What is the best software for a course school?

The one that brings together, in the same record, enrollment with spots counted, attendance, recurring monthly fees, instructor payouts and the service invoice. If the school also sells workshops or online courses, the software needs to cover both without another platform.

How do I charge course fees automatically every month?

With a recurring card or with Pix Automático, which started on June 16, 2025. With Pix Automático, the student authorizes once in their bank app, with a maximum amount, and can cancel whenever they want. A monthly payment link works, but it depends on the student paying every month.

How do I calculate an instructor's commission at a course school?

Calculate it on what the student paid, not on what was billed. The commission starts with the confirmed payment, is reversed if there is a chargeback and closes in the monthly payout, with the instructor seeing their own statement.

Do I need Hotmart to sell the school's online classes?

Not necessarily. Hotmart charges 9.9% plus a fixed amount per sale and pays out in 30 days by default. If the student already belongs to the school, the online class can stay in the same software as the in-person class, with access for a set period.

Can a course school store data on underage students?

Yes, with care. Under art. 14 of the LGPD (Brazil's data protection law), processing children's data requires specific consent from at least one parent or legal guardian. Record that consent at enrollment and limit who can see the data.

Class management software: what it needs for classes, monthly fees and instructors

By Victor Ferreira · October 26, 2026 · 7 min read

Software for a school of non-degree courses needs to bring together enrollment with spots counted, attendance, recurring monthly fees and instructor payouts. It also needs the NFS-e in the same record. If the school sells workshops or online classes, those sales go into the same system. Everything else is spreadsheets and WhatsApp.

What does software for a course school need to have?

It needs to cover the student's path, from enrollment to certificate, and the money's path, from monthly fee to payout. The table is your script for the vendor's demo.

Feature	Why it matters	Ask in the demo
Class with a spot limit	Enrollment counts the spot, and a full class does not accept the 11th person	Is the spot counted at enrollment or at payment?
Sessions generated by the class	The month's calendar builds itself, with holidays and make-up sessions	How is a rescheduled session handled?
Attendance on the phone	Attendance becomes data, and repeated absences become an alert	Can the instructor take attendance without access to finance?
Recurring monthly fee	The charge goes out every month without the front desk sending a link	Does it accept recurring card and Pix Automático?
Late payments with a reminder sequence	A delay becomes a reminder, then a task with an owner	Who is notified on the 3rd day late?
Instructor commission and payout	The payout closes on what was paid, not on what was billed	Does a chargeback deduct the commission automatically?
Workshops and one-off events	The school sells open classes and workshops without another platform	Does it have ticket batches, QR tickets and a waitlist?
Online classes with time-limited access	The recorded course stays with the school's student	Does access expire automatically?
Certificate	The student who finished receives a certificate with a code	Can the code be verified from outside?
NFS-e	The invoice is issued from the confirmed payment	Does it issue in your city's national standard?
Data export	The school is not locked in to the vendor	Does it export everything? Is there an API?

School management systems usually cover enrollment and monthly fees well. Ticketing platforms cover workshops, and course platforms cover recorded classes. The problem for a course school is that it does all three.

Monthly fees: link, boleto, recurring card or Pix Automático?

Recurring card and Pix Automático charge on their own. The link and the boleto depend on the student paying every month.

Payment method	How it works	Who acts every month	Watch out for
Link or one-off Pix	The school sends the link on the due date	The student, every month	Forgetting becomes a late payment
Boleto	The school issues it, the student pays	The student, every month	On Asaas, R$ 1.99 per paid boleto
Recurring card	The student registers the card once	Nobody	An expired or declined card needs a reminder sequence
Pix Automático	The student authorizes once in the bank app	Nobody	The student sets the maximum amount and can cancel

Pix Automático started on June 16, 2025. The student authorizes it in their own bank's app and sets rules such as the maximum amount. Management and cancellation stay in the bank app.

For the school, this changes the conversation with the student. Instead of chasing payment every month, the front desk only handles the exception: the declined card, the canceled authorization, the student who paused enrollment.

Before choosing, check the cost of each method with your payment provider. On Asaas, the standard fees read in October 2026 are R$ 1.99 per Pix or boleto. On a single-payment card charge, 2.99% plus R$ 0.49.

How do I pay instructors by commission without a spreadsheet?

By making the commission start from the payment, not from the student list. That way, the payout closes on the money that came in.

The table shows an example: a weaving class with 9 students at R$ 320 and a 40% commission for the instructor.

Situation in the month (example)	Amount	40% commission
9 monthly fees billed	R$ 2,880	—
8 monthly fees paid	R$ 2,560	R$ 1,024
1 payment charged back	− R$ 320	− R$ 128
Monthly payout	R$ 2,240 received	R$ 896

If the commission were calculated on the 9 monthly fees billed, the school would pay R$ 1,152, or R$ 256 more. Over a year, with four classes like this, the error exceeds R$ 12,000.

