The best salon software assists business owners in managing employees, customers, and other aspects of salon business operations. Top providers like Mangomint and Vagaro use booking management, service package automation, and other advanced features to unburden hairstylists, hairdressers, and cosmetologists of administrative tasks.
These capabilities improve operational efficiency, staff productivity, and salon business profitability. Based on our evaluation, we’ve identified the eight best salon software for small businesses.
- Mangomint: Best easy-to-use salon software
- Vagaro: Best for revenue management
- Fresha: Best free salon software
- GlossGenius: Best for appointment booking customization
- Bitrix24: Best for customer relationship management
- Square Appointments: Best POS for multiservice salons
- Schedulicity: Best for automated reminders
- Phorest: Best for client loyalty programs
Best Salon Software for Small Businesses Compared
Provider | Free Plan | Our Rating out of 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | $165 for 2 to 10 salon service workers or providers | ✕ 30-day free trial | 4.49 |
 | $30 for 1 bookable calendar | ✕ 30-day free trial | 4.38 |
 | Free | ✔ | 4.35 |
 | $24 | ✕ 14-day free trial
| 4.32 |
 | $49 For 5 users | ✔ For unlimited users | 4.20 |
 | ✔ For a single location | 4.07 | |
 | $34.99 per user | ✕ 14-day free trial | 3.82 |
 | Contact provider | ✕ Free demo | 3.79 |
Mangomint: Best Easy-to-Use Salon Software
Pros
- It has an intuitive design and is easy to use, without needing a Mangomint account on mobile.
- It has smart automations for online booking, payroll processing, waiting room management, checkout, and messages.
- It has web hooks to send data from Mangomint to third-party apps for advanced salon system customization.
Cons
- It has limited built-in marketing features like email marketing because the platform focuses on core tasks like online booking.
- It has no free plan (only a 30-day free trial), and plans come with a relatively high price point ($165 for two users to 10 service providers).
- Shopify integration is locked in the Unlimited plan ($375 for unlimited service providers) and an add-on option for other lower tiers ($50 per month).
- You need user-friendly salon software: Mangomint’s onboarding process does not require hours of training because of its intuitive features and user interface. Its modern layout shows the features you need to use without the outdated spreadsheet feel. Additionally, customers who want to book your salon services do not have to create a Mangomint profile, ensuring no one else can access their data for any other purposes.
- You need the best salon business software with smart automations: Mangomint offers a suite of salon business tools to simplify your operations. Its automated payroll processing can save you time calculating wages and deductions. When a client arrives for an appointment, Mangomint streamlines the check-in process with its waiting room feature. Your clients can enjoy shopping or walking around nearby while they wait.
- You need salon software with robust marketing features: For salon executives and managers, marketing the business is crucial to ensure a high influx of clients booking appointments and walking in. While Mangomint offers email marketing and automation, it lacks digital marketing tools. Other providers offer more robust marketing capabilities like social media and short messaging service (SMS) marketing.
- Alternative: Fresha offers several marketing tools such as SMS marketing and Fresh and Marketplace presence. You can also create direct links to full-service menus or specific services, shareable on social media and other digital platforms via QR code or by copying URLs. All of these capabilities drive bookings for more salon income.
- You want to use a freemium salon software: While Mangomint offers a 30-day free trial, it does not offer free forever tools. This can be a drawback for independent hairstylists, hairdressers, and cosmetologists who prefer freemium software with the option to upgrade once they have established their own salon business.
- Alternatives: Bitrix24 is the best salon management software with free forever tools in a general-use customer relationship management (CRM) system. Square Appointments also offers a free plan with professional invoices, contactless payment processing, unlimited calendars for all employees, automated marketing campaigns, and more.
