME. Teachers can post from the app or a tablet kiosk.
Can parents keep paying through the app?+
Yes, and they finally can. CIRCLETIME includes Stripe billing and autopay — Lillio doesn't. You stop chasing tuition checks.
Does CIRCLETIME also handle compliance?+
Yes. Our Compliance Shield watches expiring background checks, certifications, immunizations, and state-specific licensing rules (DCF 251, NYC, OEC, CCLD, OEL, DECAL, and more).
What about state subsidy reporting?+
Built in. We currently support CCDF-825, plus state-specific exports for WI Shares, CT Care 4 Kids, NY CCAP, FL School Readiness, GA CAPS, and more.
Can I export my Lillio data?+
Yes. Lillio supports CSV export for rosters and contacts. Photos can be archived via Google Takeout-style download — we have a checklist.