If you’re reading this article, you’re likely looking for better dance school management software or considering a switch from your current solution.
Maybe your current platform feels outdated, doesn’t work well on mobile devices, or requires you to juggle multiple tools for registration, billing, and communication.
To help you find the right fit, we’ve compared the 7 best dance studio software platforms below.
Each option includes an overview, features, pros and cons, pricing details, and reviews to help you confidently choose the system that matches your studio’s needs.
DISCLAIMER: Activity Messenger is our product. We created it because we struggled for years with the shortcomings of existing Dance Studio software.
Dance studio owners often reach a breaking point with their current tools. Common frustrations include:
“I felt these pains myself for over a decade. And I could name many more. It made me feel like my current solution had let me down. That it was not keeping up with my evolving needs. I hope this list helps you find the right solution for your dance studio.” – Olivier Rousseau, Co-founder of Activity Messenger
Here’s a quick guide on the best dance class management software you may be considering for your dance studio. We’ve included details on pricing, key functionalities, and a link to client reviews to help you make an informed decision.
| Comparison | Key Features | Best For | Integrations | Unique Features | Pricing | Capterra Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activity Messenger | Online registration, email & SMS marketing, digital waivers, surveys, staff tools, recital ticketing | Small–mid-sized dance studios wanting an all-in-one tool | Zoom, Canva, Stripe, ChatGPT | Replaces Mailchimp, Jotform & SmartWaiver; mobile-first registration without accounts; powerful automation (waivers, reminders, party marketing) | From $89/month | 4.7/5 |
| Jackrabbit Dance | Class scheduling, billing, online registration, attendance tracking | Mid–large dance & gymnastics studios | QuickBooks, Constant Contact, Zapier | Industry veteran; excellent customer support; detailed class management | From $49/month | 4.6/5 |
| iClassPro | Class scheduling, skill tracking, attendance, parent portal, staff management | Multi-sport academies (dance, gymnastics, cheer) | QuickBooks, Merchant Services, Zapier | Built-in branded parent app, skill tracking, and party booking | From $129 USD/month | 4.5/5 |
| Amilia | Registration, membership management, facility booking, payment tools | Recreation departments, multi-location studios | QuickBooks, Zapier, Google Analytics, Xero | Strong membership & facility management; designed for municipalities | From $99/month | 4.3/5 |
| DanceStudio-Pro | Class management, attendance, recital management, billing, portals | Small studios on a budget | PayPal, Stripe, Zoom | Affordable, dance-specific design; recital ticketing built-in | From $49/month | 4.5/5 |
| Mindbody | Scheduling, client management, POS, marketing automation, branded apps | Large or multi-service studios (dance + fitness, yoga, pilates) | 700+ integrations, ClassPass, Google, Stripe, Zapier | AI-powered front desk; branded client apps; advanced analytics | From $99 USD/month | 4.0/5 |
| The Studio Director | Registration, billing, reporting, communication tools | Small–growing studios that value support | QuickBooks, PayPal, Authorize.net | Simple, intuitive system; highly rated customer service | From $39/month | 4.6/5 |
Activity Messenger is the modern option for dance studios. It simplifies registration, communication, and payment processing. Its user-friendly features and powerful integrations make it a top choice for small- to mid-sized studios. The mobile-first platform allows you to replace that old, clunky software you’ve been using for years.
While other platforms may handle the basics, Activity Messenger is designed to unify your entire operation under one roof. This eliminates the need for workarounds and separate tools, such as Mailchimp, TutuTix, Smartwaiver, or Jotform.
The idea is simple: Create workflows instead of workarounds to automate manual tasks. You know, the stuff that no one has time for.
Jackrabbit Dance has been a great option for many years especially in the niche of gymnastics and dance studios. Its strength lies in its extensive features, ranging from attendance tracking to online registration and billing.
📌 Read more: 10 best alternatives to JackRabbit Dance
With essential tools like booking, scheduling, client and instructor tracking, automated marketing, and detailed analytics, Mindbody‘s software streamlines dance studio management and increases revenue. It includes unique features such as an AI front desk, 700+ partner integrations, and access to a vast client network.
