How does ClassDojo make money?

The company sells a premium version of its free product to parents, schools and districts

ClassDojo was founded in 2011 after co-founders Liam Don and Sam Chaudhary spent a month meeting with hundreds of teachers to find out what their needs were. The most important thing they heard was that kids' personal growth needed to be supported through playful communication and building community, so the first version of ClassDojo let teachers give kids feedback.

The platform quickly spread to 35,000 classrooms in only 12 weeks; as of 2021, ClassDojo had grown to over 100 million downloads in 180 countries and served 51 million students worldwide. In the United States, 95% of K–8 schools use ClassDojo, and 1 in 6 families with a child under 14 use it daily. 

For teachers, ClassDojo allows them to manage their classrooms, track student behavior and participation, assign and grade assignments, and communicate with both students and parents. That includes features like Big Ideas, a social and emotional learning tool; Points, which allows them to acknowledge student efforts; Class Story, which allows them to share classroom updates, moments and announcements with parents; and Behavior Management, so they can keep track of how they're interacting with their students. 

Parents can use ClassDojo to receive teacher feedback in real-time, see their child's feedback, message privately with teachers, and see photos and videos from the classroom, while students can use it to communicate with their teacher, talk about positive and negative behaviors, and help create classroom rules with their teacher.

"ClassDojo is a global community of more than 50 million teachers and families who come together to share kids’ most important learning moments, in school and at home—through photos, videos, messages, and more," the company says on its website. 

ClassDojo’s primary platform is free for teachers, students, and parents. The company makes its money by offering ClassDojo Plus, a premium subscription service for parents that it launched in 2019.

ClassDojo Plus offers additional features designed to enhance the parent experience. These features include access to prior year’s Memories, detailed progress reports, unlimited at-home feedback points, upgraded messaging, skill-building resources, a family account with three additional subscriptions, and over 125 monster accessories for the student's avatar.

The cost of ClassDojo Plus is $4.99 per month or $59.99 per year for a family. 

In addition to individual subscriptions, ClassDojo offers school-wide licenses, which provide access to the premium features of ClassDojo Plus for all parents within a school, along with additional administrative tools for school leaders. In February, ClassDojo expanded even further, announcing the launch of ClassDojo for Districts, which provides single sign-on capabilities, personalized support, and more insight into school and family engagement.

The pricing for these licenses varies based on the size of the school or district and the specific features included in the package.

In addition to its subscription business, the company has other revenue streams as well, including its merchandise shop, in which it sells items such as plushies, erasers, stickers, lanyard, and mugs. 

(Image source: classdojo.com)