Looking for a Class Manager alternative? Or debating whether Class Manager is the right solution for your class management software? In this article, we compare Class Manager with three UK alternatives: ClassForKids, Membermeister and DanceBiz.
Every price here was checked on the vendor's own site in August 2026.
How we compared these four platforms
We fixed six weights before scoring anything. All-in annual cost at 200 students carried the most, at 30%, because it is the number a school actually pays. Cost predictability took 20%, covering both the tier cliffs you hit as you grow and what you are charged in the months you are closed.
Pricing transparency and UK fit took 15% each, the second meaning GBP, termly billing, Direct Debit, and a phone line someone answers in this country. Messaging and demand generation took 10% apiece.
This is desk research. We read live vendor pages, published documentation, and dated third-party reviews. Nobody here tested four platforms hands-on, and any article claiming otherwise is worth a second look.
One warning about comparison sites. We checked DanceBiz's five prices against a major software directory, and every one of them was wrong. That is the third time in this project a directory has failed against the vendor's own page, so use the vendor's page.
Class Manager alternatives at a glance
Platform | Subscription | Payment fee | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
£0 | 2.7% + 20p, all in | Growing schools | |
ClassForKids | from £34.99/mo | from 2.5% inc Stripe | Finding new students |
Membermeister | £29–£69/mo + VAT | 0.8–1.4%, plus the processor | A fixed monthly bill |
DanceBiz | £31.90–£113.85/mo | not published | Sibling families |
What do Class Manager alternatives actually cost?
The main alternatives to Class Manager in the UK are ClassForKids, Membermeister and DanceBiz. At 200 students paying £100 across three terms, Class Manager costs £1,740 a year all in, Membermeister about £1,906 and ClassForKids about £1,920. DanceBiz does not publish a payment fee, so its total cannot be worked out.
That scenario is not ours. It is the default setting in ClassForKids' own ROI calculator, which loads with 200 students, three terms, and £100 a term already filled in, so if the sizing looks convenient, it is because a competitor chose it rather than us. That works out at £60,000 a year across 600 payments.
Platform | Subscription | Fees | All-in per year |
|---|---|---|---|
Class Manager | £0 | £1,740 | £1,740 |
Membermeister Gold, Direct Debit | £705.60 | £1,200 | £1,906 |
ClassForKids Year-Round | £419.88 | £1,500 | £1,920 |
Membermeister Gold, card | £705.60 | £1,860 | £2,566 |
DanceBiz Biz250 | £759.00 | not published | unknown |
Three things matter more here than the ranking.
Some fees include the card charge, and some do not. ClassForKids quotes 2.5% with Stripe included. Membermeister quotes 0.8% or 1.4%, and the processor bills you separately on top. Put those percentages side by side, and you get the wrong answer.
The subscription is rarely the biggest number. Membermeister's £705.60 is dwarfed by the £1,200 in fees underneath it.
Direct Debit beats card by a wide margin. The same Membermeister plan costs £660 more a year on Stripe than on GoCardless.
Rates used are the published UK standards: 1.5% + 20p for card, 1% + 20p for Direct Debit, capped at £4. Membermeister's prices exclude VAT, so we added it.
The cost nobody compares: the months you are closed
Most UK schools shut for about six weeks in summer and a fortnight at Christmas. Very little money comes in. But even if you’re not generating revenue, your monthly subscription fees from your class management software still need to be paid:
Platform | Charged across a two-month shutdown |
|---|---|
Class Manager | £0 |
ClassForKids | £69.98 |
Membermeister Gold | £98, or £117.60 with VAT |
DanceBiz Biz250 | £126.50 |
While these aren’t big numbers on their own, when added up next to other bills that don’t stop just because you’re not taking in revenue- rent, insurance, bills, etc. It can all add up.
ClassForKids
Best for finding new students.
Year-Round starts at £34.99 a month and Camps Only is £120 a year, both carrying a transaction fee that starts at 2.5% with Stripe included. Enterprise and Franchise are quote-only.
What's good
The Discovery Site. Claims 750,000 parents a month, free to list on, zero commission. No other platform here gives you a way to find students, and for a school with empty slots, that can matter more than the running cost.
Free personalised onboarding with a named specialist, and they say you can be live the same day.
98% CSAT for support, a published number, which is more than most vendors offer.
Unlimited users, parents, children, and venues.
What's not
Every tier is priced "from", and two of four are POA. Every button says "Speak To Our Team". You cannot find out what you would pay without asking.
The best parts sit in the quote-only tiers. A dedicated success manager, flexible payment structures, and early feature access are Enterprise and Franchise only.
Their own pages give the Discovery Site as 750,000 parents in one place and over a million in another.
One correction. Their comparison page says our move to free software brought with it a requirement that every payment be taken online, and that studios lost the payment flexibility they used to have. Cash, cheque and bank transfer can still be recorded in Class Manager, and we charge nothing on any of them.
We set out how the two compare across other categories in our software comparisons.
Choose them instead if your classes are not full. Win two enrolments through the Discovery Site and the extra £180 a year has already paid for itself.
Membermeister
Most transparent pricing here, and they beat us on it.
Four tiers, at £29, £39, £49 and £69 a month, covering 50, 150, 300 and 750 members. The payment fee is 0.8% on Direct Debit or 1.4% on card, and in both cases the processor bills you separately on top of that. Prices exclude VAT. The trial runs for 30 days, and they say you pay once you are 100% happy.
