A solo teacher
30 students · about 120 lessons a month · one teacher
- My Music Staff$16.95
- LessonCadence Solo$18
- MakeMusic Studio$19.95
- Duet Partner$22
- Teachworks Starter$54.89
Teachworks: $16.49 + (120 × $0.32). Duet Partner: the 21–40 student tier.
Comparison
How LessonCadence compares.
Most lesson software charges you more as you succeed — another teacher, another student, another lesson, another percentage point off every payment. LessonCadence charges one flat price. Here's the arithmetic, against every tool you're likely to be weighing.
Every price on this page was read off the vendor's own pricing page on 9 September 2026 and is linked in Sources. Where a vendor doesn't publish a number, we say "not published" rather than guess. LessonCadence is pre-launch — our column describes the product built and tested for launch, and our prices are the launch prices. Software changes; check the source links before you decide.
Side by side.
Seven tools, the things that actually change what you pay, and what each one is built to do.
| LessonCadence Pre-launch | My Music Staff | MakeMusic Studio was Fons | Duet Partner was Music Teacher's Helper | Teachworks | TutorCruncher | Calendly / SimplyBook.me | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Independent music teachers and tutors, plus small studios | Private music teachers and music studios | Music studios | Music teachers | Tutoring centers, music, language, driving and test-prep schools — solo to multi-location | Tutoring agencies, test-prep and learning centers | Anyone booking appointments |
| Music lessons | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not mentioned | GenericBooks anything; knows nothing about lessons |
| Academic tutoring | Yes | NoMusic only | NoMusic only | NoMusic only | Yes | Yes | Generic |
| Starting price | $18$16 billed annually. $14 for life for founding members. | $16.95 | $19.95Current plan for new signups. Older accounts may still be on the legacy $29.95 / $79.95 / $149.95 staff tiers. | $141–20 students | $16.49Starter, before lesson fees | $30Pay as you go, before card fees | Free–$12Calendly free or $12/seat ($10 billed annually); SimplyBook.me free or $13.90 |
| What makes it go up | Only adding teachers.Nothing per student, per lesson, or per invoice. Studio $59 for up to 5 teachers, then +$6 each. Growth $149 unlimited. | Each extra teacher or staff member+$4.95 each | Each extra staff member+$4.95 each | How many students you have$22 at 21–40, $38 at 41–100, $49 past 100 | Every lesson you teach+$0.32 per student lesson (Starter). Growth $47.99 + $0.189; Premium $187.99 + $0.065; +$35 per branch past 5. | Plan tier and branchesStartup $80, Enterprise $240; +$50 per extra branch | Seats (Calendly $20 Teams, $16 billed annually) or booking volume and provider caps (SimplyBook.me) |
| Cost of taking a card payment | Stripe's rate, passed through at cost — no platform feeOptional: 1% LessonCadence Pay for instant payout and automatic dunning. Off unless you turn it on. | Your processor's rate — no platform feeYou connect your own Stripe or PayPal account; My Music Staff advertises "no hidden fees" and publishes no platform fee. | 2.9% + $0.30 (+1% international), 1.8% ACH — plus 0.4% of subscription volume | Not publishedCard or PayPal | Not published | 3.85% all-in (3.5% on Startup)Inclusive of card processing, not on top of it. +1.5% international; +2% Amex, Diners, JCB, prepaid, UnionPay | Calendly collects at booking via Stripe/PayPal on Standard and upAdded prepaid meeting packages (Mar 2026) and invoicing (Jul 2026) |
| Free trial | WaitlistPre-launch — founding members get white-glove import | 30 days, no card90-day money-back guarantee | 14 days | 14 days, no card | 21 days | 2 weeks | Calendly free tier; SimplyBook.me 14 days |
| The whole lesson loopschedule → note → assign practice → invoice → auto-pay | End to endIncluding a policy engine that charges no-shows or banks a make-up credit, and invoices built from who actually attended | Yes, for musicPlus a studio website builder | Billing-ledScheduling and automatic payments; notes not listed on its pricing page | Yes, for musicNotes, practice log, automated invoicing and late fees | Yes, both subjectsPlus payroll, branches and an API | Yes, for tutoringPlus tutor matching and white-label | Booking and paymentCalendly now takes money — prepaid packages and invoices. Still no lesson record or notes, no invoice built from attendance, no recurring stored-card auto-pay, no payer/student model. |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
Do the math
What it actually costs, at your size.
Same three studios, priced with each vendor's published numbers. Weekly lessons, four a month per student. Cheapest first — including the cases where we're not.
A busy solo teacher
60 students · about 240 lessons a month · one teacher
- My Music Staff$16.95
- LessonCadence Solo$18
- MakeMusic Studio$19.95
- Duet Partner$38
- Teachworks Starter$93.29
Doubling your roster changes our price by $0. Duet Partner moves to its 41–100 tier; Teachworks bills $16.49 + (240 × $0.32).
A three-teacher studio
90 students · about 360 lessons a month · three teachers
- My Music Staff$26.85
- MakeMusic Studio$29.85
- Duet Partner$38
- LessonCadence Studio$59
- Teachworks Starter$131.69
My Music Staff: $16.95 + (2 × $4.95). MakeMusic Studio: $19.95 + (2 × $4.95) on its current plan. Teachworks: $16.49 + (360 × $0.32).
