An honest look at price
Free client booking software for studios
Free tools do exist, and for some businesses they are enough for a long time. Below is what exactly they give you, where they hit a wall in studios with groups and memberships, and what it costs to go past that point. ClubBase is paid, and we do not pretend otherwise.
What is free today
Three options you do not have to pay for.
Google Calendar or a notebook
It costs nothing and has no limit on bookings. It works as long as one person keeps the bookings and remembers who has paid and who has not.
Free plans of online booking services
They usually include booking, a client profile and reminders, but limit either bookings per month or the number of staff. For one specialist that is enough for a long time.
The free period of a paid service
The full system for a few weeks at no charge. You see your own data at work, not a demo with someone else’s examples. This is how ClubBase works.
If you see clients one at a time and take payment on the spot, you can safely stop here. What follows is for when that no longer works.
Where it hits a wall
Four places where free tools break in a studio.
Bookings go to a person, not a group
Free tools count one slot per client. A class of twelve does not fit: you either create twelve bookings or keep the group list separately in a spreadsheet.
There is nowhere to keep a membership
A calendar does not know that someone has three classes left out of eight and that the pack expires in a week. The balance ends up in a separate spreadsheet, and the two drift apart by the second month.
The person who pays is not the person who attends
In kids groups the child attends and the mother pays. There is only one "client" field, so the mother’s contacts end up in a comment. Six months later nobody will find them there.
Nothing to calculate pay from
Instructor pay depends on classes taught and often on how many people came. That data exists only in an attendance log, and a free calendar does not have one.
How this works in ClubBase
What is free with us and what is not.
| The first 14 days | Free, no card required. Your data, your schedule, the whole system |
|---|---|
| Telegram bot for clients | Included in the plan. No extra charge for it |
| Moving your data from spreadsheets | No automatic charge for this |
| After that | Paid. The rate depends on the number of active students. Numbers are on the pricing page |
If free is no longer enough
Where to look next.
Frequently asked questions.
So is there free client booking software or not?
There is, and more than one. Free plans of online booking services cover basic booking for one specialist or a small salon. For a studio with group classes and memberships they hit their limits quickly. The reasons are listed above.
Is ClubBase free?
No. The first 14 days are free with no card, after that it is a paid service. The current price is on the pricing page; it depends on the number of active students.
Can I run a studio in Google Calendar?
You can while the studio is small. The trouble does not start with the schedule but with memberships and money: a calendar does not hold the class balance, debt or instructor pay, so a spreadsheet appears next to it anyway.
What happens to my data after the free period?
It stays in your workspace. If you do not continue, the data does not disappear immediately. Write to us and we will explain how to take it with you.
Is there a discount for a very small studio?
The price already depends on the number of active students: fewer people, lower rate. There are no separate discounts on top of that.
Try it on your own data.
14 days, no card. If it does not suit you, just do not continue.