Swyvel and Presently are both modern. Here's the difference.
I'm James, half-owner of a dance studio. Swyvel and Presently both came along to challenge the older incumbents like Jackrabbit and DSP. We're both betting that dance studios deserve modern software. The differences are real but smaller than they'd be against legacy tools.
If you're between Swyvel and Presently, this is meant to help you pick the right one.
What Swyvel gets right
What Swyvel does well.
Modern interface.
Like Presently, Swyvel is web-first and visibly modern. New admins won't need a printed manual.
Solid dance-studio fundamentals.
Class scheduling, enrollment, family billing, instructor portal — Swyvel covers the basics with care.
Growing team and roadmap.
Swyvel is investing in the product. Studios choosing between modern alternatives have a real choice now, which is healthy.
Where Presently is genuinely different
Real differences where we made different choices:
1. Built by a working studio owner.
Presently is built by me and my wife while we run our own dance studio. Every weird billing quirk, every recital crisis, every parent complaint shows up in our own studio first — and gets fixed in the product. That feedback loop is short.
Swyvel's team is studio-software-focused but not currently running a studio. That doesn't make their product worse, but it changes which problems get prioritized and how quickly.
2. Recital lineup tooling.
Both products have event management. Presently's lineup editor is deeper: drag-to-reorder with live back-to-back conflict warnings, multi-show events (separate matinee and evening lineups), intermissions inline, PDF and Excel exports including per-number student rosters, and a missing-classes audit.
3. No payment markup.
Presently uses Stripe Connect directly. You pay Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢, we take nothing on top. Check Swyvel's current payment processing model — if they're adding margin, the difference over a busy month adds up.
4. Pricing model.
Presently is $49/$99/$149 month-to-month, with the right tier auto-applied as your studio grows. Most of the deep features (event management, costume tracking, live chat) are optional $9/mo add-ons, so a small studio can stay lean. Swyvel's pricing structure differs — worth comparing what each tier includes for your specific size.
Side-by-side
Not a checkmark table. Real differences, in prose.
Who's building it
A studio-software team. Customer-feedback driven.
Built by a working dance studio owner. First-hand feedback loop.
Recital tools depth
Event management exists; depth varies. Verify against your specific recital needs.
Drag-to-reorder lineup, conflict warnings, multi-show events, PDF/Excel exports, missing-classes audit.
Pricing
Check current Swyvel pricing — varies by feature bundle.
$49, $99, or $149/month by student tier. Optional $9/mo add-ons (Events, Costumes, Live Chat). No payment markup. 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 Swyvel, 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 Swyvel 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
Both are modern. How do I pick?
Best advice: do free trials of both. Spend two afternoons on each with your real data. Either you'll prefer one workflow over the other, or your front-desk team will. Trust that.
Can you import my Swyvel data?
Yes. Swyvel's export gives clean CSVs. I run the import personally. Free, part of onboarding.
How small is your company?
Small. My wife and I run a dance studio; I'm the developer. Real, mature product.
What if it doesn't work out?
Month-to-month, cancel anytime. Clean data export.
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.