9 Best Beauty Salon Management Software in 2026, Compared

Quick comparison

The best beauty salon management software

#1

GlossGenius

Best for: Solo stylists and small salon teams that want polished booking, payments and marketing in one easy app

★★★★★★★★★★4.9/5 on G2 (85 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit glossgenius.com

Starting price$28/month (Standard, billed monthly; $24/month billed annually)

Free planNo — 14-day free trial

GlossGenius is the easiest tool here to run day to day, and that is the whole pitch: a booking page clients love, payments that just work, and marketing that does not need a manual. Standard costs $28 a month billed monthly, or $24 a month billed annually, and covers a booking website, online booking, payments and point of sale, client and inventory management, email and text marketing, plus packages and memberships.

The trade-off is depth. Standard suits a solo stylist or a small team; a growing team needs Gold at $48 a month billed annually for waitlists, forms and waivers, Reserve with Google and time tracking, and a team of ten or more needs Platinum at $148. Card processing is a flat rate with no per-transaction add-ons. Pick GlossGenius when the client experience matters most and the team is small.

What we like

• Clients book in under 30 seconds with no account or app download required
• Flat-rate card processing with no per-transaction add-on fees
• Gold adds waitlists, forms and waivers, Reserve with Google and time tracking for $48/month billed annually
• Rated 4.9/5 on G2, the highest score in this list

Watch out for

• Standard covers a small team; larger teams need Gold or Platinum
• No free plan — only a 14-day trial — and extra locations cost extra
• Advanced reporting and unlimited team members wait for Platinum at $148/month billed annually

#2

Vagaro

Best for: Multi-staff salons that want the broadest feature set near $30 a month, with a cost ceiling as the team grows

★★★★★★★★★★4.6/5 on G2 (394 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit vagaro.com

Starting price$30/month (1 bookable calendar; $23.99/month for the first 6 months)

Free planNo — 30-day free trial

Vagaro has been the workhorse of American salons for years, and the formula still works: online booking, point of sale, client management, email and text marketing, payroll and reporting for $30 a month per bookable calendar. New customers pay $23.99 a month for the first six months, each extra calendar adds $10, and after seven paid calendars the price stops climbing — a ceiling no per-staff rival can match.

The ecosystem is the real strength and the real catch. The built-in marketplace sends new clients, but those bookings carry a 20% fee on a new client's first appointment, and intake forms, text marketing and the website builder are all paid add-ons. Clients must also create a Vagaro account to book. Buy Vagaro when you want the broadest toolkit for the money and a predictable ceiling as the team grows.

What we like

• Broadest feature set for the price, including marketing, memberships and payroll tools
• Cost ceiling: after seven paid calendars, extra staff cost nothing more
• Built-in marketplace sends new clients to the salon
• No commission on bookings clients make directly with the salon

Watch out for

• Clients must create a Vagaro account to book online
• Forms, text marketing and the website builder are paid add-ons on top of the subscription
• Marketplace bookings carry a 20% fee on a new client's first appointment

#3

Fresha

Best for: Budget-conscious salons and solo pros that want a low subscription plus a huge booking marketplace

★★★★★★★★★★4.8/5 on Capterra (1,449 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit fresha.com

Starting price$19.95/month (Independent, 1 bookable team member)

Free planNo — 7-day free trial

Fresha built its name as the salon software that cost nothing, and that reputation still follows it — but the free plan ended in 2025. Today a solo pro pays $19.95 a month for the Independent plan, and a team pays $14.95 per bookable team member, for booking, point of sale, client records, memberships and marketing, with a 7-day free trial and no free tier.

The low subscription comes with a catch that matters more than the price: every new client the marketplace sends costs a one-time 20% commission, minimum $6, and loyalty tools, Google review requests and the AI Concierge are paid add-ons. Fresha is cheapest when your clients come from your own marketing, not theirs — and dearest when marketplace discovery becomes your main source of bookings.

