Best Dance Studio Software UK: 6 Platforms Compared on Real Prices

Running a UK dance school means termly invoices, payment chasing, and a great deal of admin, and the right software cuts most of that down. The wrong one quietly costs you more than you think.

We compared six platforms on what they actually cost a UK studio once every charge is added together. Every price here was checked in August 2026 on the vendor's own page.

What we checked

• Real prices. Subscription, platform fee, and processor fee, added together.

• UK fit. Termly billing, GBP, Direct Debit, UK support.

• Cost cliffs. Does the price jump when you grow?

• Dance fit. Registers, recitals, siblings, graded exams.

• Switching cost. What it takes to move.

This is desk research, not a hands-on test. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we say so rather than estimating it. When we checked aggregator listings against the vendors' own pages, we found four prices that were simply wrong, which is why we stopped using them.

We have not included star ratings, because scores across these six platforms are gathered differently and are not comparable with one another.

Dance studio software UK: quick comparison

Two of the six decline to publish what they take from each payment, which means you cannot work out your real annual cost for either one without asking them directly.

What dance studio software actually costs in the UK

A 200-student UK dance school taking £60,000 a year will pay roughly £1,300 to £2,700 a year in software and payment costs combined, and the subscription is rarely the biggest part of it.

Here is the arithmetic for the four platforms that publish enough for the sum to be done at all. The scenario is 200 students paying £100 a term across three terms, so 600 payments.

Three things that matter more than the ranking

• Some fees include the processor; some do not. Coacha and ClassForKids quote a rate that covers the card or Direct Debit charge. Class Manager and Membermeister quote a fee that sits on top of it. Compare the headline percentages, and you get the wrong answer.

• A low subscription can cost more. Coacha is £36 a month against Membermeister's £49, but its higher payment rate makes it dearer once volume rises.

• Small studios flip the result. Under 50 members, Coacha is free. See below.

Rates used: standard UK published rates of 1.5% + 20p for card and 1% + 20p for Direct Debit, the latter capped at £4. Class Manager's figure is its own published UK all-in service charge.

Five things UK dance schools need

• Termly billing. Autumn, spring, summer. Monthly-membership software fights you every September.

• Direct Debit. Most UK parents pay by Direct Debit or BACS. It costs less than card and does not fail when a card expires.

• GBP pricing. Dollar pricing leaves you carrying the exchange rate.

• Graded exams. RAD, ISTD and IDTA structure how you group and track students, whether you teach ballet, acro or a mixed syllabus.

• UK data handling. GDPR, and knowing where your parent data sits.

One honest note on graded exams. Not a single platform here publishes anything about supporting RAD or ISTD syllabuses, our own included, so ask on your demo and get whatever you are told confirmed in writing before you commit to anything. Class Manager, however, does have Skill Tracking features built in, available to all, and not hidden behind tiers. The skill tracking can have any skills and standards created and used, be that a studio's own or a regulatory body's. Learn more about skill tracking here: 'The Benefits of Skill Tracking Inside Your Studio Management Software'.

1. Class Manager

Best overall for UK dance schools. This is our product.

• Subscription: £0

• Payment fee: 2.7% + 20p on online payments, all in (UK)

• Cash, cheque, bank transfer: free

What's good

• No cost cliff. Add students, classes, teachers or a venue and the rate does not move.

• Termly, monthly, weekly, or per-class automated billing.

• Class scheduling, digital registers and parent enrolment in one place.

• Recital ticketing free through our sister product, Stage Stubs.

What's not

• Our own pages have quoted this two different ways. Our help centre and our UK page do not match. We have used the higher figure here, and we are fixing the pages.

• A percentage stops being the cheapest eventually. At high enough fee income, a flat subscription wins. However, if this happens, we're happy to discuss with the studio and talk about specific rates.

• Little benefit if you want to keep your own payment provider.

Best for: growing schools that take payments online and bill by term. See how Bovingdon Dance Academy and Cirencester Creative Dance Academy run theirs.