What's good
They publish everything. Every tier, every limit, both fee rates, the fact that the processor bills separately, and the VAT position. We do not state our VAT treatment. They do.
Every plan gets every feature. The £29 tier is not a stripped-down version of the £69 one.
Free setup and data import, so switching costs nothing.
UK support and trading since 2013. They hold 4.9 out of 5 across 109 Capterra reviews, the highest Capterra score of anyone in this comparison. We do not quote our own Capterra score anywhere here, because that listing still advertises a monthly price we no longer charge, so it is not describing the product you would be buying.
What's not
The price steps at 50, 150, 300, and 750 members. A school with 305 students pays the same as one with 700.
Three separate charges: subscription, their percentage, then the processor's fee.
No free tier.
We put the two head-to-head in more detail in our Class Manager and Member Meister comparison.
Choose them instead if: your numbers are steady and you want one predictable invoice a month. They are also the right answer if published, checkable pricing is what you care about most.
DanceBiz
Tiers run from £31.90 to £113.85 a month, priced in pounds, and the payment fee is not published anywhere. What makes DanceBiz interesting is what it counts. Almost every platform bills by student. This one bills by customer, so a family with three dancers counts once, and as the vendor puts it, a school with 200 students might have only 150 customers. That drops you a tier, and it is a real saving nobody else offers.
You get free phone and email support, free data import, unlimited staff logins, a UK phone line, and a fortnight to try it. One line on the pricing page says some add-on features cost extra. It does not say which.
Choose them instead if: you teach a lot of siblings. That alone can save you a tier.
It’s important to note that a lot of current and past users of DanceBiz do find the system clunky and frustrating to use, with lots of the features hard to find and the user interface hard to navigate.
Why studios stay with Class Manager
Best overall, and best for growing schools.
No subscription. The charge is 2.7% + 20p on online payments, and that single figure covers everything. Cash, cheque and bank transfer can be recorded in the system and carry no charge at all.
What's good
Nothing gets more expensive as you grow. Add students, classes, teachers, or a second venue, and the rate does not move. There are no tiers to cross.
Chats are included. One-to-one conversations can start either way, as can group chats and broadcasts filtered by lesson, class, or season that each land as a private message. It suggests replies and actions for you, and none of it sits behind a higher plan or a per-message charge, because there are no plans and no extras.
Skill tracking, waivers, notes, and attendance are all in the product, and we have shown each of them working on video, such as grading and skill tracking, rather than describing them on a page.
One app. Same download for owners, teachers, and families, and your login decides what you see. Nobody needs a second app or a second set of credentials.
Reviewers name the person who helped them. "David at Class Manager has been patient and thorough." Twelve of our twenty most recent Trustpilot reviews mention support, one clocking replies at a couple of hours.
Recital ticketing is free through our sister product, Stage Stubs.
Choose us if: you take payments online, you bill by term, and you would rather your software cost nothing in the months you earn nothing. See our case studies to see why some of our customers switched to Class Manager.
When another platform is the better choice
Your classes are not full: ClassForKids. The Discovery Site is a real channel, and we do not have one.
You want a fixed monthly bill and published pricing: Membermeister. They win that outright.
You teach a lot of siblings: DanceBiz. Counting customers instead of students can drop you a tier.
You are set on keeping your own payment provider: none of us fits well, and that includes us.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free alternative to Class Manager? Class Manager has no monthly subscription, so the software itself costs nothing, and you pay 2.7% + 20p on online payments instead. None of the three alternatives compared here offers a permanently free plan, although Membermeister gives you 30 days to try theirs and DanceBiz gives you a fortnight.
What payment fees should I expect? Between about 2.9% and 4.3% of what you take, once the card or Direct Debit charge is counted. Watch for fees quoted without the processor's cut, which look lower than they are. Membermeister's 0.8% becomes about 2% once GoCardless takes its share.
Are there any hidden fees? Not on these platforms, but DanceBiz publishes no payment percentage at all and notes that some add-on features cost extra without saying which. Get any rate in writing before you sign.
Am I tied into a contract? Class Manager has no subscription, so there is nothing to tie you to. The others bill monthly or annually, and annual plans usually carry a discount in exchange for the commitment.
Can I export my data if I want to leave? Ask before you sign, and get the answer in writing. Membermeister publishes a straight answer to this on its own pricing page, which is a good sign.
Which Class Manager alternative is best for a small dance school? Under about 50 students, Membermeister's £29 tier is the cheapest fixed option, though VAT and payment fees sit on top. If your income is seasonal, a percentage model usually works out better, because a small school still pays the same subscription in August as in September.
If you run a dance school specifically, we go deeper into what the category needs in our guide to dance studio software.
Prices in this article were checked in August 2026 and change without much notice. If you are shortlisting, pick the two or three that suit how you actually teach, then ask each of them for a written rate at your real student numbers and your real term structure rather than trusting a headline percentage. The gap between platforms is usually smaller than the gap between what a platform advertises and what it bills.
Class Manager's support team can help import your student data, configure classes, and align the portal with your existing studio processes for a smooth transition. Ready to see how it all works? Create your free account or book a demo with our team today.
Learn more about how Class Manager can help you here:
How to Encourage September Enrolments for Your Class-Based Business
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)
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
Prepare Your Class-Based Business for a Successful Start in September
