LinoClass vs Bloomz, which to choose in Quebec?

Comparing LinoClass and Bloomz for back-to-school 2026? Here is a factual comparison, based on both products' public documentation and on what Law 25 actually requires of a Quebec organization.

Updated September 30, 2026

What Law 25 requires when data leaves Quebec

Law 25 does not prohibit tools hosted outside Quebec, and it maintains no list of approved or forbidden products. It requires that a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) be completed before any transfer of personal information outside Quebec, and that the receiving jurisdiction provide adequate protection. That obligation rests with the organization, meaning your school service centre or private school board, not with the individual teacher.

So the useful question is not “is this tool legal?” but “has my organization completed the assessment this tool requires?” Our Law 25 guide for teachers and our article on how Law 25 applies in an elementary school set out the process and the questions to put to your principal.

What Bloomz's public documentation says

Bloomz is positioned as a school-to-home coordination tool: news feed, messaging, calendar, permission forms. Its public privacy policy provides for cookies and similar technologies. Free accounts show sponsorships to teachers and parents, never to students according to Bloomz, which states that no personally identifiable information is shared with advertisers.

The company is based in the United States (Redmond, Washington), but its policy does not say where data is stored. Ask the publisher. Before using the tool, also check with your principal that your school service centre has completed a PIA: one is required before adopting such a system (s. 63.5 of the Access Act) and before any release of personal information outside Quebec (s. 70.1). The original quotations are in our article 5 classroom tools to re-evaluate in Quebec.

Our read for Quebec elementary classrooms

What Bloomz does well

• A solid tool for administrative coordination: field trips, volunteers, calendar
• Built-in electronic signatures for permission forms

What LinoClass does differently

• Hosted in Quebec: the portfolio and database do not leave Quebec, so the assessment required before releasing information outside Quebec (s. 70.1 of the Access Act, A-2.1) does not apply to that data. Your school service centre must still complete a PIA before adopting the tool (s. 63.5), and email delivery and network protection may be processed outside Quebec (privacy policy, section 3)
• The student digital portfolio is the centre of the product, designed for ages 5 to 8
• Students sign in with a QR code, with no password
• No advertising and no commercial content in the class feed
• Interface designed in Canadian French first, with English available

Questions to ask before you choose

These apply to any tool, including ours. Put them to the vendor and to your principal, and keep the answers in writing.

• Where is student information stored? Is there a Canadian option, and does it exclude replication elsewhere?
• Has your school service centre completed a PIA for this tool? If not, request one in writing, since the request creates a record.
• Which optional features collect additional information, and are they off by default?
• How quickly is a parent's deletion request processed, and who is allowed to submit one?
• Who is billed: the organization, the teacher, or parents? Is the price in Canadian dollars?

Methodology. Information about third-party products comes from their publishers' public documentation and from the passages quoted in our blog articles, reviewed on September 30, 2026. These products change and their policies change with them: confirm current information with the publisher before making a decision. This page states the view of Lino Ti Inc. and is not legal advice. Assessing a tool against Law 25 is the responsibility of your organization and its privacy officer.

Bloomz is a trademark of Bloomz, Inc. LinoClass is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, the owners of these marks. They are named solely to identify the products under comparison.