CogNote
CogNote is an open-source studio management suite for private music teachers, combining lesson scheduling, attendance, family communication, progress trackin…
What CogNote is
CogNote is an open-source studio management suite for private music teachers, combining lesson scheduling, attendance, family communication, progress tracking, quizzes, and flashcards. Teachers can schedule recurring weekly lessons, record attendance with one tap, and set cancellation windows, banked credits, and credit expiry as studio rules. Each family can use a private link to view schedules, practice links, and notes without logging in; teachers can also email lesson notes. Student progress views include skill radar charts, trend lines, attendance, and per-note quiz analytics. Students can open practice links without an account, take note and symbol quizzes with instant feedback, and use SM-2 spaced-repetition flashcards. Practice tools render notation on a staff with clefs, key signatures, and more than 40 musical symbols. CogNote is MIT-licensed, supports self-hosting, and allows data export at any time. Self-hosting is free but requires running the stack, including Docker or Supabase, email, and backups. Hosted Free has soft caps of five active students, five practice lessons, and five sheet music items. Hosted Pro is $5 a month and includes a 30-day full trial for new accounts.
Good
- Recurring lessons and one-tap attendance.
- Family links show schedules and lesson notes.
- Includes quizzes and spaced-repetition flashcards.
- Data can be exported at any time.
Watch out
- Hosted Free caps students, practice lessons, and sheet music.
- Self-hosting requires managing the stack, email, and backups.
- Hosted Pro costs $5 a month.
Who it suits
CogNote suits private music teachers who need lesson administration and student practice tools in one system. Its family portal and account-free practice links may also work well for studios sharing schedules, notes, and exercises with families.
Verdict
CogNote brings studio administration and music practice resources together, with both hosted and self-hosted options. Choose hosted plans if you do not want to run the required stack yourself.
Plans and prices
From CogNote's own pricing page, checked 15 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Hosted Free | Free | Up to 5 active students · 5 practice lessons · 5 sheet music items · Invoice sending remains free · 30-day full trial first |
| Self-hosted | Free | Unlimited students, lessons, sheet music · User runs Docker/Supabase, email and backups · Optional own Stripe · Export anytime |
| Hosted Pro | $5 a month | Unlimited students, lessons and sheet music · Same family portal and practice tools · Export or switch to self-host anytime · 30-day full trial for new accounts · $5/mo |
The facts
Each one read from CogNote's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- API documentation
- The repository README points developers to ARCHITECTURE.md for folder layout, schema and API routes, and to CONTRIBUTING.md for development guidance.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Calendar feeds
- Families can download or subscribe to an always-current lesson calendar, with cancellations removed automatically.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Data export
- Teachers can export full studio data as JSON at any time, including after moving between hosted and self-hosted deployments.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Data practices
- The hosted service says it does not sell personal information, use advertising tracking or train AI models on student records.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Developer prerequisites
- Local deployment requires Node.js 18 or newer and Docker Desktop for the Supabase CLI.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Events
- Teachers can create recital or studio events, collect family RSVPs and optionally send invitations and reminders.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Family portal
- Each family receives a private link for schedules, practice links and notes without a login.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Hosting limits
- The hosted Free plan has soft caps of 5 active students, 5 practice lessons, and 5 sheet music items; invoice sending remains free.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Integrations
- The documented stack uses Supabase, Vercel, Resend or SMTP, Stripe, VexFlow and OpenSheetMusicDisplay.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Lesson notes
- Teachers can save lesson notes and send them to families by email and through the portal.checked 15 Oct 2026
- License and data
- CogNote is MIT-licensed, can be self-hosted, and lets users export their data anytime.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Limit: lesson rescheduling
- An open October 6, 2026 issue says lessons cannot currently be moved directly; the workaround records a cancellation and a make-up, creating billing and schedule noise.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: prepaid lessons
- An open October 4, 2026 issue says invoices are generated after lessons and CogNote lacks prepaid lesson-credit packages.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: teacher calendar
- An open October 5, 2026 issue says parents have subscribable calendar feeds but teachers do not have an equivalent feed.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Make-up policies
- Cancellation windows, banked credits and credit expiry are configurable studio settings.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Music notation
- The practice system renders staff notation with clefs, key signatures and more than 40 musical symbols.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Notation
- The practice tools render musical notes on a staff with clefs, key signatures, and more than 40 musical symbols.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Payment integration
- Manual payment instructions are supported by default, while teachers can optionally connect their own Stripe Checkout links and webhook.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Practice
- Students can use note and symbol quizzes with instant feedback and SM-2 spaced-repetition flashcards.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Product
- CogNote is an open-source studio management suite for private music teachers, with scheduling, attendance, families, progress tracking, quizzes, and flashcards.checked 30 Sep 2026
- Progress tracking
- Student views include skill radar charts, trend lines, attendance summaries and per-note quiz analytics.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Quizzes
- Students can take note and symbol-identification quizzes with immediate feedback and optional per-question timing.checked 15 Oct 2026
Money
- Billing
- CogNote can generate invoices from attendance and billing policies, email PDF invoices, record payment and export payment CSV files.checked 15 Oct 2026
The company
- Maker
- The hosted service is operated by Morales Piano Studio LLC under the CogNote Studio name.checked 15 Oct 2026
The full review of CogNote
Overview
CogNote is an open-source studio management suite for private music teachers, combining lesson administration with music practice tools. It is strongest for teachers who want families to follow lessons and students to practice from links without creating accounts. Its main trade-off is between hosted student caps and the technical work of running it yourself.
