Comparison · verified 20 Jul 2026

LessonLoop VS MakeMusic Studio

Fons became MakeMusic Studio in June 2026 — same product, new badge, now inside the Peaksware/MakeMusic ecosystem. The pricing looks cheap until you add the per-staff fee and the transaction cut on every single payment. Here’s the full picture.

Start free trial → Try the live demo

Every claim on this page is sourced & re-verified quarterly

The 60-second verdict

Cheap sticker, metered reality.

Real cost

No payment cut vs fees on every payment

Their $19.95/mo looks low — then add $4.95 per staff member and 2.9% + 30¢ on every card payment, +0.4% on subscription billing, $20 per dispute. On £4,000/mo of fees collected, the processing alone outweighs our whole £39 subscription.

LoopAssist vs none

No AI anywhere in MakeMusic Studio — not in the product, the release notes, or the roadmap they publish. LoopAssist is in every LessonLoop plan, plus the MCP connector for ChatGPT & Claude.

UK fit

VAT-aware GBP vs US tooling

GBP prices exist, but the tax tooling they shipped in 2026 is US 1099 forms; no VAT support is documented, fees are denominated in dollars, and there’s no native mobile app.

Where MakeMusic Studio genuinely wins

The music-content ecosystem: MakeMusic Studio plugs into the MakeMusic/Alfred world — an interactive music catalog with method books and repertoire landed in 2026, and the transition kept founder Eric Branner and honoured everyone’s existing price. If a built-in publisher catalog matters more to you than admin economics, it’s a genuine differentiator.

Do the maths

The per-staff meter, before the payment cut.

MakeMusic Studio charges $4.95/month per additional staff member — and that’s before transaction fees on every payment you take. Drag to your team size.

Staff on your team 6 staff

MakeMusic Studio

—

per month

LessonLoop

—

per month · unlimited teachers

MakeMusic Studio list pricing, studio.makemusic.com/pricing, July 2026 — $19.95/mo first teacher + $4.95/mo per additional staff member (a summer promo of $9.95/mo was running when we checked; GBP mirrors USD figures). Card fees 2.9% + $0.30 (3.9% international) + 0.4% on subscription volume are charged on top and are NOT included in this slider. LessonLoop: £15/mo Solo · £39/mo School, unlimited teachers, no per-payment platform cut.

Feature by feature

The full comparison.

Feature	MakeMusic Studio	LessonLoop
Subscription	$19.95/mo + $4.95/mo per staff member	Flat £15 / £39 / £119 — unlimited teachers
Payment fees	2.9% + 30¢ per card payment, 3.9% international, +0.4% subscription volume, $20 disputes	Standard Stripe rates only — no platform cut on top
AI assistant	None	LoopAssist — drafts & proposes, you confirm
Connect to ChatGPT & Claude	—	Yes — the MCP connector
Mobile app	Web only	Native iOS app
VAT invoicing	US 1099 tax tooling; no VAT support documented	VAT-aware invoicing, UK GDPR
UK payments	Stripe cards only; ACH is US-only	Stripe cards — clear & simple
Music content catalog	Interactive catalog (MakeMusic/Alfred ecosystem)	— we do admin, not repertoire sales
Practice streaks & achievements	—	Yes — forgiving streaks parents love
Accounting sync	QuickBooks Online	Automatic Xero sync
Batch actions	Long-standing review complaint — “clunky and time consuming”	Bulk everything — invoices, messages, imports
Brand stability	Fons → MakeMusic Studio, June 2026 (Peaksware)	Independent, UK, music-only
Free trial	14 days, no card	30 days, no card + live demo, no signup

Sourced from MakeMusic Studio’s public pricing & product pages · last verified 20 Jul 2026 · spot something stale? Tell us — we fix it fast.

✓ Pricing: studio.makemusic.com/pricing, Jul 2026✓ Transaction fees: their own pricing help article, Jul 2026✓ Rebrand: MakeMusic Studio rebrand FAQ✓ No native app: third-party 2026 assessments

Switching is the easy part

Move from MakeMusic Studio in a day.

We do the heavy lifting — free, on every plan.

Export

Export your clients, families and appointment history from MakeMusic Studio (Fons).

We import

Send it over. We map and import it for you, free, and check it together.

You’re live

Invite your parents and you’re running — usually within a day.

Questions

Straight answers.

What happened to Fons?

MakeMusic (a Peaksware company, acquired Fons in January 2023) rebranded it to MakeMusic Studio in June 2026. Same product, same team, same login — existing users kept their pricing. Both fons.com and studio.makemusic.com are live during the transition.

Isn’t $19.95 cheaper than LessonLoop?

For one teacher taking no payments, nearly (≈£16 vs our £15). The real bill is the meter: $4.95 per extra staff member plus a processing stack on every payment — 2.9% + 30¢ per card, +0.4% on subscription volume. A studio collecting £4,000/mo in fees pays more in payment costs alone than LessonLoop charges in total.

What does MakeMusic Studio have that LessonLoop doesn’t?

The MakeMusic/Alfred content world: an interactive music catalog with method books and repertoire, plus a free marketplace listing. If bundled publisher content is central to how you teach, that’s a real advantage. For running the business — billing, payroll, VAT, Xero, AI — it isn’t the tool.

Can I import my Fons / MakeMusic Studio data?

Yes — export your clients, families and appointment history and we’ll map and import it for you, free, on every plan.

Is the rebrand a problem for existing users?

Honestly, no evidence of that — the transition kept the founder, the team, the data and everyone’s legacy pricing, and we found no user backlash. Our case doesn’t rest on the rebrand; it rests on the per-staff meter, the payment cut, and what’s missing: AI, native mobile, VAT, Xero.

See it on your own studio.

30-day free trial. No card. Bring your MakeMusic Studio data — we’ll move it with you.

Start free trial →