Mangomint Pricing Plans*
Mangomint Pricing Add-ons:
- Integrated forms Collect and organize important client data, treatment notes, and more. : $50 per month (plus $25 per additional location)
- Two-way texting Communicate with clients and manage conversations all in one place. : $75 per month (plus $25 per additional location)
- Payroll processing Make payday easy with built-in payroll processing. : $50 per month (plus $8 per worker)
- Shopify integration For Standard plan subscribers only; not available for Essentials plan subscribers. : $50 per month
- Web hooks Send event data from MangoMint to other third-party applications to trigger sequences and workflows. This add-on integration is only available with Standard and Unlimited plans. : $50 per month
- Mailchimp integration This email marketing integration keeps your contacts in sync so you can run automatic email campaigns based on client data (included in Standard and Unlimited plans). : $25 per month
- WaiverForever integration This easy-to-use tool creates waivers and client intake forms (included in Standard and Unlimited plans). : $25 per month
*Pricing is based on monthly billing. Mangomint offers a 30-day free trial. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
Our Expert Opinion
Mangomint is our top choice for easy-to-use software because of its highly intuitive interface and smart automation features, simplifying complex routine tasks in your salon business. Most importantly, users don’t need to create a Mangomint account to access the app. Salon, beauty, parlor, and spa owners can use this industry-specific software to process payroll, client bookings, and other tasks, streamlining business operations.
Vagaro: Best for Revenue Management
Pros
- It offers salon memberships, rent and fee features, advanced reporting, invoice generation, and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to craft compelling salon deal descriptions.
- It offers custom website services with drag-and-drop modules and unlimited booking options.
- It has 24/7 customer support via phone, email, and chat support.
Cons
- It requires customers to create a Vagaro profile, which some find inconvenient. Plus, some salon owners prefer to keep client data within the business.
- It has no free plan, only a free trial for 30 days.
- It has a steep learning curve because of the many features and buttons on the app menu.
- You need top salon software with robust revenue management features: If you work with independent salon professionals, Vagaro simplifies your rent collection by letting you charge for fees and rents, create digital renter agreements, and deduct commissions from rent.
It has loyalty program tools like salon memberships and gifts and AI tools to create compelling deal descriptions and revenue-generating campaigns. - You need salon software with a built-in website builder: Vagaro offers MySite, which lets you sync your salon website with your Vagaro account. It has drag-and-drop modules for a seamless customization experience. Your Vagaro MySite updates automatically every time you add a new employee or service or change your pricing.
- You need software that doesn’t require salon customers to create an account: Every client who books with a Vagaro-hosted salon business must log in to their Vagaro account. While this helps salon businesses track and manage client appointments, some people find this a hassle, especially busy professionals.
- Alternative: Mangomint does not require salon customers to create an account or log in to use online booking. Hence, clients experience easy and convenient booking.
- You want to use freemium salon software: While Vagaro offers a 30-day free trial, it does not offer free forever tools.
- Alternatives: Fresha comes with free forever tools. All core features are free, and salon business owners only pay for add-ons they want. Square Appointments also offers a free plan with invoices, contactless payment processing, unlimited calendars for all employees, automated marketing campaigns, and more.
Vagaro Pricing Plans*
One Location
Cost:
- Starting at $30 per month for one bookable calendar
Key Features:
- Create, send, and manage invoices including rent collection
- Sell memberships, packages, and gift certificates
- Create and manage customer loyalty programs
- Customizable calendar with waitlist and resource management
- Online booking on Vagaro, Instagram, Facebook, and Apple Maps
- Business and employee booking widget
- Automated notifications and appointment reminders
- Free listing with unlimited daily bookings on the Vagaro Marketplace
- 1,000 free email marketing messages each month
- 24/7 live phone, email, and chat support with free training
*Pricing is based on monthly billing. Enterprise business software for multiple locations is also available at a custom price. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
Our Expert Opinion
Vagaro is our top choice for revenue management because salon business owners can facilitate the rent and fee collection process more easily. You can also create loyalty programs for your salon via memberships and gifts. Moreover, Vagaro offers AI and customization tools, which can help improve your operational efficiency and branding.
Fresha: Best Free Salon Software
Pros
- It is a free app with unlimited appointment bookings and team members.
- It has lots of marketing features like smart campaigns, SMS marketing, social media marketing, and Fresha and Marketplace presence.
