SwingMatch 
CoachNow $900/Year for Scheduling. Is CoachNow Academy Worth It?
CoachNow's video tools are industry-leading. But scheduling costs extra — and works differently than you might expect. Here's the full breakdown.
The Short Version
| SwingMatch | CoachNow | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Lesson management | Video analysis |
| Scheduling included | ✓ All tiers | Academy only ($900/yr) |
| Video tools | Sharing only | ✓ Draw, compare, voice-over |
| Platform fee | ✓ None (paid plan) | ✗ 0.5% |
Bottom line: CoachNow started as a video analysis platform and added business tools. SwingMatch started as a business platform and added video sharing. Choose based on which problem you're solving first.
What CoachNow Does Well
CoachNow's video tools are the real deal:
- Draw lines and angles on swings
- Compare swings side-by-side
- Record voice-over while annotating
- Dedicated "Spaces" per student for ongoing feedback
- Integrates with Rapsodo launch monitors
If you do remote coaching — students sending videos between lessons — this is what CoachNow was built for.
Scheduling
Scheduling requires CoachNow Academy ($900/yr). SwingMatch includes it on all tiers, including free.
| SwingMatch | CoachNow | |
|---|---|---|
| Availability model | Additive (add times you're free) | Rolling (set weekly hours) |
| Cascading | ✓ | ✗ |
| Booking priority | ✓ Tag-based | ✗ |
Why additive matters ▼
CoachNow's rolling model assumes you work the same hours every week. Set "9-5 Monday through Friday" and block out conflicts as they come up.
That works — but most pros have tournaments, member events, and pro shop shifts constantly changing their week. With SwingMatch, you start with nothing and add what's actually available. Consistent hours every week? That works too — just copy last week. The flexibility is there when you need it.
Why cascading matters ▼
Most pros work shifts. You might have time after your shift to teach, but you don't want a 4pm lesson when your shift ends at 2pm — that's two hours of waiting.
With SwingMatch, cascading solves this. Set 2-5pm available, but students only see the 2pm slot. Once booked, 3pm opens. Your schedule fills front-to-back, ensuring back-to-back lessons around your shift.
Why booking priority matters ▼
With SwingMatch, tag students (members, public, VIP — whatever you want) and control when each group can book.
Set days in advance: members can book 4 weeks out, public students only 1 week. Set days of the week: Wednesdays for new clients, other days reserved for existing students.
One availability, different access. No need for separate calendars or booking links.
Payments
Both use Stripe. CoachNow adds a 0.5% platform fee on top.
| SwingMatch | CoachNow | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | ✓ None | ✗ 0.5% on top of Stripe |
| Checkout | In-app | Leaves to Stripe page |
| Pass fees to students | ✓ | ✗ |
| Offline payment tracking | ✓ | ✗ |
Why in-app checkout matters
When students leave your booking flow to pay on a separate Stripe page, you lose them. They get confused, distracted, or abandon the booking entirely. With SwingMatch, payment happens right in the app — no redirects, no drop-off.
Why passing fees matters
Online payments mean fewer no-shows and no chasing e-transfers. But Stripe charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction — on $30,000/year, that's ~$960.
With SwingMatch, add a small booking fee that students pay. You get all the benefits of online payments at zero cost.
Prefer cash or e-transfer for some students? SwingMatch tracks offline payments too — CoachNow doesn't.
Communication
CoachNow uses Spaces — group chats or individual feeds. SwingMatch organizes communication around lessons and student profiles.
| SwingMatch | CoachNow | |
|---|---|---|
| Organization | Per lesson + student profile | Spaces (feeds/group chats) |
| Lesson history | ✓ Attached to each lesson | ✗ Mixed into feed |
| Direct messaging | ✓ Separate in-app chat | ✓ Within Spaces |
| Group messaging | ✓ One-way or two-way | ✓ |
| Notification control | ✓ SMS or email | — |
Why lesson-based organization matters
Spaces work like social feeds — posts, videos, and messages all in one stream. Fine for a few students, but can get out of control without proper structure.
With SwingMatch, the structure is built in. Notes and videos attach to each lesson. Open a student's profile and see every lesson, what you worked on, and their progression over time. Questions and scheduling happen in a separate direct chat — not buried in the lesson feed.
One view for teaching history. One view for conversation. No scrolling through months of posts to find that swing video from April.
Need to blast a message to your whole roster? SwingMatch has group messaging too — set it one-way (announcements) or two-way (discussion), and choose whether to notify via SMS or just email.
Video Tools
SwingMatch doesn't have video analysis tools. We handle scheduling, payments, and student management — and work alongside whatever video tools you already use.
| SwingMatch | CoachNow | |
|---|---|---|
| Video markup/drawing | ✗ | ✓ |
| Side-by-side comparison | ✗ | ✓ |
| Upload to lesson notes | ✓ | ✓ |
Use what you already have
Mark up a swing in CoachNow, OnForm, or Sportsbox AI — then upload it to the lesson notes in SwingMatch. The analysis lives where you did it. The record lives with the lesson.
We're not in the video analysis space, and our pricing reflects that. If you need markup tools, use a dedicated video app. If you need scheduling, payments, and student management — that's what SwingMatch is for.
Pricing Comparison
CoachNow
- Analyze: $59/yr — basic video tools
- PRO: $499/yr — full video suite, Spaces
- Academy: $900/yr — adds scheduling, booking, team features, 0.5% fee on payments
SwingMatch
- Free: $0 — scheduling, packages, 10% fee on online payments
- Pro: $449/yr — all features, no platform fee
- Academy: $1,499/yr — 6 Pro accounts for your team
The Bottom Line
CoachNow and SwingMatch solve different primary problems:
CoachNow is a video analysis and communication platform that added business tools. If video feedback is central to how you teach, it's excellent at that job.
SwingMatch is a scheduling and business platform that added video sharing. If booking, payments, and packages are your admin headaches, it's built specifically for that.
The question isn't "which is better?" — it's "which problem are you solving first?"
Frequently Asked Questions
I already use CoachNow for video. Should I switch? ▼
Can I use CoachNow for video and SwingMatch for booking? ▼
Why doesn't SwingMatch have drawing tools? ▼
What's "cascading availability" and why does it matter? ▼
Is CoachNow Academy's scheduling good enough? ▼
Try Both
The best way to decide is to try them:
- CoachNow — Free trial available
- SwingMatch — Free tier available, 14-day Pro trial
Set up both, test with a few students, and see which fits how you actually work.
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