Subbey vs. Kelly Education: Run Your Own Sub Pool or Outsource It?
Subbey and Kelly Education represent the two ends of the substitute coverage spectrum: software that makes your own sub pool effortless to run, versus fully outsourcing substitute staffing to a national agency. Here is how administrators should think about the choice.
Subbey is substitute teacher management software: your school keeps its own trusted subs, posts jobs in seconds, and the first sub to tap claims the job, all for one flat annual subscription. Kelly Education is an outsourced staffing service from Kelly Services: it recruits, employs, and manages substitute pools on a district's behalf, billed through agency rates on days worked. If you want to keep control of who teaches your students and keep costs flat, choose Subbey. If you want to hand the entire substitute function to a third party and pay agency rates for it, that is the agency model.
What Are Subbey and Kelly Education?
This comparison is really about a single question: do you want to own your substitute program, or outsource it?
Subbey: the simple substitute teacher app
Subbey was founded by Shea McGee, a teacher who was tired of the texting, calling, and emailing it took to find a sub. With Subbey, teachers and administrators post a job in a few clicks, every sub in your school's pool gets an instant notification, and the first available sub claims the job with one tap. You can also hand-pick which subs a job goes to.
Subbey includes in-app chat, lesson plan sharing, real-time confirmations, and a full calendar on iOS and Android, and it is trusted by 2,000+ teachers.
Kelly Education: outsourced substitute staffing
Kelly Education is the education staffing arm of Kelly Services, a national workforce company. Under this model, Kelly recruits, screens, employs, and manages substitutes on behalf of districts, handles their payroll and compliance, and bills the district agency rates for days worked.
Full outsourcing can make sense for large districts that do not want to run a substitute program at all. The tradeoffs are meaningful: the subs are the agency's employees rather than your school's people, agency billing adds cost to every filled day, and your school's relationship with its subs runs through a third party.
Subbey vs. Kelly Education: Side-by-Side Comparison
Because Subbey and Kelly Education use different models, the most important comparisons are about ownership, cost structure, and relationships.
Substitute teacher software comparison: Subbey vs. Kelly Education (2026)
| Feature | Subbey | Kelly Education |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Software for managing your school's own substitute pool | Outsourced staffing, the agency runs the sub program |
| Whose subs are in your classrooms | Yours: people your teachers know and trust | Agency employees placed at your school |
| Cost structure | One flat annual subscription with unlimited jobs, staff & subs | Agency rates billed on each day worked |
| Cost predictability | Same price whether you post 50 jobs or 500 | Costs scale with every absence you fill |
| Control over who teaches your students | Full control: your pool, your favorites, your standards | Agency manages recruiting and placement |
| Post a job | A few clicks; your subs notified instantly, first to tap claims it | Requests routed through the agency's systems and staff |
| Choose which subs see a job | Teachers and admins can self-select subs | Preferences communicated through the agency |
| In-app chat with subs | Built in | Communication typically runs through the agency |
| Sub payroll & screening handled for you | You employ and pay your subs as you do today | Agency employs, screens, and pays its subs |
| Builds your school's own sub pool | Yes, optional sub-sourcing adds subs to your pool | Subs remain agency employees |
| Works for any school type | Public, private, charter, independent & preschools | Typically structured around district-scale contracts |
| Best for | Schools that have, or want to build, their own trusted sub pool | Districts outsourcing the entire substitute function |
Kelly Education and Kelly Services are trademarks of Kelly Services, Inc. Model and service information is based on publicly available materials and may change; verify details, rates, and availability with each vendor.
3 Key Differences Between Subbey and Kelly Education
Ownership vs. outsourcing
With Subbey, your substitute program stays yours: your people, your standards, your relationships. With an agency, the entire function of recruiting, employment, and placement moves to a third party. Outsourcing removes work, but it also removes the connection between your school and the people covering its classrooms.
Flat subscription vs. agency rates
Agency billing adds cost to every single filled day, all year long. Subbey is one flat annual subscription, the price does not change whether you fill 50 jobs or 500, and you pay your subs exactly what you pay them today, with no middleman.
The problem was never your subs
Most schools do not need someone else's substitutes, they need a faster way to reach their own. The phone tag, the 6 a.m. texting, the email chains: that is the actual problem, and it is exactly what Subbey eliminates with instant notifications and one-tap claiming.
How Much Time Is Your Sub Process Costing You?
Drag the sliders to match your school. Whether you are working the phones or clicking through an enterprise system, see how many hours Subbey gives back to your front office every year.
With Subbey, posting a job takes about a minute. Then your subs are notified instantly and the first to tap claims it. No phone tag, no follow-up.
Which Schools Should Choose Subbey Over Kelly Education?
Subbey is substitute teacher software for every kind of school, here is how each one benefits.
Private & independent schools
Most enterprise absence systems are priced and built for big districts. Subbey gives private and independent schools a modern sub management app sized and priced for a single school, with the personal support smaller teams expect.
Public schools
Public schools use Subbey to cut the daily scramble of covering absences. Front-office staff post jobs in seconds instead of working the phones, and principals see coverage confirmed in real time.
Charter schools
Charter schools and networks love that Subbey is fast to roll out, easy for every campus to adopt, and does not require an enterprise IT project to launch. Add campuses and administrators as you grow.
Preschools & early learning centers
Coverage matters even more when ratios are on the line. Subbey helps preschools and early childhood programs alert their subs instantly, so classrooms stay covered and compliant.
Book a live demo with Shea, Subbey's founder and a former teacher. He will show you exactly how your school would post jobs, notify subs, and fill absences in minutes, and answer every question about whether running your own pool beats agency staffing rates.
Frequently Asked Questions: Subbey vs. Kelly Education
Join the schools that traded phone trees and enterprise logins for a substitute teacher app people love.