- It is very easy to use with lots of tutorials for quick onboarding.
Cons
- It has limited integrations with QuickBooks Online and other platforms.
- It doesn’t have a website builder and lacks customization design options for its online booking page.
- It requires customers to create a Fresha profile (some customers find this inconvenient, and some salon owners prefer to keep client data within the business).
- You want free salon software for small businesses: Fresha is the only industry-specific salon software provider on the list with a free plan. It offers optional features for payment processing, marketplace bookings, automated communications, insights, and reputation management. If you are still starting your career or salon business, Fresha is a great option as you pay for only what you need.
- You need software for a salon with extensive marketing features: Fresha offers several marketing features, including Smart Campaigns that you can set up to send birthday greetings, welcome emails for new customers, win-back client messages, and more. Create blast messages through SMS and emails, customize their templates, fonts, and background color, and then send them to desired customer segments.
- You need more integrated tools for your growing salon business: Fresha has direct integration with Google and Facebook. However, this industry-specific software for salons has limited integrations with QuickBooks Online and other platforms. This is a downside for expanding salon businesses or multiple branches.
- Alternative: Bitrix24 is a CRM system that offers plenty of direct and indirect integrations. These include Google, Facebook, Stripe for payment processing, and CallGear for business phone and telephony.
- You want a salon software program with a website builder: Fresha allows you to create an online salon store. However, this salon software for small businesses does not have tools for building a branded website.
- Alternatives: GlossGenius and Vagaro let you create a salon brand website. Vagaro offers drag-and-drop template builders so you can create a fully customizable salon website. In the same way, GlossGenius lets you customize your salon website, allowing you to showcase your custom portfolios, salon services, and unlimited team profiles.
Fresha Pricing Plans*
Free
Cost:
- $0
Key Features:
- Unlimited appointment bookings
- Unlimited team members
- Unlimited locations
- Unlimited clients and email notifications
- Unlimited product inventory
- Unlimited reporting and much more
Add-ons:
- Payments For card processing and in-person or contactless tap to pay. : Start at 10 cents per transaction
- Marketplace bookings A one-time fee applies to new clients who discover your business via the Fresha marketplace. : 20% one-time commission (minimum fee of $6 per client applies)
- Communications Unlimited emails and in-app automated notifications like appointment reminders, cancellation notifications, and thank you messages. : 2 cents per text (Automated notifications include 20 free monthly texts, unlimited emails, and in-app notifications); blast campaigns (engage clients with cost-effective promotional texts and emails and track campaigns)
- Insights Enhance reports with rich data, control user access, and make more profitable decisions for your salon business. : $9.95 per team member monthly
- Team pay Simplify payroll with commissions, wages, timesheets, and automated pay functionality. : $7.95 per team member monthly
- Google rating boost Prompt clients to leave a Google review after a positive experience. : $14.95 per location monthly
*Pricing for add-ons is based on monthly billing. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
Our Expert Opinion
Fresha is the most affordable software for salon small businesses and independent hairstylists, hairdressers, and cosmetologists. It comes with unlimited appointment bookings, reporting, client notifications, and other core salon-related features—all for free. If you want to add more functionality to your salon software, you can choose any optional features such as payments for card processing and marketplace bookings.
GlossGenius: Best for Appointment Booking Customization
Pros
- It has an excellent custom website builder with customized design templates for salon branding.
- It has a form and waiver builder that can be integrated with online booking for a smooth client experience.
- It is equipped with integrated no-show protection features like deposits, no-show policies, and card-on-file booking into one system.
Cons
- It does not offer a direct invoicing feature.
- It does not offer an ecommerce solution (in-shop sales only) within the platform to assist you in online selling and shipping.
- It does not have a dedicated business line or a feature to message clients directly on the salon app.
- You need highly customizable custom salon appointment booking software: If you want your salon website to stand out, GlossGenius lets you add a contact page and use stunning design templates.
Show your clients you have experienced salon staff with custom portfolios and unlimited team profiles. Then, get your online booking ready with customized forms and waivers to boost engagement and increase foot traffic.