What we like

• Lowest subscription in this list, at $19.95/month for a solo pro
• Huge consumer marketplace puts the salon in front of millions of bookers
• Clean, modern interface that staff learn in a day
• Team plan drops to $14.95 per bookable team member

Watch out for

• No free plan since 2025 — only a 7-day trial — despite the old 'free' reputation
• 20% commission (minimum $6) on every new client the marketplace sends
• Loyalty, Google review requests and the AI Concierge are paid add-ons

#4

Square Appointments

Best for: Solo pros and small salons already running on Square for payments and point of sale

★★★★★★★★★★4.3/5 on G2 (37 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit squareup.com

Starting priceFree (Free plan, one location; Plus $49/month per location)

Free planYes — Free plan ($0, one location)

Square Appointments is the only entry here with a real free plan, and for a solo pro it is hard to argue with free. The Free plan costs $0 for one location and includes a booking website, unlimited staff calendars, online booking, automated reminders, deposits and invoices — plus Square point of sale, so services and retail products ring up in one transaction.

The catch is specialization. Square is a payments company that added scheduling, not a salon company, so commission tracking, advanced client forms and salon workflows are thinner than on Vagaro or GlossGenius. No-show fees, waitlists and Google Calendar sync need Plus at $49 a month per location, and resource booking needs Premium at $149. Choose Square when you already run on it — not when you need the deepest salon toolkit.

What we like

• Genuinely free for one location, with no monthly fee at all
• Services and retail products ring up in one Square POS transaction
• Unlimited staff calendars and automated reminders on the free plan
• No-show protection with cards on file

Watch out for

• Salon-specific features lag behind dedicated platforms: no commission tracking or advanced client forms
• No-show fees, waitlists and Google Calendar sync need Plus at $49/month per location
• Card processing runs 2.6% + 15¢ in person and 3.3% + 30¢ online on the free plan

#5

Booksy

Best for: Independent stylists and barbershops that want a strong client app and marketplace reach

★★★★★★★★★★4.8/5 on G2 (9 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit booksy.com

Starting price$29.99/month (Booksy Biz, first user; +$20/month per extra team member)

Free planNo — 14-day free trial

Booksy started with barbers and built outward, and that heritage shows in a product tuned for chair-based businesses. Booksy Biz costs $29.99 a month for the first user, with each extra team member at $20, and every feature is included from day one: online booking, client management, marketing, no-show protection, gift cards, memberships and reporting, with a 14-day free trial.

The single price is honest, but the per-user math is not kind to big teams: a five-chair shop pays about $110 a month before card processing, and the optional Boost feature takes 30% of a new client's first visit, capped at $100. Booksy fits best where the owner works the chair and the marketplace fills empty slots — a barbershop or a small studio with an established book.

What we like

• One plan with every feature included — no tiers to upgrade into
• Large consumer marketplace built for barbers and beauty pros
• 2,000 free marketing SMS a month, with confirmations and reminders always free
• Deposits and no-show protection built in

Watch out for

• Per-user pricing grows with the team: a five-chair shop pays about $110/month
• Boost takes 30% of a new client's first visit, capped at $100
• No annual billing discount, so the monthly price is the price

#6

Mangomint

Best for: Growing salons and spas with 3 or more staff that want heavy automation and the best-reviewed support

★★★★★★★★★★4.9/5 on Capterra (355 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit mangomint.com

Starting price$130/month (1 location, 1 user: $120 per location + $10 per user)

Free planNo — free trial

Mangomint is the premium pick in this list, and the reviews explain why: it scores 4.9 out of 5 on Capterra across 355 reviews, the highest here, with owners praising an interface staff actually enjoy and support that answers fast. Pricing is $120 a month per location plus $10 a month per user — $130 a month for one location with one user — with no setup fees and no contracts.

The price climbs quickly once the add-ons start: digital forms and charting cost $50 a month, Connect messaging $75, and payroll $50 plus $8 per worker. A five-person salon pays $170 a month before any of those. Pick Mangomint when the team is growing, automation matters more than the lowest price, and the salon can use the headroom — not when a solo chair is the whole business.

