Fullbench vs Q360
Both free to districts. Who actually competes for your openings, and whether the operator's own staffing affiliate plays by the same rules.
Compare · ESS
Fullbench vs. ESS: what each program lets you prove afterwards
ESS (founded 2000, New Jersey; majority-owned by The Vistria Group since 2022) is one of the largest fully managed substitute programs: 1,200+ partner districts by its own count, with ESS recruiting, employing, training, and paying its own substitutes on its willsub+ software. A genuine end-to-end service, and a different structure from Fullbench. Here is what each side's public record shows.
Side by side
What the public record shows
| Question | Fullbench | ESS (per public materials & records) |
|---|---|---|
| The model | An open multi-agency network. Agencies compete for every requisition, the district selects, and every release and decision is recorded with a time. | A fully managed program staffed by ESS's own W-2 employees. ESS recruits, employs, trains, schedules, and pays the substitutes itself. |
| Exclusivity | Your existing agencies come in under your own contracts; you tell us which ones and we vet and onboard them. Exclusive, preferred, or non-exclusive is your selection in the agreement, settled in writing before anything is signed. | A publicly posted district contract (Council Rock SD, PA, 2022–24) names ESS "the exclusive contract provider of Substitute Staff to the LEA" (from the district's published board record), and its 2022 investor announcement describes ESS as "the exclusive outsourced substitute teacher management provider" to clients. We did not locate the word on ESS's own marketing site as of August 2026. |
| Pricing | $0 to districts, with no annual escalator and no rate formula. Every posting is priced by competing agencies under a maximum bill rate your office sets and can reset at any time. The agency-side fee is stated in each agency's agreement and taken only after the district has paid. | Not published. The Council Rock contract shows a $150.00/day substitute billed at $194.25 (~29.5%), with an annual escalator of 3% or CPI, whichever is greater (from the district's published board record). |
| Hiring your own substitute | Free to hire past the threshold in the agreement. The conversion exhibit is on the table at the first meeting, before you have given us anything. Compare it line for line against the one you have. | The same contract obligates the district to pay ESS the exhibit markup if it uses ESS substitutes directly for covered services, plus lost markup and collection costs if ESS is not promptly notified (from the district's published board record). |
| What you see on screen | One platform built for a competitive network: releases to every approved agency at the same recorded time, credential gates, one invoice, scorecards, and the program record. | Proprietary willsub+ (2018) for absence management and time tracking, plus integrations with Frontline, Red Rover, SmartFind Express, and Tyler. No public timestamped-release or audit-record mechanism was located as of August 2026. |
| Scale | Run by a team that staffs schools every day. Everything in the program is recorded, and you can verify it in a 15-minute walkthrough. | Very large: 1,200+ districts, 100,000+ employees, ~35,000 daily placements by its own count, with affiliates in virtual teaching (Proximity Learning) and clinical/behavioral roles (ESS Clinical, PSI). |
Based on publicly available information as of August 2026: ess.com (About, District FAQs), The Vistria Group's 2022 announcement, and the publicly posted Council Rock School District 2022–24 agreement with ESS Northeast, LLC (district board documents). Contract terms quoted are from that one public agreement; other districts' terms may differ. ESS and willsub+ are trademarks of their owners. Spot an error? Tell us and we will correct it.
The takeaway
The year-two question
ESS replaces your agencies with its own employees. Fullbench is a program run for you across the agencies you already use. Before signing either, ask both the same three things and compare the answers. We answer all three on screen, on a live system, in fifteen minutes, and hand you the conversion and exclusivity exhibits in writing at that meeting.
- When an opening goes out, what record shows every supplier learned of it at the same moment?
- When a required document is not yet approved by your office, what refuses the start date?
- Which of those records can your own staff open without asking the vendor?
Comparison last verified 25 August 2026 against ESS's own published materials and one publicly posted district agreement.
Sources
Where this comes from
Checked 25 August 2026. We compare only against what the other program publishes about itself — never against what a salesperson told us.
- ESS — company site ess.com
If anything here is out of date or wrong, tell us at hello@fullbench.co and we will correct it. ESS is a trademark of its owner; this page exists for factual comparison.
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Next step
Talk to the person who would run your program.
Fifteen minutes on your roles, your rate ceilings and the agencies you already use, with the program open. No slides, no obligation, and no cost to your district.
What we cover
- How your district manages its agencies today.
- Candidate review, document approval and billing, on a case like yours.
- Whether one department is the right place to start.
You leave with a clear next step. Nothing is signed on the call.