- You are a new salon business owner wanting no-show protection in an app: GlossGenius is ideal for new salon business owners because this is one of the best salon management software with protection.
Clients not showing up for booked appointments can negatively affect your income. With no-show protection, you can ask for deposits and a card on file and create no-show policies for a profitable business.
- You need a built-in invoice generator in salon management software: If you prefer to generate and send professional invoices within your salon software, GlossGenius is not the best solution for your business. It does not have an invoicing feature at this time, and you can only create invoices through Google Sheets to be sent to your customers.
- Alternatives: Vagaro is equipped with powerful invoicing features, including payment processing and automatic reminders. Get a link to customer profiles to track clients who owe you money. Mangomint and Square Appointments are excellent alternatives with built-in invoicing features, too.
- You want to create an ecommerce site for your salon products: GlossGenius only offers in-shop sales or within the platform. If you want to sell salon products, you will need software with ecommerce features to assist you in online sales, shipping, and more.
GlossGenius Pricing Plans*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown of the plans. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. GlossGenius offers a 14-day free trial. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
Our Expert Opinion
GlossGenius is our best salon software for customizing online appointment booking with its custom website builder, forms, and waivers. You can create custom portfolios, team member profiles, services, and contact pages on your salon website.
GlossGenius provides curated themes that you can choose from to elevate your salon brand without any design experience needed. Plus, you gain peace of mind about your cash flow with its no-show protection feature.
Bitrix24: Best for Customer Relationship Management
Pros
- It’s a CRM with collaboration, project management, time management, and sales intelligence tools.
- It has extensive website customization options.
- It has a free plan for unlimited users and scalable paid plans with transparent pricing.
Cons
- It has a steep learning curve because of its complex setup and robust features.
- Its loyalty programs and POS system require third-party integration.
- Its bulk text and email features are locked in the Standard plan ($99 per month); other providers on this list offer these at a lower cost.
- You prefer a CRM system for your salon business: Bitrix24 is a CRM system equipped with a suite of sales, marketing, and customer service features.It has chat, email, video, and telephony features to help you seamlessly collaborate with salon employees and connect with your clients. It includes time, project, and document management tools, streamlining salon business operations.
- You want a highly customizable website for your growing salon business: Bitrix24 is best for salon business owners wanting to customize their spas or salons.When you use this general-use CRM, you can use its customization features like salon and spa website templates to elevate the branding of your business. You can add a booking widget, price list, services, team profiles, and more to your custom salon site.
- You need an easy-to-use salon software for small businesses: Bitrix24 has robust CRM tools and customization options, which makes setup and navigation difficult for new software users. It has an intuitive user interface, but you will need to get accustomed to its menu options and tabs to navigate the platform smoothly.
- Alternatives: Vagaro and Mangomint are easy-to-use salon business systems. If you want to customize your website, Vagaro offers drag-and-drop customization modules. Mangomint is the best pick for customer-friendly software because it does not require clients to create an account to book an appointment.
- You need salon software with built-in loyalty programs and POS tools: Bitrix24 requires a third-party app to connect with other software providing loyalty programs and POS capabilities. For instance, you need Zapier, an app connector, to facilitate the integration of Bitrix24 and PassKit to manage digital coupons, membership cards, loyalty cards, and more.
- Alternatives: Mangomint and GlossGenius have salon-specific POS systems and loyalty program tools in place. Fresha also has smart campaign features and membership plans to reward customers who come in for several sessions.
Bitrix24 Pricing Plans*
Bitrix24 Pricing Add-ons:
- Landline calling: Starts at .005 cents per minute
- Rent a local US or UK number: $4 to $11 per month
- Rent a toll-free number: $6 per month
- Rent a session-initiated protocol (SIP) connector: $49 per month
- Call transcription: 5 cents per minute
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown of the plans. Monthly billing and enterprise plans are available for a higher cost. Bitrix24 offers a 15-day free trial. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
Our Expert Opinion
Bitrix24 is our top pick for customer relationship management because of its advanced features, including collaboration, sales intelligence, and project management for sales, marketing, and customer support. If you are looking for robust salon software, this CRM can help you manage your appointments, events, and tasks on your calendar. Moreover, Bitrix24 has a dedicated site template for salons and highly customizable pipelines for branding and sales.
