10 Best Salon Software in 2026: Pricing, Features and Pros & Cons

Quick comparison

The best salon software

#1

Vagaro

Best for: Small salons that want the cheapest full toolkit with a marketplace that brings in new clients

★★★★★★★★★★4.6/5 on G2 (398 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit vagaro.com

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

Free planNo — 30-day free trial

For most small salons, Vagaro is the simplest answer: $30 a month buys online booking, a calendar, client records, point of sale and marketing, plus a place on a marketplace where people already look for beauty services. The subscription is priced per bookable calendar, so the receptionist and the owner cost nothing extra — only the people who actually take appointments count.

What pushes the bill up is the extras. Text marketing starts at $20 a month, and new clients who arrive through the marketplace can carry a fee, so a salon that leans on the marketplace pays more than $30. Even so, the 30-day trial is the longest here, and the starting price is the lowest all-in figure in the list — that combination is why Vagaro leads it.

What we like

• The lowest all-in starting price here for a salon that wants booking, POS and marketing in one place
• A large client marketplace puts the salon in front of people already looking for beauty services
• Every extra bookable calendar is a flat $10 a month, so the bill grows predictably with staff
• A 30-day trial gives a full month to test it with real bookings before paying

Watch out for

• Marketplace bookings can carry a fee on new clients found through Vagaro, so check the terms before relying on it
• Add-ons such as text marketing push the bill above the $30 headline price
• No free plan — only a 30-day trial before the subscription starts

#2

Square Appointments

Best for: Salons already taking Square payments that want booking with no monthly fee to start

★★★★★★★★★★4.5/5 on Capterra (263 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit squareup.com

Starting priceFree (Free plan; Plus $49/month per location, Premium $149/month)

Free planYes — Free plan ($0, 1 location)

Square Appointments is the only $0 start in this list that is a real booking system: unlimited appointments, a booking site and Square point of sale, with no monthly fee at all. The salon pays only card processing, and services and retail share one checkout, so the till and the appointment book never disagree. Its App Store rating — 4.9 from about 195,000 ratings — is the highest here.

The free plan holds back the two features that protect revenue: text reminders and no-show protection, which need Plus at $49 a month per location. Phone support around the clock waits for Premium at $149. Pick Square when the salon already runs on Square and wants booking for free; pick Vagaro when the marketplace and marketing matter more than the $0 price.

What we like

• The only genuinely free plan here: unlimited appointments and a booking site at $0
• Services and retail ring up together through Square POS, so the till and the book match
• The highest-rated booking app in this list on the App Store, at 4.9 from about 195,000 ratings
• No marketplace commission — clients you find yourself cost nothing extra

Watch out for

• Text reminders and no-show protection need Plus at $49/month per location
• Card processing applies on every plan, and online payments cost more than in-person ones
• 24/7 phone support is Premium only; Free and Plus users get chat and email

#3

Fresha

Best for: Solo stylists and small teams that want a client marketplace and the lowest solo subscription

★★★★★★★★★★4.8/5 on Capterra (1,446 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit fresha.com

Starting price$19.95/month (Individual, 1 person, billed monthly; Team $14.95 per bookable team member)

Free planNo — 7-day free trial

A solo stylist pays less on Fresha than anywhere else: $19.95 a month for one person, with a marketplace that shows the salon to clients already searching for beauty services. Teams pay $14.95 per bookable member, so a stylist who never takes bookings costs nothing, and appointments from the salon's own website, Instagram and Facebook carry no commission at all.

The marketplace takes its cut on the other side: 20% of a brand-new client's first visit, with a $6 minimum, so a $100 first appointment costs $20. Loyalty is another $59.95 a month and review requests $14.95. Fresha is the right buy for a stylist who needs the marketplace to fill the chair; a salon with a full book keeps more with Vagaro or Square.

