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 26–27 August 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–$10Calendly free or $10/seat; 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 $16 Teams) 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 feeIntegrates Stripe and PayPal; My Music Staff states it takes no cut of your payments. | 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
We're not the cheapest here, and we're not going to pretend otherwise — see where the others beat us. 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 takes no cut either, 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 — and, honestly, what it does better than we do.
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.
Where they beat us: cheaper at every teacher count, a studio website builder, Zoom and FaceTime integration and prepaid packages included, a 30-day trial and a 90-day money-back guarantee — and, like us, no cut of your payments. If you only ever teach music, it's a genuinely good pick.
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.
Where they beat us: that 0.4% is well under our optional 1%, their automatic-billing engine is mature, their cancellation policy auto-charges on a notice window just like ours, and they ship a licensed Suzuki and Disney music library with interactive sheet music that we cannot match and aren't trying to. They're also live today while we're still pre-launch. Check which plan you'd be on — the current $19.95 + $4.95 structure replaced older tiered plans that some accounts still run.
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.
Where they beat us: genuinely cheaper under 20 students, the longest track record in the category, and a continuing-education program — podcast, webinars, an active community — that we simply don't offer.
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.
Where they beat us: far deeper business operations — payroll, multiple branches, white-label, an API, and verticals we don't touch like driving and language schools. If you run a center with staff and locations, Teachworks does more than we 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.
Where they beat us: that 3.85% is inclusive of card processing rather than stacked on top, so the gap is $10.50 a month on this example, not the 3.85 points it looks like — and on payments under about $32 their flat rate beats Stripe's outright. Plus agency operations we don't attempt — matching tutors to clients, tutor payouts, branches, white-label domains, session recording. If you place tutors rather than teach, that's a different product than ours.
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.
Where they beat us: free tiers, five-minute setup, they'll book anything — haircuts, consultations, lessons — and, as of 2026, they can take a prepaid payment. If a booking link and a package purchase are all you need, you don't need us yet.
Being straight with you
Where the others beat us.
A comparison page where the author wins every row isn't a comparison page. Here's the honest list.
They ship today. We don't.
Every tool on this page is available right now. LessonCadence is pre-launch — you can join the waitlist, not the product. That's the biggest mark against us, and no feature table fixes it.
Multi-teacher studios cost less elsewhere.
At three teachers, My Music Staff is $26.85 and MakeMusic Studio is $29.85 against our $59 Studio plan. At five, they're $36.75 and about $39.75. Our per-teacher pricing wins on features like payroll splits, not on price.
Very small studios have a cheaper option.
Under 20 students, Duet Partner's $14 tier is below our $18 — though our founding-member price matches it, and stays there as you grow.
We don't build you a website.
My Music Staff includes a drag-and-drop studio website builder with online registration, plus Zoom and FaceTime integration and prepaid packages. We don't, and the website builder isn't on the near-term roadmap.
On payments we tie, we don't win.
We pass card fees through at cost and take nothing — but so does My Music Staff, and MakeMusic Studio's 0.4% is well under our optional 1% LessonCadence Pay. TutorCruncher's 3.85% is all-in, not on top of processing. If your only question is "who takes the smallest cut," we're not the answer.
Policy enforcement isn't unique to us.
My Music Staff and MakeMusic Studio both enforce a real notice window and auto-charge late cancels. Ours is a differentiator against booking tools and the tutoring platforms — not against the music leaders.
We're not center software.
Branches, franchise master accounts, white-label domains, tutor-matching marketplaces — Teachworks and TutorCruncher go far deeper than we do. That's deliberate; it isn't who we're for.
No track record yet.
My Music Staff has been at this since 2013 and Duet Partner longer still. MakeMusic Studio now has a major music publisher behind it. We have a specification, a working build, and no customers to point at. Founding members are taking a bet.
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 takes nothing 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 26–27 August 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, positioning, and its statement that it takes no cut of payments: 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.