Built by people who've taken the register.
The Story
Born at 11pm, next to a spreadsheet.
OctoSwim started the way most swim school software should have: at a kitchen table, after a full day poolside, reconciling a register against a bank statement against a WhatsApp thread.
The tools that existed were built for gyms, or for franchises, or for someone with an admin team. Independent swim schools got the leftovers - and a percentage fee on every booking for the privilege.
So we built the thing we wished existed: one place for bookings, money, registers, and progress, priced so a fifty-swimmer school can afford it and a five-hundred-swimmer school isn't punished for growing.
Why an octopus?
Running a swim school means doing eight jobs at once - bookings, billing, registers, rotas, reports, reminders, refunds, and reassurance. Splashy has a tentacle for each.
What We Believe
Four things we won't budge on.
Poolside first
If a feature doesn't survive wet hands, chlorine, and a wobbly four-year-old, it doesn't ship. The desk view comes second.
Your money is your money
Parents pay you, directly, into your Stripe account. We will never take a percentage of a lesson we didn't teach.
Parents are users too
Half the product is for the people paying for lessons. If the parent experience is clunky, the school hears about it - so we don't let it be.
Straight answers
Public pricing, honest comparisons, and support from people who have actually taken a register in the rain.
The Journey
How we got here.
2023
The spreadsheet breaks
A growing swim school, three venues, and one Google Sheet that finally met a booking it couldn't handle.
2024
First version, first pool
A scrappy register-and-bookings app runs a real term at a real school. Teachers ask if they can keep it.
2025
OctoSwim proper
Rebuilt from the tiles up: Stripe payouts, progress frameworks, the email engine, and Splashy's first words.
2026
Schools across the UK
Independent schools, coaches, and multi-venue academies run their weeks on OctoSwim - and we're just warming up.
Come say hello.
Questions, ideas, or just want to talk swim schools? We answer everything.
