Per-student-tier pricing platform for dance, gymnastics, and cheer studios. Two decades old, with a documented pattern of scaling billing costs alongside studio growth and lagging on mobile and automation.
Jackrabbit Dance
Per-student tiers — price scales with active student count
Per-student pricing means bills grow as rosters grow. Studios report being unable to purge inactive students, inflating bills for students who left years ago.
Studio Wand
One price. No per-student fees. No contract.
Unlimited classes, students, and teachers. Cancel anytime.
What reviewers complain about
Pulled directly from verified customer reviews on Capterra, Trustpilot, Software Advice, and GetApp. Every complaint is real and every solution below is either shipped today, in active development, or on a dated roadmap.
“It punishes studios for growth by charging very high fees the more students you have.”
Flat $40/mo regardless of student count. Your bill does not change whether you run 40 students or 400.
Shipped today“Studios report being unable to delete inactive students — the per-student bill keeps counting students who left years ago.”
Archive inactive students with one click from /owner/students → Inactive tab. Archived students leave the billing cycle immediately while their historical attendance and payment records stay intact. Bulk "Remove all" supported.
Shipped today“Automation for billing only works for accounts enrolled at the time of the automation setup, leading to missed billing.”
New enrollments join the billing cycle automatically. No re-configuration needed when you add a student mid-season.
Shipped today“It's also really tough to use on a mobile device such as iPad or iPhone.”
Mobile-first responsive design with a persistent BottomNav for parents and teachers (Home / Classes / Schedule / Attendance). ≥44px touch targets throughout. Take attendance, check schedules, and respond to parents from your phone between classes.
Shipped today“Can't charge credit card convenience fees or offer family-specific discount codes.”
Configurable fee pass-through for cards and ACH via the Stripe fee absorption setting. Sibling discount tiers and per-family promo codes work out of the box.
Shipped today“Zero built-in lead management — studios run separate tools to track prospects and trials.”
Full Lead CRM with pipeline view (Leads → Trial Scheduled → Attended → Converted → Enrolled), drip sequences, email template library, and activity tracking — included in the $40/mo base plan.
Shipped today“No scheduling conflict detection — owners manually cross-check for room and teacher double-bookings.”
Server-side validation at /api/schedules/check-conflicts blocks double-booking of rooms and teachers, with inline warnings in the class edit UI and suggested alternative slots.
Shipped today“It doesn't predict what your monthly income is based on tuition amounts. Our old system always gave an estimate.”
Revenue forecasting dashboard will project monthly income from current enrollments, historical trends, and seasonal patterns.
On the roadmap“I wish there was a direct plug-in to show a monthly calendar of all classes to link to our website.”
Embeddable calendar widget for Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress will show live class availability.
On the roadmap“Recent upgrade to client messaging missed the mark and removed needed functionality.”
Broadcast email via the owner BroadcastPanel (with an AI Draft button powered by Claude) plus in-app notifications ship today. Full 2-way parent↔owner chat is on the v2 roadmap.
In active development“No built-in event ticketing or seat maps — studios bolt on third-party tools for recital night.”
Event registration + capacity tracking ships today. Event ticketing with seat maps and QR scanning is on the v2 roadmap.
On the roadmapFeature comparison
| Feature | Jackrabbit Dance | Studio Wand |
|---|---|---|
| Flat pricing, no student cap | No — per-student tiers, scales with growth | Yes — $40/mo flat, unlimited students |
| Scheduling conflict detection | No | Yes — room + teacher double-booking prevented at save |
| Lead CRM + trial automation | No — zero built-in CRM | Yes — full pipeline + drip sequences + templates (base plan) |
| AI email/SMS composer | Basic (email drafting only) | Yes — Claude Haiku-powered AI Draft button |
| 2-way in-app messaging | Downgraded after recent upgrade | Broadcast + in-app shipped; 2-way chat v2 |
| Smart waitlist (auto-enroll) | Basic — manual promotion | Yes — auto-promotion with parent notification |
| Revenue forecasting | No — multiple reviewers requested this | Planned (v2, AI-powered) |
| Lesson package ledger | No | Yes — purchase, usage, expiry, rollover |
| Event ticketing with seat maps | No | Planned (v2) |
| Archive inactive students | Reviewers report inability to purge | Yes — archived students exit billing |
| Credit card convenience fee option | No — reviewer-cited limitation | Yes — studio chooses absorb or pass through |
| Mobile admin experience | "Really tough to use on iPad/iPhone" | Mobile-first responsive PWA |
| Billing automation for new enrollees | Known bug — misses students enrolled after setup | Yes — automatic |
| Family-specific discount codes | No | Yes — per-family scoping |
| Embeddable calendar widget | No | Planned (v2) |
Comparison compiled from STUDIOWAND_STRATEGY.md and verified Jackrabbit Dance reviews.
FAQ
Jackrabbit uses per-student tiers — your monthly cost goes up as your active roster grows. Studios also report being unable to purge inactive students, which keeps the billing count (and the bill) inflated. Studio Wand is a flat $40/mo regardless of how many students you have.
Yes. CSV import at /owner/import is compatible with Jackrabbit exports — bring students, classes, and enrollments in one upload. Contact us for help with the first migration; we do it with you at no charge.
Shipped today: Lead CRM + trial automation, AI email composer (Claude Haiku), scheduling conflict detection, inactive student archive, family-specific promo codes, Stripe fee absorption choice, CSV import, printable roster export, mobile-first UX, and flat $40/mo pricing. Remaining on the v2 roadmap: revenue forecasting, embeddable calendar widget, event ticketing with seat maps, and full 2-way parent chat.
Free trial. No credit card. We help you import your data in an afternoon.