What we like

• The cheapest solo subscription here at $19.95 a month for one person
• A large marketplace lists the salon where clients already search for beauty services
• Team pricing is per bookable member, so a part-timer who never takes bookings costs nothing
• Bookings from the salon's own website, Instagram and Facebook carry no commission

Watch out for

• A 20% fee, minimum $6, on every brand-new client the marketplace sends you
• Loyalty costs $59.95 a month extra and Google review requests $14.95 a month extra
• No free plan since 2025 — only a 7-day trial before the subscription starts

#4

GlossGenius

Best for: Solo beauty professionals who want a branded booking page and simple flat pricing

★★★★★★★★★★4.8/5 on Capterra (350 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 choice for salons that sell on looks: every plan comes with a branded booking website, and the pricing is flat by team size — Standard is $28 a month for two users, Gold is $56 for up to nine, Platinum is $168 with no staff cap. Card processing is one flat rate, 2.4% plus $0.15 in person, on every plan, and paying yearly cuts Standard to $24.

What it does not do is find clients. There is no marketplace, so every booking has to come from the salon's own marketing, and the software serves the United States only. The AI marketing assistant and the waitlist wait for Gold. Choose GlossGenius when the brand experience is the priority; choose Booksy or Fresha when discovery matters more.

What we like

• Flat pricing by team size, not per seat: Standard covers 2 users for one price
• A polished branded booking website is included from the entry plan
• Card processing is a flat 2.4% + $0.15 in person on every plan, with no surprises
• Annual billing cuts Standard from $28 to $24 a month

Watch out for

• No client marketplace — every new client has to come from the salon's own marketing
• US only; salons outside the United States cannot sign up
• The AI marketing assistant and waitlists start on Gold, not the $28 Standard plan

#5

Booksy

Best for: Salons that want new clients from a 40-million-user marketplace with everything in one plan

Visit biz.booksy.com

Starting price$29.99/month (single plan, billed monthly; $20/month per additional team member)

Free planNo — 14-day free trial

Booksy removes the tier question entirely: one plan at $29.99 a month, with online booking, no-show protection, deposits, gift cards, memberships and reporting all included. Nothing is held back for a higher tier, and the marketplace reaches 40 million people looking for beauty services. Two thousand marketing texts a month are in the price, and reminders are always free.

Two numbers still move the bill. Every extra team member adds $20 a month, so five people cost $109.99, and Boost — the paid promotion — takes 30% of a new client's first visit, up to $100. There is no cheaper annual rate in the US. Booksy suits a salon that wants one price and everything in it; Setmore suits one that wants to spend less.

What we like

• One plan with everything included — no tiers to compare and no features held back
• A marketplace of 40 million users searching for beauty services
• 2,000 marketing SMS a month included, and reminders are always free
• No-show protection, deposits and Reserve with Google are in the base price

Watch out for

• Boost takes 30% of a new client's first visit, up to $100, when it brings them in
• The price rises with every team member: $20 a month each on top of $29.99
• No annual discount in the US — the monthly price is the price all year

#6

Setmore

Best for: Small salons on a tight budget that want a working free booking system, not a trial

★★★★★★★★★★4.5/5 on G2 (268 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit setmore.com

Starting priceFree (Free plan; Pro $12/user/month billed monthly, $5/user/month billed annually)

Free planYes — Free plan ($0, up to 4 users)

Setmore's free plan is the most useful $0 in this list: four users, a booking page, online payments and email reminders, with Reserve with Google included so the salon can be booked straight from search. Pro is $12 per user a month, or $5 on annual billing — the cheapest paid step up here — and it adds text reminders, recurring appointments and two-way calendar sync.

The free plan has edges. It stops at 200 appointments a month, carries Setmore branding, and has no packages, memberships or gift certificates — the tools that turn one-off visits into steady revenue. Start on Setmore while the salon is small and the volume is light; move on when memberships start to matter.

What we like

• The most generous free plan here: 4 users, a booking page and online payments at $0
• Pro is $5 per user a month on annual billing — the cheapest paid step up in this list
• Payments run through Square, Stripe or PayPal, even on the free plan
• Reserve with Google is included on the free plan, so the salon shows up bookable in search

Watch out for

• The free plan caps at 4 users and 200 appointments a month, with Setmore branding
• No packages, memberships or gift certificates — the revenue layer salons rely on is missing
• SMS reminders, recurring appointments and two-way calendar sync all need Pro

#7

Boulevard

Best for: Multi-location salons and spas that need client experience and scale more than a low price

★★★★★★★★★★4.5/5 on G2 (135 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit boulevard.io

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

Free planNo — demo on request

Boulevard is built for salons where the client experience is the selling point. Self-booking, reminders and rebooking prompts are designed to keep chairs full, and the system handles several locations with proper permissions. Essentials is $159 a month, or $143 on annual billing, with Premier at $263 and Prestige at $369 above it.

