CogNote vs Harness
CogNote
cognote.studioHarness
harnesscalendar.comSide by side
| Figure | CogNote | Harness |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $5/mo | $15/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 3 | 2 |
| Spec score · Music Lesson Scheduling Software | 9.2 (#2) | 8.0 (#12) |
| Billing | CogNote can generate invoices from attendance and billing policies, email PDF invoices, record payment and export payment CSV files. | Instructors can customize rates, billing schedules, and payers. |
| Payment integration | Manual payment instructions are supported by default, while teachers can optionally connect their own Stripe Checkout links and webhook. | Online payments are powered by Stripe. |
| Scheduling | It supports recurring weekly lessons and one-tap attendance while preserving local lesson times across daylight-saving changes. | Students can use shared scheduling or rescheduling links to choose available times. |
| Support | The hosting page directs product questions to [email protected]. | The contact page lists technical support by email and says Harness aims to respond to all inquiries within 24 business hours. |
Plans
In their own words
CogNote
CogNote is an open-source studio management suite for private music teachers, combining lesson scheduling, attendance, family communication, student progress tracking, quizzes, and flashcards. Teachers can schedule recurring weekly lessons and record attendance with one tap; cancellation windows, banked credits, and credit expiry are configurable studio settings. Families can use a private link to see schedules, practice links, and notes without logging in, and teachers can email lesson notes. Progress views include skill radar charts, trend lines, attendance, and per-note quiz analytics. Students can start practice from a link without an account, using note and symbol quizzes with instant feedback or SM-2 spaced-repetition flashcards. Notation appears on a staff with clefs, key signatures, and more than 40 musical symbols. CogNote is MIT-licensed, supports data export, and can be self-hosted. Hosted Free has soft caps of five active students, five practice lessons, and five sheet music items; Hosted Pro costs $5 a month and includes a 30-day trial for new accounts. Self-hosting is free but requires running the stack, including Docker or Supabase, email, and backups.
Harness
Harness is a web-based calendar and studio management platform for private lesson instructors. Students can use shared scheduling or rescheduling links to choose available times, while families can view lessons, notes and invoices through a student portal. Instructors can customize rates, billing schedules and payers. Calendar tools include attendance and payment tracking, lesson events with assigned rates, drag-and-drop scheduling and availability annotations. Student profiles combine details, lesson history and payment balances, with automatic status tracking and intake forms. Finance features include income and expense tracking, invoices, Stripe-powered payments, profit and loss statements and Schedule C compliant exports. The free Hobby plan supports up to five students. Professional costs $15 a month and lists unlimited students, automated monthly billing, payment reminders, self-serve scheduling links and priority email support. A 30-day trial is available. The documentation says Harness is in active development.