AppClose's terms say each subscription is for one user, so two parents means two subscriptions. Two Porch Lights covers you and your co-parent with one: $99 a year on the website, for the calendar, shared expenses and messaging you use every week. AppClose does some things Two Porch Lights does not, and this page says which.
Start free · no credit cardAppClose sells one all-inclusive plan, and its terms say each subscription is for one user. When both parents subscribe, that is two subscriptions. Here is the side by side, read from AppClose's own pages on October 1, 2026.
| When both parents take part | Two Porch Lights | AppClose |
|---|---|---|
| Who a subscription covers | Both parents co-parent joins free |
One user each parent subscribes, or one parent buys both on a one-year or two-year plan |
| Cost for both parents, per year | $99 total, on the website |
$167.76 2 × $83.88, one year prepaid on the web |
| Cost for both parents, paid monthly | $12 a month $144 over 12 months, on the website |
$15.98 a month 2 × $7.99 on the web, $191.76 over 12 months |
| Two years, prepaid | No two-year plan $99 a year, on the website |
$287.52 for two years 2 × $143.76 on the web, which is $143.76 a year for both parents |
| Price in the phone apps | Yearly or monthly, at the price shown on the App Store or Google Play | $8.99 a month or $98.99 a year, per user |
| Free trial | 30 days, plus 30 when your co-parent joins (60 days total), no card | 60 days, no credit card |
| When no plan is active | Read-only for each parent you can still read, print and export, and nothing is deleted |
Read-Only Mode sign in, view and export records at no charge; no new messages, calls, requests, expenses or events |
| Fee waivers and military discounts | None offered | ✓ free accounts for financial hardship and for survivors of domestic violence and their co-parent; a discount or fee waiver for active military and veterans |
| Audio and video calls | No calling | ✓ unlimited, with recording and transcripts when both participants consent |
| Certified records | No the message log PDF carries a watermark, not a certificate |
✓ Certified Electronic Business Records for U.S. users |
| Shared calendar & parenting schedules | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shared expenses | ✓ split by your percentages, AI reads the receipt; payments are recorded, never processed | ✓ expenses with receipts and reimbursement requests; payments through ipayou in the U.S., with no AppClose transaction fee |
| Help toning down a heated message | ✓ Soften, included | ✓ Co-Parent Assist, included |
| Document storage | 5 GB for the shared space | Unlimited file storage |
| Private Tax Center & accountant packet | ✓ for the parent who created the space; a parent who joined adds their own plan | Not among the features listed on its pricing page |
| Access for your attorney | Expiring read-only code no account needed, included with your plan or trial |
✓ AppClose Pro, a free web platform for professionals |
AppClose details were read on October 1, 2026 from AppClose's own website and help center, listed below. Prices are U.S. prices. The two-parent totals are our arithmetic from the prices AppClose lists: 2 × $83.88 = $167.76 a year, 2 × $7.99 × 12 = $191.76 a year, and 2 × $143.76 = $287.52 for two years. The AppClose totals are before any sales tax, which its terms say is added where it applies. AppClose says one parent can buy the other parent's subscription on its website, on a one-year or two-year plan, and that free accounts are available to parents who qualify for its fee waiver. Its refund policy allows a full refund of a first payment within 30 days if your co-parent has not subscribed or received a fee waiver in that time; for a subscription bought in the phone app, it says refund requests go to Apple or Google under their refund policies. Two Porch Lights prices are its website prices. Plans change, so confirm current prices and features on AppClose's site before you decide.
Sources, each read on October 1, 2026: appclose.com/pricing · appclose.com (home page) · AppClose Terms of Service · AppClose Pro · AppClose help center: Subscription and Fee Waiver FAQ · AppClose help center: What is Read-Only Mode? · AppClose refund policy · AppClose fee waiver page.
One AppClose subscription prepaid for a year on the web is $83.88, which is less than $99, and AppClose's fee waiver makes it free for parents who qualify. The gap shows when both parents pay: $167.76 a year on the one-year plan, or $143.76 a year when both prepay two years.
Start free · no credit cardAppClose does several things Two Porch Lights does not. If any of these matter in your case, AppClose may be the right choice.
AppClose includes unlimited audio and video calls, and with both participants' consent a call can be recorded and transcribed. Two Porch Lights has no calling of any kind.
U.S. users can generate Certified Electronic Business Records on AppClose's website, and AppClose says it certifies records by affidavit at no charge in response to a proper subpoena. Two Porch Lights does not certify records: its message log is a PDF with a watermark. AppClose itself notes that whether a record is admitted is always decided by the court.
AppClose says every message, call, request and payment is kept in a system of record that users cannot alter or delete, and its terms say closing an account does not delete those records, apart from call recordings, which are deleted on a schedule. In Two Porch Lights there is no button to edit or delete a single message, but either parent can change or remove shared calendar and expense entries, and if a parent deletes their account the messages that account sent leave the shared thread.
As of October 1, 2026, AppClose says it has given more than 26,450 free accounts since January 1, 2026 to parents in financial hardship and to survivors of domestic violence. Its terms say the waiver for a survivor also covers the co-parent, and its fee waiver page says active military and disabled veterans may qualify for a free subscription. Two Porch Lights has no fee waiver program. If cost is the obstacle, look at AppClose's fee waiver first.
With ipayou, parents in the United States can pay each other inside AppClose, and AppClose says it charges no transaction fee. Two Porch Lights records payments and can open Venmo, PayPal or Cash App with the amount filled in, but it never links a bank account or moves money.
AppClose Pro is a free web platform for attorneys, guardians ad litem and other professionals, and parents can invite relatives, mediators and other trusted people with controlled visibility. A Two Porch Lights space has two members, the two parents. An attorney or mediator gets an expiring read-only code instead of an account.
