How to Choose the Best Music Studio Management Software in 2026

Running a studio means you teach music, and you also run a small business (whether you wanted that job or not). The right studio management software can save you hours every week, reduce payment headaches, and cut down on awkward parent follow-ups. It can also shape what happens between lessons, which is where a lot of student progress either happens or stalls.

When you compare tools in 2026, look past the marketing and focus on your real day-to-day: scheduling, billing, communication, and whether students actually use it. A tool can be “powerful” and still feel like a chore at 9:30 pm when you are trying to log a makeup credit and send an invoice.

What to Look For in Studio Management Software

Most platforms cover the basics. The differences show up in the details and in how well the tool fits your teaching style.

• Scheduling: Recurring lessons, reschedules, attendance, makeup credits, teacher availability, and calendar sync (Google Calendar and iCal). If you teach at two locations or teach online across time zones, this matters even more.
• Billing: Manual invoicing vs auto-invoicing, online payments (Stripe or PayPal), late fees, payment retries, and clean records at tax time.
• Communication: Direct messaging, email broadcasts, reminders, and how easy it is to reach parents vs teens vs adult students.
• Student engagement: Assignments, lesson notes, and any practice tracking. This is where tools usually get thin, even though it is where a lot of teaching wins happen.
• Pricing: Flat monthly fees vs per-student or per-lesson pricing. If you charge $60/hour and teach 25 students, even one extra hour of admin a month is real money.
• Ease of use: Mobile-friendly design, clean workflows, and whether you can train a new admin or teacher without a week of frustration.

Nova Music (Top Pick)

Nova Music is the strongest choice for most private teachers and small-to-medium schools in 2026 because it handles the admin work and also supports what happens between lessons. Most platforms stop at scheduling and billing. Nova adds built-in practice gamification inside the same system where you track attendance, makeups, and invoices.

If you have ever had a student say, “I practiced, I just forgot to write it down,” you already know why this matters. When a 7-year-old struggles with consistency, or a busy high schooler needs a nudge, a student portal that makes practice visible can change the tone of your lessons. Students log in, track practice streaks, earn points, level up, and collect achievements. You still teach the same way, but you get a clearer picture of effort between lessons.

Nova also has a genuinely usable free plan with up to 10 students. That alone makes it easier to try without doing a full studio migration on day one.

If you want to explore the details, you can check Nova’s features and pricing, or sign up free and test it with a handful of students.

• Standout Features
  • Free plan with up to 10 students
  • Full scheduling, attendance, and makeup credit tracking
  • Group lessons with recurring templates, per-student attendance, drop-in support, and capacity limits
  • Direct messaging and a student portal
  • Practice gamification (streaks, points, levels, achievements)
  • Assignments and lesson notes
  • iCal and Google Calendar sync
  • Manual invoicing on the free plan
  • Broadcasts (2 per month on the free plan)
  • Pro plan adds Stripe payments and auto-invoicing
• Pricing
  • Free plan: $0/month (up to 10 students)
  • Pro plan: $10/month (unlimited students, unlimited broadcasts, 5 GB storage, Stripe online payments, auto-invoicing, iCal sync, makeup credits)
• Best For
  • Teachers who want admin tools plus a real system for practice accountability
  • Studios that want a modern, mobile-friendly tool with a strong free plan
  • Anyone who wants predictable pricing that stays affordable as they grow

Nova also supports group lessons with recurring templates, per-student attendance tracking, individual pricing, drop-in support, and capacity limits. If you run group classes alongside private lessons, you can manage both in the same calendar.

One thing to know: SMS reminders are coming soon (email and in-app notifications work today). Nova is also newer to market than some long-running competitors, but the upside is active development and a product that feels built for how teachers operate now.

My Music Staff

My Music Staff has been around for over 15 years and it shows in the best way, it is stable, reliable, and packed with features. It is a classic “everything in one place” tool with predictable flat pricing, which many teachers love.

If you want a system that covers scheduling, billing, reminders, and even a website builder under one monthly fee, it is a strong option.

• Standout Features
  • Flat rate pricing regardless of student count
  • SMS reminders included at no extra cost
  • Built-in website builder with hosting
  • Repertoire tracking
  • PayPal and Stripe integration
  • Google Calendar sync
  • QuickBooks integration
• Pricing
  • $14.95/month flat rate
  • Additional teachers: $4.95/month each
  • 30-day free trial
• Best For
  • Established solo teachers or small studios who want a dependable, all-in-one system
  • Teachers who value predictable monthly costs and built-in SMS reminders

Fons by MakeMusic

Fons focuses heavily on payments and policies, and it does that job well. If you want automatic payment collection, smart retry logic, and a system that helps enforce cancellation policies, Fons is worth a look.

It is also owned by MakeMusic, which matters if you already use tools from that ecosystem.

• Standout Features
  • Automatic payment collection with retry logic
  • Cancellation policy enforcement (charges clients who cancel inside the policy window)
  • Built-in video call support
  • Clean, modern interface
• Pricing
  • $19.95/month for first teacher
  • $4.95/month per additional staff member
  • 14-day free trial
  • Payment processing: 2.9% + $0.30 per card, 1.8% per ACH
• Best For
  • Teachers who want payments and policies to run on autopilot
  • Studios that want built-in video lessons in the same tool
  • Teachers already connected to MakeMusic products

Jackrabbit Music

Jackrabbit Music is built for schools that operate at scale. If you run group classes, manage multiple teachers, handle registrations, and need reporting that looks like a real operations dashboard, Jackrabbit is one of the biggest players.