📌 Read More: 4 Best Alternatives to MindBody
iClassPro helps minimize administrative tasks, allowing more focus on teaching. It offers features like class and staff management, skill tracking, and party booking, enhancing efficiency. With options for custom branding and a dedicated support team, iClassPro strengthens your brand and supports every step of your journey.
📌 Read More: Top 8 iClassPro Alternatives
Amilia is a dance management tool that simplifies registration, staff, and administrative tasks, enhancing the client registration experience. The platform streamlines classes, drop-ins, and payments.
The Studio Director stands out as a top choice for dance studios across the country, streamlining registration, class oversight, financial transactions, and client interactions within one integrated platform.
DanceStudio-Pro aims to be a comprehensive system that streamlines studio operations with features that facilitate everything from student registration to performance scheduling.
📌 Read More: 12 alternatives to DanceStudio-Pro
Activity Messenger differentiates itself from traditional Dance Studio Software with 3 key features:
What It Is: Activity Messenger guides your potential client to the right dance class in the shortest amount of time. Based on the customer’s initial selection (day, age, type of dance, etc.), the registration path adapts to show optimal class options based on their needs.
Why It Matters: Most dance studio software shows all of your class options to every visitor. This can easily overwhelm them, especially from a smartphone, and does not consider the needs and wants of each family.
Extra Perks: No one likes to create yet another online account. Especially busy parents. By eliminating the account creation process, Activity Messenger provides hassle-free registration. And don’t worry, your customers have an account (we create it on the fly) and can log in.
What It Is: Imagine your various marketing tasks without having to switch from one tool to another. Besides online registration, Activity Messenger allows you to send newsletters (alternative to Mailchimp), bulk SMS, recital ticketing, marketing automation, surveys and an AI tool for dance studios.
Why It Matters: Think about your newsletter. Currently, you have to manually export your subscribers from your subscription software to a newsletter platform such as MailChimp or ConstantContact. The process is tedious and prone to error. (Plus, you have to pay for an additional tool and don’t have a full 360 view of your client’s registration history)
Extra Perks: You can create email marketing campaigns without ever having to leave Activity Messenger to create your designs using our Canva integration. An analytics dashboard provides you with at-a-glance insight into your marketing efforts and their direct impact on improving your registrations.
What It Is: Dance Studio Automation in Activity Messenger isn’t just a buzzword, it’s a functional reality. Our system covers a wide range of automations designed for ance studios, from sending reminders for unsigned waivers to marketing automation for children’s parties.
Here are just a few examples:
Why It Matters: For example, to ensure that no child attends a class, camp, free trial, or party without the proper safety protocols in place, automated reminders can be sent out for unsigned waivers. This type of targeted automation not only improves efficiency, but it also adds an extra layer of security and reliability for your dance studio operations.
Extra Perks: Automation seamlessly integrates with the platform’s mail merge capabilities. Customize your dance lesson reminder email before each session starts, knowing your email will be sent at the perfect time, personalized and ready to go.
Discover our kids party booking automation for Dance Studios
💬 What our customers say:
“So far we’re just using the forms and registration features and our experience has been amazing. The team is incredibly helpful, I honestly cannot say enough about the customer service this company provides. The new forms I’ve built are beautiful (who knew forms could ever be beautiful!?) and the way it tracks the information that our participants provide has saved a ton of time. Our class teachers can check their registration and class lists directly as well, taking me out of the equation entirely. It’s fabulous.” — Annie C., Enrolment Coordinator, Education Management“Activity Messenger is so much more than communication. We chose it because if looked like it would fully support our mobile strategy, we quickly learned it allowed us to do so much more. What is best is it was so easy to set up and start using, my last system took hours and multiple calls with “Specialists”, I did this in 20 minutes and only had 2 questions which were answered in minutes.” — Lynda V., Property Manager, Hospitality
💡 Pro Tip: By automating our welcome emails, we were able to share relevant information with our new customers. This saved us time, but the best part is that we also saw a dramatic reduction in post-purchase inquiries, which saves us many hours every session.
