Labbaik vs The Maktab App (themaktabapp.com)

Disclosure: This comparison is published by Labbaik. We've tried to represent The Maktab App fairly using publicly available information, but we naturally know Labbaik in greater depth. If you spot something outdated, let us know.

Quick verdict

Choose The Maktab App if: you want a small, focused tool to replace the paper register, the class WhatsApp groups and the fees spreadsheet, with homework diaries, level tests and merits built in, and card payments alone are enough for your families.

Choose Labbaik if: you want more than a register. Labbaik runs online classes, Nikah certificates, the masjid's prayer board, Alimiyyah kitab tracking and full WhatsApp automation alongside the maktab. It's UK GDPR compliant and registered with the ICO, and it's free for every masjid, maktab and madrasah. Fees collect themselves by card and Direct Debit, with Stripe and Labbaik costs built into one agreed price, whichever way you pay, and recording cash or bank transfers costs nothing, for any number of students.

At a glance

Where we couldn't find a feature on The Maktab App's public site, we say "Not publicly advertised" rather than assume it's missing.

"Not publicly advertised" means The Maktab App's public site doesn't mention the feature, not that it definitely doesn't exist. Check directly with their team if it's a dealbreaker either way.

Where each one shines

The two parent portals, side by side

Both portals open in a phone's browser, with nothing to download from an app store. Here they are as they looked in October 2026.

VS

The Maktab App: a tidy, friendly single-column home screen built around level tests: progress bars for Qaida, Tajwid and Hifdh (Juz Amma), the latest result with pass and fail counts, and tonight's homework diary below. A "Message us" button opens a WhatsApp chat with the maktab, and the bottom bar leads to the diary, attendance and more.

Labbaik: an app that installs to the home screen and opens on what a parent most often wants to know: this month's attendance at a glance, one tap to report an absence, and straight into progress, messages and billing, where they can pay or set up Direct Debit. It follows the phone's light or dark mode, sends push notifications, tracks Hifz across the whole Qur'an, and lets students join live classes in one tap. Younger learners get Legends of Labbaik, a game that makes Qa'idah and Qur'an practice something they want to open.

Hifz: from Juz Amma to the whole Qur'an

The Maktab App's Hifdh tracking covers Juz Amma, shown to parents as a progress bar alongside level tests, which suits the many maktab children who memorise Juz Amma first. If you also run a hifz class working through all thirty juz, you'll want more detail day to day.

Labbaik logs Hifz the way a hifz teacher hears it. Each day's Sabaq, Sabqi and Manzil (Sabak, Sabak Para and Dhor) is recorded separately: the portion, by ayahs, lines or juz quarters; the mistakes; and the quality of each tajweed ruling, from Makharij and Sifaat to Madd and Ghunnah. It takes under a minute per student.

The juz map gives asatidh, parents and admins one honest picture of where each hafiz is, and every Hifz homework task has a Listen and practise button that opens the Qur'an Companion at the exact passage, so revision at home matches the lesson. See Hifz tracking in Labbaik.

Qaida and maktab books: tracked against the book you teach

The Maktab App tracks Qaida as a lesson number and a progress bar, with pass or fail level tests: its demo shows "Qaida — Lesson 14" at 13%. Its site doesn't say which Qaida that follows, so if you teach a particular book it's worth asking.

Labbaik tracks against the book on the child's desk. Add it to a class from the Maktab shelf of the Labbaik Library, 44 books from the publishers UK maktabs use, and teachers mark progress lesson by lesson against that book's own contents:

• Qaidah: Noorani Qaidah, Safar Qaidah (full and abridged), Iqra' Books 1 to 6, Ahsanul Qawaid and An-Nasihah's SSiQR.
• Tajweed: Safar Tajwīd and An-Nasihah's Tajweed Guide.
• Islamic Studies and Duas: Safar Islamic Studies Levels 1 to 6, Safar Essential Duʿā's & Sūrahs, the An-Nasihah series and the Quranic Tarbiyah curriculum, added as complete sets in one tap.
• Something else? Upload the PDF and Labbaik splits it into lessons from its contents page.

Parents see which lesson their child is on in the book they recognise, and when a child finishes the Qaidah they move up to Qur'an automatically.

Labbaik Library

Books ready to teach, added in one tap.

44 Maktab books, shared by madrasahs and checked by Labbaik. Add one to a class and track it section by section.

Covers and section outlines only, never a book’s contents.

MaktabAlimiyyah

222See all 44Maktab books

Hover over a book, or open the whole Library.