Square Appointments: Best POS for Multiservice Salons
Pros
- It has an advanced POS system that accepts major types of payment for a smooth checkout at any of your salon branches, in-person or online.
- It has team management features like sales reports and staff tracking for seamless salon operations in multiple service locations.
- It is free for individual users and has a simple user interface and robust integrations with Square products.
Cons
- It has limited flexible design customization options for digital forms (like surveys and intake forms for gathering customer details).
- It has email marketing, plus loyalty and gift cards only as add-on services; other providers offer these features at a lower cost.
- It lacks customer support.
- You need a robust POS system: Square Appointments allows customers to pay via credit or debit card, or digital wallets like Afterpay and Apple Pay in its POS system. If you want more flexible payments, you can also accept in-person contactless payments through customers’ iPhones, digital wallets, and credit or debit cards.
- You need salon management software to manage teams in multiple branches: Square Appointments streamlines team management in multiservice salons by tracking commissions, sales, timecards, and other metrics. If you want to ensure a healthy and productive workplace, Square Appointments lets you set break times and compare hourly labor costs with net sales in a report to optimize staffing schedules.
- You want salon software with a custom web form builder: While Square Appointments allows you to send digital forms automatically once a new appointment is booked, it lacks flexible design customization options. For instance, adding your company logo or changing the color of the forms to align with your brand’s theme.
- Alternative: Vagaro offers customizable web forms for only $10 a month as an add-on feature. If you are a salon manager who wants to easily create automated digital forms for feedback monitoring and strategy building, Vagaro is a great pick. It includes Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan (SOAP) notes for documenting continuing client encounters.
- You prefer salon business software with email marketing features: Square Appointments charges extra for email marketing (starts at $15 per month).
- Alternative: Vagaro offers 1,000 free email marketing messages to send each month starting in its basic paid plan ($30 for one location per month).
Square Appointments Pricing Plans*
Square Appointments Pricing Add-ons:
- Square Online Sell, take bookings, and show off your services online. : Pay the Square processing fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents per online transaction when you make a sale (discounted processing on the paid Premium plan).
- Square Invoices Send digital invoices and estimates, accept payments, and send reminders. : Start at 2.9% plus 30 cents per online card payment (1% with a maximum fee of $10 per online Automated Clearing House or ACH payment)
- Square Marketing Stay connected to customers with automated email and text message marketing campaigns. : Starts at $15 per month
- Square Loyalty Keep clients coming back with an easy-to-use rewards program. : Starts at $45 per month, per location for 0-500 loyalty visits
- Square Payroll Pay employees faster, automate your tax filings and offer benefits all in one place. : Starts at $6 per person paid, monthly
- Square Gift Cards Bring in new clients with custom digital or physical gift cards. : Starts at 50 cents per physical card
*Pricing is based on monthly billing. Square offers subscription services where you are billed monthly or annually for all active paid services. Processing fees apply starting at 2.6% plus 10 cents per transaction. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
Our Expert Opinion
Square Appointments is the best salon software provider with POS for multiservice locations. It enables clients to make contactless payments through digital wallets, iPhone devices, and credit or debit cards. It has a free plan for one location, making it suitable for startups. As you grow your salon business, you can set Square Appointments in multiple branches, allowing you to manage your staff, calendar, and online bookings on a centralized platform.
Schedulicity: Best for Automated Reminders
Pros
- It has automatic mail and short messaging service (SMS) notifications to reduce no-shows in your salon.
- Its Unlimited plan (the most basic plan) offers many features for online booking, marketing, and client communication with clear pricing.
- It offers phone and email support across all plans.
Cons
- Its booking app customization options do not include modifying visual elements, like the theme or templates.
