A modern Swimbiz alternative — built for Singapore swim schools
Natare replaces Swimbiz with one platform where everything is included: visual scheduling, attendance and make-ups, invoicing, a real enquiry CRM, WhatsApp and email marketing, staff roles and reporting. No add-on modules to price separately, no separate mobile app subscription, and a team in your time zone that migrates your data for you.
Swimbiz is a capable product. Here is where we differ.
Swimbiz has served swim schools for years and does a great deal well — its visual scheduler, skill tracking and financial reporting are genuinely strong, and it has integrations we don't yet match, including Xero, QuickBooks and several direct-debit providers.
We are not going to pretend otherwise. Where Natare differs is in three things that matter most to a growing school in Singapore and Southeast Asia:
Everything included
The parent portal, online registration, messaging and payment collection are core parts of Natare — not separately priced add-ons you discover on the second invoice.
WhatsApp, not just email and SMS
In Singapore and across the region, parents live on WhatsApp. Natare sends personalised, per-family WhatsApp messages as a first-class channel.
Local, not remote
Natare was built alongside a working Singapore swim school. Your support hours are your business hours, and your data sits in the Singapore region.
The six reasons swim schools ask us about switching
01 · The add-on bill
The features that make the software genuinely useful — customer portal, online registration, texting, payment gateway, mobile app — each carry their own charge, and the total keeps climbing as the school grows.
02 · No WhatsApp
Email open rates in this market are what they are. Schools end up copy-pasting class details into WhatsApp by hand, family by family, every single term.
03 · No real enquiry pipeline
A waiting list is not a CRM. Enquiries live in a notebook or a shared inbox, and nobody can say how many were followed up or which channel produced them.
04 · Terms are a workaround
Schools that run genuine school terms end up manually ending classes, rebuilding the timetable each term and cleaning up expired classes by hand.
05 · Support in the wrong time zone
When something breaks at 5pm on a Saturday in Singapore, an office in Australia, the UK or the UAE is not where you want your help desk to be.
06 · Ease of use
Reviewers on independent software directories rate Swimbiz's ease of use lowest of its scored categories, and below several alternatives. Front-desk staff turn over; the software has to be learnable in an afternoon.
Ease-of-use observation based on aggregated user ratings published on GetApp, reviewed September 2026.
Natare vs Swimbiz
Compiled from Swimbiz's own published feature list. Where Swimbiz is ahead, we've said so.
| Capability | Natare | Swimbiz |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | Browser-based, mobile-first — nothing to install | Cloud-based; staff and check-in mobile apps offered as add-ons |
| Class scheduling | Day, week, month and coach views | Visual scheduler with daily, weekly and staff views |
| Clash prevention | Lane and coach double-booking blocked at save, enforced server-side | Not published as a distinct feature |
| School terms | Term-bound classes that expire automatically + one-click term rollover | Flexible weekly, daily or custom scheduling |
| Attendance & make-ups | Included — poolside registers, credits, policy rules | Included — make-up tracking with configurable policies |
| Skill & level tracking | Included | Included, with printed progress reports |
| Lead & enquiry CRM | Full pipeline: sources, stages, follow-ups, trial bookings, conversion reporting | Waiting list and customer records |
| Parent portal | Included | Listed as a paid add-on |
| Online registration & bookings | Included | Listed as paid add-ons |
| WhatsApp messaging | Included — personalised per family, with the child's own class details | Not listed |
| SMS / texting | Available | Listed as a paid add-on |
| Email with open & click tracking | Included, sent from your own verified domain | Email with filtering; automated notifications |
| Invoicing | Included — bulk term billing, credits, refunds, branded PDFs | Included — automatic invoicing, credits, recurring charges |
| Payment gateway | Included | Listed as a paid add-on (Stripe) |
| Direct debit providers | On request | Ezidebit, GoCardless and Worldpay integrations |
| Accounting integration | Spreadsheet exports; direct integrations on request | Xero and QuickBooks integrations |
| Point of sale | Not offered today | Available as a paid add-on |
| Staff roles & permissions | Four roles enforced at page, API and navigation level | Staff access with user levels |
| Reporting | Enrolment, retention, utilisation, revenue, conversion by source | Statistics, financial reporting, franchise CRM view |
| Multi-venue / multi-pool | Unlimited venues, pools and lanes on one login | Supported; franchise reporting available |
| Data isolation | Row-level security plus independent application-layer tenant filtering | Not published |
| Data residency | Singapore region (ap-southeast-1) | Not published |
| Support hours | Singapore business hours, on WhatsApp | Contact numbers listed for Australia, UK and UAE |
| Pricing model | One inclusive quote per school — no add-on modules | Core product plus separately priced add-ons |
| Migration & setup | Done for you — data import, timetable build, staff training | Contact vendor |
Comparison compiled from Swimbiz's publicly published feature and product pages (thinksmartsoftware.com) and independent software directory listings, reviewed September 2026. Vendors change their products and packaging — please verify current details directly with Swimbiz before deciding. Swimbiz is a product of Think Smart Software; all trademarks belong to their respective owners. Natare is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Think Smart Software.
