Key takeaways
- Untis and WebUntis are broad, settings-heavy suites; Smootables is a focused planning and timetabling workspace.
- Year planning, workload, and individual pathways share one Smootables model with validation and AI-assisted edits.
- Pre-solve validation reduces long Untis tuning cycles before generation.
- Integrate with existing SIS, MIS, LMS, and calendar tools instead of replacing the Untis modules you rely on.
Who should consider an Untis alternative?
If your school runs Untis, WebUntis, or one of the surrounding modules, this page is for you. Independent directories describe WebUntis as the market leader for digital timetabling in German-speaking countries, and Untis reports use by over 26,000 institutions worldwide, so it is deeply established across the DACH region and well known across Europe. This is not an argument that Untis is bad. It is a comparison for schools whose planning team feels the suite has become slower to work with than the value it delivers.
The short version: Untis is a broad, modular desktop suite with deep configuration options. Smootables is narrower in scope, planning-first, and designed to keep validation, generation, and editing in one model.
When does Untis still fit, and where does it become the bottleneck?
Untis and WebUntis remain deeply embedded in many schools, especially across the DACH region. The columns below show where the suite still fits (a dedicated specialist, a planning workflow tuned over several years) and where settings-heavy tuning cycles make it the bottleneck compared with Smootables.
When Untis still fits
Schools deeply embedded in the WebUntis ecosystem (parent and student access, calendar, and the digital class register), with a dedicated Untis specialist on staff and a planning workflow tuned over several academic years.
Untis is also a safe choice where the institutional bar is 'the same tool as the school next door'. Independent directories describe WebUntis as the market leader for digital timetabling in German-speaking countries, so its broad presence in the DACH region is real.
Where it becomes the bottleneck
Configuring settings, constraints, modules, and exceptions can take significant time before a timetable emerges. Reviews recurrently cite a steep learning curve, and a 2026 directory estimates full deployments need roughly two to four weeks of configuration. Year-level planning, teacher workload planning, and individual pathways often live in separate spreadsheets that have to be reconciled with the timetable.
That learning curve can concentrate know-how in one or two specialists, and complex optimisation runs can be long (Untis offers an overnight strategy for the hardest cases).
How is Smootables different from Untis and WebUntis?
Smootables is designed for a different scope: school year planning, automatic school timetabling, editing, publishing, daily changes, and AI-assisted planner workflows in one cloud workspace. It intentionally covers a narrower scope than the full Untis module set. It aims to be the planning and timetable source of truth, and to integrate with the SIS, MIS, LMS, identity, calendar, and communication systems schools already use.
The planning model (academic years, terms, periods, courses, modules, pathways, resources, and individual students) is the same model the solver and the planner AI assistant work against. Pre-solve validation explains gaps before the run, infeasibility reports explain failures after the run, and planner edits, branches, undo, and audit logs keep the planner in control.
The interface is the other major difference: modern, clean, and quick to learn. Our core idea is that planners should spend as little time as possible wrestling with software, and as much time as possible on the plan itself.
How does Smootables compare to Untis in 2026?
The table contrasts Untis and WebUntis with Smootables across positioning, year planning, optimization workflow, individual pathways, AI, editing, learning curve, company location, and ecosystem breadth. Untis is a broad, modular suite; Smootables is a focused, AI-powered planning and timetabling workspace.
| Dimension | Untis / WebUntis | Smootables |
|---|---|---|
| Overall positioning | Established, broad desktop suite with a wide module ecosystem | AI-powered planning and timetabling workspace |
| Year and period planning | Typically planned in separate tools | First-class part of the planning model |
| Optimization workflow | Weighting-based optimisation with strategies A, B, D, and E; setup can be involved | Validation before solve, infeasibility explanations after, AI-assisted improvements |
| Individual pathways | Course-scheduling and student-timetable modules (licence-dependent) | Group, individual, and per-placement exemption support in the core model |
| Automation and AI | Automatic scheduling with weighting and optimisation strategies (A, B, D, E) | Automatic solver plus a built-in AI planner assistant for in-app actions |
| Editing | Manual place, shift, swap, lock, and undo; interface noted as dense in reviews | Drag/drop, pin/regenerate, slot insight, branches, undo |
| Learning curve | Steep; specialist knowledge usually required | Designed to be lower, with guided setup and explainable validation |
| Company location | Austria (Untis GmbH) | Finland |
| Ecosystem breadth | Broad: parent communication, messaging, registers, calendars | Focused on planning and timetabling; integrates with surrounding systems |
What should Untis schools validate before switching in 2026?
When deciding whether Smootables is the right replacement, focus on the scenarios where the planning-first model and lower-friction workflow usually show up most:
- Time spent tuning settings between regenerations vs time spent on the planning model itself
- How long it takes a new planner to be productive without specialist training
- Whether school year planning, workload, and individual pathways currently live inside the suite or alongside it
- How daily changes flow back into the master timetable and audit history
- Where AI assistance sits: outside the workflow, inside the workflow, or absent
What is the migration path from Untis?
Moving off Untis is a staged, parallel migration. Schools also compare aSc Timetables alternative and best vocational timetable software. The steps below export from Untis or WebUntis, import into Smootables, validate before scheduling, and run one period in parallel before switching the published source of truth for a first scope.
- Export from Untis and import into Smootables using structured import or AI-assisted extraction for older formats.
- Validate in Smootables. Pre-solve validation typically surfaces mismatches that have been worked around in Untis through manual edits.
- Run one period in parallel. Keep Untis as the published source of truth while you verify the Smootables timetable from import to publication.
- Switch publication for one scope first. WebUntis-adjacent communication features can be replaced by Smootables publication or kept alongside during transition.
- Roll out to the rest of the school in subsequent cycles. We help with piloting and data migration so testing Smootables is as easy and fast as possible.
Questions Untis schools ask
Do we lose ecosystem features by switching?
Some. Smootables covers the most-used WebUntis modules rather than the full set. The most common features (timetable publication, substitutions, calendar export, teacher and student views, comments) are built in. Communication and parent portals are usually handled through integrations rather than re-implementation.
How is migration handled at scale?
Structured import with column mapping and AI-assisted extraction for older exports. Most schools we work with migrate one campus or one program first, then expand.
Will planners need re-training?
Less than they expect. Core timetabling concepts are unchanged. The workflow is more planning-led, the editing is more modern, and the AI assistant is new, but the conceptual model is recognizable to any Untis planner.
What about regulatory and data residency requirements?
Smootables is a cloud SaaS product with school-scoped data isolation, GDPR-compliant handling, and data hosted in secure AWS or Microsoft Azure regions.