- Its chargeback dispute requires the salon owner to contact the bank.
- It does not offer a fully integrated salon gift card option.
- You need a salon management solution with automated reminders: Schedulicity provides salon appointment SMS reminders and confirmation emails automatically sent to customers. It is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and protects sensitive patient health information—applicable to salon and spa customers. Also, its custom forms or waivers facilitate salon sales to your website.
- You need an online booking, marketing, and communication tool in one system: Schedulicity offers plans with packaged features instead of add-ons. It is a convenient option for startups and independent hairstylists. If you are a solo salon service provider, you can subscribe to its Unlimited plan. This already includes calendar management, online booking, appointment text reminders, autobilling, sales tools, and more.
- You want the best software for salon business with wide customization options: Schedulicity lets you customize your scheduling app. However, you can only customize class rosters, schedules, and policies, edit services, and enable group bookings. You don’t have features to customize the theme, font, and other visual elements. There are no customizable templates and forms, too.
- Alternatives: GlossGenius, Vagaro, and Mangomint offer customization tools to change the theme, font, and other visual elements of your online booking app. GlossGenius is our top-notch customizable booking app because of its stunning design templates, custom portfolios, customized forms, and unlimited team profiles.
- You want the best sales management solution with full chargeback protection: Schedulicity requires clients to initiate a chargeback with the bank in the case of a dispute. The same applies even if the customer violates your cancellation and no-show policies. The bank will decide which party wins based on the evidence and its protocols.
- Alternative: GlossGenius offers 100% chargeback protection if you subscribe to its Gold plan ($48 monthly). This applies to card reader transactions or via Tap to Pay. GlossGenius will cover your loss even if the bank favors the client.
Schedulicity Pricing Plans*
Unlimited Plan
Cost:
- $34.99 per month for one provider
Key Features:
- Appointment text reminders and confirmation emails for clients
- Online booking and calendar management
- Customizable, automated email marketing tools
- Built-in payment processing with one low processing rate
- Deposits and prepayment options
- Personalized policies and client notes
- Sales tools, including customizable discounts and Fill My Book
- Autobilling and package management
- Unlimited phone and email support
*Pricing is based on monthly billing. Unlimited plans for additional providers are available, ranging from $44.99 to $94.99. Schedulicity offers a 14-day free trial. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
Our Expert Opinion
Schedulicity is the winner in automated reminders in this list of the best salon software. You can send clients email and text message reminders and confirmations automatically. If you have additional information for clients, you can easily include that in client notification emails and attach a link to custom forms that you have on your salon website.
Phorest: Best for Client Loyalty Programs
Pros
- It includes customer loyalty program tools such as TreatCard to get your clients to earn points by spending more.
- It’s equipped with gamification features, including the ability to assign a custom award to each staff goal based on predetermined salon metrics and monitor progress on PhorestGo.
- Its SMS capabilities improve as you upgrade your plan, and two-way SMS is available in selected plans.
Cons
- It has no transparent pricing because you need to contact the provider across all plans.
- Its salon-branded booking app is locked in its highest-tier plan.
- It lacks customer support.
- You want salon management software with loyalty features: Phorest offers TreatCard specifically designed for the hair and beauty or salon industry. It helps reward and attract more clients, wherein they earn points on products and treatments they have never purchased before.
With Phorest Chat you can have text customer conversations right from your dedicated SMS number to improve client experience and boost loyalty.
- You want gamification tools in a salon business system: Phorest has a Staff Goal feature that you can set for service sales, retail product sales, client visits, rebooking rates, and more. If you are looking for an employee motivation tool, you can set gamified challenges and goals based on salon metrics on PhorestGo.
- You prefer a salon software provider with clear pricing: While Phorest offers different plan options depending on the salon’s size or number of staff, the provider does not have pricing details on its website. You need to contact the provider to get the quote.
- Alternatives: Square Appointments and Bitrix24 offer free plans and scalable paid plans. While Schedulicity and GlossGenius only offer free trials, these providers have transparent plan pricing information.
