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Sawyer

Class and camp booking software for children activity businesses, with a marketplace that takes up to 30 percent

As of 31 August 2026, Sawyer starts at $189/month. Registration and scheduling software for kids activity providers, paired with a consumer marketplace. Softwr lists it under Scheduling. Sawyer is available on Web, iOS, Android.

Overview

What Sawyer does

Sawyer sells scheduling, registration, payment and customer management software to children activity businesses: music schools, gyms, art studios, tutoring, sports and camps. It handles class series, drop-ins, memberships, class packs, parties, camps, waitlists, e-signature waivers and auto-billing. Alongside the software it runs hisawyer.com, a consumer marketplace where parents browse and book local activities. The pricing structure is the thing to understand before signing. Launch has no monthly subscription but charges 3 percent per transaction and requires a marketplace listing that takes a 30 percent commission on orders originating there. Grow at 189 US dollars a month billed annually drops the marketplace commission to 20 percent and makes the listing optional. Scale at 379 a month drops it to 15 percent, also optional. Read that carefully: on Grow and Scale you can run Sawyer as pure software and never pay commission, but on the free-looking Launch plan you cannot opt out. A business that gets most of its bookings from its own website and email list should be on a paid tier; a new business with no audience may genuinely want the marketplace. The trade-off is channel dependency. Marketplace bookings feel like free customer acquisition until you notice that a 30 percent cut on a 400 dollar camp is 120 dollars, more than half a month of the Grow subscription for a single enrolment. Sawyer works best for providers who use the marketplace deliberately to fill spare capacity rather than as their primary channel.

What people use it for

  • A new kids activity studio with no mailing list that wants the marketplace to fill its first terms
  • An established music school moving off spreadsheets that will run Sawyer as software only and never list on the marketplace
  • A gym selling memberships, class packs and birthday parties that needs all three billed from one system
  • A provider running summer camps alongside term-time classes who wants a single parent account for both

The honest half

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Sawyer.

  • The Launch plan looks free but forces a marketplace listing at 30 percent commission, so a single high-value camp booking through the marketplace can cost more than a year of the Grow subscription would have.
  • Marketplace commission applies to the order value, not the margin, so low-margin providers can lose money on a marketplace booking.
  • Payment processing fees are charged separately by Stripe on top of the subscription and any commission, which the plan comparison does not surface clearly.
  • The step from Grow to Scale doubles the monthly cost for account management and integrations rather than for capability most providers need, making the middle tier the only sensible choice for many.
  • It is built for consumer activity businesses, so providers who invoice schools, councils or corporate clients will find the billing model a poor fit.

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of Sawyer

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

  • Sawyer logo
    Sawyer
    vs
    iClassPro logo
    iClassPro

    iClassPro: Flat per-location pricing with no marketplace commission at all

  • Sawyer logo
    Sawyer
    vs
    Mindbody logo
    Mindbody

    Mindbody: For fitness and wellness businesses needing a larger consumer marketplace

  • Sawyer logo
    Sawyer
    vs
    CampSite logo
    CampSite

    CampSite: If seasonal camps rather than recurring classes are the main business

Pricing

What Sawyer costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

Launch

On request

  • No monthly subscription fee
  • 3 percent per transaction
  • Marketplace listing required, 30 percent commission on marketplace orders
  • Core scheduling, class management and messaging

Grow

$189 /mo

  • 189 USD per month billed annually, 219 monthly
  • Marketplace listing optional, 20 percent commission if used
  • Advanced scheduling, waitlists, free trials
  • Memberships, auto-billing, e-signature, party packages

Scale

$379 /mo

  • 379 USD per month billed annually, 399 monthly
  • Marketplace listing optional, 15 percent commission if used
  • Dedicated account manager and registration launch support
  • Zapier, custom payment methods, store credit, private training

Enterprise

On request

  • Custom pricing for large multi-site operators

Capabilities

Features

  • Class and camp registration

    Series, drop-in, camp and party booking with waitlists

  • Memberships and class packs

    Recurring memberships, punch passes and store credit

  • Consumer marketplace

    Optional listing on hisawyer.com, commission depending on plan tier

  • Auto-billing

    Recurring charges for memberships and instalment plans

  • Waivers and e-signature

    Digital waivers collected at booking rather than at the door

  • Multi-location

    Unlimited locations included on all plans

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Is the Launch plan really free?

No. It has no monthly fee but charges 3 percent per transaction and requires a marketplace listing that takes 30 percent of marketplace orders.

Can I use Sawyer without the marketplace?

Yes, on Grow and Scale the listing is optional. On Launch it is required.

What does the marketplace commission apply to?

The full order value of bookings originating on hisawyer.com, not to bookings from your own website.

Is there a contract?

Monthly plans are month to month with 30 days notice; annual billing saves roughly 5 to 14 percent depending on tier.

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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Sawyer, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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