10 Best Salon Booking Software of 2026

GlossGenius takes first place because its cheapest plan already covers what a stylist needs to fill a book and protect it. Standard costs $24 a month on annual billing or $28 month to month and includes a custom booking website, unlimited client notifications, email and text marketing, retail and inventory tools, packages and memberships. Deposits, card-on-file rules, cancellation and no-show policies, split payments and customizable gratuity are listed in the payments section, and clients book without logging in or downloading an app. Gold at $48 a month adds forms and waivers, Google booking and reviews, an automated waitlist, time tracking and room management, and is aimed at teams up to 9 staff. Platinum adds commissions and team goals for 10 or more staff. The limits are mostly about scale: payroll is $40 a month plus $6 a seat, the Reception AI agent is another $50, and larger multi-location groups are routed to sales.

Vagaro is the runner-up because it bundles more salon features into its base subscription than most rivals. Every plan includes online booking across Vagaro, Instagram, Facebook and Apple Maps, unlimited reminders, memberships, packages and gift certificates, loyalty programs, inventory tracking, invoices, SOAP notes, advanced reporting and a listing on the Vagaro Marketplace, plus 1,000 free marketing emails a month. The Vera AI assistant drafts marketing, writes service descriptions and helps fill empty appointment slots. Pricing scales by bookable calendar: Vagaro's own FAQ says each additional calendar license costs $10 (US), up to seven, after which more employees cost nothing extra, which suits salons with many part-time stylists. There is a 30-day free trial and free data migration, usually done in 1 to 2 business days. The tradeoff is a large product with many modules to set up, which takes longer to learn than Booksy or GlossGenius. The pricing page showed GBP from our location, so the USD starting price is marked pending.

Booksy is the easiest pricing on this list: $29.99 a month plus tax unlocks every feature, and each additional team member costs $20 a month. That covers 24/7 online booking, calendar and client management, no-show protection, waitlists, custom forms and liability waivers, Reserve with Google, online gift cards, memberships and packages, reporting, email marketing and 2,000 free SMS marketing messages a month. Clients book through the free Booksy app or your profile link, and Booksy says it never charges clients to book. Payments are integrated, with 2.49% + $0.10 on the Booksy card reader and free next-business-day payouts. The catch is Boost: if you switch on this marketplace promotion, Booksy takes a one-time 30% of a new client's first visit, capped at $100, so share your own profile link to avoid the fee on clients you bring in yourself. Payroll, commissions and deep inventory tools are thinner than at Vagaro or Mangomint.

Boulevard is built for salons where the client experience is the product. Its self-booking flow, client profiles, memberships, loyalty and messaging are aimed at higher-ticket salons, and the new AI Receptionist answers calls, books clients and captures leads around the clock. Essentials costs $143 a month for a single location with up to 5 providers, 250 free texts and 1,000 free email blasts. Premier removes the provider cap and Prestige bundles the Forms add-on and more messaging; both were on a limited-time discount when we checked. Payments run through Boulevard's own processing with the Duo reader, and the company offers volume discounts plus an Offset program where clients pay a 3% card fee and the salon pays 1%. Funds usually reach the bank in 2 business days. The downside is cost: Forms starts at $65 a month per location and QuickBooks sync adds $45, so a small salon pays several times what GlossGenius or Booksy charges.

Mangomint sells one full plan at $120 per location plus $10 per user each month, so there is no feature gating between tiers. That plan includes calendar and scheduling, online booking embedded on your own website, Express Booking, a Virtual Waiting Room for check-in, client management, web chat, memberships and packages, forms and charting, gift cards, retail and inventory, reporting and multi-location tools. Unlimited text and email confirmations and reminders are included, and Mangomint states it never takes a fee for appointments booked through it. In-person card payments cost 2.45% + 15 cents, which is low for the category. Booth renters get unique booking links and separate payment accounts. The caveats: anyone with a profile, including front desk staff, counts as a user, deposits and cards on file require Mangomint's own processing, and marketing credits start at $30 a month, so a 10-person salon with campaigns runs well above $200.

