If you run a pottery studio, you've almost certainly hit the wall that software is supposed to solve: shelves filling with finished pieces, a notebook full of names you can't read, and a steady trickle of "is my mug ready yet?" texts. A small category of tools now exists for exactly this problem. The annoying part is that they all describe themselves with the same handful of words, so it's genuinely hard to tell which one fits your studio.
I run a paint-your-own-pottery studio in Zurich and I build one of these tools (ClayTrack), so read this as informed but not neutral. I've tried to be fair, and I'll point out where a competitor is the better call. Prices and features below reflect what each company published in mid-2026; this stuff changes, so confirm the specifics before you commit.
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The one question that decides everything
Before you compare features, answer this: do you mainly need to track pieces and notify customers, or do you need to run a whole studio business — paid classes, memberships, a point of sale — from one system?
That single distinction splits this market cleanly in two:
- Focused piece-trackers — ClayTrack is the clearest example. Customers register pieces by scanning a QR code, you advance them through firing stages, and the software notifies people automatically. Quick to set up, cheap, and almost nothing to learn.
- Full studio-management platforms — Kiln Fire, Kilnfox and PotteryStudio.app. These add class scheduling, membership billing, bookings, POS and more. Powerful if you need it; a lot of overhead, and a lot of monthly cost, if you don't.
Most paint-your-own-pottery (PYOP) studios and plenty of community clay studios live entirely in the first group. If you sell classes and memberships at scale, the second group earns its keep. Get this one question right and the rest of the decision is easy.
ClayTrack
Best for: PYOP and clay studios that want the simplest way to register pieces and notify customers, by SMS as well as email, with full branding on every plan.
Full disclosure again: this is the one I build, out of my own studio. The whole design goal was that registering a piece should be easier than filling out a paper slip. A customer scans a QR code, types their name, adds a photo, and they're done in about 30 seconds, with no app and no account. You advance pieces through your workflow with one tap, and people are notified the moment their work is fired and again when it's ready. Reminders keep going until the piece is collected. We spent a year refining it against thousands of real registrations before releasing it, and I still run my own studio on it.
What sets it apart from the heavier tools:
- Email and optional SMS, through your own Twilio or SimpleTexting account. Kiln Fire and Kilnfox are email-only; texts get read, and read reminders get shelves cleared.
- Workflows you design yourself. A PYOP flow (painted → fired → ready) looks nothing like a clay flow (greenware → bisque → glaze fired → ready). Build your own, with its own notifications per stage, so it fits hand-building and membership studios too.
- Full branding on every plan — the form, the emails and the texts all carry your studio's name and colours. Nothing's locked behind a higher tier.
- The practical extras: QR labels with a shelf-locator, a shipping workflow with printed address labels, per-piece custom fields ("glaze colour", a comment box), and a Mailchimp opt-in so you build your mailing list with every visitor.
- Built and supported by an actual studio owner, which is why the defaults match how studios really work, and why studios on both sides of the Atlantic use it.
Worth knowing: ClayTrack deliberately doesn't do classes, memberships or POS. If running the whole business from one dashboard matters more than simplicity, a full platform suits you better. Plans differ only on how many pieces you register per month, starting at $19/month, with a free 14-day trial. Not sure which features you actually need?
Kiln Fire
Best for: Busy ceramics studios that run paid classes, open-studio memberships and a shop, and want one system for all of it.
Kiln Fire was one of the first proper platforms in this space (launched 2023, built with studio owners) and it's the most fully featured tool here. Alongside piece tracking and kiln status it handles class registration, membership billing, firing fees, supply sales and a point of sale. Members can check the kiln and get an email when their pieces come out. It's a strong product for the studios it's built for.
The catch is how cost scales. Pricing is modular, so you assemble a plan from "core" features, and to be fair it starts cheap: about $29/month for a small studio with just piece tracking, around $49 with pickups added, and roughly $149 for a small studio running every module. The steep part is size: that same tracking-and-pickups combo is about $219/month for a large studio, and a larger studio with the full feature set reaches roughly $579/month. On top of those numbers you pay Stripe card fees plus a small cut on recurring membership charges and invoices, and there's no SMS. For a membership studio billing tuition through the app, it can pencil out. For a grown PYOP shop that just needs to track pieces and nudge pickups, it's a lot of platform and money for a job a focused tracker does from $19 a month with every feature included. More in when a simpler Kiln Fire alternative makes more sense.
Kilnfox
Best for: Ceramic and membership studios that want firing-stage tracking plus bookings and check-ins, cheaper than Kiln Fire.
