CogNote vs LessonLoop
CogNote
cognote.studio
LessonLoop
lessonloop.netSide by side
| Figure | CogNote | LessonLoop |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $5/mo | £15/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 3 | 2 |
| Spec score · Music Lesson Scheduling Software | 9.2 (#2) | 7.9 (#15) |
| Billing | CogNote can generate invoices from attendance and billing policies, email PDF invoices, record payment and export payment CSV files. | Billing includes family accounts, automatic invoicing, card payments and Bacs Direct Debit through the school's own Stripe account. |
| Scheduling | It supports recurring weekly lessons and one-tap attendance while preserving local lesson times across daylight-saving changes. | Its calendar supports multiple teachers, rooms and locations, group lessons, substitutes and recurring lessons. |
| Support | The hosting page directs product questions to [email protected]. | The maker says its UK-based support team replies within one UK working day. |
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.
LessonLoop
LessonLoop has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.