Fresha pairs salon software with one of the larger beauty marketplaces, and it now charges a subscription per bookable team member through Independent and Team plans, with Enterprise for businesses over 20 team members. Both plans include the calendar, waitlists, point of sale, client management, consultation forms, reviews, retail and inventory, gift cards, packages, memberships, group bookings, processing and finishing times and patch tests. Upfront payments and no-show and cancellation fees help protect bookings, and email and app notifications are free and unlimited. The Team plan adds multiple calendar columns, sales commissions, wages, pay runs and timesheets, which most rivals sell as payroll add-ons. Marketplace economics are the main thing to weigh: Fresha charges a one-time fee on brand new clients who find you through its marketplace, with no fee on returning clients. Add-ons such as AI Concierge, Client Loyalty and Insights are billed separately. The pricing page showed PLN from our location, so the USD price is pending.

Square Appointments is the easiest way to take salon bookings for free. The $0 plan includes an online booking site with integrations, appointment reminders and unlimited staff calendars, and payments run through Square with next day transfers and offline payments. Square describes appointment deposits and prepayments at booking, processing time for services such as hair color, and digital wallets in the booking flow. Plus at $49 per location a month adds cancellation policies and no-show fees, multi-staff appointment booking and a waitlist, and Premium at $149 adds tools like a future bookings report, service cost tracking and resource management for large salons. Businesses processing over $250,000 a year can ask for custom pricing. The limits are depth: Square is a general appointments product, so salon-specific tools such as booth rent handling, formula notes and salon marketing are thinner than at GlossGenius or Vagaro, and gift card loads carry a 2.5% fee below Premium.

DaySmart Salon, whose family now also includes Slick salon software, sells tiered plans by user count. Basic costs $29 a month for one user and already covers online booking, appointment confirmations and reminders, Instagram and Facebook booking, integrated payments, online deposits, a kiosk and a walk-in manager, with 500 texts and 1,000 emails a month. Deluxe at $69 adds three users, online gift cards, digital forms, a client loyalty system, basic payroll and email marketing. Deluxe Growth at $149 brings text marketing, two-way texting and reputation management, and Premium at $199 raises the limit to six users and adds QuickBooks Connect. Email, chat and phone support plus unlimited training come with every plan, and data migration is free. The weak spot is scaling: user caps push teams up the ladder quickly, and commission tracking and unlimited users sit on a quote-only Premium Growth plan.

Phorest focuses on keeping clients coming back. Every plan includes unlimited devices and unlimited staff, online booking around the clock, an appointment calendar and waiting list, stored cards for no-show protection and online gift cards. The Grow plan adds pre-send digital consultation forms, the Phorest Reconnect win-back tool, a digital TreatCard loyalty program and an online store, while Complete Advantage adds an online reputation manager, staff goals, client referrals and an AI client cheat sheet. Elite rolls the add-ons into one plan. Free SMS allowances rise by plan, and extra messages cost 5 cents each. Phorest sets up the software for you, importing clients, staff and products. The weak spot is transparency: every plan is quote-only, and the company positions its plans for salons with 3 or more staff, so solo stylists will find cheaper published options above.

Zenoti is the heavyweight option for salon chains, franchises and spa groups. Its platform covers the appointment book, employee management, payroll and commissions, staff goals, inventory and room management, point of sale, payment processing, Text2Pay, memberships, gift cards and loyalty, plus online booking through its webstore, social booking and Reserve with Google. The AI Plus package adds agents such as an AI Receptionist that answers every call, an AI Lead Manager, an AI Dispute Manager for chargebacks and an AI Employee Scheduler. Every customer gets 24/7 global support and access to Zenoti University, and AI Plus customers also get a dedicated success manager. Zenoti says it serves over 30,000 businesses in more than 50 countries. For a single salon it is more system than needed: pricing is by quote, voice and SMS are billed by usage, and setup takes days to weeks, so it ranks last here despite the deepest feature set.