AppClose is offered in 8 languages and lists eight countries where it is available. Two Porch Lights is in English only.
AppClose lists unlimited file storage. Its check-ins record the device's location at that moment; AppClose says a check-in is visible only to the parent who made it, is never shown to the co-parent, and is included when that parent exports records. Two Porch Lights includes 5 GB for the shared space, and its check-ins are a shared record stamped with the time from the device that logged them, with no location.
AppClose says it has been trusted by parents and professionals since 2016 and that, according to user-supplied data, it has been court-ordered in every U.S. county. Two Porch Lights is a newer app and does not claim that any court orders or recommends it.
Everything below describes Two Porch Lights only. What AppClose's own pages say about subscriptions, expenses, payments and check-ins is in the table and the section above. For anything not shown there, check AppClose's site.
One subscription covers the shared space for both parents, and either of you can be the one who subscribes. Your co-parent joins free with your invite link or code.
Two Porch Lights never links a bank account or moves money, and it never reads your device's location. You pay each other your usual way and record the payment, and mileage is worked out from addresses, not from where your phone is.
Photograph a receipt or upload a PDF, and AI fills in the amount, date, store and category. Each expense is split by the percentages you set.
Track 529s, daycare, medical costs and tuition in a space only you can see, then build an Accountant Packet PDF. The private Tax Center is included for the parent who created the space. A parent who joined from an invite gets their own by adding their own plan. It is a record, not tax advice.
Trips to practices and appointments are figured from the driver's home address to the event's address, round trip unless you turn that off, at the IRS standard mileage rate for business use, and always split 50/50. Your co-parent never sees your home address.
Put your court order or parenting plan on file and either parent can ask it questions in plain words. Answers quote the plan and name the section. It takes a PDF or a .txt file (on the website, a scanned PDF works too, up to 40 scanned pages), and it is not legal advice.
Follow your court order first. If it names an app, use that one, or ask your attorney before switching.
Not as an ongoing plan, going by AppClose's own pricing page. Read on October 1, 2026, it lists one all-inclusive paid plan at $7.99 a month on the web or $8.99 a month in the app, with one-year and two-year prepaid options on the web. Every feature is free for 60 days with no credit card. AppClose also runs a fee waiver program: it says free accounts are available for parents in financial hardship and for survivors of domestic violence, and a discount or fee waiver for active military and veterans. When a trial ends without a subscription, AppClose says the account stays open in Read-Only Mode, where you can sign in, view and export your records at no charge but cannot send messages, make calls or create new requests, expenses or events. Check appclose.com/pricing for today's terms.
AppClose's terms say each subscription is for one user, so two parents means two subscriptions. From the U.S. prices AppClose listed on October 1, 2026: prepaid for one year on the web, 2 × $83.88 = $167.76 a year. Paid monthly on the web, 2 × $7.99 = $15.98 a month, or $191.76 over twelve months. Prepaid for two years on the web, 2 × $143.76 = $287.52, which works out to $143.76 a year. In the app AppClose lists $8.99 a month or $98.99 a year per user. These totals are before any sales tax. AppClose says one parent can buy the other parent's subscription on its website, on a one-year or two-year plan, and its fee waiver makes it free for parents who qualify. Two Porch Lights is $99 a year, or $12 a month, on the website, and that one subscription covers both parents.
No. Your co-parent joins free with an invite link or code, and one subscription covers your shared space for each of you: the calendar, expenses, and messaging. Either of you can be the one who subscribes. The one personal extra is the private Tax Center: it is included for the parent who created the space, and a parent who joined from an invite gets their own by adding their own plan.
Several things, going by AppClose's own site. AppClose includes unlimited audio and video calls, with recording and transcripts when both participants consent; Two Porch Lights has no calling. U.S. users can generate Certified Electronic Business Records; Two Porch Lights does not certify records, and its message log is a watermarked PDF. AppClose says its records are kept in a system of record that users cannot alter or delete; in Two Porch Lights either parent can change or remove shared calendar and expense entries. AppClose offers fee waivers for parents who qualify, a discount or fee waiver for active military and veterans, 8 languages, unlimited file storage, payments through ipayou in the United States, and AppClose Pro, a free web platform for professionals. Its check-ins record the device's location, which AppClose says is never shown to the co-parent; Two Porch Lights never reads your device's location. Two Porch Lights is in English only and has no fee waiver program. Whichever app you use, whether a record is accepted or given weight is up to the court.
Two Porch Lights has no import built for AppClose records: none for calendar entries, expenses or call recordings. The message import in Settings labels everything it brings in as imported from TalkingParents, so do not use it for an AppClose export. Your AppClose history stays in AppClose and in the files you export from it. AppClose says exporting your records is free, including after a subscription ends, so export what you need and keep those files. Call recordings and transcripts are downloaded separately in AppClose's app. In Two Porch Lights you start a new record: create your space, and the first setup tile, Start from your parenting plan, lets AI read your court order and fill in what it finds, such as names, children, the schedule, holidays, the split and child support. It takes a PDF or a .txt file, and on the website a scanned PDF works too, up to 40 scanned pages. Then invite your co-parent with a link or code.
Not on your own. If your order names a specific app, use that one, or ask your attorney before switching. Two Porch Lights is not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice. If your order leaves the choice of app to you, talk with your co-parent first, because the calendar, expenses and messages are shared only once they join.
On the website, $99 a year (about $8.25 a month) or $12 a month. One subscription covers both parents, and either parent can subscribe. In the iPhone and Android apps you subscribe yearly or monthly through the App Store or Google Play, at the price shown there. Cancel anytime, and your data stays yours to export.
More comparisons: Two Porch Lights and TalkingParents · Two Porch Lights and OurFamilyWizard