- You want a more affordable salon booking app: Phorest’s salon-branded booking app is only available in the Elite plan (custom pricing).
- Alternatives: Fresha offers unlimited booking for free, and Vagaro’s plan for one location ($30 per month) offers online booking. These business systems are suitable for solo salon entrepreneurs and freelance hairstylists, hairdressers, and cosmetologists. If you have two to 10 salon service providers, you can subscribe to Mangomint’s Essentials plan for $165 monthly.
Phorest Pricing Plan & Overview*
*Pricing is based on annual billing on a per-month breakdown of the plans. Monthly billing is available for a higher cost. Schedulicity offers a 14-day free trial. While we update pricing information regularly, we encourage our readers to check current pricing.
Our Expert Opinion
Phorest is the winner in client loyalty programs on this list of the best salon software providers. With its loyalty card, TreatCard, customers are enticed to avail themselves of more of your salon services to earn points and get more discounts. Phorest Chat further enhances customer loyalty by having personalized customer conversations through text messaging.
How We Evaluated the Best Salon Software for Small Business
To choose a CRM system for software for salons, we looked at attributes relevant to this business niche, including client and employee management tools. We carefully assessed the payment processing, appointment scheduling, and other priority features for streamlining salon operations.
Lastly, we evaluated general product characteristics such as price, ease of use, and customer support. Our evaluation process offers insights into the best salon software to improve operations and grow your business.
25% of Overall Score
We looked at overall features we feel are necessities in salon software for small businesses, like features for client and lead management and email and text message marketing. We also looked into each system’s payment processing, dashboard reporting, and appointment scheduling tools. Aside from these, we also evaluated the software integrations and mobile app features.
15% of Overall Score
Pricing took into account free salon software plan availability and various scalable pricing options that a beauty parlor or salon business could purchase affordably to customize its system. We also looked at the option to either pay monthly or save by paying annually.
20% of Overall Score
We evaluated niche features specifically for salon management. The specific advanced features we reviewed include inventory management and employee management tools. We also assessed the availability and scalability features of the top salon software, especially its POS and loyalty programs. These capabilities are essential for seamless and secure salon business operations, which include customer service, marketing, and sales.
15% of Overall Score
The solutions were also evaluated on platform usability. This was analyzed according to the expertise required to set up an account, the ease of integrating with native or third-party CRM applications, and the skill needed to use the features. We also reviewed the overall intuitiveness of navigating the system’s interface and customizing the software to the user’s needs.
15% of Overall Score
Extensive support and service help prevent poor user experiences that users may encounter while using these salon software solutions. Help and support were evaluated in terms of customer service hours and the availability of support via phone, live chat, and email. This is also a crucial consideration when evaluating the best CRM for small businesses like salons and spas.
10% of Overall Score
In addition to firsthand experience with these software systems, we evaluated what users say about each product. These criteria consider how customers feel based on their reviews to gain insight into platform popularity, ease of use, and overall value for the price.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Salon software streamlines your day-to-day operations, from client and employee management to payment processing and brand website and online store development. It is equipped with automated features to help salon managers and employees save time and effort on routine administrative tasks. This helps them focus more on servicing their clients and boost revenue for the business.
The key features to look for in salon management software include online booking and calendar and email sync for appointment scheduling and client interactions. It is also important to consider features for payment processing, invoicing, loyalty programs, gift management, renter collection tools, and digital contracts for revenue management. The best salon software has payroll processing, marketing tools, and incentive program features for employees.
Hairdressers can use salon software to acquire more clients and establish good relationships with existing ones for higher income. You can sync your calendar, email, messaging, and other existing tools you use on a centralized platform. You could also create your very own online booking system shareable on your social media and embeddable in your website.
Bottom Line
The best salon software can help hairstylists and hairdressers offer packaged services online via their business websites and social media. It enables salon owners to process payments, manage suppliers, and more. It also improves customer experiences, allowing them to book salon appointments and generate vouchers as gifts. While Vagaro is our top salon software, the best system for you depends on your unique business needs.