Pricing: per student, or nothing at all

The Maktab App charges 23¢ per student a month, so a 100-student maktab pays about $23 a month and a 300-student one about $69, a simple, predictable bill. Stripe's own fees apply when a parent pays by card, and its site doesn't say whether those can be built into the class price.

Labbaik's Safar plan is free, with no student cap. If your families still pay in cash or by bank transfer, record those payments in Labbaik and it costs you nothing at all: no per-student charge and no fee on the payment, so a 300-student maktab keeping its fees offline pays $0 instead of about $69 a month.

When you collect fees online, turn on cover costs in class pricing for a class and Labbaik works out an inclusive class price that covers Stripe's processing fee and the Labbaik platform fee. One agreed price, whichever way you pay: you receive every pound of the fee you set, and Labbaik costs your maktab nothing. It's on by default for every new class: switch it off and the fees come out of each payment instead, with Labbaik's share starting at 1.5% and falling as your collections grow. Cash and bank transfers you record cost nothing either way.

Less admin, not just a smaller bill

In most maktabs the real cost of fees is the committee's time: chasing late payers, matching bank transfers to children and keeping the spreadsheet straight. With Labbaik, parents set up payment from a WhatsApp link, weekly, monthly or termly fees charge automatically, Stripe retries failed payments, and families who fall behind get a WhatsApp reminder without anyone having to send it. Every payment is matched to the student it's for, so there's nothing to reconcile. See how fee collection works, or try inclusive pricing on the fee calculator.

Card payments: questions worth asking

The Maktab App's privacy policy says "Card payments are processed by Stripe." Its site doesn't go into the setup, which is normal for a new product. These are good questions to ask any provider before you start collecting fees through it:

• Is it Stripe Connect, or will we be asked to paste API keys from our Stripe account into the app?
• Do payments land directly in our own Stripe account?
• Is Direct Debit supported, or cards only?
• Are failed payments retried automatically, and are families told?
• Can we build Stripe's fees into our class price?

Labbaik's answers: it's Stripe Connect, so you sign in to Stripe on Stripe's own pages and never handle API keys. Payments go straight into your own Stripe account. Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and BACS Direct Debit all sit in that one account. Stripe retries failed payments and Labbaik reminds families on WhatsApp. Cover costs in class pricing is on by default and can be switched off per class.

Data protection

A maktab system holds children's names, attendance and progress, and parents' contact and payment details. Under UK GDPR the software provider is your data processor, and in almost every case a UK organisation that processes personal data has to pay the data protection fee and appear on the ICO register.

The Maktab App describes itself as UK-hosted and GDPR-aligned, and says you can export your data at any time, which is a good foundation. When we searched the ICO register on 25 October 2026, we didn't find a registration for it. That may simply be because it's new, so it's worth asking them for their ICO registration number and a data processing agreement, as you would with any provider.

Labbaik is run by Labbaik Labs and is on the ICO register as ZC136003, with data hosted in London. Our security page, privacy policy and data processing agreement set out where data is stored and who processes it.

What is Labbaik?

Labbaik is a UK-built platform for masajid, maktabs, madrasahs and Islamic institutes. It's fully compliant with the UK GDPR, registered with the ICO (ZC136003), hosts data in London, and is free for every organisation on its Safar plan, with no student cap and no card needed. It's live and in use by paying customers today. You can sign up, import students, take attendance, collect fees through Stripe, message parents on WhatsApp and track progress from Qaidah to Alimiyyah in roughly ten minutes, with no sales call.

Where else Labbaik differs

• Inclusive class pricing. Payment costs are built into one agreed price, whichever way you pay, and you receive the full fee, so Labbaik costs your maktab nothing.
• UK payroll on every plan. PAYE, National Insurance, pensions and student loan deductions, with payslips and P45/P60s.
• Hifz with a Qur'an Companion. Sabaq, Sabqi and Manzil across the whole Qur'an, and a listen-and-practise button on every Hifz homework task.
• Legends of Labbaik. A free, safe revision game for younger students, with Qaidah, Tajweed and Islamic Studies levels and stars.
• Compliance reminders. Recurring compliance tasks such as DBS renewals, with WhatsApp alerts when a deadline is overdue.

Which should you pick?

If you mainly want to get registers, homework and merits off paper and out of WhatsApp groups, and card payments are all you need, The Maktab App is a simple, friendly option. As with any new product, have a chat with its team about how card payments are set up and its ICO registration.

If you want one system for the whole masjid, with fees that collect themselves at no cost to you, WhatsApp that runs on its own, online classes, Nikah certificates, a prayer board and Alimiyyah tracking, all UK GDPR compliant and ICO registered, Labbaik's Safar plan is free and takes about ten minutes to set up.

Frequently asked questions