Stepsi vs Class Manager: Which is the best dance studio management software?

1. Class scheduling and dance class management

For any dance studio, the timetable is at the centre of daily operations.

A studio might offer ballet for children, contemporary for teenagers, salsa for adults, private lessons, weekend workshops and seasonal programmes. Managing all these activities requires more than a simple weekly calendar.

Class Manager

Class Manager provides an interactive class scheduling system designed around dance schools and other class-based businesses.

Its scheduling functionality includes:

• Seasonal timetables that can be copied and reused.
• Class capacities and availability monitoring.
• Teacher and location assignments.
• Free and paid trial classes.
• Waiting lists.
• Make-up lessons.
• Online class registrations.
• Digital attendance registers.

One useful feature is the ability to see available spaces and trial registrations directly within the timetable.

This makes it easier to identify popular classes, monitor demand and decide when additional sessions might be needed.

Stepsi

Stepsi provides a more flexible scheduling environment, with multiple calendars and different ways of organising dance classes.

Studios can configure:

• Multiple calendars for different locations, rooms or internal activities.
• Recurring classes and individual events.
• Weekly, biweekly and custom recurring schedules.
• Bookable classes, term registrations and drop-in attendance.
• Capacity-based or time-slot bookings.
• Leader and follower capacity management.
• Instructor availability and time off.
• Booking cancellation windows and minimum booking notice.
• No-show strikes and booking restrictions.

One particularly useful distinction is that Stepsi supports several different class formats within the same platform.

A ballet studio operating through fixed-term registrations can use term enrolments, while a social dance studio can offer flexible drop-in sessions and booking-based classes.

Studios also have the option of numbered seat reservations, which can be particularly useful when organising dance performances and recitals.

2. Student management and family accounts

Managing student information becomes increasingly complicated as a dance school grows.

This is particularly true for children's dance studios, where one parent might manage several children attending different classes, with different schedules and payment arrangements.

Class Manager

Class Manager provides a family-oriented student management system.

Parents can access their children's information, manage registrations, view schedules and make payments through the family portal.

The platform also supports medical information, consent records and emergency contacts.

Teachers can access relevant student information and class schedules through their assigned accounts.

Its family-oriented structure is a strong feature for children's dance schools.

Stepsi

Stepsi approaches student management through a more extensive CRM system.

Each student can have an individual profile containing personal details, memberships, class registrations, payments, attendance, historical activity and administrative notes.

The family account structure allows parents to manage multiple linked accounts under one login.

For example:

• A parent has one main account.
• Their children have separate profiles.
• Each child can attend different classes.
• Each child can have different memberships.
• Payments and invoices can be managed through the parent account.

Studio owners can also segment students into groups, apply membership restrictions, manage discounts and perform bulk actions.

Administrators can freeze memberships, extend subscriptions, reset booking penalties, export student information and send targeted messages.

The filtering system also makes it easier to find students who haven't attended recently, have no upcoming bookings or might need additional attention.

3. Memberships, subscriptions and payment flexibility

Memberships are one of the most important parts of running a financially sustainable dance studio.

Different studios have different business models. Some sell fixed-term dance courses, others sell monthly memberships, while others offer session packages, drop-in classes or unlimited access.

Class Manager

Class Manager supports several billing approaches, including:

• Term-based payments.
• Monthly, weekly and fortnightly billing.
• Automatic recurring charges.
• Instalment payment plans.
• Partial payments.
• Upfront payments.
• Class packages.
• Credits and refunds.
• Automated overdue payment reminders.

Studios can collect payments automatically using saved payment methods, reducing the need to chase parents for outstanding fees.

Its approach is particularly suitable for studios that primarily operate through scheduled class seasons and regular payment periods.

Stepsi

Stepsi offers a more extensive membership configuration system.

Studios can create membership plans with:

• Fixed-duration and recurring renewals.
• Automatic renewal controls.
• Unlimited or limited attendance.
• Weekly or periodic session limits.
• Unused session rollover.
• Shared prepaid session pools.
• Time-of-day restrictions.
• Class-specific membership restrictions.
• Member-group restrictions.
• Commitment periods.
• Grace periods and cancellation at the end of a commitment.
• Three-, six- and twelve-month packages.
• Renewal discounts.
• Proration when changing memberships.
• Couple and family memberships.