2. Coacha

Best for small clubs, and the only genuinely free option here.

• Lite: £0 a month, forever, up to 50 members

• Premium: £36 a month, unlimited members

• Custom: £60 a month, adds invoicing and branding

• Payment fee: 2.5% + 20p card, 2.2% + 24p Direct Debit, both including the processor

• Cash, BACS, standing order: no fee at all

What's good

• Lite is free for life, not a trial. Under 50 members you may pay nothing.

• Flat fee above that. No headcount tiers at any size.

• UK-built, GBP-only, Direct Debit supported.

• Half price for the first three months.

What's not

• Highest payment rates of the six. That overtakes the low subscription as volume grows.

• Invoicing sits in Custom at £60, not Premium. Most dance schools need invoicing, so £36 is not the real price.

• Club-generalist rather than dance-first.

Best for: clubs under 50 members, and anyone whose parents still pay mainly by cash, BACS or standing order, where Coacha takes nothing at all.

3. ClassForKids

Best for finding new students.

• Year-Round: from £34.99 a month

• Camps Only: £120 a year

• Payment fee: from 2.5%, including Stripe

• Enterprise and Franchise tiers are quote-only

What's good

• The Discovery Site reaches a claimed 750,000 parents a month, lists you free and takes zero commission. Nothing else here offers a demand channel.

• Unlimited users, parents, children and venues.

• Free onboarding.

What's not

• Every tier is priced "from", and two of four are quote-only. You need a sales call.

• On Trustpilot, several customers describe being charged after cancelling, or paying more than the checkout showed. Those are individual accounts, not a proven pattern, but get your rate in writing.

• Some of the best bits sit in the top tiers. A dedicated success manager, flexible payment structures and early feature access are Enterprise and Franchise only, and both are quote-only.

• A generalist. Football, gymnastics and swimming sit alongside dance.

Best for: schools with empty class slots to fill. Win two extra enrolments through the Discovery Site and the higher running cost has already paid for itself. We compare the two directly in our software comparisons.

4. Membermeister

Best for pricing transparency, and they beat us on it.

• Tiers: £29, £39, £49, £69 a month for 50, 150, 300 and 750 students

• Payment fee: 0.8% Direct Debit or 1.4% card, on top of the processor

• Trial: 30 days

• Prices exclude VAT

What's good

• They publish everything. Tiers, limits, both fee rates, the VAT position. No sales call.

• Every plan gets every feature.

• Free setup and data import.

• UK support, running since 2013.

What's not

• Costs jump at 50, 150, 300 and 750 students. A school with 305 pays the same as one with 700.

• Three layers of cost: subscription, their percentage, then the processor.

• No free tier.

Best for: established schools with stable numbers that want a fixed monthly bill. We compare the two in full in our software comparisons.

5. DanceBiz

• Tiers: $24.95 to $179.95 a month

• Counted by customers, not students

• Payment fee: not published

• 14-day trial, no setup fees

What's good

• Bills in sterling as well as dollars, despite being Australian-built.

• Tiers count families, not dancers. One household with three children counts once, which suits a sibling-heavy school.

• Cheapest entry price of the six.

What's not

• The interface is the recurring complaint. Reviewers describe it as clunky, with everything in different places and no single view of a student. Several call the back end dated and say it needs a facelift. One reviewer of a rival platform described it as an outdated Access-style system.

• Parents notice too. Reviewers report the customer portal and payment link are not straightforward for families to use.

• No published payment rate, so your real cost is unknowable.

• Nothing published on termly billing, Direct Debit or GDPR.

• Australian vendor, so UK support hours are worth checking.

Best for: sibling-heavy schools watching the subscription line.

6. Studio Pro

• Tiers: $49, $79 or $165 a month

• Unlimited students on every tier

• Payment fee: not published

• 30-day trial

What's good

• Genuinely dance-specific, not a club generalist.

• Unlimited students at every price. No cost cliff.

• Strong communication tools on the top tier.

What's not

• USD only. You carry the exchange rate, and there is no GBP billing.

