Which Billing Model Is Right for Your Studio?
The platform supports five billing models. Each one suits a different studio philosophy. This article explains what each model does and helps you decide which is right for each of your students. The platform supports fiv
The Five Billing Models
The platform supports five ways to bill students and families. They are not studio-wide settings — each student enrolment can be on a different billing model, so you can mix and match across your studio as needed.
| Billing Model | The Core Idea | Billing Is Triggered By |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar-Based | Charge for what is scheduled | Invoice generation (covers a date range) |
| Pay As You Go (PAYG) | Charge only for lessons that happened | Attendance being marked |
| Lesson Pack | Family prepays a bundle of lessons | Payment (credits drawn down on attendance) |
| Flat Subscription | Fixed amount each month, regardless of lessons | Contract cycle |
| Term Manual | One invoice per school term, set manually | Teacher creating the invoice |
Calendar-Based Billing
Calendar-based billing counts the lessons in your schedule within a billing period and invoices for that number. Attendance does not affect the invoice — a scheduled lesson is a billed lesson. If a student misses a lesson, fairness is maintained through the entitlement system (makeup credits), not by removing the charge.
You can bill in advance (invoice at the start of the month for upcoming lessons) or after the fact (invoice at the end, once all lessons have taken place).
→ See the Calendar Billing guide for full detail.
Pay As You Go (PAYG)
Under PAYG, attendance is the trigger for billing. When you mark a lesson as attended (billable), the platform either automatically creates or updates a draft invoice, or prompts you to do so manually — depending on your collection mode. A lesson with no attendance record is never charged.
PAYG is the only billing model where attendance directly drives what appears on the invoice.
→ See the PAYG Billing guide (coming soon).
Lesson Packs
A lesson pack is a prepaid bundle — for example, 5 lessons for a set price. The family is invoiced upfront for the pack. Once paid, the system creates lesson credits (one per lesson in the pack). Each time the student attends a lesson, one credit is consumed. When credits run low, a new pack can be triggered.
The key distinction: families pay once for the pack, not per lesson or per period.
→ See the Lesson Packs guide for full detail.
Flat Subscription
Flat subscription billing charges the same amount every billing period — it does not count lessons at all. This suits studios where lesson counts are consistent enough that a flat rate makes more sense than counting individual sessions, and where you want to spread the cost of the lessons evenly across the year, regardless of breaks and terms.
→ See the Monthly (Flat Subscription) Billing guide for full detail.
Term Manual
Under term manual billing, you create one invoice per school term for each student. You set the lesson count and amount yourself when you create the invoice — the system doesn't calculate it from the calendar. This gives you maximum control over term invoicing.
→ See the Term Billing guide for full detail.
Quick Decision Guide
| If you want to… | Use this model |
|---|---|
| Bill for every scheduled lesson, advance or in arrears | Calendar-Based |
| Only charge when a lesson actually happens | PAYG |
| Take payment upfront for a block of lessons that isn't tied to a particular time-frame | Lesson Pack |
| Offer students flexibility — no fixed weekly commitment | Lesson Pack |
| Run a trial period or short programme over a set number of lessons | Lesson Pack |
| Bill a group with flexible or irregular attendance | Lesson Pack |
| Charge the same amount every month, no counting | Flat Subscription |
| Invoice once per term with full manual control | Term Manual |
| Some students on one model, others on another | Mix — each enrolment sets its own model |
Can I Use Different Models for Different Students?
Yes. Billing models are set at the enrolment level, not the studio level. Your school-level billing settings act as a default template for new enrolments, but you can change the billing model for any individual student at any time by editing their billing contract.
In practice, you choose or change this from the billing contract on the student's or group's billing screen.
See Understanding Billing Contracts for more detail on how contracts work.
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