Comparison
Bell Path vs TimeTabler
Choose Bell Path when you are an Australian primary school and planning time, job-shares, daily cover and yard duty are the hard part. Choose TimeTabler when you are a secondary school building option blocks, or you want to learn the craft of timetabling itself.
TimeTabler has spent forty years teaching people how to timetable, and gives a lot of that teaching away: tutorial versions, booklets and a monthly newsletter. It is used in more than 2,000 schools worldwide, most of them secondary.
Already run one? Send the file and it is in Bell Path within 48 hours, with Daily Cover free for two weeks.
Based on TimeTabler’s public product, resource and FAQ pages. TimeTabler serves schools in more than 90 countries and its offering may differ by region.
Sources checked · 3 October 2026
Which product fits which school.
Choose Bell Path if
- You are an Australian primary school and there are no student elective lines to build
- Planning time under your state’s rules has to be delivered and checked for every teacher
- You need yard duty and wet day plans as well as the timetable and daily cover
- The person doing this is a school leader, not a trained timetabler, and wants to finish setup in about an hour
Choose TimeTabler if
- You are a secondary school or college building option blocks and student choices
- You want to learn timetabling as a discipline. TimeTabler’s free booklets and tutorials are some of the best teaching material in the category and are worth reading whatever you buy
- You want a Windows program with a long international track record
- You want to try a full tutorial version before any sales conversation
What the decision usually comes down to.
School type
Australian primary only
Mostly secondary schools and colleges, internationally, with some primary, middle and special schools
Core problem solved
Delivering every teacher’s planning time around part-timers, job-shares, specialist rotations and meetings
Building option blocks and resolving student subject choices across a large timetable
Australian context
State planning-time rules, state vocabulary, yard duty, CRT and relief arrangements, and an Australian approval pack
An international scheduling model with no Australian entitlement rules
Learning material
Practical primary guides and free printable templates, aimed at doing the job rather than learning the theory
Free booklets, tutorial software and a newsletter for timetablers, plus a paid timetabling cookbook
After the timetable
Daily cover, yard duty with a fairness record, wet day plans, events, an operations calendar and a staff portal
StaffCover, a separate Windows program that shares out daily cover fairly and prints cover slips. No yard duty roster
Evaluation and pricing
Send the timetable you already run and it is in Bell Path within 48 hours, with Daily Cover free for two weeks. Or set up and build a free preview of your real timetable. Prices are published, $679 a year for up to 100 students and $1,349 for 101 to 300, rising with school size, with no GST added
Free tutorial versions of the software, then purchase
FAQ
Questions schools ask when comparing Bell Path and TimeTabler.
Can TimeTabler be used for a primary school?
Yes, and some primaries use it. It has part-time and flexible-working settings and a free booklet on primary scheduling. It is designed around secondary option blocks and student choice, though, and it has no Australian planning-time rules, so checking that every teacher received their entitlement stays your job.
Are TimeTabler’s free resources worth reading?
Yes, and we would say so even though we compete with them. The booklets are among the clearest explanations of timetabling principles available, and understanding them will make you better at judging any product, including ours.
Which is better value for a small primary school, Bell Path or TimeTabler?
For an Australian primary school, Bell Path covers more of the weekly job, including yard duty and wet day plans, and needs no timetabling expertise to run. TimeTabler’s value is strongest for a secondary timetabler who wants fine control over block construction.
Other comparisons.
Bell Path vs aSc Timetables
Choose aSc when a low one-off price, an unlimited trial or a desktop program matters more than Australian primary-school rules.
Bell Path vs FET
Choose FET when there is no budget and you have someone technical who will own it.
Bell Path vs Timetabling Solutions
Choose Timetabling Solutions for a deep, long-established timetabling program with training courses, especially if you also timetable secondary.
Bell Path vs Prime Timetable
Choose Prime Timetable for a light, general scheduler that runs on any device and is quick to start.
See the timetable before you decide.
Send us the timetable you already run and it is in Bell Path within 48 hours, or see a week Bell Path built for a sample school first.
Bell Path publishes its prices: $679 a year for up to 100 students and $1,349 for 101 to 300, rising with school size, with no per-user add-ons. See the full price list.