A UK music school with eight teachers pays about £40 a month on MyMusicStaff, about £43 on MakeMusic Studio and £39 on LessonLoop — and at thirty teachers it is about £125, about £128 and still £39. Nine products are compared below. Four publish prices in pounds; five publish in US dollars. One meters student lessons taught, one meters your whole roll, and one takes a percentage of every payment. Every figure was read from the vendor’s own pricing page on 4 September 2026.
The criteria, before any product is named
A ranking is only worth reading if you can see what produced it. These are the eleven things this page measures, in the order they change the bill or the week:
- Flat or metered. Does the price move when you hire, when you enrol, or when you teach more?
- What the meter counts. Teachers, staff, active students, total roll, or lessons taught.
- Currency and UK billing. A GBP price is a price. A USD price is a price plus a card rate that moves every month.
- Direct Debit and termly fees. Bacs mandates, autopay, payment plans across a term, automatic late fees.
- Registers and make-ups. Marking on a phone, absence reasons that carry a policy, credits that expire.
- The parent portal. Schedules, invoices, payments — and whether it can sit on your own domain.
- An AI that performs admin actions, not a chatbot that describes them.
- A native mobile app, shipping today, not promised.
- Accounting sync, and whether it is automatic or an export.
- Migration cost. Who does the import, and on which plans.
- Trial terms and support hours. Days, whether a card is required, and whether support is awake when you are.
The price table
Every figure below was read from the vendor’s own pricing page on 4 September 2026.
| Product | List price | What the meter counts | Currency | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LessonLoop | £15 Solo · £39 School (£150 / £390 a year) | Nothing | GBP | 30 days, no card |
| My Music Lessons | £9.95 + £2.95 per teacher | Teachers, plus each hired facility | GBP | 1 month |
| MusicNotes PMI | £0 until January 2027, then £12 | Nothing stated | GBP | Free period |
| Pembee | £30 · £70, + 0.59% of every Stripe payment | Features, and every payment | GBP | 30 days, no card |
| MyMusicStaff | $16.95 + $4.95 per additional teacher or staff member | Teachers and staff | USD | 30 days, no card |
| MakeMusic Studio | $19.95 + $4.95 per staff member, + 2.9% + 30¢ per card charge | Staff, and every payment | USD | 14 days |
| Teachworks | $16.49 + $0.320 per student lesson · $47.99 + $0.189 · $187.99 + $0.065 | Student lessons taught | USD | 21 days, card at conversion |
| Jackrabbit Music | From $49; Plus from $93; Enterprise $245 | Total student count at month end | USD | 90-day money-back |
| Opus1 | From $98; Starter caps at 200 active students | Active students | USD | Not stated |
Two things in that table cost more than they look. MakeMusic Studio takes 2.9% + 30¢ on every card charge, 1.8% on ACH and 0.4% of subscription volume, on top of the subscription — so a school collecting £4,000 of fees a month pays the subscription and roughly £120 more. Pembee takes 0.59% of every Stripe payment on top of £30 or £70.
Jackrabbit publishes only starting prices. Its own pricing page says pricing is “based on total student count at the end of each month” and shows $49, $93 and $245 as starting figures — the tier bands themselves are not published there. Total roll includes pupils who have stopped until somebody archives them.
Opus1 publishes one number, $98, and routes the rest to Book a Demo. Starter caps at 200 active students and 50 services.
What it costs as you grow
Straight list-price arithmetic on the three products that meter teachers. Same team, same month.
| Team size | MyMusicStaff | MakeMusic Studio | My Music Lessons | LessonLoop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 teacher | ~£13 | ~£16 | £9.95 | £15 Solo |
| 5 teachers | ~£29 | ~£31 | £21.75 | £39 |
| 8 teachers | ~£40 | ~£43 | £30.60 | £39 |
| 15 teachers | ~£67 | ~£70 | £51.25 | £39 |
| 30 teachers | ~£125 | ~£128 | £95.50 | £39 |
US list prices converted at approximately $1 = £0.78, for comparison only — the rate moves, and what a UK card is charged depends on the vendor’s own checkout. GBP prices are as published.
Teachworks is not on that table because it does not meter teachers — it meters lessons. A school teaching 400 student lessons a month on Starter pays $16.49 + $128 = about $144, roughly £112, and every pupil in a group lesson counts as a separate student lesson. Teach more and the bill rises whether or not you have hired anybody.
You can run this on your own numbers — teachers, pupils and lessons a month, against every published model on this page. No email required.
What each product charges and says it does
In the order the criteria put them. Each paragraph states what that vendor’s own materials say, and the date they were read.
LessonLoop
£15 a month Solo — one teacher, unlimited pupils — or £39 a month School, with unlimited teacher accounts, unlimited pupils, unlimited locations and unlimited rooms; £150 and £390 respectively if paid annually. Priced and billed in GBP. Nothing is metered: hiring a tenth teacher does not change the price. Bacs Direct Debit and card payments run through your own Stripe account, with payment plans across a term and automatic late fees. Registers mark on a phone and feed invoicing, make-up credits and payroll from one record. Make-up credits are earned, valued and expired by your own policy. The parent portal sits on your own domain. LoopAssist proposes admin actions and executes them only on your confirmation, and an MCP connector answers questions about your school from ChatGPT and Claude, read-only today. Native iPhone app on the App Store. Invoices and payments sync one-way into Xero. Guided migration is free on every plan. Trial is 30 days with no card, and there is a live demo with no signup. Support is UK-based and replies within one UK working day. There is no SMS channel; WhatsApp is an optional prepaid pack in early access.
