Coaching software costs in 2026: what do you really pay?
Coaching software costs in 2026: what do you really pay?
What coaching software costs you in 2026 depends on the plan, the number of coaches and the number of active coachees. At Exantur that falls between €19 and €199 per month. But the subscription is only part of the story. The real question is what you are already spending on separate tools, on duplicate work and on hours you cannot invoice. In this article you will read what the costs consist of, which items you easily overlook and how to work out what software earns you. At Exantur all prices per plan are simply listed on the site, from Mini at €19 per month to Practice at €199 per month.
In brief
- Coaching software usually charges per month or per year. The price depends on the plan, the number of coaches and the number of active coachees.
- Don't just count the subscription. Also count separate tools, payment fees, extra storage and above all the time you spend on administration.
- An annual subscription at Exantur costs ten times the monthly amount. So you pay for two months less than when paying monthly.
- Confidential conversations call for a provider that stores your data in the EU and concludes a data processing agreement.
- Work back from your own practice: how many hours per week do you win back, and what is that hour worth?
Table of contents
- What the costs of coaching software consist of
- What you're already paying without seeing it
- Worked example: time is your biggest cost item
- Exantur's prices at a glance
- Paying monthly or annually?
- Costs you easily overlook
- How to determine what coaching software may cost you
- Our perspective: pay for the journey, not for separate buttons
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
What the costs of coaching software consist of
A pricing page often shows a monthly amount. Behind that amount there are usually a few fixed components. If you know them, you can compare plans fairly.
The base subscription
This is the amount you pay each month or each year for the software itself. With most providers it rises with the plan. A small plan is intended for coaches who are just starting out or have few clients at a time. A larger plan suits a full practice.
The number of coaches and coachees
Much coaching software factors in the number of people using the system. At Exantur the price depends on the plan and on the number of active coachees and coaches. If you work together with a colleague, you pay €25 per month for an extra coach. That way your costs grow along with your practice, and you don't pay in advance for capacity you don't yet need.
Add-ons
Besides the plan, there are often separate add-ons. Think of extra storage for documents and assignments, or your own brand style in your clients' portal. Check with each provider which add-ons exist and what they cost. That way you don't discover only after a few months that something you need is charged separately.
Payment fees
If you let your clients pay through the software, the payment provider charges its own fees per payment. At Exantur you invoice through your own Stripe account. Stripe applies its own rates per payment method, and you pay those directly to Stripe. Exantur itself takes no commission on your revenue. Pay close attention here: a percentage per payment seems small, but adds up considerably each year in a full practice.
What you're already paying without seeing it
Many coaches think they aren't using software yet. In practice they work with a collection of separate aids: a calendar, a booking link, a spreadsheet of clients, a folder of documents, a forms tool for the intake, a note-taking app, email and a chat app for in between. Some of that is free, some costs a few euros a month. Added up, it's rarely nothing.
The biggest costs aren't in those subscriptions. They're in the switching back and forth. You look up the previous session's notes in one app, the action point in an email and the completed intake form in another folder. You send a reminder for the session yourself. You check per app whether a client has already done their assignment. Each small moment costs a few minutes, and you can't invoice those minutes.
There's another hidden cost item: risk. Confidential information about someone's career, relationship or health shouldn't be scattered across tools where you don't know where the data is stored. We'll come back to that later.
Worked example: time is your biggest cost item
A simple example makes clear what it comes down to. The figures below are an example, not an average. Fill them in with your own numbers.
Suppose you're a career coach with 12 active clients. Per client you spend about 10 minutes each week on things outside the session: looking up notes, sending a reminder, following up a check-in by email, re-sharing a document. That's 120 minutes per week, so 2 hours.
| Item | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Administration per week | 12 clients x 10 minutes | 2 hours |
| Administration per month | 2 hours x about 4.3 weeks | about 8.6 hours |
| Value of that time | 8.6 hours x €100 hourly rate | about €860 |
| Exantur Starter plan | per month | €49 |
If software gives you back even a quarter of that time, that's already more than two hours per month. At an hourly rate of €100, that's more than four times the amount of the Starter plan. Want to work this out for your own practice? With the revenue goal calculator for coaches you can see what an hour of yours is really worth.
The example also shows something else. Time you win back can be used in two ways: for extra clients, or for better guidance of the clients you already have. That second option counts just as heavily for many coaches: more attention for check-ins, action points and progress between sessions.
Exantur's prices at a glance
Below are Exantur's plans and add-ons as they appear on the pricing page.
| Plan or add-on | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Mini | €19 | €190 |
| Starter | €49 | €490 |
| Growth | €99 | €990 |
| Practice | €199 | €1,990 |
| Enterprise | on request | on request |
| Extra coach | €25 | |
| Extra 50 GB storage | €29 | |
| Custom Branding | €39 | |
| Agreements | €19 |
For that amount you get a workspace built around the coaching journey itself. You manage your clients, build structured programmes and record sessions in searchable notes, categorised as observations, insights, breakthroughs and action points. You track goals, progress and check-ins between sessions. Intake forms, assessments such as DISC and Wheel of Life, documents, assignments and courses stay linked to the right client.
Around the coaching, Exantur also handles your practice. Clients book online and automatically receive a reminder. Your calendar syncs in both directions with Google Calendar or Outlook, and Zoom is connected. Clients pay through your own Stripe account. You can try Exantur for free first. View all plans on Exantur's pricing page.
