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CogNote
What it is
CogNote is an open-source studio management suite for private music teachers, bringing lesson scheduling, attendance, family communication, progress tracking, quizzes, and flashcards together. Teachers can schedule weekly recurring lessons and record attendance with one tap; lesson times stay aligned through daylight-saving changes. Studios can set their own cancellation windows, banked credits, and credit expiry. Families receive private links to schedules, practice resources, and notes without needing accounts, and teachers can also email lesson notes. Progress tools include skill radar charts, trend lines, attendance records, and analytics for individual quiz notes. Students can start quizzes from a practice link without an account, receive immediate feedback, and review with spaced-repetition flashcards. Notation exercises display notes on a staff with clefs, key signatures, and over 40 musical symbols. CogNote is MIT-licensed, supports self-hosting, and allows data export. Hosted Free costs nothing and has soft caps of 5 active students, 5 practice lessons, and 5 sheet music items; invoice sending remains free. Hosted Pro costs $5 a month and includes a 30-day full trial. Self-hosting costs nothing, but requires running the stack, email, and backups.
For and against
For
- Recurring weekly lessons and one-tap attendance
- Family links work without logins
- Students can practice without accounts
- Export data anytime; MIT-licensed
- Invoices remain free on Hosted Free
Against
- Hosted Free caps active students at 5
- Hosted Free caps practice lessons and sheet music at 5
- Self-hosting requires managing the stack, email, and backups
- Hosted Pro is $5 a month
The verdict
CogNote combines studio administration with practice activities and family access. Choose between hosted plans and self-hosting, keeping the free-tier caps or server responsibilities in mind.
Who it suits
CogNote suits private music teachers who want scheduling, attendance, family updates, and student practice tools in one system. Self-hosting may suit users comfortable managing the required stack; hosted plans have student, lesson, and sheet-music limits on Free.
Plans and prices
Hosted Free
Up to 5 active students · 5 practice lessons · 5 sheet music items · Invoice sending remains free
Read 15 Oct 2026 · cognote.studio
Self-hosted
Unlimited students, lessons, sheet music · User runs Docker/Supabase, email and backups · Optional own Stripe · Export anytime
Read 15 Oct 2026 · cognote.studio
Hosted Pro
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
Read 15 Oct 2026 · cognote.studio
On the record
- API documentation
- The repository README points developers to ARCHITECTURE.md for folder layout, schema and API routes, and to CONTRIBUTING.md for development guidance.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Billing
- CogNote can generate invoices from attendance and billing policies, email PDF invoices, record payment and export payment CSV files.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Calendar feeds
- Families can download or subscribe to an always-current lesson calendar, with cancellations removed automatically.cognote.studio · read 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.cognote.studio · read 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.cognote.studio · read 15 Oct 2026
- Developer prerequisites
- Local deployment requires Node.js 18 or newer and Docker Desktop for the Supabase CLI.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Events
- Teachers can create recital or studio events, collect family RSVPs and optionally send invitations and reminders.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Family portal
- Each family receives a private link for schedules, practice links and notes without a login.cognote.studio · read 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.cognote.studio · read 30 Sep 2026
- Integrations
- The documented stack uses Supabase, Vercel, Resend or SMTP, Stripe, VexFlow and OpenSheetMusicDisplay.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Lesson notes
- Teachers can save lesson notes and send them to families by email and through the portal.cognote.studio · read 15 Oct 2026
- License and data
- CogNote is MIT-licensed, can be self-hosted, and lets users export their data anytime.cognote.studio · read 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.github.com · read 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.github.com · read 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.github.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Maker
- The hosted service is operated by Morales Piano Studio LLC under the CogNote Studio name.cognote.studio · read 15 Oct 2026
- Make-up policies
- Cancellation windows, banked credits and credit expiry are configurable studio settings.cognote.studio · read 15 Oct 2026
- Music notation
- The practice system renders staff notation with clefs, key signatures and more than 40 musical symbols.cognote.studio · read 15 Oct 2026
