Last updated: November 2026 · By Ben Gorski, founder of Swum
I make the Swum app (swum.ai), so read this knowing I'm biased. I've tried to say plainly when Acuity or Square is the better pick. Their prices and features come from their own websites, checked on November 14, 2026. They change, so check again before you buy.
The short answer
Yes, Acuity Scheduling and Square Appointments can both work for swim lessons if you teach on your own and keep the schedule simple.
Acuity is the better scheduler of the two. It has packages, intake forms, a waitlist and recurring appointments from $34 a month ($27 billed annually). Square is the easier pick if you already take payments on Square: its Free plan is $0 a month and you only pay card fees.
Both fall short on the swim-specific parts. Neither is built around a parent with three kids, swimmer levels, makeup credits, home pools or paying instructors. You can work around each one, but the workarounds pile up as you grow.
That's the gap swim-specific software like the Swum app (swum.ai) fills. It costs more than either, so it's only worth it once those workarounds are eating real time.
What makes swim lessons hard to book
I swam at Notre Dame and coached before I built Swum. Swim lessons have a few habits that general booking tools weren't designed around:
- The same slot every week. A family keeps Tuesday at 4:30 all season, or buys a session of set weeks.
- One parent, several swimmers. The person paying isn't the person in the water, and siblings often swim back to back.
- Levels. A swimmer belongs in a class at their level and moves up when they pass the skills.
- Missed lessons. Kids get sick and pools close for weather. Families expect a makeup or a credit.
- Paperwork before day one. A signed waiver and some health and experience questions.
- Pools move. Plenty of instructors teach at home pools or drive to families.
- Staff pay. Once you have instructors, someone has to add up who taught what.
Acuity vs Square vs swim software, side by side
| What swim lessons need | Acuity Scheduling | Square Appointments | Swim-specific software (the Swum app) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recurring weekly lessons or sessions | Clients can book repeating appointments. One-time or recurring group classes. | Recurring group classes on Plus and Premium. I didn't find self-booked repeating private lessons on their pages. | Weekly plans, or a fixed term of set weeks with one or several lessons a week on fixed days. Every lesson books itself. |
| Packages | Packages, memberships and payment plans on Standard and Premium. | A prepaid series of services or classes on Plus and Premium. | Packages of prepaid lesson credits that families spend when they book. |
| Group classes with levels | Classes with a class limit. No swimmer levels on their pages. | Classes with a capacity and an assigned instructor. No levels on their pages. | Classes with a capacity, a max per family, and age or skill groups. Progress levels on Pro Max and up. |
| Waitlists | For fully booked times, on Standard and Premium. | For popular services and staff, on Plus and Premium. | Class waitlists that tell families when a spot opens, plus a school waitlist you drag to reorder. |
| Makeups for missed lessons | Clients can reschedule. No makeup credits on their pages. | Cancellation and no-show fees on Plus. No makeup credits on their pages. | Cancel a lesson and the family gets time credits to rebook. Cancel a whole weather day at once. |
| Waivers and intake questions | Custom intake forms on every plan, including a required form for waivers and agreements. | Contracts with e-signature on every plan. Requiring a signature needs Plus. | Waivers families sign while booking, set per program, plus required intake questions. |
| One parent, several kids | No family setup on their pages. | Customer profiles. No family setup on their pages. | One parent account with a profile for each swimmer. Book siblings together or apart. |
| Travel and home pools | A client's address can be the location. Padding adds travel time. | Square's community forum describes a customer's-location option, without travel buffers or fees. | Home pools, service zones, a travel radius, buffers and surcharges. A home pool's address stays hidden until booking. |
| Instructor pay | Acuity says commission tracking would typically live in a separate accounting system. | Tip pooling and commissions on Plus. Payroll from $35 a month + $6 per person paid. | Payroll view with earned, paid and owed per pay period, and a CSV export. Hourly, contractor and affiliate pay. |
| Deposits | Yes, on every plan. | Yes, on every plan. | Yes, as a percentage of the lesson. |
| Monthly price | $20, $34 or $69 a month, or $16, $27 or $55 billed annually. | $0, $49 or $149 a month per location. | $0 (Standard), $98 (Pro), $200 (Pro Max), from $500 (Enterprise). |
| Card and booking fees | Set by the processor you connect: Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo. | Online: 3.3% + 30¢ on Free, 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium. Saved card: 3.5% + 15¢. | Standard: "23% total fees per transaction". Pro: 5% total. Pro Max: 2.9% + $0.30. |
In Swum, packages, plans and group classes need Pro. Standard covers your booking page and payments. Class series with makeup limits are on Enterprise.
