Still on CompuDance? Here's an honest comparison.
I'm James, half-owner of a dance studio. CompuDance has been a fixture in the industry since the desktop-software era — but the desktop-software era ended. Let me show you what switching to modern web-based software looks like, and whether it's right for you.
This isn't an "old bad, new good" pitch. CompuDance still works for some studios. Here's the real story.
What CompuDance gets right
What CompuDance does well, honestly.
Decades of dance-industry experience.
CompuDance has been built specifically for dance studios for a long time. The feature set is shaped by real dance-studio needs.
If your team knows it, it works.
Tenured front-desk staff who've been using CompuDance for years are fast at it. Familiarity has real operational value.
Recital and costume tools are mature.
Costume management and recital prep have been part of CompuDance for a long time. The features exist; they were just designed for a different decade.
Where Presently is genuinely different
Four areas where modern web-based software genuinely changes the day-to-day:
1. Access from anywhere, on any device.
If CompuDance is installed on a specific computer at the front desk, anyone working from home or on the road is locked out. Presently runs in a browser. Front desk, your laptop, a phone in the parking lot — same data, same experience, always current.
Add multi-user simultaneous access (your manager and front desk can both be in the system without conflict) and the difference is operational.
2. A real family portal.
CompuDance's family-facing tools are limited and depend heavily on email and front-desk phone calls for routine tasks like enrollment, payment, and schedule lookups.
Presently's family portal lets parents register new students, enroll in classes (with a shopping cart), pay their balance, and chat with the studio. Front desk phone time drops dramatically.
3. Modern recital lineup editor.
Both products have recital tools. Presently's lineup editor: drag-to-reorder, automatic back-to-back conflict warnings (Sarah appears in two adjacent classes? Red badge appears immediately), multi-show events with separate matinee and evening lineups, PDF and Excel exports.
We built this after one too many recital weeks discovering, the night before, that a 7-year-old needed a 90-second costume change.
4. Backups and updates that just happen.
With desktop software, you're responsible for backups, server uptime, software updates. With Presently, that's all our problem. You log in; it works. Backups are automatic and offsite.
Side-by-side
Not a checkmark table. Real differences, in prose.
Where your data lives
On a specific computer (or set of computers) at the studio. Backups are your responsibility.
In the cloud. Accessible from any browser. Automatic offsite backups.
Family-facing experience
Limited online portal. Heavy reliance on front-desk phone calls and email.
Full family portal with shopping-cart enrollment, balance and payment, optional live chat.
Pricing
License model with separate fees for upgrades, support, and per-feature add-ons. Hidden cost can grow over time.
$49, $99, or $149/month based on student count. All-inclusive. No setup fees. Month-to-month.
What switching actually looks like
Migrating studio software is real work. Here's how we'd handle it:
A 30-minute call.
Not a sales demo. What's working in CompuDance, what's broken, what scares you about switching.
Migration during a quiet stretch.
Not during recital, not during enrollment. Usually late summer or mid-winter. I run the data import personally.
Parallel run before cutover.
Keep CompuDance available read-only for 30 days while Presently is primary. We fix anything missing before the full switch.
Extended trial if you need it.
Standard trial is 30 days. I'll extend it on a case-by-case basis. Nobody should be racing a clock.
Questions worth asking
Should I stay on CompuDance?
If your team is fast on CompuDance, your families aren't asking for an online portal, and the desktop access pattern still works for your operations, you can keep using it. Switch when something specific has started to chafe.
Can you import my CompuDance data?
Yes. CompuDance exports vary by version — usually CSV or similar. I clean up the export and run the import personally. Free, part of onboarding.
What about offline access?
Honest answer: we don't have an offline mode. Presently needs internet. If you frequently lose connectivity at the studio, that's worth knowing. Most studios in 2026 have reliable internet, but if you're an exception, this is a real trade-off.
How small is your company?
Small. My wife and I run a dance studio; I'm the developer. Real, mature product — but you're not buying from a 100-person company.
Want to talk it through?
The best next step isn't signing up — it's a 30-minute call with me to see if Presently actually fits. Two studio owners comparing notes.