Billing that runs the way your studio does.
Every studio charges differently — weekly per-lesson, prepaid packs, a flat monthly fee, once a term. Octavia doesn't force you into one model. Choose per student, and let invoicing take care of itself.
Four billing models
Pick one. Mix them. Change your mind later.
Billing models aren't a studio-wide setting in Octavia — they're set per enrolment. A Tuesday regular can be on calendar billing while your holiday-intensive group runs on lesson packs, all inside the same account.
Calendar-Based Billing
Charge for what’s on the schedule — not what happens on the day.
Octavia counts the lessons that fall inside a billing period and invoices for that number. A booked slot is a charged slot; attendance never changes the amount. If a student misses a lesson, fairness is handled separately through makeup credits, not by editing the invoice.
- Studios that keep their lesson calendar accurate
- Studios that want full and detailed reconciliation with lessons paid for against lessons delivered
- Families who pay per lesson, not a flat fee
- Studios happy to let the calendar drive the invoice — a 5-Monday month bills for 5, a 4-Monday month bills for 4
- Studios that run on school-term calendars and want precise lesson-linked billing in their invoices
Where this fits · example
A weekly private studio
Eighteen students on a steady Monday-to-Friday timetable. Some months have five Tuesdays, some have four — the teacher keeps the lesson calendar accurate, and invoices are generated based on exactly what’s scheduled. Missed lessons are handled by the studio’s makeup-credit policy based on the attendance taken against the scheduled lessons.
Lesson Packs
Prepay a bundle, use it at your own pace.
A family is invoiced once for a set number of lessons — say, ten. Once that invoice is paid, Octavia creates one credit per lesson, and each credit is drawn down as the student attends. No calendar, no monthly cycle — just a balance that runs down until it needs topping up.
- Teachers who want to provide their students with flexibility to book lessons and use credits as they attend.
- Holiday intensives, short programmes, or trial periods
- Adult students who want flexibility instead of a fixed weekly slot
- Group programmes with irregular or flexible attendance
Where this fits · example
A school-holiday intensive
A five-day, ten-lesson theory intensive. Rather than raising a new invoice every session, the studio sells a lesson pack up front — attendance draws down a credit per session, and when the pack runs low, the family is an easy prompt away from topping up.
Where this fits · example
A singing teacher with adult students
Adult students who have lessons semi-regularly around their professional commitments, dropping in and out for sessions as their schedule allows rather than committing to a fixed weekly slot. The teacher sells each student a lesson pack up front, and they simply book and attend lessons as needed, drawing down their own credit balance along the way.
Flat Subscription (Monthly)
The same amount, every period — no counting required.
A fixed price is charged each billing period, taken from the lesson type’s monthly price. Octavia never looks at the calendar or attendance to work it out. “Monthly” is the common case, but the period itself can be set to any interval you like.
- A predictable retainer regardless of school holidays or schedule variation
- Bundling irregular lessons, group access, or extras into a single fee
- Families who prefer one steady number over a variable per-lesson amount
- Teachers who want to make their income more evenly spread throughout the year
Where this fits · example
A predictable-retainer studio
A teacher who wants the same figure charged every month, no matter how many Mondays fall inside it. Families budget for one steady number, and receive the lessons they are owed across the course of the year.
Term or Semester Billing
One invoice, once a term, on your terms.
You define each term’s start and end dates, and Octavia suggests a lesson count from the term length — which you review and can adjust before it goes out. One invoice covers the whole term, generated manually whenever you’re ready, or automatically ahead of each term’s start date.
- Studios that run on school-term calendars
- Teachers who don’t feel the need to precisely track each lesson given on their invoices
- Studios where term lengths vary enough that per-month billing doesn’t reflect reality
Where this fits · example
A school-term-aligned studio
Term dates are set up once, at the start of the year. From there, the studio either generates each term’s invoice manually when it’s ready, or lets it generate itself ahead of the term’s start date — either way, one clear invoice per term instead of a running monthly tally.
Invoices that write themselves.
Stop manually tallying lessons and building invoices one by one. Once a contract is on automatic collection, Octavia watches the calendar and the schedule for you, and produces a reviewed draft right on time — or sends it the moment it's due, if you'd rather it were entirely hands-off.
A heads-up email gives you one last look before anything is created. From there, it's your choice how much of the workflow you hand over.
Heads-up
One batched email lists every contract about to generate — a last chance to check your student list or schedule before anything is created.
Generated
Draft invoices appear on schedule, built from real lesson and contract data, and wait in your Invoices page for review.
Sent
Review and send yourself, or switch on auto-send and let the invoice go out the moment its date arrives — your call, per student.
Every corner of billing, already covered
Real studios don't just send invoices — they hold credits, combine sibling invoices, charge tax, and reconcile the bank account. Octavia was built with all of it in mind.
Account Credits
Hold an overpayment, a kept refund, or a goodwill adjustment as stored value against a student or the whole family, then apply it to reduce the balance on any open invoice.
Makeup Credits
When your attendance policy says a missed lesson earns a replacement, Octavia tracks that entitlement automatically — separate from the invoice — so nothing gets double-charged or forgotten.
Custom Invoices & One-Off Items
Add an exam fee or a music book onto an invoice that’s already been generated, or raise a stand-alone invoice for a one-off charge that has nothing to do with lessons at all.
Family Invoice Combining
Three kids, three invoices? Combine them into one family invoice addressed to the paying parent, with each child’s charges still itemised underneath.
Tax & GST
Turn on GST, VAT, or any other tax, set your rate, and choose whether your prices already include it — Octavia calculates it on every invoice line from there.
Online Payments
Connect Stripe and every invoice gets a Pay Now link. Families pay by card from the Family Hub, and the balance updates the moment it clears.
Bank Reconciliation
Upload a bank statement CSV and match transfers against open invoices in one review-and-confirm pass, instead of hunting through your inbox for who’s paid.
Xero Export
Export contacts and sales invoices as Xero-ready CSVs, mapped to your own chart of accounts and tax settings.
Autopay
Automatic invoicing already builds — and, if you choose, sends — the invoice for you. The next step is Autopay: letting a family's saved card be charged automatically once an invoice is due, so payment stops being a step at all. It's on our roadmap and not yet available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Set it up the way your studio actually runs.
Start your free trial today — every billing model is included, no credit card required.