Three rules prevent the end-of-month argument:

The commission starts with the confirmed payment. A late monthly fee generates no commission until it is paid.
A chargeback deducts the commission. If the student disputes the card charge, the commission on that payment is reversed.
The instructor sees their own statement. They check the sessions, the students and the amount. They do not see the school's finances.

Online classes: a course platform or the school's own system?

It depends on who is buying. If the buyer is a stranger who arrived through the platform's storefront, the fee pays for the storefront. If it is the school's own student, the fee pays only for delivery.

Hotmart charges 9.9% plus a fixed amount per approved sale, in the tier of up to R$ 99,999 per year. The standard payout is in 30 days. An advance in 2 days costs 3.59%, according to the fees page read in October 2026.

The invoice for the sale is still the school's responsibility. Kiwify, for example, tells sellers to issue the invoice for the full amount paid by the buyer. The platform's commission is a school expense and does not come off the invoice.

With online classes in the same system as the in-person class, three things improve:

the class student gets access to the recorded lesson without another login;
access expires at the end of the course period, with no manual checking;
the sale, the invoice and the course instructor's payout stay on the same statement.

What care should I take with student data?

Two points weigh most at a course school: data on underage students and getting your data out when you switch systems.

Underage students. Under art. 14 of the LGPD, a child's data is processed in the child's best interest. § 1 requires specific, highlighted consent from at least one parent or legal guardian. Record that consent at enrollment, with the date.
Who sees what. The instructor needs attendance and the student's name. They do not need the guardian's CPF or the payment history.
Data export. Before signing, ask for a test export with students, classes, enrollments, open monthly fees and attendance. A school that cannot get its data out cannot switch systems.
NFS-e in the national standard. According to Fenacon, the national NFS-e standard has been mandatory for municipalities since January 2026. Confirm that the system issues the invoice in your city's format.

How CERNE solves it

CERNE is the course school's system that also sells workshops and online classes, with instructors and finance in the same record.

Classes with enrollment and monthly fees. Enrollment counts the spot and generates the month's sessions. The monthly fee goes out every month with a payment link, through Asaas or Mercado Pago. CERNE also offers recurring card and Pix Automático.
Attendance on the phone. The instructor takes attendance, and the month's attendance stays in the system.
Commission and payout. The commission starts with the payment, is reversed on a chargeback and closes in the monthly payout. The instructor sees only what is theirs.
Workshops and online classes. Workshops sell by ticket batch, with QR and a waitlist. The online course grants access for a set period and delivers a certificate with a code.
NFS-e and finance. The invoice is issued from the confirmed payment, and the cash register closes reconciled.
Direct question. In the AI assistant, you ask "how much will I pay Nina in October?". The answer comes from the operation.

CERNE's classes, sessions and partners modules were built in The Middle's operation, with partner instructors and commission. With the operation structured, The Middle moved into B2B and expanded into other lines of business. See the class workflow on the events and classes page and the path from the first workshop to a network. For ticketing, read how much the Sympla fee takes from each ticket.

Start with an assessment

The tables in this article use an example class. Your school's tables use your classes, your instructors and your billing. Start with an assessment of your operation: our team finds where monthly fees and payouts are closed by hand and shows the way forward. Schedule the assessment.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best software for a course school?: The one that brings together, in the same record, enrollment with spots counted, attendance, recurring monthly fees, instructor payouts and the service invoice. If the school also sells workshops or online courses, the software needs to cover both without another platform.
How do I charge course fees automatically every month?: With a recurring card or with Pix Automático, which started on June 16, 2025. With Pix Automático, the student authorizes once in their bank app, with a maximum amount, and can cancel whenever they want. A monthly payment link works, but it depends on the student paying every month.
How do I calculate an instructor's commission at a course school?: Calculate it on what the student paid, not on what was billed. The commission starts with the confirmed payment, is reversed if there is a chargeback and closes in the monthly payout, with the instructor seeing their own statement.
Do I need Hotmart to sell the school's online classes?: Not necessarily. Hotmart charges 9.9% plus a fixed amount per sale and pays out in 30 days by default. If the student already belongs to the school, the online class can stay in the same software as the in-person class, with access for a set period.
Can a course school store data on underage students?: Yes, with care. Under art. 14 of the LGPD (Brazil's data protection law), processing children's data requires specific consent from at least one parent or legal guardian. Record that consent at enrollment and limit who can see the data.

CERNE for Events and classes. The event page with tier and coupon, the QR ticket, the class with tuition and roll call, the online course, the teacher payout and NFS-e in one system. AI works inside the operation and acts only on a person's approval. See how it works or start with an assessment of your operation.

Sources

Victor Ferreira · Partner at IF Soluções. Responsible for CERNE's architecture: modules, integrations, data and security.