My Music Lessons
£9.95 a month for a single teacher, or £9.95 + £2.95 per teacher on the Music School plan; hired facilities are a further line in their own price calculator. One month free trial, no fixed contract. Priced in GBP with other currencies selectable. Their site describes scheduling, an automated booking and payment process, homework scheduling, packages and subscriptions, digital signage and self check-in, bulk messaging, gift vouchers, commission splits and teacher payouts, and unlimited free student accounts. (mymusiclessons.org.uk, read 4 September 2026.)
MusicNotes PMI
£0 until January 2027 with no card, then £12 a month or £120 a year; a founding-member rate of £6 a month is offered to the first ten teachers. Priced in GBP. Their site describes one-click term, half-term or per-lesson invoicing, automatic payment reminders, drag-and-drop rescheduling with parent notification, UK school term dates built in, a Self Assessment income summary for HMRC, unlimited students and data export. It is aimed at independent UK music teachers. (musicnotespmi.co.uk, read 4 September 2026.) Full comparison.
Pembee
£30 a month Standard or £70 Premium, plus a 0.59% application fee on every Stripe payment. Two months free on annual billing. 30-day trial, no card. Prices display in GBP and the platform supports AUD, EUR, NZD, SGD and USD. Positioned for children’s activity and class bookings. (pembee.app/pricing, read 4 September 2026.)
MyMusicStaff
$16.95 a month plus $4.95 for each additional teacher or staff member. 30-day free trial with no credit card, and a 90-day money-back guarantee. Priced in US dollars. Their own support documentation states the mobile app was retired and directs users to bookmark the mobile website. (mymusicstaff.com/pricing, read 4 September 2026.) Full comparison.
MakeMusic Studio (formerly Fons)
$19.95 a month, with a summer sale price of $9.95 showing on 4 September 2026, plus $4.95 a month for each additional teacher or admin staff member. On top of the subscription: 2.9% + 30¢ per card charge, 1.8% per ACH bank transfer, an additional 1% on international cards, and 0.4% of subscription volume. 14-day free trial. Priced in US dollars. (studio.makemusic.com/pricing, read 4 September 2026.) Full comparison.
Teachworks
Starter $16.49 a month + $0.320 per student lesson; Growth $47.99 + $0.189; Premium $187.99 + $0.065. 21-day free trial, with card details entered to convert. No setup or cancellation fees and no contract. Priced in US dollars. The meter counts student lessons taught, so group teaching multiplies it. (teachworks.com/pricing, read 4 September 2026.) Full comparison.
Jackrabbit Music
Jackrabbit Class from $49 a month, tiered on total student count at the end of each month. Jackrabbit Plus, which adds a custom-branded mobile app, from $93. Enterprise $245, not based on student count. Every subscription includes free data imports, a product coach and a 90-day money-back guarantee. The tier bands are not published on the pricing page. Priced in US dollars, and the product is sold across gymnastics, swim schools and studios as well as music. (jackrabbitclass.com/pricing, read from a browser on 4 September 2026 — the page returns 403 to a script.) Full comparison.
Opus1
“Packages starting at just $98 per month.” Three named tiers — Starter up to 200 active students and 50 services, Growth up to 500 students, Ultimate up to 1,000 — with only the starting price published; the rest routes to Book a Demo. Month to month, no contract. Add-ons for Plus, SMS and Voice, prices not listed. Priced in US dollars. (opus1.io/pricing, read 4 September 2026.) Full comparison.
Which one fits your situation
You teach on your own
The decision is currency, payment routing and what happens in January. LessonLoop Solo is £15 a month for unlimited pupils, with parents paying into your own Stripe account and nothing added on top of standard Stripe rates, a mobile register, and an expenses and mileage record that feeds Self Assessment. MusicNotes PMI is £0 until January 2027 and covers invoicing and scheduling for a solo teacher. My Music Lessons is £9.95. The three US products all start near $17 and bill in dollars. There is a separate page for solo teachers with the criteria that actually matter at that scale.
You run a school with three to fifteen teachers
This is where metering decides it. Every hire adds $4.95 a month on MyMusicStaff and MakeMusic Studio and £2.95 on My Music Lessons, forever; on Teachworks every extra lesson taught adds $0.32. LessonLoop School is £39 a month with unlimited teacher accounts, so the line is flat from three teachers to thirty. Add termly billing runs, family accounts that reconcile across siblings, Bacs Direct Debit, teacher pay rates and payroll that counts from lessons actually taught. Music school software →
You run more than one venue
You need locations and rooms on every lesson, registers for lessons taught inside partner schools with no fixed clock time, pay rates per teacher and a payroll report that reconciles to the register. LessonLoop includes unlimited locations and rooms on the £39 plan. Music academy software →
You are a performing arts, drama or dance school
The work is the same shape — terms, registers, termly fees, a parent relationship — and most of the products above are built around a music timetable or a class roster rather than both. LessonLoop runs graded and private lessons beside weekly classes, bills a group per pupil rather than per booking, and keeps one family account per household across every discipline. It does not do ticketing, seating plans, costumes or merchandise. Performing arts school software →
Sources, and how to correct this page
Every price on this page was read from the vendor’s own live pricing page on 4 September 2026. Nothing is taken from a directory, a review site or a third-party summary, and no vendor paid to be here.
- mymusicstaff.com/pricing
- teachworks.com/pricing
- opus1.io/pricing
- studio.makemusic.com/pricing
- jackrabbitclass.com/pricing — read from a browser; the page returns 403 to an automated fetch
- mymusiclessons.org.uk
- musicnotespmi.co.uk and musicnotespmi.co.uk/pricing
- pembee.app/pricing
- lessonloop.net/pricing
Prices move, and vendors do not always announce it. If a figure here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it and re-date the page. That has always been how the comparison pages work.
