Comparison

The Music Teachers Helper alternative for schools.

Music Teachers Helper is now Duet Partner, and it builds a real season schedule - for one teacher. It is single-teacher by design. Set the Tune is the engine for a whole school of teachers: cross-teacher conflicts, drive-time routing for traveling lessons, A/B weeks, and labor-rule compliance. Here is the honest split.

What Duet Partner is good at
  • ♩Builds a solo teacher’s season schedule from a simple parent availability form
  • ♩Automated invoicing and payments (PayPal, ACH, card, Apple Pay, Google Pay)
  • ♩Text-first parent communication, no portal logins to chase
  • ♩Attendance, practice logs, lesson notes, and file sharing
  • ♩Flat pricing around $20/mo with a 30-day free trial, any studio size
Where it stops
  • ✱Single-teacher only - it cannot run multiple teachers, rosters, or billing (their own FAQ)
  • ✱No cross-teacher conflict engine for double-books, availability misses, or room clashes
  • ✱No drive-time awareness for teachers traveling between in-home lessons
  • ✱No alternating A/B week balancing
  • ✱No teacher workday rules - 8-hour caps or meal-break compliance
CapabilitySet the TuneDuet Partner
One-click season schedule for a whole roster♩ YesSingle teacher
Schedules multiple teachers across one school♩ Yes-
Automatic conflict detection - double-booking, availability, overlaps♩ Yes-
Drive-time-aware scheduling for traveling teachers (real traffic data)♩ Yes-
Teacher workday rules - 8-hour cap, meal-break compliance♩ Yes-
A/B (alternating) week balancing♩ Yes-
Messy-file roster import (CSV/DOCX) with AI cleanup♩ YesParent form
Waitlist with one-click placement♩ Yes-
Season clone & roll-forward♩ Yes-
Tuition invoicing & family billing-♩ Yes
Online payments - card, ACH, digital wallets-♩ Yes
Attendance, practice logs & lesson notes-♩ Yes
Text-first parent communication-♩ Yes

Based on each product's published feature list and pricing page, June 2026. Spot something out of date? Tell us.

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What Set the Tune doesn't do.
Tuition invoicing, attendance, parent portals, family messaging. On purpose. Set the Tune is the scheduling layer - it builds the calendar your admin tools manage. If you need full studio admin, keep it and use both.
Set the Tune
  • ♩Starter $79 / Pro $129 / Studio $199 per month, per school
  • ♩Sized by students you actually schedule, not your raw roster
  • ♩Unlimited teachers on every tier - one price per school, never per teacher
  • ♩Free look at signup: build your real schedule free, pay only to export and keep it
Duet Partner
  • ♩Around $20 per month, flat, any studio size
  • ♩Or $99 per year
  • ♩30-day free trial
  • ♩1% transaction fee on family payments

Which one fits?

If you are a solo teacher who wants booking, billing, and a season schedule in one place, Duet Partner is a clean fit. The moment you are a school - multiple teachers, traveling lessons, a roster to place around drive time and labor rules - that is the job Set the Tune is built for. Build the school schedule here, run solo-studio admin there.

Schedule the season in an afternoon, not a week.

See your schedule freeSee pricing
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