And what it costs to get paid
Collecting $3,000 a month across 60 card payments of about $50 each
- LessonCadence — pass-through, no platform fee$105
- My Music Staff — your processor's rate, no cut$105
- TutorCruncher — 3.85% all-in$115.50
- MakeMusic Studio — pass-through + 0.4% of volume$117
- LessonCadence Pay — optional 1% add-on$135
Pass-through is Stripe's published 2.9% + $0.30 per charge: (2.9% × $3,000) + (60 × $0.30) = $105. LessonCadence takes none of it unless you opt into LessonCadence Pay for instant payout and automatic dunning — and if you do, you pay more than any music tool here. Two honest caveats: My Music Staff publishes no platform fee either (you use your own Stripe or PayPal account), so on payments we tie rather than win; and TutorCruncher's 3.85% is inclusive of card processing, not stacked on top of it — most of that $115.50 is the processor's, not theirs. Their flat percentage actually beats Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 on payments under about $32, so if you bill in small amounts they come out ahead. Duet Partner and Teachworks don't publish their processing rates.
One at a time.
The short version for each tool.
vs. My Music Staff
The strongest music-only tool, and priced well. But it's music, full stop: if you teach piano at four and SAT prep at six, its own vendor sells you a second product — TutorBird, at $16.95 plus $4.95 a tutor — and a second subscription, with your two halves in two systems. And every teacher or staff member you add is another $4.95.
vs. MakeMusic Studio (formerly Fons)
Modern, billing-first, music-only — and the only music tool here that takes a cut of your revenue by default: 0.4% of subscription volume on top of the usual 2.9% + $0.30. Staff are $4.95 each, same as My Music Staff. Fons was acquired by MakeMusic and renamed in June 2026; same platform, same logins, same rates.
vs. Duet Partner (formerly Music Teacher's Helper)
Priced by how many students you have. It starts below us at $14, but crosses $18 the moment you pass 20 students, hits $38 at 41, and $49 past 100. Growing your studio is the thing that raises the bill. Ours doesn't move — and it's music-only either way.
vs. Teachworks
The only other tool here that covers music and tutoring — so this is the real head-to-head. The difference is the meter: $0.32 per student lesson on Starter. Teach 120 lessons a month and the bill is $54.89; teach 240 and it's $93.29. Teaching more is what you're trying to do.
vs. TutorCruncher
Built for tutoring agencies, and priced like it: $30 a month before fees, then 3.85% of every card payment — plus 1.5% on international cards and 2% on Amex and friends. On $3,000 of monthly collections that's $115.50 against our $105. It has no music side at all.
vs. Calendly and SimplyBook.me
The real status quo: a booking link, a notes app, a spreadsheet, and Venmo. Calendly is no longer only a booking link — it added prepaid meeting packages in March 2026 and invoicing in July — but it still has no recurring weekly term, no lesson record or notes, no practice assignments, no invoice built from who actually attended, no stored-card auto-pay, no payer-and-student model for siblings, and a cancellation setting that displays a policy without enforcing one.
So what's left that's ours?
Three things, and they're the reason this exists.
Both disciplines, one system.
Every music tool here stops at music, and TutorCruncher stops at tutoring. My Music Staff's answer is a second product and a second subscription. Teachworks covers both — and meters you per lesson for the privilege. We're the flat-priced option for the teacher who does both, in one account.
Growth doesn't raise your bill.
Not per student, not per lesson, not per invoice. Go from 20 students to 100 and you pay exactly what you paid before.
We don't take a cut by default.
Card fees pass through to you at Stripe's cost with no platform fee on top. The 1% LessonCadence Pay option exists if you want instant payout — and it's off unless you turn it on. My Music Staff publishes no platform fee either; MakeMusic Studio takes 0.4% and TutorCruncher's rate is all-in. We won't pretend this row is a clean sweep.
Sources
Every figure above comes from the vendor's own published pricing, read on 9 September 2026. Nothing here is quoted from a review site or a rankings blog. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we'll correct it.
- My Music Staff — pricing, "no hidden fees", and the connect-your-own-Stripe-or-PayPal payment model: mymusicstaff.com/pricing
- TutorBird — My Music Staff's sibling tutoring product, pricing: tutorbird.com/pricing
- MakeMusic Studio (formerly Fons) — pricing and payment processing fees: studio.makemusic.com/pricing
- MakeMusic Studio — "Fons Is Now MakeMusic Studio," 21 June 2026, on the acquisition and the carried-over rates: studio.makemusic.com/blog
- Duet Partner (formerly Music Teacher's Helper) — pricing tiers by student count: musicteachershelper.com/pricing
- Teachworks — plans and per-student-lesson fees: teachworks.com/pricing
- TutorCruncher — plans and card processing fees, and its help centre's statement that those rates are inclusive of TutorCruncher's own fee: tutorcruncher.com/pricing
- Calendly — plan pricing: calendly.com/pricing
- SimplyBook.me — plan pricing and booking limits: simplybook.me/en/pricing
- Stripe's 2.9% + $0.30 card rate is the published US online rate used for our pass-through arithmetic: stripe.com/pricing
All trademarks belong to their respective owners. LessonCadence is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any product named on this page. Comparisons reflect published information on the date shown and may change.