For a solo teacher, it can feel like using a full school administration system to schedule a few weekly lessons. Powerful, yes. Simple, no.

• Standout Features
  • Designed for larger schools with group classes, recitals, and multiple teachers
  • Online registration
  • POS system
  • Executive reporting dashboard
  • Time clock for staff
  • Payroll integration
  • Large client base (7,000+ music school clients)
• Pricing
  • Starts at $49/month and scales with student count
  • 30-day free trial
  • No contracts
• Best For
  • Medium-to-large music schools with group classes, multiple locations, or complex scheduling
  • Owners who want deep reporting and operational tools

Teachworks

Teachworks is a reliable cloud-based option that works well for multi-teacher studios and businesses that want scheduling and billing to scale. It also supports time zones, which is a big deal if you teach online and have students in different regions.

The main thing to watch is pricing structure. The entry plan includes a per-student-lesson cost, which can feel fine at first and then creep up as your studio grows.

• Standout Features
  • Built for multi-teacher operations
  • Time zone support for online lessons
  • Website integration widgets
  • Scales well for growing studios
  • Student portal for booking and viewing lesson notes
• Pricing
  • Starts at $16.49/month + $0.32 per student lesson (Starter plan)
  • Higher tiers reduce per-lesson cost
  • 21-day free trial
• Best For
  • Multi-teacher studios that want a proven scheduling and billing system
  • Online studios teaching across time zones
  • Owners comfortable with usage-based pricing

Duet Partner (formerly Music Teacher’s Helper)

Duet Partner has the benefit of time. Under the Music Teacher’s Helper brand, it accumulated years of features that many teachers rely on, and it now runs under a rebrand with new ownership.

It is also one of the most affordable options on the list as a monthly subscription. If you want a proven tool, unlimited students, and you do not mind a 1% fee on digital payments, it can be a practical pick.

• Standout Features
  • Long-standing feature set from Music Teacher’s Helper
  • Student and parent portal
  • Stripe integration
  • Attendance tracking and invoicing
  • No student limits
• Pricing
  • $9/month flat rate
  • 1% fee on digital payments
  • 30-day free trial
• Best For
  • Budget-conscious teachers who want a long-established tool
  • Studios that want unlimited students at a low monthly price

AmpliTeach

AmpliTeach stands out because it combines studio management with built-in curriculum access. If your school wants lesson content, videos, and structured materials alongside scheduling and billing, that bundle can be appealing.

It is priced more like a school platform than a solo-teacher tool, especially as your student count grows.

• Standout Features
  • Built by music school owners with 25+ years of experience
  • Includes access to Rock House Method curriculum (5,000+ multimedia lessons, videos, audio tracks)
  • Drag-and-drop scheduling
  • Automated payments
  • Email and text reminders
  • Attendance reports
  • Teacher training included
• Pricing
  • Starts at $49/month (up to 50 students)
  • Scales up to $399/month for large schools
  • 30-day free trial
• Best For
  • Music schools that want curriculum and lesson content built into the platform
  • Schools training multiple teachers and aiming for consistent materials

Quick Comparison Table

Which One Should You Pick?

Here is the honest, teacher-to-teacher way I would choose.

• If you want the best overall fit for most private teachers, start with Nova Music. You get scheduling, attendance, makeup credits, messaging, and billing tools, plus the practice gamification that most platforms do not even attempt. The free plan with up to 10 students makes it easy to test without pressure, and the Pro plan stays affordable at $10/month.

• If you want a long-established all-in-one with flat pricing, My Music Staff is a steady choice, especially if SMS reminders matter to you right now.

• If payments and cancellation policies are your biggest headache, Fons can be worth the higher monthly cost.

• If you run a larger school with group classes and serious operations needs, Jackrabbit Music is built for that world.

• If you are scaling a multi-teacher studio and want solid scheduling with time zone support, Teachworks is a dependable option, just keep an eye on per-lesson costs.

• If your priority is the lowest monthly subscription price with no student limits, Duet Partner is hard to ignore.

• If you want curriculum baked into the platform, AmpliTeach can make sense for schools that will actually use the included content.

What to try this week

Pick your top two tools and run a tiny “real life” test:

1. Add five students (include one family with siblings if you have it).
2. Schedule recurring lessons, then reschedule one lesson and record attendance.
3. Create an invoice for a month of lessons and see how payments would work.
4. Send one broadcast message like “No lessons next Monday,” and see how it feels.
5. If student engagement matters in your studio, have one student actually log in and try the portal.

If you want the fastest way to see the difference Nova brings, start with the student portal and practice tracking. When a middle school student can see a streak and earn points for consistency, it changes the conversation from “Did you practice?” to “What helped you keep the streak going?” That is a better lesson for both of you.

Disclosure: This guide is published by Nova Music. We've aimed to be accurate and fair in our comparisons.