Here’s a list of other important features you’ll most likely want in your dance studio software:
Create and send newsletters to keep your community engaged. This feature should allow for easy segmentation and personalization.
Automatically notify students when sessions begin and end, eliminating the need for manual communication.
Personalize your mass communications. Seamlessly integrate student-specific information into emails and SMS messages.
Efficiently manage high-demand classes by automating waitlist notifications, ensuring spots are filled as they become available.
Comprehensive reports on revenues, expenses and profitability give you insight into the financial health of your studio.
Streamline the enrollment process with digital waivers, making collecting required legal consents secure and convenient.
Simplify recital management with an integrated ticketing system, making recital organization a breeze for both staff and parents.
Continuously improve your offerings and student satisfaction by gathering valuable feedback directly from your community.
Make it easy for students to enroll in the classes they want with an easy-to-use online enrollment registration process.
Efficiently manage your team with scheduling, payroll, and communication tools, all in one place.
Leverage detailed analytics to make informed decisions about class offerings, marketing strategies, and more.
Add a personal touch to student recognition and achievement by automatically generating and distributing bulk certificates for course or level completion.
Increase student engagement and accountability by keeping accurate records of student attendance with an easy-to-use digital system.
Communicate urgent information or last-minute changes quickly and effectively with mass text messaging.
Track and share dance students’ progress with customizable reports, fostering a transparent and encouraging learning environment.
When evaluating dance studio management tools, prioritize these aspects:
It can be daunting for clients, especially those new to the studio, to explore the numerous class offerings on traditional registration platforms. This complexity often leads potential clients to give up and abandon the process. The latest class management systems, however, offer a solution, mimicking the personalized assistance one might receive over the phone by fully customizing the class selection based on each family’s needs.
By moving to an intuitive registration process, dance studios can help clients quickly find the classes that meet their needs, increasing the likelihood that they convert into paying customers
With a streamlined, easy-to-use registration journey, Activity Messenger is all about simplicity, efficiency, and forward thinking. The platform is designed to consolidate functionality, eliminating the need for separate services like Mailchimp, SurveyMonkey, Tututix, and SmartWaiver.
What really resonates with our users isn’t just the financial benefits. It’s the convenience of centralizing all their needs, from registrations and communications to waivers and marketing campaigns, into a single, holistic view of their business.
NOTE: Most of the products we’ve mentioned offer either a free plan, 14-day trial, 30-day free trial, or a money-back guarantee, allowing you to take them for a spin.
💡Did You Know? Activity Messenger is also an alternative to Akada’s dance studio software, studio lab, and dance studio manager tools.
What’s the best dance studio software for small studios?
DanceStudio-Pro and Studio Director are affordable and easy-to-learn choices for small studios. Activity Messenger is also ideal for those wanting advanced communication tools.
How much does dance studio management software cost?
Most platforms start around $30–$50/month for small studios. Larger studios or those using advanced features can expect to pay $100–$150/month or more.
Can I start with free dance studio software?
While some platforms offer free trials, truly free dance studio software is limited and usually lacks essential features like billing, waivers, or communication. You can read our Paid vs Free Dance Studio Software blog for a more in-depth explanation on this topic!
Which platform is best for recital ticketing?
Activity Messenger and DanceStudio-Pro both offer recital ticketing features.
What’s the easiest dance studio software to use on mobile?
Activity Messenger is mobile-first, while iClassPro also has a strong parent portal app.
Choosing the right dance studio software depends on your size, focus, and long-term goals. The best choice is the one that simplifies your daily operations while also supporting your studio’s growth over time. With Activity Messenger, you can manage registrations, communications, and payments in one place, making it a strong option for studios that want an all-in-one solution.
💡 Ready to simplify your studio management? Book a free demo of Activity Messenger to see how dance studios are saving hours a week on admin while delivering a better experience for families.
Not ready to switch right away?
No problem. Many dance studios use Activity Messenger and get great value while transitioning from their current dance studio software. You can try the product for email marketing, bulk SMS, ticketing for recitals, dance progress reports, bulk certificates, digital waivers, party bookings, surveys, and more.