Key features
Recurring weekly lessons, one-tap attendance, and lesson times that stay correct through daylight-saving shifts cover common scheduling chores. Cancellation windows, banked make-up credits, and expiry rules are studio settings, giving teachers room to fit the software to their policies rather than work around fixed rules.
Families can use a private link to view schedules, practice links, and notes without logging in; teachers can also email lesson notes. This keeps access simple for families, though the portal relies on a link rather than a described account login. Progress tracking combines skill radar charts, trend lines, attendance, and per-note quiz analytics, making it more informative than attendance alone.
Students can practice with note and symbol quizzes that provide instant feedback, plus SM-2 spaced-repetition flashcards. The tools render notation on a staff with clefs, key signatures, and more than 40 musical symbols. Students can start from a practice link without an account, and CogNote says the tools work well on tablets.
CogNote is MIT-licensed and allows data export at any time. That offers flexibility for teachers comfortable managing their own software, but self-hosting means operating the stack, including Docker or Supabase, email, and backups.
Pricing
CogNote has a free self-hosted option and hosted plans. Self-hosted costs nothing and offers unlimited students, lessons, and sheet music, but you are responsible for the stack, email, and backups. It suits technically capable teachers who want to avoid hosted caps and can take on that maintenance.
Hosted Free costs nothing and caps usage softly at 5 active students, 5 practice lessons, and 5 sheet music items; sending invoices remains free. It is a sensible way for a small studio to try the hosted service, but the caps limit room to grow. Hosted Pro costs $5 a month for unlimited students, lessons, and sheet music, with a 30-day full trial for new accounts. It is the straightforward fit for studios that want hosted access without those caps. The stated paid starting price is 5 /mo.
Platforms
CogNote is available on the web or as a self-hosted deployment. The self-hosted route requires running the stack; tablet support is described for student practice, not as a separate platform.
Who it's for
CogNote fits private music teachers who want scheduling, attendance, family communication, progress tracking, and music-specific practice in one suite. It is less suitable for teachers who want hosted service without student limits at no cost, or who do not want to manage a self-hosted stack and are unwilling to pay for hosted Pro.
Pros and cons
- Pro: Configurable make-up policies and daylight-saving-aware recurring lessons help teachers handle real studio schedules.
- Pro: Families and students can use private practice and portal links without account setup, reducing access friction.
- Pro: Music notation quizzes, spaced-repetition flashcards, and detailed progress views connect practice with studio tracking.
- Con: Hosted Free has soft caps of 5 active students, 5 practice lessons, and 5 sheet music items.
- Con: Self-hosting requires responsibility for the software stack, email, and backups.
Alternatives
Music Lesson Scheduling Software is a broader category to compare if you want to consider other scheduling tools.
- Adagio offers a free plan and runs on Android, iOS, and web; choose it if mobile app availability matters.
- Nova Music has a free plan for up to 10 students with scheduling, group lessons, basic attendance, messaging, a student portal, and 100 MB storage. Choose it if those group and communication tools or its higher free student cap suit your studio better.
- OPS has free options for organisations and individual musicians; choose it if your needs center on its score library and setlists.
- Clefwise offers a free plan for 3 students with scheduling, invoicing, online payments, a parent portal, and lesson notes; choose it if those billing tools are the priority for a very small studio.
- DuetStudio offers a free plan with unlimited active and inactive students, scheduling, lesson notes, assignments, a student portal, practice tracking, a notebook, and manual invoicing; choose it if you want those studio tools without CogNote's hosted student cap.
- Harness has a free Hobby plan for up to 5 students with scheduling, attendance, family portal, transaction ledger, and income and expense tracking; choose it if financial tracking matters more than CogNote's music practice features.
- Shinnpad offers an always-free Studio plan for up to 10 students with scheduling, roster and campuses, manual payment tracking, and a read-only parent portal; choose it if those studio-management basics meet your needs.
- Trio has a free plan for one teacher and up to 10 students, with 50 SMS reminders and 25 AI credits per month, but no online payments; choose it if those reminders and credits matter more than online payments.
Verdict
Choose CogNote if you are a private music teacher who wants studio administration and music-specific student practice together, especially if link-based access and configurable make-up policies suit your workflow. Its hosted Pro plan removes student, lesson, and sheet music caps for $5 a month; look elsewhere if you need a broader mobile platform or want to avoid both a paid hosted plan and self-hosting responsibilities.