What we like

• Highest-rated tool in this list: 4.9/5 on Capterra across 355 reviews
• Strong automation: smart scheduling, memberships and marketing that run themselves
• Modern interface staff actually enjoy using, with fast US-based support
• Transparent per-location pricing with no setup fees or contracts

Watch out for

• Costs two to five times the mid-market tools once add-ons are counted
• Forms and charting ($50/month), Connect messaging ($75/month) and payroll are paid add-ons
• Priced per location, so a second site doubles the bill

#7

Mindbody

Best for: Salons and spas that also sell classes, memberships and packages and want marketplace reach

★★★★★★★★★★3.7/5 on G2 (527 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit mindbodyonline.com

Starting price$99/month (Starter, per location)

Free planNo — demo only

Mindbody is the enterprise incumbent of the wellness world, and its scale is unmatched: a consumer app with millions of people actively searching for classes and appointments, plus the deepest class, membership and package tools in this list. Starter costs $99 a month per location with unlimited staff logins, and includes scheduling, online booking, integrated payments, basic reporting and a done-for-you website.

The buying experience is the honest catch. There is no free trial and no free plan — only a demo — and the higher tiers above Starter are quote-only, so the real price needs a sales call. Marketplace bookings also carry a 20% fee on a new client's first purchase, capped at $30. Choose Mindbody when classes and memberships are the business; choose a booking-first tool when they are not.

What we like

• Strongest class, membership and package management in this list
• Consumer app with millions of active bookers looking for services
• Unlimited staff logins on every plan — adding staff never raises the bill
• Onboarding and 24/7 support included on every plan

Watch out for

• No free trial and no free plan — only a demo before you buy
• The higher tiers above Starter are quote-only, so the real price needs a sales call
• Marketplace bookings carry a 20% fee on a new client's first purchase, capped at $30

#8

Boulevard

Best for: Upscale salons, spas and medspas where the client experience justifies premium prices

★★★★★★★★★★4.4/5 on G2 (110 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit joinblvd.com

Starting price$159/month (Essentials, billed monthly; $143/month billed annually)

Free planNo — no free trial

Boulevard does not try to be the cheapest option. It tries to be the one your clients notice: an elegant booking flow, rich profiles, messaging and checkout designed for upscale salons, spas and medspas, where the experience justifies premium prices. Essentials costs $159 a month billed monthly, or $143 billed annually, per location for up to five providers.

The platform earns genuine loyalty from owners who switched from cheaper tools, and its membership and marketing tools are built for retention and average ticket rather than raw booking volume. The catch is the price tag — five times the mid-market tools, with no free trial — plus $65 a month for forms and a reliance on Boulevard's own Duo hardware for the full checkout. It is worth it when your brand is premium; it is overkill for a budget shop.

What we like

• Premium booking and checkout experience clients notice
• Strong membership and marketing tools built for retention and average ticket
• Built specifically for high-end self-care businesses, including medspas
• Text and email allowances (250 texts, 1,000 emails a month) included on Essentials

Watch out for

• Five times the price of the mid-market tools, with no free trial
• Forms cost $65/month extra, and the full checkout leans on Boulevard's Duo hardware
• Medspa plans with charting start higher, at $199/month

#9

Zenoti

Best for: Multi-location salon, spa and medspa chains that need one system across every site

★★★★★★★★★★4.5/5 on G2 (306 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit zenoti.com

Starting priceCustom quote (no published prices; user reports cluster around $225–$400/month per location)

Free planNo — demo only

Zenoti is what you buy when you outgrow everything else. It is an all-in-one platform covering booking, point of sale, inventory, human resources, payroll, marketing and analytics, now layered with AI agents that answer calls, chase leads and fill empty slots. More than 30,000 businesses across 50 countries run on it, and it is the proven choice for multi-location salon, spa and medspa groups.

The depth is the point — and the price is the barrier. Zenoti publishes no prices at all: every quote is custom, user reports cluster around $225 to $400 a month per location, and implementation typically takes two to four months with setup fees. A single-location salon would be paying for an aircraft carrier to cross a river. When you have ten locations and a COO, Zenoti is the conversation; before that, it is not.

What we like

• The most comprehensive platform in this list, from booking to payroll
• AI agents that answer calls, chase leads and fill empty slots on higher tiers
• Proven across 30,000-plus businesses in 50 countries
• Enterprise reporting and benchmarks drawn from tens of thousands of businesses

Watch out for

• No published pricing — every quote is custom, with reported figures from $225 to $400 a month per location
• Implementation typically takes 2 to 4 months, often with setup fees
• Far more platform than a single location needs

The best beauty salon management software does three jobs at once: it fills the chairs, takes the money and keeps the client record straight — without making the owner live in the app. We ranked the nine tools below by fit for the most common buyer, a single-location salon owner, starting with the polished solo tools and ending with the enterprise suites, and every price was checked against the vendor's own pricing page in a fresh read dated November 7, 2026.