• No published payment rate anywhere.

• Nothing on termly billing, Direct Debit or UK data handling.

• Recently moved from dancestudio-pro.com to gostudiopro.com.

Best for: US studios. It is the least UK-suited option here, and we have included it only because UK schools do shortlist it.

What switching actually costs

Most guides compare features and stop there. The thing that actually stops schools moving is the cost of the move itself, and almost nobody quotes it.

This matters more than it sounds, because studio software gets sticky fast. Once your registers, payment mandates and three years of student records live in one system, the cost of leaving climbs every term, and a platform that felt affordable at 60 students can quietly become a drain at 200 without ever feeling like the moment to move.

• Data migration. Membermeister and DanceBiz include imports free. Others charge. Our how-to guides cover what a move involves.

• Setup time. Reviewers of every platform here call initial class setup the hardest part, ours included. Budget a fortnight.

• Parent re-registration. If families must re-enter payment details, some will not, and you will chase them all term.

Ask two questions before you sign anything. Who does the data import, and what does it cost? And can your parents' existing Direct Debit mandates transfer across, or will every family have to set theirs up again from scratch?

Which should you choose?

• Under 50 members? Coacha Lite is free. Start there.

• Growing and taking payments online? Class Manager costs least at 200 students and does not charge more as you expand. We would say that, so check the table.

• Need more students, not less admin? ClassForKids and its Discovery Site.

• Want a fixed, fully published price? Membermeister does that better than anyone here, including us.

• Lots of sibling families? DanceBiz counts households rather than dancers.

Whoever you end up shortlisting, get three things in writing before you sign: the payment percentage, what data migration will cost you, and whether the platform genuinely supports your exam syllabus.

Frequently asked questions

How much does dance studio software cost in the UK? Expect £1,300 to £2,700 a year for a 200-student school taking £60,000. That combines the subscription, the platform percentage, and the card or Direct Debit fee. Add all three.

Is any dance studio software genuinely free? Coacha Lite is free for life up to 50 members. Class Manager charges no subscription, but takes a percentage on online payments.

Can it take Direct Debit? Yes. Class Manager, Coacha, and Membermeister all support it. Direct Debit usually costs less than card for termly invoices. Class Manager doesn't take Direct Debit directly through the software, but you can manually track it.

Do I pay per student? Membermeister prices by student count. DanceBiz counts customers, so siblings count once. Class Manager and Coacha Premium charge the same regardless of headcount.

Why do studio invoices land in spam? Reviewers of several platforms report this, and it costs you money when a parent never sees a bill. Ask whether you can send from your own domain, and set up SPF and DKIM at onboarding. Our communication tools send under your studio's own name.

Can I move my data if I leave? Ask before you sign. Membermeister confirms export in its FAQ. Others are less clear, and the terms are easier to negotiate before you are a customer.

Want To Switch To Class Manager?

If you're ready to start saving time (and money) by switching to Class Manager's club management software, then look no further; our helpful team is on hand to help you. Book a demo, and they will be able to show you around the software and highlight exactly how it can help you. Or, if you want to explore the software yourself, create your free account here and start saving hours every week today.

Learn more about how Class Manager can help you here:

• How to Encourage September Enrolments for Your Class-Based Business

• 9 Studio Bottlenecks Class Management Software Can Fix

• Football Registration Software: How to Streamline Signups, Payments, and Data for Your Club

• 7 Payment Friction Points Killing Class Studio Revenue (And How To Fix Them Fast)

• Class Management Software With A Dedicated Parent Portal

• Why Class Manager Is The Best Class Management Software For New Class-based Businesses?

• Why Class Manager Is the Best Option for Your Management Software?

• Automated Emails for Trials, Enrolments & More: Let Class Manager Do the Chasing

• Reporting Software for Dance Studios: How to Turn Class Manager Data into Smart Decisions

• The Benefits Of Utilising Automated Trial Emails for Studio Owners

• The Benefits of Skill Tracking Inside Your Studio Management Software