Paying monthly or annually?
At Exantur you pay ten times the monthly amount for a year. Per plan that saves:
- Mini: 12 x €19 is €228. Per year you pay €190, so €38 less.
- Starter: 12 x €49 is €588. Per year you pay €490, so €98 less.
- Growth: 12 x €99 is €1,188. Per year you pay €990, so €198 less.
- Practice: 12 x €199 is €2,388. Per year you pay €1,990, so €398 less.
Paying monthly suits you if you're just starting out and first want to see how your practice grows. Paying annually suits you once you know you use the software every week. You then also have a fixed amount per year, and that makes your budget calmer.
Costs you easily overlook
Data protection
As a coach you process personal data, often very sensitive data. The GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation, is the European privacy law that governs how you handle it. If you have a software provider store data for you, Article 28 of the GDPR requires you to conclude an agreement about it. That is called a data processing agreement.
A provider that doesn't arrange this seems cheaper, but places the work and the risk with you. Exantur stores data in the EU, in Frankfurt, and offers a data processing agreement. Each organisation is kept separate from other organisations, so no one can access another practice's data. You log in with MFA, multi-factor authentication: alongside your password, you confirm with a second step, for example a code on your phone. This way the software helps you handle data carefully. Your own agreements with clients remain your responsibility.
Switching and setting up
The first weeks cost time: transferring clients, setting up your programmes, rebuilding your intake form. That's a one-off. The more the software is already geared to coaching, the less you have to figure out yourself. A general CRM, a customer management system such as sales teams use, first has to be reworked into something that suits a coaching journey. That time counts too.
Storage
Do you work a lot with documents, recordings or extensive assignments? Then check how much storage you need. At Exantur you can add 50 GB of extra storage for €29 per month, so you only pay when you really need it.
AI assistance
Exantur has an optional AI assistant that drafts session summaries, session preparations and final reports from your own notes. It works with your own key at Anthropic, the company behind the AI model. Usage therefore runs through your own account there. Data that could identify a client does not go to the model.
Growing with more coaches
Are you going to work together with a colleague, or build a small practice? Then costs per extra coach are added. Larger practices and organisations also get teams and roles at Exantur, 360-degree feedback, insight into what coaching delivers for a client organisation, logs of who did what, your own brand style and connections with other systems. Read more on the page about Exantur for organisations.
How to determine what coaching software may cost you
- Make a list of what you currently use. Write down each tool, with the monthly amount. Don't forget the free tools, because that's often where most of the searching happens.
- Estimate your time outside the sessions. How many minutes per client per week do you spend on notes, reminders, check-ins and documents? Multiply that by your number of clients.
- Put a price on that hour. Use your own hourly rate. Don't know it precisely yet? Then work back from your journey prices with the package price calculator for coaching.
- Choose the plan that suits your number of coachees. Also look ahead: how many clients do you want to guide in a year's time?
- Add up the add-ons you really need. An extra coach, extra storage or your own brand style. Leave out what you don't use.
- Check the privacy. Ask where the data is stored and whether there's a data processing agreement. At Exantur the data is stored in the EU and the data processing agreement is available.
- Start with real journeys. Use the free trial period to set up your first clients and programmes. That way you work from one place from the first week.
Want to see plans side by side first? On our page about the best practice management software for coaches you'll read what to watch out for when choosing.
Our perspective: pay for the journey, not for separate buttons
When comparing coaching software, many coaches first look at the lowest monthly amount. We understand that. But a coach doesn't sell separate sessions. You sell a journey, with goals, agreements and growth between the conversations.
That's why we built Exantur from the start around the coaching relationship, and not as an adapted CRM or scheduling tool. Your notes are categorised as observations, insights, breakthroughs and action points, so that before each session you know within a few minutes where your client stands. With check-ins between sessions and accountability, tracking whether a client does what they set out to do, you see where progress arises and where extra attention is needed.
Your coachee has their own portal with goals, progress, check-ins and shared documents. This way your client also sees for themselves what the journey delivers. That is the value of coaching, and that's what you want to make visible.
Part of that is peace of mind about data. What someone tells you in a coaching conversation is confidential. That's why we store data in the EU, keep organisations separate from one another and offer a data processing agreement. And because your clients pay through your own Stripe account, we take no commission on what you earn.
Martijn
Frequently asked questions
What does coaching software cost per month?
It depends on the plan, the number of coaches and the number of active coachees. At Exantur it starts with Mini at €19 per month and goes up to Practice at €199 per month. For larger organisations there is Enterprise, whose price is not listed on the site.
Isn't free coaching software cheaper?
A free tool costs no subscription, but it does cost time if your notes, goals and check-ins are spread across different places. You also don't always know where your data is stored or whether you can conclude a data processing agreement. For a paid practice with confidential conversations, that weighs more heavily than the monthly amount.
Do I pay Exantur a percentage of my revenue?
No. You invoice your clients through your own Stripe account and Exantur takes no commission. You only pay the fees that Stripe itself charges per payment.
Can I start for free with Exantur?
Yes, Exantur offers a free trial period. During it you can set up your first clients, programmes and intake forms and get started right away.
What does an extra coach in my practice cost?
An extra coach costs €25 per month at Exantur. This lets you start small and expand when your practice grows.