Choosing the Right Payment Plan for your Service

Overview
Quick Reference: Service Types and Supported Plans
Appointment Services (Private Lessons)
Session Services (Group Classes and Camps)
Events and Subscription-Only Services
Decision Guide
Things to Plan For
Unsupported Billing Models
FAQ
Related Articles

1. Overview

Payment plans control how and when your clients are charged for a service. Every service you create in Opus1 is assigned one of four service types, and the service type determines which payment plan templates are available to you.

A payment plan is a combination of a few key variables that together describe how a client is billed: frequency (how often), amount (how much), basis (flat rate or per lesson), renewal date (when recurring invoices issue), proration (how the first month is handled), and visit period (how often the service is delivered). The templates below bundle these variables into supported combinations.

Note: All recurring monthly plans on Opus1 renew on the 1st of each month. Autopay can be configured for different dates, but the invoice due date itself aligns to the 1st of the calendar month.

2. Quick Reference: Service Types & Supported Plans

Service Type	Used For	Plan Templates Available
Appointment	Private lessons	Single Visit, Multiple Visits, Membership with recurring visits & monthly payments, Membership with recurring visits & one-time payment
Session	Group classes, camps, & fixed-date series	Full Session Payment, Recurring Payment/Membership for Session, Per Visit, Single Visit, Multiple Visits
Event	One-off workshops, recitals, & masterclasses	One-time event participant payment
Subscription-only	Membership dues, instrument rental, facility rental	Membership with recurring payment

3. Appointment Services (Private Lessons)

What they are

Appointment services are for private lessons — individual lessons booked on your calendar. Clients typically schedule one lesson at a time, buy a package of lessons to use over time, or hold a recurring weekly slot.

Supported payment plan templates

Single Visit A single lesson charged once at a flat rate. Good for trial lessons and one-off lessons sold per visit.
Multiple Visits A prepaid pack of lessons charged once at a flat rate. Lesson credits are added to the client's account for them to use at their convenience. Good for non-members who want a drop-in pack instead of a subscription.
Membership with recurring visits and payments A subscription-based membership with recurring lessons (weekly or bi-weekly) charged on a monthly basis. The basis can be flat rate or per lesson. Good for ongoing private lesson memberships.
Membership with recurring visits and one-time payment A subscription-based membership with recurring lessons (weekly or bi-weekly) charged once at a flat rate or per visit. Good for businesses that charge per semester or term — for example, one upfront payment that covers 24 weekly lessons.

Tip: "Bi-weekly" in Opus1 means every other week, not twice a week.

4. Session Services (Group Classes and Camps)

What they are

Session services are for group classes and camps - fixed-date series that clients enroll in. Billing is tied to the session calendar, whether that's a semester of weekly group classes, a multi- week summer camp, or an after-school program.

Supported payment plan templates

Full Session Payment A one-time payment due at enrollment, when the session starts, or a specified number of days before the session starts. The client is enrolled on every date of the session. Can be a flat rate or per-visit. Good for camps, short series, or pay-in-full policies.
Recurring Payment / Membership for Session Monthly recurring payments for the duration of the session. The client is enrolled on every session date as long as their subscription is active. Good for clients who can't pay the full term upfront but you still want them tied to a dated session.
Per visit payment (cash or credit) Drop-in enrollment for one or multiple class dates with no monthly commitment. Good for flexible attendance within a scheduled series.
Single visit (cash or credit) A single class date paid by cash or service credit, with or without pre-enrollment in future session dates. Good for trials, make-ups, or occasional drop-ins.
Multiple Visits - Pre-paid A prepaid pack of class visits charged once at a flat rate. Credits are added to the client's account for use on session dates. Good for non-members who want a block of drop-ins without full enrollment.

5. Events and Subscription-Only Services

Events

Events are one-off offerings — workshops, recitals, masterclasses, performances.

One-time event participant payment (cash or credit): An enrollment payment for one event slot, paid in cash or service credit.

Subscription-only services

Subscription-only services are membership-style charges that aren't tied to lesson or class attendance.

Membership with recurring payment: A subscription with recurring monthly payments — for example monthly membership dues, instrument rental, or facility rental.

6. Decision Guide

Use this to pick a template once you know your service type:

If you're setting up...	Use this service type	Start with this template
Ongoing weekly private lessons	Appointment	Membership with recurring visits & payments
Prepaid pack of private lessons	Appointment	Multiple visits
Trial private lesson	Appointment	Single visit
A semester of group classes, billed monthly	Session	Recurring payment/membership for session
A summer camp, paid in full	Session	Full Session Payment
Drop-ins on a group class series	Session	Per visit payment or Multiple Visits-Pre-Paid
A one-off workshop or recital	Event	One-time event participant payment
Monthly facility or rental dues	Subscription-only	Membership with recurring payment

Tip: The same school often uses several service types side by side — for example, Full Session Payment for summer camp, Membership with recurring visits and payments for private lessons, and Recurring Payment / Membership for Session for school-year group classes.