Kilnfox is the newer all-in-one (around since early 2025) and it's aiming squarely at Kiln Fire's territory: piece tracking through greenware, bisque, glaze and ready, automated email notifications, a personal tracking page per customer, plus memberships, equipment bookings, usage quotas and QR check-ins. Letting customers pick a pickup slot from your open hours is a nice touch. It's clean and well made.
Its pitch against Kiln Fire is price, and it is more affordable. Two things to price out carefully, though: the cheaper tiers cap how many staff accounts and members you get, and branding/customisation is held back on the lowest plans, so the entry price often isn't the price you'll actually pay as you grow. Like Kiln Fire, it's email-only with no SMS at the time of writing.
PotteryStudio.app
Best for: Hard to say with confidence, which is the problem.
PotteryStudio.app pitches the broadest offering of all: an all-in-one promising 160+ features, including very specialised ones like staff scheduling and payroll, and "trusted by 500+ studios." It ranks well for generic "pottery studio software" searches, so you'll likely run into it. I'd be careful before paying, though. There's no free trial, so you can't verify any of those feature claims first. The site itself flags that it's "currently under development" with "some features... incomplete or unavailable," yet it'll take you straight into an $80/month subscription. When I looked, the About page, Terms page and the social links (Instagram, Twitter) weren't working, and the app is hosted on Replit, so there's little public information about who's behind it.
I'm not calling it bad, I can't tell, and that's exactly the issue. For software you'll route customer data and card payments through, "no trial and no clear owner" is reason enough to wait. If breadth is what you're after, Kiln Fire is the more proven option. Re-check their site, as things may have matured.
Side-by-side comparison
A quick orientation, not gospel — confirm current details with each vendor before you decide.
| ClayTrack | Kiln Fire | Kilnfox | PotteryStudio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Focused tracker | Full platform | Full platform | Full platform |
| Price | From $19/mo (all features) | ~$29/mo to $579/mo (scales w/ size + modules) | From €25/mo | $80/mo |
| Free trial | 14 days | Yes | Yes | No |
| QR, no app/account | Yes | Varies | Yes | Varies |
| Email reminders | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SMS reminders | Yes (Twilio / SimpleTexting) | No | No | Unclear |
| Custom workflows | Fully custom | Yes | Stage-based | Yes |
| Branding on entry plan | Yes | Yes | Limited on low tiers | Unclear |
| Classes / memberships / POS | No (by design) | Yes | Yes | Yes (claimed) |
| Setup effort | Minimal | Higher | Medium | Higher |
Figures reflect each tool's public materials in mid-2026. "Unclear" means it couldn't be verified without a trial or login. Always confirm current features and pricing directly with the vendor.
How to choose, in three steps
- Answer the one question. Tracker or full platform? If you don't sell classes and memberships at scale, a tracker will serve you better and cost far less.
- Decide on notification channels. If pickup rates are a constant headache, SMS is worth paying for — texts are opened around 98% of the time versus roughly 20% for email. This is where ClayTrack's email-plus-SMS approach pulls ahead of the email-only platforms.
- Check the fit, not the feature count. Can the workflow match your actual stages? Can you brand the customer-facing parts? Is registration genuinely frictionless for a first-time walk-in? A shorter feature list that fits your studio beats a longer one that doesn't.
Whatever you pick, the win is the same: no more lost pieces, no more shelves you can't clear, and customers who hear from you automatically instead of having to chase. If that sounds like the simplest version of the job, that's exactly what we built ClayTrack to be.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best software for a paint-your-own-pottery studio?
For most PYOP and clay studios, the best tool is the simplest one that tracks pieces and notifies customers automatically. A focused tracker like ClayTrack suits studios that mainly need QR registration, status tracking and pickup reminders, and starts at $19/month with SMS and full branding included. Full platforms (Kiln Fire, Kilnfox) suit studios that also run paid classes, memberships and a point of sale, at a higher price.
Do customers need to download an app or create an account?
With ClayTrack, no — they scan a QR code, fill in a short browser form, and they're done in about 30 seconds. Kilnfox uses a similar no-download flow for visitors. Full platforms sometimes ask members to create accounts, which is fine for classes but adds friction for one-time walk-ins.
How much does pottery studio software cost?
Focused trackers typically start around $19/month and scale with how many pieces you register. Full platforms vary a lot: Kiln Fire's modular pricing starts near $29/month for a tiny studio with just tracking but climbs to roughly $219–579/month as you add size and modules, plus card-processing fees. Check whether there's a free trial, whether unused capacity rolls over, and whether every feature is in the base plan.
Can I send SMS reminders as well as email?
ClayTrack sends both, with SMS through your own Twilio or SimpleTexting account. Kiln Fire and Kilnfox are email-only at the time of writing. SMS matters because texts are opened around 98% of the time, versus roughly 20% for email, and usually within minutes — ideal for a pickup reminder.