Class Manager vs ClassForKids: Which Dance Studio Software Should a New Studio Choose?

Opening a dance studio means paying for everything before a single family has paid you. Rent, insurance, flooring, music licences, a website. Then someone tells you that you need dance studio software too.

But you’ve just started out; how do you know which is the best class management software for you? 

We compared Class Manager and ClassForKids on the things that matter in a studio's first year. Every price was checked on each company's own website in September 2026.

The short answer: Class Manager is the better fit for most new dance studios, because it costs nothing while you set up, nothing in the months you are not taking payments, and it does not ask you to commit to a monthly bill before you know how many dancers you will have. ClassForKids is worth a look if your biggest worry is finding your first students, because its parent Discovery Site is a real advantage.

Class Manager vs ClassForKids for New Studios at a Glance

The headline takeaway: with Class Manager, your software bill starts when your income starts. With ClassForKids, it starts when your trial ends.

Before Your First Class: Paying While You Set Up

Most new studios open their booking system weeks, sometimes months, before the first class. You need time to build the timetable, set term dates, write class descriptions and share your sign-up link. During all of that, nobody is paying you yet.

ClassForKids gives you a 7-day free trial, and its team says it can be extended if you need longer. After that, the Year-Round plan starts from £34.99 a month. If you set up in June for a September launch, you could be paying for two or three months of software before the first fee lands.

Class Manager is free to open and free to keep. There is no subscription, so you can spend as long as you like building your timetable, adding teachers and testing the parent sign-up journey. The only charge is the service fee on payments taken online, which means your first cost arrives at the same moment as your first income.

Winner: Class Manager. You can build your whole studio in the software without a clock ticking or a bill arriving.

Setting Up From Scratch

A new studio has one advantage over an established one: there is no old data to move. The job is building things right the first time, and that is easier when the software is simple and help is close by.

ClassForKids is known for its support. Onboarding is free, a business coach contacts you during your trial, and its own pricing page quotes a 98% customer satisfaction score for support. It also offers a self-guided tour if you want a feel for the system before signing up.

Class Manager lets you do the whole set-up at your own pace in a free account. Add your logo and colours, create your first term, add classes with capacity limits, and choose which to show parents. Hidden Classes let you keep a class out of the portal until you are ready to launch it. If you get stuck, you can book a free personal demo and talk to a real person.

It all runs in a browser on any device, and teachers, admin staff and parents use the same free app with one login. For a founder doing admin between classes, being able to fix the timetable from your phone matters.

Winner: Class Manager, narrowly. ClassForKids' onboarding is strong, but Class Manager gives you the time to set things up properly without paying for the privilege, and they’re on hand to help you.

Turning trials into regulars

Getting a family through the door once is only half the job. New studios live or die on how many trial dancers come back the following week.

Class Manager is built around this moment. You can offer free or paid trials, and automated trial emails go to families and teachers at booking, before the trial, and after it, in your own branding and tone of voice. You do not have to remember who came on Saturday and chase them on Monday. The follow-up simply happens.

Once a family has an account, re-enrolling for next term or adding a sibling to another class takes a few clicks, with no forms to fill in again.

Winner: Class Manager. A marketplace can bring families to you, but keeping them is what builds a studio, and that is where Class Manager does the work for you.

Your First Year of Fees: A Worked Example

Most price comparisons use a studio with 200 dancers. A new studio rarely looks like that. So here is a more realistic first year.

The scenario: a new UK dance studio with 40 students, each paying £60 a term across three terms. That is 120 payments and £7,200 taken online in the first year.

That is roughly £380 kept in your studio in year one, enough for a batch of branded uniforms or your first local ad campaign. Paying ClassForKids annually brings its subscription down (it offers two months free), but Class Manager still comes out around £310 cheaper.

Two things make the gap bigger for a new studio:

• Set-up months cost nothing. If you spend two months building your timetable before launch, those months are free on Class Manager.

• Quiet months cost nothing. Take no online payments in August, and you pay nothing in August. A subscription is due whether your doors are open or not.

ClassForKids' payment fee is quoted "from" 2.5% and is confirmed by an account manager, so your real rate could be higher. Class Manager publishes one all-in rate, so you know your costs before you sign up. Cash and bank transfers can be recorded in Class Manager at no cost.

Winner: Class Manager. When you are small and still growing, paying only when you get paid makes the numbers work.

Talking to Your First Families

The habits you set in year one tend to stick. Start your studio on a WhatsApp group and your personal number, and three years later you are still answering parents at 9pm.

ClassForKids includes unlimited emails with attachments, automated text and email booking confirmations, and messaging to groups of parents.

Class Manager gives you Chats, so every conversation with every family lives inside the software from day one:

• Broadcast messages filtered by class, lesson or season, arriving as a private message for each family

• One-to-one chats that either you or the parent can start, with no need to share your personal number

• Group chats where you control who is in them

• AI suggested replies and actions, so you can answer a parent and clear the task in seconds

• A family preview sidebar showing each family's classes and any balance owed, right next to the chat

On top of that, branded automated emails cover trials, enrolments and reminders, with delivery and open tracking. When a parent says they never got your email, you can check.

Winner: Class Manager. Starting with one place for every conversation saves you from untangling WhatsApp later.

Growing Into a Proper Dance School

The software you pick in year one should still fit in year three, when you have more classes, more teachers, exam candidates and your first show.

ClassForKids is a generalist built for kids' activity providers. Its strengths lean towards holiday camps, wraparound care and multi-venue set-ups, and its Enterprise and Franchise plans (priced on application) add a dedicated success manager and flexible pricing.

Class Manager includes the dance-school tools you will grow into, with no tiers to unlock:

• Skill tracking and grading: build your own skills and levels, or follow an exam syllabus, and track ballet, tap, hip hop, and acro progress. You choose whether parents see their child's current grade in the portal.

• Attendance tracking: digital registers teachers can take on their phone.

• Shop: sell uniforms and costumes through the parent portal, filtered by class.

• Reports: see which classes are filling and which are costing you money.

• Your first show: recital ticketing is free for studios through our sister platform, Stage Stubs.

There is no cost cliff either. Adding students, classes, teachers, or a second venue does not change what you pay.

Winner: Class Manager. It grows with your dance school instead of charging you more for growing.

Which Should a New Dance Studio Choose?

Go with ClassForKids if your biggest worry is being found, you plan to run holiday camps or wraparound care alongside classes, and you are happy to take on a monthly subscription from the start.

Go with Class Manager if you want to build your studio without a bill arriving before your first student does. You get skill tracking, Chats, automated trial emails, a parent portal, and a shop from day one, and you only pay when parents pay you.

For most new dance studios, Class Manager is the stronger start. It keeps your costs at zero while you set up, lower in your first year, and the same as you grow. That leaves more of your budget for the things that fill a studio: great teaching, a space families love, and marketing that gets your name out there.

Ready to Open Your Studio With Class Manager?

Create your free account and build your timetable at your own pace, with no card and no contract. Or book a free demo and our team will walk you through setting up your first term.

Still planning? These might help:

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

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

• Class Manager or Class4Kids: Which Club Management Software Is Better for Your Studio?

• The Benefits Of Utilising Automated Trial Emails for Studio Owners

• Should Your Studio Still Use WhatsApp Groups?

• Dance Studio Software