7. Things to Plan For

Renewal (Due) dates

All recurring monthly plans on Opus1 renew on the 1st of each month. Autopay can be configured for different dates, but the invoice itself aligns to the 1st of the calendar month. This is generally a cash flow advantage — your monthly revenue lands together rather than being spread across 30 different dates.

Proration in the first month

When a client joins mid-cycle on a recurring plan, you choose how their first invoice is handled:

Percentage - fraction of the month remaining
Per lesson - number of lessons or classes remaining that month
None - charge in full

Set this expectation in your enrollment terms.

Credits vs. cash

Plans labeled "cash or credit" assume you use service credits for some purchases. Make sure your clients understand how credits are purchased, applied, and refunded so your front desk and your software stay aligned.

Deposits, due dates, and autopay

For any plan, when money is due (at booking, when the session starts, a number of days before start, or on a recurring schedule) affects no-shows, cancellations, and refunds. Document your policy on your website and in your terms so it matches what's configured in the plan.

Registration fees and discounts

Some plans can follow your overall fee and discount structure; others use plan-level fees and discounts. Mixing models across similar services can confuse clients ("Why was the registration fee different here?"). Try to keep similar services consistent.

Self-booking and locations

If you use self-booking, multiple plans of the same billing interval overlapping at the same location can produce conflicting checkout options. When in doubt, one clear self-booking plan per location and interval keeps the client-facing experience predictable.

Operational load

Recurring and per-visit models generate more invoices, reminders, and exceptions (failed payments, mid-session changes, partial attendance) than a single full-session charge. Choose complexity only when it matches how you actually run the business.

Warning: Avoid creating two payment plans that bill at the same interval for the same self-booking service at the same location - clients can see conflicting checkout options.

8. Unsupported Billing Models

Opus1 is built around the templates above, which cover the lion's share of music and performing arts billing in our market. A few common variations are not currently automatable in the product.

For private lessons (appointments):

28-day billing cycles (sometimes described casually as "monthly")
Mid-month due dates — for example having a due date for recurring invoices be set to the 15th of the month (auto-pay can be adjusted, due date cannot)
Unique due dates per student based on each student's start date
Quarterly billing
10-week or term-aligned cycles (common in the Australian market)

For group classes (sessions):

Installment plans that divide a session price into non-monthly payments (e.g., four equal payments over six months)
Recurring class packs
Quarterly or 10-week cycle billing

Tip: If your model is "semester billing," expect follow-up questions. The phrase means very different things to different schools — anything from a 10-week recurring term to a one- time annual payment to a custom multi-month subscription. Pinning down the specifics determines whether it maps to a supported template.

If your current billing model falls into one of these patterns, reach out to the Opus1 team. We can walk through workarounds, suggest small adjustments that map cleanly to a supported template, and log your use case so it can be considered for future product support.

9. FAQ

Q: Can I bill on a day other than the 1st of the month?

A: Recurring monthly invoices always issue on the 1st. You can configure autopay to charge on a different date, but the invoice itself aligns to the 1st of the calendar month.

Q: What's the difference between flat rate and per lesson (variable)?

A: Flat rate is a fixed monthly amount no matter how many lessons fall in the month. Per lesson multiplies a per-lesson price by the number of lessons that month, so the total varies - a four-lesson month costs less than a five-lesson month.

Q: Can I use both appointment and session services in the same school?

A: Yes - and most schools do. Use appointment services for your private lesson program and session services for group classes, camps, and term-based programs.

Q: A client wants to join in the middle of a month. How do I handle the first invoice?

A: Choose a proration option when you set up the recurring plan: percentage (fraction of the month remaining), per lesson (number of lessons remaining), or none (charge in full).

Q: My current billing model isn't on the supported list. Can I still use Opus1?

A: Often yes, with workarounds or a small adjustment to your model. Reach out to the Opus1 team to talk through your specifics before going live.

Q: Does "bi-weekly" mean twice a week or every other week?

A: Every other week. (If you've worked with Australian software, you may have seen the opposite convention - Opus1 uses "bi-weekly" to mean every other week.)

Q: What does "semester billing" mean in Opus1?

A: It depends on what you mean — the phrase covers several different billing patterns. For a one-time payment that covers a term of recurring private lessons, use Membership with recurring visits and one-time payment. For a group class term billed monthly, use Recurring Payment / Membership for Session. For a group class term paid in full, use Full Session Payment. If none of these fit your specific pattern, contact the Opus1 team.