Salon and med spa booking software compared

Online booking for salons and med spas: what to compare

A salon wants a client to pick a service and a stylist at 10pm and show up. A med spa wants the same, plus a consent form, a patient record and a deposit. Both lose money when a client does not show, so reminders, deposits and cancellation rules matter as much as the booking page itself. Our guide to online booking and follow-up covers the whole chain. This article compares the software.

We opened each vendor’s own pricing page in October 2026. We list what the page states and mark what it does not. Prices are in US dollars unless noted. We have no partnerships or referral fees with any vendor.

Two cautions. First, prices change and several vendors run promotions. Second, some vendors show prices by the visitor’s region, and Vagaro and Fresha did not show us US dollar subscription prices. Where we could not confirm a US list price, we say so instead of guessing: see the vendor’s US pricing page.

Salon and med spa booking software compared

Vagaro: per-calendar pricing and a big feature list

Vagaro charges by bookable calendar. Its FAQ says each added calendar costs $10 (US) up to seven; after that you can add more employees at no extra cost. Its pricing page lists a long set of features as included with every plan, among them waitlists, memberships, packages and gift certificates, unlimited reminders, 1,000 free emails a month and a listing on the Vagaro marketplace. For the base price, see the vendor’s US pricing page; the page we were shown was not in US dollars.

Fresha: per-member pricing, and a fee on new marketplace clients

Fresha prices per bookable team member, with a 7-day trial and no card required. For the US subscription price, see the vendor’s US pricing page. Fresha says direct booking links and Facebook and Instagram bookings are free. It lists a one-time fee on brand-new clients who find you through its marketplace and does not state the amount on the pricing page. Returning clients carry no fee. Ask for the amount in writing and decide whether you want the marketplace at all.

GlossGenius: flat plans with booking on every tier

GlossGenius has three beauty plans. Online booking is on all of them and Standard includes a custom booking website. Gold adds forms and waivers, text marketing and waitlists. Platinum is for teams of 10 or more. The med spa tab shows two plans, Practice Essentials at $168 a month and Practice Advanced at $298 a month on monthly billing, with an EMR (patient record) tool. The page also lists HIPAA compliance as a free add-on. One note: the med spa and beauty tabs show different discount percentages, so confirm the final price when you sign up.

Boulevard: higher price, built for larger and growing locations

Boulevard shows three plans and an Enterprise tier. Essentials is for one location and up to five providers. Premier and Prestige are priced per location. In October 2026 the page showed a limited-time fall offer for new customers and a monthly or annual toggle, so check the current US price on the vendor’s pricing page before you compare. Forms are an add-on starting at $65 per month per location (included in Prestige), with QuickBooks sync at $45. Boulevard’s pricing page says it is HIPAA compliant and points to a Data Security page; it does not mention a BAA. There is no self-serve trial listed; you book a demo.

Square Appointments: a free start, then pay per location

Square’s page lists three plans by audience: Free for solo professionals, Plus for growing teams and Premium for large salons, at $0, $49 and $149 a month per location. Square also takes a percentage of card payments, which falls as you move up a plan. For a salon, the useful line is Plus: it adds no-show fees, multi-staff booking and a waitlist. Plan details, card rates and text allowances are compared in Square Appointments vs Acuity vs Calendly.

Mangomint: per-user pricing, forms and charting included

Mangomint lists no named plans. You pay $120 per location and $10 per user per month, and anyone with a profile counts as a user. For illustration, one location with five users comes to $170 a month by that formula, before add-ons and card fees. Two-way texting needs the $70 a month phone add-on per line, though text confirmations and reminders cost nothing extra. Forms and charting are listed under core features. The pricing page we read does not mention HIPAA or a BAA, so ask the vendor directly.

Which one fits your business

• Solo stylist, barber or nail technician. Square Appointments Free is the lowest-cost start. Compare it with a GlossGenius or Vagaro trial if you want a booking website and marketing built in.
• Small salon, 2 to 9 staff. GlossGenius Gold, Vagaro or Square Plus. Count staff calendars, text marketing and the card rate you will pay on your monthly sales.
• You want new clients from a marketplace. Vagaro and Fresha both list marketplace listings. Ask Fresha for the new-client fee in writing.
• Large salon or multi-location. Boulevard or Mangomint. Both are priced per location, so work out the total for your staff count.
• Med spa with treatments and consent forms. GlossGenius Practice, Boulevard or Mangomint, because forms or charting are in the product. Ask about HIPAA first (see below).
• Day spa with rooms and equipment. Square Premium lists resource management, and GlossGenius Gold lists room and resource management.

Med spas: health information and HIPAA

If your clients’ health information goes into the software, ask the vendor two questions in writing: do you sign a business associate agreement (BAA), and which plan does it cover? Here is what the pricing pages we opened in October 2026 say. GlossGenius lists HIPAA compliance as a free add-on. Boulevard says it is HIPAA compliant. Vagaro says it is independently audited for HIPAA compliance, and Fresha lists HIPAA compliance among its certifications. None of those four pages mentions a BAA, which does not mean they will not sign one; it means you need to ask. Square’s BAA can apply to Square Appointments in configurations Square identifies as HIPAA-enabled. Our comparison of scheduling software for dental, chiropractic and PT clinics has a vendor-by-vendor BAA table. This is not legal advice; check with your own counsel before you store treatment notes or photos.

For us, the rule is simple. If HIPAA applies to your med spa (ask your counsel), patient information, including a name tied to a booking request, goes only through tools whose vendor signs a BAA. Without one, chat and texts give general answers and point to your booking system, and staff handle clinical questions.

Reduce no-shows after you choose

Whichever tool you choose, switch on reminders and a deposit or cancellation fee for long services. Our guides to how to reduce no-shows and the no-show and cancellation policy template show wording that works, and appointment reminders and waitlist and rebooking explain what we set up.

How Magnet Mint helps

We do not sell these products. We connect the tool you already use to your website and phone, set up confirmations, reminders and rebooking, or help you choose one. Our booking setup is from $600, and the software subscription is billed to you at cost by the vendor. See booking software setup for the details, or ask for a free demo: a short call, then a demo for your business, free and with no obligation.

Published October 25, 2026. Updated October 25, 2026.