How to choose the best beauty salon management software

• Count your bookable chairs first. Vagaro charges per calendar, Booksy and Fresha per team member, Boulevard and Mindbody per location. The same five chairs cost $70 a month on Vagaro, $110 on Booksy and $159 on Boulevard — so price the team you have, not the team in the brochure.
• Decide whether the marketplace is a bonus or a tax. Fresha, Vagaro, Booksy and Mindbody all run booking marketplaces, and all four take a cut of the new clients they send — 20% to 30% of the first visit. If most of your clients already find you, that cut is pure cost.
• Check the card processing rate, not just the subscription. Every tool here locks you into its own processing, at roughly 2.2% to 3.5% per transaction. On $10,000 of monthly card sales, one percentage point is $100 a month — more than most subscriptions here.
• Book an appointment as a client before you buy. The booking flow is the product your clients touch. If it needs an account, a download or five screens, clients will phone instead — and you are back to the diary.
• Think about who else touches the system. A solo stylist needs a clean calendar; a five-chair salon needs commission tracking, staff permissions and a waitlist. Buy the tool for the salon you will run next year, not the one you ran last year.

Software fills the chairs you already have; it does not find new clients on its own. If the salon also needs to show up when neighbours search for it, our local SEO service covers the Google Business Profile and maps side. And after a good appointment, ask for the review while the client is still happy — the free Google review link generator makes a one-tap link you can text them on the way out.

Whatever you shortlist, try it with real bookings before you pay. The trials in this list run 7 to 30 days, which is long enough to run one genuine week — your services, your prices, your clients — and that week tells you more than any review can. Check three things in the trial: that clients can book without creating an account, that reminders go out on time, and that the payout lands when you expect it.

Beauty salon management software pricing: what you will actually pay

Take a five-chair salon in one location, paying monthly. On list prices, the subscription costs $0 on Square Free, $48 on GlossGenius Gold billed annually, $70 on Vagaro, $74.75 on Fresha Team, $99 on Mindbody Starter, $109.99 on Booksy, $159 on Boulevard Essentials and $170 on Mangomint. Zenoti is quote-only, with user reports clustering around $225 to $400 a month per location.

Over a year, that is $0 on Square Free, $576 on GlossGenius Gold billed annually, $840 on Vagaro, $897 on Fresha Team, $1,188 on Mindbody Starter, $1,319.88 on Booksy, $1,716 on Boulevard Essentials billed annually and $2,040 on Mangomint. The same five chairs and the same location cost nothing at the cheap end and $2,040 at the dear end — a gap that comes entirely from the pricing model, not from features.

Three costs sit outside every number above. First, the marketplace commission: if the marketplace sends you ten new clients a month at a $60 average ticket, Fresha's 20% takes $120 a month, and Booksy Boost's 30% takes $180 — both more than their subscriptions. Second, card processing at roughly 2.2% to 3.5% of every payment. Third, the add-ons: forms, text marketing, payroll and charting are paid extras on Vagaro, Fresha, Mangomint and Boulevard, and they routinely add $50 to $150 a month. If the business also sells spa services, the numbers shift again — see our guide to the best spa booking software.

Annual billing cuts the bill on most tools here: GlossGenius Standard drops from $28 to $24 a month, Boulevard Essentials from $159 to $143, and Vagaro's $23.99 introductory rate runs for the first six months before the $30 list price applies. Booksy publishes no annual discount, so the monthly price is the price, and Fresha charges per team member either way. One more cost to check before you commit: a second location is a second subscription on every per-location tool in this list — Mindbody, Boulevard, Mangomint, Square and Zenoti all bill per location — so price the second site before you commit to a tool for the first.

Know the difference: the subscription vs the marketplace commission

The confusion in this category is between the price you see and the price you pay. Every tool here charges a subscription, and four of them — Fresha, Vagaro, Booksy and Mindbody — also run a consumer marketplace that sends new clients. The marketplace fee is not part of the subscription: it is a separate cut of 20% to 30% of a new client's first visit, charged only when the marketplace delivers the client.

