Comparison — Ireland
By the Beacon Parenting team · Updated July 2026
Beacon is an Irish co-parenting app where every tool is free — the only paid items are an optional Court-Ready Record download and extra moderator contacts beyond the free monthly one. OurFamilyWizard is a well-established US app charged per parent per year. The practical differences for Irish families: Beacon is built for the Irish courts, overseen by real Irish family-law professionals, and costs nothing to use day to day.
Beacon app
€0
every tool free — free AI Tone Check included
OurFamilyWizard basic
€99.99/yr
per parent — tone tool costs extra
Beacon has no subscription and nothing locked. You only ever pay for a Court-Ready Record download when you need one for court (standard price €129 for a record covering up to 12 months; add-ons available for older history and gap refreshes — price always confirmed before you pay), or an optional top-up pack of extra moderator contacts if you use up your free monthly one. Both are optional: you can use Beacon forever without paying anything.
| Feature | Beacon | OurFamilyWizard |
|---|---|---|
| Every tool free — no subscription, nothing locked | Yes | No |
| Pay only for a Court-Ready Record download when you need one | Yes | No |
| Built for Irish families & the Irish courts | Yes | No |
| Designed & supported by experienced Section 32 Report (Voice of the Child) professionals | Yes | No |
| Run by Irish professionals experienced in the family courts | Yes | No |
| Real people overseeing communication, not just software | Yes | No |
| Recommended family-law solicitors directory | Yes | No |
| Private incident recording | Yes | No |
| AI tone check on messages, free for everyone | Yes | No |
| Anonymous community forum for separated parents | Yes | No |
| Secure, tamper-proof message records | Yes | Yes |
| Shared calendar, access & handover scheduling | Yes | Yes |
| Expense tracking & approvals | Yes | Yes |
| Court-ready records, overseen by Irish family-law professionals | Yes | No |
| Secure document storage | Yes | Yes |
Comparison based on publicly available information about OurFamilyWizard and correct to the best of our knowledge, including OurFamilyWizard's publicly listed Irish pricing. Prices are set by each provider and may change. Beacon's app is free to use — the only paid items are a Court-Ready Record download and optional extra moderator contacts.
Beacon (app.beaconparenting.ie) is built in Ireland around how the Irish family courts actually work. Both parents verify their identity with photo ID, messages can never be deleted — by anyone — and communication is overseen by professionals experienced with the Irish family court system, including Section 32 (Voice of the Child) reports. When you need evidence, the app produces a single tamper-evident Court-Ready Record PDF covering up to 12 months of the family's record.
Already using OurFamilyWizard or another app? — moving over takes a few minutes and costs nothing.
Try it side by side yourself — creating a Beacon account is free, with no credit card and no trial clock.