Administrators can also manually assign memberships and register payments through cash, bank transfer or card.

This makes Stepsi suitable for a wider variety of dance studio business models.

For example, a studio could offer:

• Unlimited monthly ballet memberships.
• A ten-class hip-hop package.
• A six-month contemporary dance commitment.
• A shared couple membership for ballroom classes.
• A prepaid family package.
• A limited weekly membership for children attending one or two classes.

All these models can coexist within the same system.

4. Payments, billing and financial management

Getting paid on time is essential for any dance studio.

A good management platform should minimise manual payment collection, provide clear financial records and make it easy to understand where money is coming from.

Class Manager

Class Manager integrates with Stripe and supports automated online payments.

Its published UK pricing uses a transaction-based model, with no monthly software subscription.

Studios can also use:

• Automated billing.
• Payment reminders.
• Instalments.
• Refunds and credits.
• Online card payments.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• Financial reports.
• Invoicing.

The approach keeps the initial software cost low, particularly for smaller studios.

Stepsi

Stepsi integrates payments directly into memberships, bookings, registrations, check-ins and shop purchases.

Its payment management includes:

• Stripe Connect onboarding.
• Card payments.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay.
• iDEAL.
• Cash and bank transfers.
• Custom payment methods.
• Full and partial refunds.
• Invoice PDFs.
• Multi-currency transactions.
• Online shop payments.
• Staff and instructor payouts.

A particularly useful capability is the ability to manage staff payments through the same platform.

Instructors can request payouts, while administrators manage and process payments to their team.

For Romanian dance studios, Stepsi also supports integration with ANAF e-Factura, including sending and downloading invoice XML files and accountant access.

5. Communication, CRM and marketing automation

Communication is one of the most underestimated parts of running a successful dance studio.

Parents need schedule updates, students need reminders, instructors need information and prospective students need to be converted into paying customers.

The difference between a basic messaging system and a complete CRM can become significant as a studio grows.

Class Manager

The newer Class Manager platform includes an integrated communication system called Chats.

Its capabilities include:

• One-to-one messaging with families.
• Broadcast messages.
• Group chats.
• Push notifications.
• Emoji reactions.
• AI-generated reply suggestions.
• Family information previews.
• Customisable automated emails.

Messages can be targeted to specific classes, lessons or seasons.

This helps studios keep their communication organised without relying entirely on WhatsApp groups or personal phone numbers.

The newer platform also includes improved trial management and automated trial emails.

Stepsi

Stepsi takes communication further by combining messaging with a full CRM and marketing automation system.

The platform provides:

• Lead management and CSV/XLSX imports.
• Lead sources and activity tracking.
• Customer segmentation.
• In-app news and promotional messages.
• Polls.
• Group chats.
• Email campaigns.
• Scheduled and repeating messages.
• Seen-by tracking.
• Coupon distribution.
• Free class invitations.
• Loyalty programmes.
• Referral rewards.

The main difference is the visual automation builder.

Rather than manually deciding who should receive every communication, studios can create workflows that run automatically based on student activity.

For example:

These workflows can include conditions, waiting periods, branches, percentage splits and actions such as assigning groups or adding loyalty points.

6. Online shop, costumes and dance event ticketing

Dance studios regularly sell more than dance classes.

Costumes, uniforms, merchandise, workshop tickets, recital tickets and other products can become important additional revenue streams.

Class Manager

Class Manager offers an integrated shop designed particularly for uniforms, costumes and merchandise.

Studios can organise products and make relevant items available to students through their family portal.

This helps eliminate manual ordering and makes it easier for parents to purchase the correct products for their children's classes.

Stepsi

Stepsi includes a more extensive online commerce environment.

Studios can sell:

• Dancewear and uniforms.
• Costumes.
• Branded merchandise.
• Accessories.
• Workshop registrations.
• Event tickets.
• Products with different sizes and variants.
• Digital and physical products.

The shop includes stock management, product visibility rules, purchasing restrictions and custom checkout fields.

Stepsi also supports dedicated event ticketing.

Tickets can be generated as PDFs with QR codes and delivered automatically after payment.

