Frequently asked questions

Shinnpad is lesson-management software built for independent music teachers — scheduling, rosters, payments, a parent portal, and a bookkeeping & tax center made for self-employed instructors. It was built by a working percussion teacher running his own multi-campus studio.

Yes. The free Studio plan covers scheduling, your roster, manual payment tracking, the parent portal, your public studio site, and the manual bookkeeping toolkit (mileage log, expenses, receipts, quarterly-tax reminders, home-office calc) for up to 10 students. Our rule is simple: manual is free, automation is paid.

No. You can create your studio and use the free plan without entering any payment details.

Studio Pro ($8.99/mo or $89.99/yr) adds online card payments and autopay, automatic mileage straight from your schedule, year-long income projections, unlimited students, the year-end Schedule C / tax-summary export, calendar sync, the full email suite, per-student rate overrides, CSV exports, and parent-portal pay-now. Studio Max ($17.99/mo or $169/yr) adds receipt scanning, AI deduction suggestions, a plain-language year-end tax report, and priority support. See the pricing page for the full comparison.

Yes. Cancel from your billing settings whenever you like. Your paid features stay active through the end of the period you’ve already paid for, and you won’t be charged again.

Yes — paying annually saves roughly two months compared to monthly.

Nothing is deleted. Features above your current plan (and any student limit) simply become unavailable, but all of your underlying data is preserved and reappears if you upgrade again. You can also export your data at any time.

From Settings → Support in the app, or email support@shinnpad.com. We typically reply within 2–3 business days; Studio Max includes priority support — your messages jump the queue and we aim to reply within 1 business day.

On the free plan you can track payments manually and display your Venmo / PayPal / Zelle / Cash App handles. On Studio Pro you can collect cards online with autopay. Card payments run through Stripe and land in your own connected Stripe account and bank — Shinnpad never holds your money.

Card payments use Stripe’s standard processing fees, which Stripe charges on each transaction. Those are separate from your Shinnpad subscription.

No. Shinnpad helps you prepare — it tracks mileage, expenses, and income and produces a year-end Schedule C summary your CPA can use. It is not tax, accounting, or legal advice and does not file anything on your behalf.

On Studio Pro, Shinnpad estimates the business miles between your campuses straight from your schedule (plus home ↔ venue round trips for gigs) and multiplies by the IRS standard mileage rate, which you can edit. Manual trip logging is free on every plan, and you can turn on home-office commute legs.

Only you. Every studio’s data is isolated and protected at the database level. We never sell your data and never show ads. See our Privacy Policy.

Always. Export your students, families, and payments to a spreadsheet whenever you want — there’s no lock-in.

Email support@shinnpad.com — a real person (the teacher who built it) reads it.