Peñalara GHC

Overview

Peñalara GHC is a timetable planner and editor for schools and other educational institutions. It is best suited to teams balancing many teacher, room and student-group requirements; its strongest case is the combination of automated planning, schedule editing and tools for handling daily changes.

Its workflow spans timetable creation, review and publication, but the core paid software is licensed to one user and cannot operate over a network. That makes the distinction between building a timetable and sharing or managing it day to day important when assessing fit.

Key features

Planning and optimisation

The planner imports academic data, handles complex schedules and separates strict requirements from flexible preferences. It can analyse impossible conditions to help planners refine them, while GHC Optimum searches for a balanced timetable against configured criteria. Support for teacher and room constraints and student-group scheduling makes it relevant to institutions with interlocking requirements; the value depends on the quality of the criteria staff set.

Editing and reporting

The editor lets users adjust schedules with drag and drop, flags possible conflicts and produces reports on assignments and preference compliance. That gives planners a route to review and correct an automated result rather than treating it as final. Transfers in open formats also help move schedules into other applications.

Publication and integrations

GHC App provides browser, Android and iOS access for management, department heads, teachers and students. Administrator, teacher and student profiles support calendar publication, absence and substitution management, and reports. GHC imports academic-manager data and exports solved timetables; supported exchange formats include CSV, DBase, Paradox, XML, Excel and PDF.

For XADE, export from GHC to the manager is possible, but only import from the manager into GHC is guaranteed. Institutions relying on a two-way XADE workflow should account for that limitation before choosing GHC.

Pricing

The free options cover evaluation and reduced use, while paid GHC Optimum tiers are annual subscriptions sized by teacher count. The free choices do not provide the full application: Demo is time-limited, and Lite has reduced functionality. The annual subscription includes technical support and maintenance updates with new functionalities for one year from subscription.

• GHC Demo: free; 10 teachers, 15 days and up to 3 computer activations. It is the clearest short evaluation option, but the time and activation caps make it unsuitable for ongoing timetable work.
• GHC Lite: free; reduced functionality and up to 3 computer activations. It suits limited use where the full feature set is not needed.
• GHC Optimum — up to 10 teachers: $8,300 a year, billed Annual subscription; renewal USD 55,00; full application and up to 10 computer activations.
• GHC Optimum — up to 15 teachers: $12,000 a year, billed Annual subscription; renewal USD 79,00; full application and up to 10 computer activations.
• GHC Optimum — up to 20 teachers: $15,700 a year, billed Annual subscription; renewal USD 103,00; full application and up to 10 computer activations.
• GHC Optimum — up to 25 teachers: $19,400 a year, billed Annual subscription; renewal USD 127,00; full application and up to 10 computer activations.
• GHC Optimum — up to 30 teachers: $23,100 a year, billed Annual subscription; renewal USD 151,00; full application and up to 10 computer activations.
• GHC Optimum — up to 35 teachers: $26,800 a year, billed Annual subscription; renewal USD 175,00; full application and up to 10 computer activations.
• GHC Optimum — up to 40 teachers: $30,500 a year, billed Annual subscription; renewal USD 199,00; full application and up to 10 computer activations.
• GHC Optimum — up to 45 teachers: $34,200 a year, billed Annual subscription; renewal USD 223,00; full application and up to 10 computer activations.

The tier ladder ties the teacher cap to the licence cost, but every paid tier shares a 10-activation ceiling and a single-user licence. Institutions needing multiple networked users should not assume that the computer activations allow concurrent network operation. A 15-day trial is also available.

Platforms

GHC is available for Android, iOS, web and Windows. The downloadable GHC program supports Windows 7 and later; Linux users can run the Windows program using PlayOnLinux or Wine. The GHC App supplies web and mobile access, while the paid desktop software stores information locally or in an enabled cloud repository and cannot operate over a network.

Peñalara says its website uses an Extended Validation SSL certificate for encrypted communication and identification of the site owner. Its EULA describes Peñalara as a data processor that applies technical and organisational security measures and may use Microsoft Ibérica cloud services for GHC servers.

Who it's for

GHC is a strong candidate for educational institutions that need to automate complex timetable planning, inspect conflicts and preferences, then publish schedules and manage absences or substitutions. Its teacher-count tiers provide a defined fit for institutions up to 45 teachers, and the App offers separate access profiles for administrators, teachers and students.

It is a weaker fit for institutions that require networked multi-user operation of the paid planner, need more than 10 computer activations, or depend on guaranteed two-way XADE exchange. Buyers should also weigh the annual cost against the fact that each licence is single-user.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Planning covers strict and flexible conditions, constraint analysis and optimisation, helping institutions work through schedules that are difficult to build manually.
• Pros: Drag-and-drop editing, conflict warnings and compliance reports give staff tools to review the generated timetable and make changes.
• Pros: GHC App supports publication and daily administration across administrator, teacher and student profiles, including absences and substitutions.
• Cons: Paid GHC is single-user and cannot run over a network, a material restriction for teams expecting shared desktop planning.
• Cons: Demo ends after 15 days and Lite has reduced functionality, so neither free option is equivalent to the full application.
• Cons: XADE export from GHC is possible, but reverse import is the only direction guaranteed, limiting certainty for round-trip data workflows.

Alternatives

UniTime is a better fit for institutions seeking free, open-source software and a wider set of deployment platforms, including Linux, macOS and self-hosting; commercial support is available for a fee.

FET is worth considering when a free scheduler with no stated usage limits matters more than GHC's free trial or its stated planning and publication workflow; it supports Linux, macOS and Windows.

SchoolGrid may suit a school wanting a web-only option with a 30-day scheduling and publishing evaluation, one-school scope and staff entry and roster import.

TimetableMaster is another freemium alternative, with a free trial and support for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web and Windows.

aSc Timetables is an option for buyers who prefer a paid product with an unlimited trial that does not require purchase until after generating a schedule; its trial does not allow export.

GC Education Analytics K–12 Master Scheduler offers a free web-based alternative with a Free Beta plan covering elementary, middle and high school.

Untis is a paid alternative with a free trial and WebUntis pricing handled through a sales request.

UniversiTools Schedulers is a paid web alternative where scope and pricing require a separate approved proposal or agreement.

Browse more options in School Scheduling Software.

Verdict

Choose Peñalara GHC if your institution needs a serious timetable-planning workflow with optimisation, conflict review and a companion app for publication and daily changes. Its main advantage is the breadth from schedule construction to ongoing management; its central drawback is that the paid planner remains single-user and non-networked, with annual pricing rising by teacher capacity. Institutions that need shared desktop operation or a broader free option should look elsewhere.