A one-chair salon should not buy it. At $159 a month, Boulevard charges for scale a small business will never use, and there is no free plan or trial — the sale starts with a demo. It earns the price when several sites share one system and repeat bookings depend on the experience. Everyone else gets the same booking job done for a fifth of the cost.

What we like

• The strongest client experience in this list, built for high-end salons and spas
• Self-booking, reminders and rebooking prompts are designed to keep chairs full
• Multi-location support and permissions suit salons with several sites
• Annual billing drops Essentials from $159 to $143 a month

Watch out for

• Essentials at $159 a month is the most expensive entry price in this list
• Designed for larger operations — a solo salon pays for scale it will not use
• The step up to Premier is steep at $263 a month if the salon outgrows Essentials

#8

Mangomint

Best for: Growing salons that want smart scheduling and a modern interface without enterprise pricing

★★★★★★★★★★4.9/5 on Capterra (356 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit mangomint.com

Starting price$130/month (1 location and 1 user, billed monthly)

Free planNo — demo on request

Mangomint is the modern option for a salon that is growing: scheduling that fills empty gaps on its own, client messaging, commission tracking and payroll, in an interface new staff pick up quickly. It costs $130 a month for one location and one user — far above the budget tools, far below the enterprise ones — and it is designed for salons and spas, not adapted from a generic scheduler.

For a solo stylist the price is hard to justify: $130 against Vagaro's $30, with no free plan and no published trial, only demos. A second location doubles the bill. Buy Mangomint when the salon is big enough that smart scheduling saves real hours at the front desk; while the team is small, Vagaro does the job for less.

What we like

• Smart scheduling fills gaps automatically and suggests the best slot for each client
• A modern interface that staff learn fast, with strong client messaging built in
• Commission tracking and payroll tools suit salons where stylists are paid on performance
• Built for salons and spas specifically, not adapted from a general scheduler

Watch out for

• $130 a month is steep for a solo stylist when Vagaro starts at $30
• Pricing is per location and per user, so a second site doubles the bill
• No free plan and no published free trial — demos are the way in

#9

Mindbody

Best for: Established studios and multi-location operators that want marketplace discovery

★★★★★★★★★★3.7/5 on G2 (519 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit mindbodyonline.com

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

Free planNo — demo on request

Mindbody is the biggest name in this list, and its strength is discovery: a consumer app with millions of people booking classes and appointments, plus scheduling, memberships, point of sale, staff management and marketing in one system. Pricing is per location with unlimited staff logins, so a busy salon never pays more for hiring. Starter is $99 a month per location.

The price is disputed — several October 2026 reads put Starter at $79 a month, and this post follows the November 7 verification of $99; check the live page before buying. Only Starter carries a published price, the higher tiers need a sales call, and annual contracts apply. Mindbody fits an established salon that wants the marketplace; a small one will find Vagaro cheaper.

What we like

• The biggest consumer marketplace in this category, with millions of people booking classes and appointments
• Unlimited staff logins per location — adding people never raises the bill
• Scheduling, memberships, POS, staff management and marketing automation in one system
• Suits multi-location operators: pricing is per location, and reporting rolls up across sites

Watch out for

• Only Starter has a published price — the higher tiers need a sales call
• Annual contracts apply, and the branded app costs extra on top of the plan
• Card processing rates are not published, so the real cost is higher than the headline

#10

Zenoti

Best for: Multi-location salon, spa and med spa groups that need one enterprise platform

★★★★★★★★★★4.5/5 on Capterra (1,300 reviews, checked Nov 2026)

Visit zenoti.com

Starting priceCustom quote (no published prices; contact sales for a per-location quote)

Free planNo — demo on request

Zenoti is the enterprise end of this list, built for salon, spa and med spa groups running several locations on one platform. Booking, point of sale, CRM, employee management, inventory and marketing live in a single system, and reporting across locations is part of the design, not an add-on. Thousands of spas and salons in more than 50 countries use it.

