The wellness-industry incumbent
Mindbody is the biggest name in the category, with a 3M+ user discovery app most studios already recognize. It's also the least transparent on pricing here — only its entry tier is public, and its own operators cite a stack of fees beyond the base subscription.
DanceUp pricing
Event Host is free. Studio Owner is $129/mo, Studio Owner Pro+ is $179/mo — all three published, no "request a quote" tier, plus a flat 1.5% platform fee on top of standard card processing.
Mindbody pricing
Mindbody publishes only its Starter tier — $79–99/mo per location. Accelerate, Ultimate, and Ultimate Plus all require a sales call. On top of whichever tier you land on, Mindbody separately charges payment processing, and reportedly an additional commission on bookings that come through its own marketplace app.
Pricing transparency
All three tiers public, no sales call required
Only the entry tier is published — the rest is "contact sales"
Starting price
$0/mo (Event Host)
$79–99/mo per location, entry tier only
Platform fee
1.5% flat, disclosed
Not published — operators report a marketplace commission stacked on top of processing for app-driven bookings
AI
AI Co-Pilot proposes and revises campaigns, automations, classes, and events — with its reasoning shown — before anything sends
AI Concierge converts missed calls into bookings automatically
Event tooling
Performer/team registration with custom questionnaires and vendor-booth registration for festivals and congresses
General class/appointment booking, not built for dance events specifically
Check-in
Schedule-based auto check-in — zero taps, no app-opening required
Standard check-in functionality
Dancer / member mobile app
Mindbody's biggest advantage is real: a 3M+ user discovery app that a lot of dancers already have installed. DanceUp's dancer app is a smaller but purpose-built marketplace — one account, one login, book at any DanceUp studio, with zero-tap auto check-in on class day that Mindbody doesn't offer in any form.
Front-desk / tablet app
Mindbody offers a business app for remote management. DanceUp Studio is a dedicated, iPad-only front-desk product — self-service kiosk check-in by phone number, QR/ticket scanning, and Kiosk Watch Mode syncing every check-in to the owner's dashboard live.
Where Mindbody might actually be the better fit
If your studio depends on walk-in discovery from people already using the Mindbody app, that installed base is a real, hard-to-replicate advantage — weigh it against the pricing opacity and reported marketplace commission before switching either way.
No sales call required to see what it costs — pricing's public, and Event Host is free to start.