Customers can add tickets to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, while staff can scan and validate tickets using the mobile application.

This can be particularly useful when organising:

• End-of-year dance recitals.
• Ballet performances.
• Christmas showcases.
• Dance competitions.
• Special workshops.
• Guest instructor events.
• Studio celebrations.

Class Manager's website directs dance studios organising events and recitals to its sister company, Stage Stubs, for ticketing.

Stepsi brings product sales, orders, payments and digital ticket validation into the same platform.

7. Student engagement and loyalty programmes

Keeping students enrolled is just as important as attracting new registrations.

Dance studios often build long-term relationships with students who attend several classes every week. Encouraging consistent participation and rewarding loyalty can have a positive impact on retention.

Class Manager

Class Manager focuses on managing student information, attendance, communication and skill progression.

Its skill tracking feature is particularly interesting for dance schools.

Studios can define skills and progression levels, record statuses such as started, working on or achieved, and decide whether parents can see their children's progress.

This is especially useful for studios offering structured ballet grades, technique progression or performance development programmes.

Stepsi

Stepsi approaches engagement through a combination of activity tracking, messaging and loyalty rewards.

Its points system can reward students for:

• Purchasing memberships.
• Attending classes.
• Celebrating birthdays.
• Referring new students.

Points can be exchanged for memberships, helping studios build loyalty while encouraging additional purchases.

Stepsi also supports free class invitations, recurring rewards, discount coupons and referral programmes.

For example, a studio could reward students for attending eight classes in a month, referring a friend or celebrating their birthday.

It can then automatically communicate these rewards through the member application.

8. Website builder and online member experience

Your website is often the first interaction a prospective student has with your dance studio.

It should make it easy to discover classes, view schedules, register and make payments without having to contact the studio.

Class Manager

Class Manager provides a branded family portal and online registration experience.

Studios can personalise their logo and colours, share registration links and allow families to access schedules, payments and class bookings through the portal.

The platform also supports website integration.

Stepsi

Stepsi provides a dedicated website builder alongside its public web application.

Studios can create and manage their own pages using a drag-and-drop editor.

Available website components include:

• Header and navigation.
• Custom pages.
• Text and image sections.
• Grid layouts.
• Class calendars.
• Booking pages.
• Membership listings.
• Online shop sections.
• Embedded forms.

The editor includes desktop, tablet and mobile previews, allowing studios to manage the complete public-facing experience.

Stepsi also supports embeddable widgets.

A studio can integrate its class calendar, registration forms and member account directly into an existing website using a single embed script.

This means a dance school can use Stepsi as its main website platform or integrate specific features into an existing website.

9. Analytics, reporting and artificial intelligence

A growing dance studio needs to understand more than how much money it collected last month.

Owners need to identify which classes are profitable, which instructors are fully booked, which students are becoming inactive and where new growth opportunities exist.

Class Manager

Class Manager provides financial, student and attendance reports.

Studios can analyse revenue by class, review outstanding balances and examine attendance to identify students who might be at risk of leaving.

It also provides student skill tracking, which gives teachers a structured view of individual progression.

The newer platform continues to develop its reporting capabilities. Class Manager's own documentation notes that Classic currently retains a wider reporting range and Xero integration.

Its communication system also includes AI-powered suggested replies and actions.

Stepsi

Stepsi includes a more extensive analytics environment.

Its dashboard covers several areas:

• Overall business performance.
• Student growth.
• Membership activity.
• Class performance.
• Shop revenue.
• Customer engagement.
• AI-generated business insights.

Studios can analyse revenue by class, instructor, calendar, payment method and source.

They can also examine:

• Class fill rates.
• No-show rates.
• Cancellation rates.
• Attendance patterns.
• Popular class times.
• Best-selling products.
• Member activity.
• Student engagement scores.
• Churn risk.

Stepsi also allows owners to set weekly or monthly business targets and monitor progress through forecasts.

Its AI insights provide monthly summaries, churn alerts and suggested actions.

Instead of simply presenting numbers, the objective is to help owners understand what might be happening inside their business and where attention is needed.

10. Pros and cons: Stepsi vs Class Manager

Choosing software isn't just about the number of features. It's about finding the right balance between functionality, ease of use, flexibility and cost.