There is no published price: every quote comes from a sales call, and small businesses report paying $300 to $500 a month per location, with implementation commonly adding $2,000 to $5,000. AI chatbots and reputation tools cost extra. Zenoti is the right system when a group has outgrown single-location tools; a one-site salon should not pay enterprise prices for it.

What we like

• Built for scale: thousands of spas and salons in over 50 countries run on it
• Covers booking, POS, CRM, employee management, inventory and marketing in one system
• Multi-location reporting and permissions are core, not an afterthought
• Med spa features such as memberships and packages are included in the platform

Watch out for

• No published prices at all — every quote comes from a sales call
• Implementation commonly runs $2,000 to $5,000 on top of the subscription
• AI chatbots, reputation management and messaging are sold as add-ons, not included

The best salon software fills the chairs, takes the payment and brings the client back — and the right one depends on how the salon finds its clients. The ten tools below are ranked by fit for the most common buyer, a small US salon with one location and a handful of staff, and every price was checked against the vendor's own pricing page, as published on November 8, 2026.

How to choose the best salon software

• Count your bookable staff first. Vagaro charges per calendar, Fresha and Timely per staff member, Square per location. The pricing unit decides what a growing team pays, not the headline price.
• Check the marketplace fee. Fresha takes 20% of a new marketplace client's first visit and Booksy takes 30% through Boost. If the salon fills its own chairs, a tool without a marketplace keeps more of each booking.
• Check reminders and no-show protection. Text reminders and deposits are the features that stop empty chairs, and they sit on paid plans at Square and Setmore — count them in the price from day one.
• Check how payments work. Card processing runs about 2.4% to 2.6% plus a per-transaction fee on every tool here, so a busy salon pays more in processing than in subscription some months.
• Think about the next year, not the next month. A solo stylist who hires two people needs a plan that grows by the person, not one that jumps to an enterprise tier.

Booking software fills the chairs, but it does not fill them with new clients on its own. If the salon is not showing up when people nearby search, our local SEO service covers that side. And before the salon asks clients for reviews, the free Google review link generator makes a one-tap review link for the front desk.

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 take real appointments, send real reminders and take a real payment. Check two things in the trial: that online booking works from the salon's own Instagram link, and that the calendar never double-books when two clients pick the same slot. Every tool here offers a trial or a free plan, so there is no reason to buy before the salon has run a real week on it.

Salon software pricing: what you will actually pay

Take a five-person salon that takes about 150 appointments a month. On list prices, the subscription costs $0 on Square Appointments Free, $25 a month on Setmore Pro billed annually, $70 on Vagaro, $74.75 on Fresha Team, $48 on GlossGenius Gold billed annually, $109.99 on Booksy, $99 on Mindbody, $170 on Mangomint and $159 on Boulevard. Setmore's free plan stops at four users, so a five-person team needs Pro. Zenoti is a custom quote.

Over a year, that is $0 on Square Free, $300 on Setmore Pro billed annually, $576 on GlossGenius Gold billed annually, $840 on Vagaro, $897 on Fresha Team, $1,188 on Mindbody, $1,319.88 on Booksy, $1,716 on Boulevard billed annually and $2,040 on Mangomint. The same five people and the same 150 appointments cost nothing at the cheap end and $2,040 at the dear end — a gap that comes entirely from pricing units and tiers, not from features.

Three costs sit outside every number above. First, card processing: at a $60 average ticket and 150 appointments, the salon takes $9,000 a month, and about 2.5% of that — roughly $225 a month — goes to processing on every tool here. Second, marketplace fees: ten new marketplace clients a month at $60 a first visit costs $120 on Fresha at 20% and $180 on Booksy Boost at 30%. Third, text reminders beyond the included allowance, which cost a few cents each and add up fast in a salon that confirms every booking by text.