That split is why the cheapest subscription can be the dearest tool. Fresha at $19.95 a month looks like the bargain of this list, but ten marketplace clients a month at a $60 ticket cost $120 in commission — six times the subscription. Vagaro's marketplace fee works the same way, and Booksy Boost at 30% is steeper still. Clients who book through your own website, Google or Instagram cost nothing extra on any of these tools, so the commission only bites when the marketplace is doing your marketing for you.

There is a second, quieter confusion: booking software is not salon management software. A booking tool takes appointments; salon management software also runs the till, the client record, the marketing and the reporting. All nine tools in this list do the full job, including the free one, which is what the phrase "salon management software" means here. If a tool only takes bookings, it belongs in a different list.

Quick comparison: tool type by need

Mistakes to avoid

• Budgeting on the subscription alone. The subscription is the smallest part of the bill: marketplace commissions and card processing usually cost more than the monthly fee, and add-ons routinely add $50 to $150 a month.
• Buying on the marketplace promise. A marketplace that sends ten new clients a month sounds free until the 20% to 30% first-visit fee lands. Count the commission at your real ticket price before you count the discovery as a benefit.
• Ignoring the per-chair math. A tool can be cheap and still be the wrong buy: Fresha at $19.95 is no bargain once the marketplace sends most of your new clients, and Booksy at $29.99 is no bargain once the fifth chair pushes it past $110 a month.
• Paying for enterprise before you need it. Zenoti and Boulevard are built for chains and premium brands. A single-location salon pays for implementation, hardware and tiers it will not use for years — if ever.
• Forgetting the second location. If you open a second site, you pay for a second subscription on every per-location tool here. Price the second set of books before you commit to a tool for the first.

How we chose

We verified every starting price against the vendor's own pricing page in fresh reads dated October 28 to November 7, 2026, and recorded each rating from the G2 or Capterra page it came from, with the date checked. Where a vendor publishes no price — Zenoti — we say custom quote instead of estimating one. Two findings changed this list: Fresha ended its free plan in 2025, so it no longer counts as a free option, and Mangomint now prices by location plus users rather than by tier. We ranked the tools by fit for the most common buyer — a single-location salon owner — not by brand size. No vendor paid for a place in this list, and none of the links here are affiliate links.

What to do next

Start with the free trial of your top pick and run one real week of bookings through it — your services, your prices, your clients. Check that clients can book without creating an account, that reminders go out on time, and that the payout lands when you expect it. If the software is sorted but new clients are not finding the salon, our local SEO service handles the visibility side. Once your tools are in place, find out what's holding your rankings back.

Sources we checked (18)

• GlossGenius pricing — glossgenius.com/pricing (checked November 7, 2026)
• Vagaro pricing — vagaro.com/pricing (checked November 7, 2026)
• Fresha pricing — fresha.com/pricing (checked November 7, 2026)
• Square Appointments pricing — squareup.com/us/en/appointments/pricing (checked November 7, 2026)
• Booksy pricing — biz.booksy.com/en-us/pricing (checked November 7, 2026)
• Mangomint pricing — mangomint.com/pricing (checked November 7, 2026)
• Mindbody pricing — mindbodyonline.com/business/pricing (checked November 7, 2026)
• Boulevard pricing — joinblvd.com/pricing (checked November 7, 2026)
• Zenoti pricing — zenoti.com/pricing (checked November 7, 2026)
• GlossGenius reviews — g2.com/products/glossgenius/reviews (checked November 7, 2026)
• Vagaro reviews — g2.com/products/vagaro/reviews (checked November 7, 2026)
• Fresha reviews — capterra.co.uk/software/142138/shedul-com (checked November 7, 2026)
• Square Appointments reviews — g2.com/products/square-appointments/reviews (checked November 7, 2026)
• Booksy Biz reviews — g2.com/products/booksy-biz/reviews (checked November 7, 2026)
• Mangomint reviews — capterra.co.uk/software/187593/mangomint (checked November 7, 2026)
• Mindbody reviews — g2.com/compare/mindbody-vs-vagaro (checked November 7, 2026)
• Boulevard reviews — g2.com/products/boulevard-labs-inc-boulevard/reviews (checked November 7, 2026)
• Zenoti reviews — g2.com/products/zenoti/reviews (checked November 7, 2026)