When Acuity is enough
- You teach private lessons on your own, or with a few other instructors. Standard covers up to 6 calendars.
- Most families have one swimmer, or you don't mind them booking each child separately.
- You sell simple packages, and families book each lesson themselves.
- You teach at one pool, or families come to you.
- You're happy to track makeups and staff pay by hand.
Acuity works with Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo, so you can keep the payment processor you already have. Its site says it's been taking bookings since 2006. If this list sounds like you, Acuity is a good choice.
When Square is enough
- You already take payments on Square, maybe in person at the pool, and want one system.
- You're a solo teacher with a handful of regular clients.
- You mostly sell single lessons and want to pay $0 a month. Square Free has online booking, reminders, deposits and contracts with e-signature.
- You'd like classes and packages too, and $49 a month per location for Plus is fine.
Watch the card fees. On Square Free, online payments are 3.3% + 30¢. A saved card costs 3.5% + 15¢ on every plan, and that's the rate you'll pay if you charge families monthly on a card on file.
If you're a solo teacher with a few clients who already uses Square, I'd stay on Square. Switching wouldn't save you enough time to be worth it.
When swim-specific software is worth it
It's worth paying more once the swim-specific work starts taking over your week:
- Families with several kids. One parent books and pays for all of them, and each swimmer keeps their own waiver, notes and level.
- Weekly classes by level. You run group classes with a cap, a max per family and a waitlist, and you place swimmers at the right level.
- Makeups. You're tired of tracking missed lessons in a notebook. In Swum, a cancelled lesson turns into time credits the family rebooks with.
- Sessions. You sell a set number of weeks with lessons on fixed days, and you want every lesson booked when the family checks out.
- Travel. You drive to home pools and need a service area, buffers between stops and a travel fee.
- Staff. You have instructors and need to see who's owed what each pay period.
In the Swum app (swum.ai), all of that sits in one place, along with messages to parents that don't need your cell number.
Swum is newer and much smaller than Acuity or Square. A lot of the swim school features shipped this fall, so book a demo and test it on your real schedule before you switch.
What it costs, honestly
On price alone, Acuity and Square cost less than Swum. The prices are in the table above.
Swum Standard is $0 a month, but the pricing page says "23% total fees per transaction", and that adds up fast once you're busy. Pro is $98 a month with 5% total fees.
If you only need booking and payments, Acuity or Square will cost you less. Swum is worth it when you need what's in the right-hand column of the table.
For Swum and Acuity side by side, see Swum vs Acuity Scheduling.
FAQ
Is Acuity good for swim lessons?
For a solo instructor or a small team teaching private lessons, yes. It handles booking, packages, intake forms, deposits, a waitlist and recurring appointments. It wasn't built for swimming, so siblings, levels, makeups and instructor pay are up to you.
Is Square Appointments good for swim lessons?
Yes, if you already take payments on Square and keep your lessons simple. The Free plan is $0 a month. Classes, packages and a waitlist need Plus, which is $49 a month per location.
Acuity or Square: which is better for a swim instructor?
Acuity is the stronger scheduler, with intake forms on every plan and packages from $27 a month billed annually. Square is a payments company with booking built in, and it's cheaper to start. You can also have both: Acuity lets you connect Square as its payment processor.
Can Acuity or Square handle one parent with several kids?
Not that I could find. Neither shows a parent-with-several-swimmers setup on its own pages, so parents usually book each child separately or list them in a form. Swim software keeps one parent account with a profile for each swimmer.
Do Acuity or Square track swimmer levels?
Not on their feature pages. You can name classes by level and ask about level in a form, but you'd track progress somewhere else. In Swum, progress levels and milestones come with Pro Max and up.
Can I move from Acuity to Swum?
Yes. In Swum, go to Clients → Add Client → Switch to Swum, upload your Acuity export, check the columns, preview it and import it yourself. No family gets an email until you turn emails back on.