What changes in week one
Term rollover in minutes
Copy last term's entire timetable into the new term in a single action instead of rebuilding it class by class.
One WhatsApp send
Every family gets their own child's day, time, pool, lane and coach — plus the term's closures — without anyone copy-pasting.
Enquiries stop leaking
Every enquiry has an owner and a next action, and you can finally see your conversion rate.
One predictable bill
No add-on modules to switch on, no per-feature surprises as the school grows.
Switching without losing a term
Nobody changes swim school software mid-term and enjoys it. We plan the move around a term boundary and do the heavy lifting ourselves.
Export from your current system
We tell you exactly which exports to pull — customers, students, classes, enrolments, levels, staff and outstanding balances — and you send them across. Spreadsheets are fine.
We map and import
Your data is mapped into Natare's structure, checked line by line, and loaded into a private environment for your school. You review the result before anyone else sees it.
Your timetable, rebuilt once
Venues, pools, lanes, terms, levels and the current term's grid are set up for you — with clash detection catching anything that was quietly wrong in the old system.
Team training by role
Short sessions for the front desk, the coaches and management — each covering only the parts they actually use.
Parallel run
Run both systems for a few weeks. Compare registers and invoices. Only when the numbers agree do we switch off the old one.
Go live on a term boundary
Cut over between terms so no class, credit or invoice is caught mid-flight — and keep our WhatsApp number for week-one questions.
What schools ask before they move
Will we lose our student history?
No. Students, families, enrolments, level history and outstanding balances are all imported. Historical attendance and invoices can be brought across too, or retained as an archive export from your old system — we'll advise based on what your current platform exports.
How long does a migration take?
For a single-venue school with a few hundred swimmers, typically two to three weeks from first export to go-live, most of which is your team getting comfortable rather than us moving data. Multi-venue operations take longer, planned around your term dates.
Can we run both systems at once?
Yes, and we recommend it. A parallel run of a few weeks is the only honest way to prove the new system produces the same registers and the same invoices as the old one.
What if Swimbiz does something we rely on that Natare doesn't?
Tell us on the first call. Some gaps we can close quickly, some are already on the roadmap, and some — point of sale, for instance — we don't offer today and won't pretend to. We would rather you stayed where you are than switched to something that doesn't fit.
Is there a contract lock-in?
No lock-in clause and no export fee. Your students, families, classes, attendance and invoices can be exported in full to standard spreadsheet files at any time.
What does Natare cost compared to Swimbiz?
We quote per school based on active swimmers, venues and the modules you need, and everything is included in that number — no add-on charges as you grow. Send us your current setup on WhatsApp at +91 8368980333 and we'll come back with a like-for-like comparison.
Send us your current setup — we'll tell you honestly if we're a fit
How many swimmers, how many pools, what you're paying for today. We'll come back with a straight answer, including where Swimbiz would still serve you better.