Here's where each platform stands.

11. Pricing comparison: How much does each platform cost?

Pricing is an important consideration, particularly for smaller dance studios.

One of Class Manager's biggest selling points is its pricing structure.

Class Manager pricing

The newer Class Manager platform advertises:

• £0 monthly software subscription.
• 2.7% + 20p per online payment in the UK.
• Tailored transaction rates for studios with more than 300 students.

This means studios don't pay a monthly software subscription during quieter periods when they aren't processing online payments.

The model can be attractive for smaller dance schools that want to keep fixed operating costs low.

However, transaction fees should be calculated against the studio's actual payment volume.

Stepsi pricing

Stepsi combines membership management, payments, bookings, student administration, CRM, shop functionality, marketing automation and other business tools in one platform.

When evaluating its costs, studios should consider the overall value of having these capabilities integrated rather than comparing only the monthly software fee.

For example, a studio might otherwise need separate solutions for:

• Student and membership management.
• Email marketing.
• Customer relationship management.
• Online shop.
• Event ticketing.
• Website management.
• Video hosting.
• Marketing automation.

Bringing these activities together can reduce the need for multiple subscriptions and disconnected workflows.

Which pricing model is better?

There isn't a universal answer.

Class Manager's transaction-based pricing is particularly attractive to studios prioritising minimal fixed software costs.

Studios considering Stepsi should evaluate the total cost of ownership, including the tools they would otherwise need to purchase separately.

12. Which dance studios should choose Stepsi?

Stepsi is particularly suited to dance studios that want more than a scheduling and payment management solution.

It makes sense for businesses looking to centralise their entire operation and actively use technology to increase efficiency and revenue.

Consider Stepsi if your studio:

• Offers several dance styles and different class formats.
• Has multiple instructors, studios or locations.
• Offers monthly memberships, term registrations and drop-in classes.
• Needs complex membership restrictions and family billing.
• Wants to automate student onboarding and membership renewals.
• Wants to build a structured student CRM and manage prospective customers.
• Runs marketing campaigns and loyalty programmes.
• Sells costumes, merchandise, workshops and event tickets.
• Wants to offer exclusive online dance tutorials and videos.
• Needs its own public website and online registration experience.
• Wants to understand attendance, student engagement and churn.
• Plans to grow and needs more advanced business automation.

In particular, Stepsi makes sense for studios that want their software to actively participate in running and growing the business rather than simply storing student records and processing payments.

13. Which dance studios should choose Class Manager?

Class Manager is a strong choice for dance schools that want a straightforward way to manage their daily administrative operations.

It is worth considering if your studio:

• Operates primarily through fixed-term dance classes.
• Needs straightforward seasonal timetables.
• Wants digital attendance registers.
• Needs automated fee collection and payment reminders.
• Relies heavily on parent-managed student accounts.
• Wants direct communication with families.
• Sells costumes and dance uniforms.
• Wants dedicated skill tracking and progression records.
• Prioritises having no monthly software subscription.

For smaller studios that primarily need scheduling, enrolment, attendance and billing, Class Manager can be a practical solution without introducing a large number of additional systems.

Final verdict: Stepsi vs Class Manager

Both Stepsi and Class Manager are designed to solve real problems faced by dance studio owners.

Class Manager provides a solid foundation for managing the day-to-day operations of a dance school. Its scheduling, family portal, attendance tracking, recurring billing, communication and skill progression features make it a credible option, particularly for traditional term-based dance schools.

Stepsi takes a broader approach.

Instead of focusing primarily on the administrative side of running a dance studio, Stepsi combines administration, customer management, marketing, sales, finance, website management and analytics into one connected platform.

The difference becomes particularly important as a studio grows.

A dance school might initially need only a timetable and a way to collect payments. But as the number of students increases, the business also needs better communication, automated renewals, customer retention campaigns, instructor management, online merchandise sales, event ticketing and more detailed financial insights.

With Stepsi, these capabilities are part of the same ecosystem.

For studios looking for straightforward class administration, Class Manager is a strong alternative. For studios looking for a more comprehensive platform to manage, automate and grow their entire dance business, Stepsi offers a broader set of capabilities.