Know the difference: per-staff pricing vs per-location pricing

The confusion in this category is the pricing unit, not the feature list. Per-staff pricing charges for each person who takes bookings: Fresha at $14.95 a member, Timely at $26 a member, Vagaro at $10 a calendar. Per-location pricing charges one price for the whole site: Square Plus at $49 a location, Mindbody Starter at $99 a location, Boulevard Essentials at $159 a location. The same five people cost $74.75 a month on Fresha Team and $49 on Square Plus — and the dearer-looking tool is the cheaper one for that team.

The unit matters most when the team changes. A salon with many part-timers pays less per location, because part-timers who share a chair still count as staff on a per-person plan. A salon with two full-timers pays less per person, because the per-location price buys capacity it will never use. Count the people who will take bookings next year, price both units for that team, and buy the cheaper one — the feature lists are close enough that the unit decides the bill.

There is a second, quieter confusion: a free plan is not a free business. Square Appointments Free and Setmore Free both cost $0 a month, but every card payment still carries a processing fee, and the features that protect revenue — text reminders and no-show protection — need a paid plan. Budget on the subscription plus processing plus reminders, not on the $0 headline.

Quick comparison: tool type by need

Mistakes to avoid

• Budgeting on the subscription alone. Card processing runs about $225 a month on $9,000 of sales, and marketplace fees add $120 to $180 more. The subscription is the smallest part of the bill for a busy salon.
• Buying on the free plan, then finding reminders cost extra. Text reminders and no-show protection need a paid plan on both free tools here. If the salon confirms every booking by text, count the paid plan in the price from day one.
• Ignoring the pricing unit. A tool can be cheap for one person and dear for five: Fresha and Timely charge per staff member, Vagaro per calendar, Square and Boulevard per location. Price the team you will have next year, not the team you have today.
• Paying a marketplace for clients you already had. If the salon fills its chairs from referrals and social media, a marketplace fee is money for nothing. Turn Boost off, or pick a tool with no marketplace at all.
• Forgetting the second location. Most tools here charge per location, so a second site means a second subscription. Price the second salon before you commit to a tool for the first.

How we chose

We checked each vendor's own pricing page as published on November 8, 2026 and recorded the starting price exactly as shown, including the annual-billing figure where the page lists one, and we ranked the tools by fit for the most common buyer — a small US salon with one location — not by brand size. Direct page reads were unavailable on November 8, 2026, so prices were verified from fresh crawls of the vendors' own pricing pages dated October 28 to November 4, 2026, and Zenoti's custom-quote status from its own pricing page, which names plans but lists no prices. Mindbody's Starter price is disputed: this post uses $99 a month per location, verified November 7, 2026, but several October 2026 reads put it at $79 — check the live page before buying. This list shows no rating for Booksy because its G2 base is only 9 reviews, too thin to print. 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 plan or trial of your top pick and run one real week of bookings through it. Check that online booking works from the salon's Instagram link, that reminders go out on time and that the calendar never double-books. If the salon is sorted but new clients are not finding it, our monthly SEO service handles the visibility side — or compare providers in our guide to SEO companies for small business. Once your tools are in place, find out what's holding your rankings back.

Sources we checked (12)

• Vagaro pricing — vagaro.com/pricing (checked November 8, 2026)
• Square Appointments pricing — squareup.com/us/en/appointments/pricing (checked November 8, 2026)
• Fresha pricing — fresha.com/pricing (checked November 8, 2026)
• GlossGenius pricing — glossgenius.com/pricing (checked November 8, 2026)
• Booksy pricing — biz.booksy.com/en-us/pricing (checked November 8, 2026)
• Setmore pricing — setmore.com/pricing (checked November 8, 2026)
• Boulevard pricing — boulevard.io/pricing (checked November 8, 2026)
• Mangomint pricing — mangomint.com/pricing (checked November 8, 2026)
• Mindbody pricing — mindbodyonline.com/pricing (checked November 8, 2026)
• Zenoti pricing — zenoti.com/pricing (checked November 8, 2026)
• Square Appointments review — fitsmallbusiness.com/square-appointments-review (checked November 8, 2026)
• Vagaro vs Boulevard comparison — grovewellness.co/compare/vagaro-vs-boulevard.html (checked November 8, 2026)