Are you trying to figure out which point-of-sale system is right for your salon or spa business?
Then you’ve certainly landed in the right place.
As you’ve probably already realized, there are a lot of options when it comes to POS systems for salons and spas.
And it can be super confusing trying to understand what the best choice is for your business. At least that’s how I felt when I started my research.
So today, I will share what I learned when researching and testing all the top salon POS systems. This should save you many hours (or even weeks).
I will cover solutions specializing in your type of business and that offer full software support for hair salons, nail salons, beauty salons, barbershops, and spas.
Are you ready?
Let’s dive into the best point-of-sale systems for salons and spas.
Quick Overview of The Best Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems for Salons and Spas 2024
Below is my list of the 10 best salon POS systems in 2024. The system that best fits your business best will depend on things such how big retail vs service share you have, the product types you offer, how you distribute products as well as team size and other the specific business characteristics. This is why I strongly recommend you quickly asses all options on this list before you make your final decision.
Let’s Review Each Salon & Spa POS Alternative
We’ve used and researched each POS system listed here. The below should give you a solid overview of each POS with strengths and weaknesses. To learn more about each system, I highly recommend you read the full review which I’m linking to below.
Let’s Compare the POS Alternatives for Salons and Spas
Have you started to make up your mind about which POS system to use in your business? It’s time to compare them against each other. I’ll start with an overview of how users of these platforms score them. We’ll then compare pricing, and I’ll share a summary of key differences before we dive into details on features.
User Reviews Compared
This is how users of these POS and business management systems score their system. I’ll focus on the four biggest sites where users rate these systems.
Pricing Compared
Pricing varies greatly between the different systems and the model for how they charge differs. The intent of this table is to give you a rough idea of the average cost for a mid size business. To fully understand what you will be paying, you should assess the exact plan your bususiness requires and also take into account the payment volume you will be processing.
Mangomint
Average Price
$245 per month
Trial Options
30 day free trial
Minimum contract
Cancel any time
- Essentials: $165 /mo (10 service providers)
- Standard: $245 /mo (20 service providers and advanced features)
- Unlimited: $375/ mo (unlimited service providers)
- Integrated Forms: $50/ mo
- Two-Way Texting: $75/ mo
- Payroll Processing: $50/ mo + $8/ mo per worker
- Marketing: Pay as you go, 1¢ per marketing credit
- In-person: 2.45% + $0.15
- Virtual: 2.90% + $0.20
- Custom rates: Over $50k/mo in volume may qualify for custom rates
GlossGenius
Average Price
$48 per month
Trial Options
Free 14 Day Trial
Minimum contract
Cancel any time
- Standard: $24/month (core features, one user)
- Gold: $48/ month (includes more sophisticated features such as intake forms, waitlist, commission reporting, premium website designs, and multiple users).
- No add-ons. All features are included in the Gold plan.
- 2.6% on all transactions
Square Appointments
Average Price
$45 per month
Trial Options
Free base tier plan
Minimum contract
Cancel any time
- Free: $0/month (only very essential features)
- Plus: $29 per location (includes core features like client notifications and cancellation policy)
- Premium: $69 per location (includes more sophisticated features like resource management).
- Unlimited calendars on all plans
- Email marketing: $15/month
- SMS marketing: $10/month
- Square loyalty: $45/month
- Square Payroll: $35 + $6 per user/month
- In-person: 2.6% + 10 cents (2.5% + 10 cents on paid plans)
- Online (card): 2.9% + 30 cents
- Manually Keyed-In: 3.5% + 15 cents
Vagaro
Average Price
$120 per month
Trial Options
30 day free trial
Minimum contract
Cancel any time
- Monthly subscription fee starts at $25 for individuals
- $10 for every additional user
- Everyone after the 7th user is free
- Multi-location businesses require Vagaro’s enterprise platform with personalized prizing.
- Automated text marketing: $20/month
- Website builder: $10/month
- Forms: $10/month
- Cloud storage: $10/month
- Check-in app: $10/month
- Additional visibility at the Vagaro client marketplace: $10/month
- Branded app: $200/month
- SMS marketing: $20/mo for 500 sms and they offer plans up to $400/mo for 20,000 sms.
- Email marketing: 1000 emails/mo are included in your plan. If you need more, you pay $10/mo for 5 000 emails up to $90/mo for 100 000 emails.
- Small merchants (less than $4000/month): 2.75% per swipe, 3.5% + $0.15 per keyed-in transaction.
- Multiple merchants (less than $4000/month): 2.5% + $0.10 per swipe, 3.5% +$0.15 per keyed-in transaction.
- Large merchants (more than $4000/month): 2.2% + $0.19 per swipe, 3% + $0.19 per keyed-in transaction. Monthly cost $10.
Lightspeed
Average Price
$199 per month
Trial Options
14 day free trial
Minimum contract
Cancel any time or 12 month for lower price
- Lean: $139 ($119 if billed annually)
- Standard: $199 ($169 if billed annually)
- Advanced: $319 ($249 if billed annually)
- Enterprise: Personalized quote
Not Available
- 2.6% plus 10 cents per in-person transaction
- 2.9% plus 30 cents for online transactions
Boulevard
Average Price
$425 per month
Trial Options
Must request trial via a demo call
Minimum contract
12 months
- Essentials: entry-level plan – $175 per month
- Premier: most popular plan – $325 per month
- Prestige: upper-tier plan – $455 per month
- Enterprise: custom plan for chains and franchises – pricing is custom
- Forms and Charts – $55 per month per location
- Contact Center – Starting at $25 per month per location
- QuickBooks Integration – $45 per month per location
- Automated Email Campaigns – $2 per completed appointment
- One-Time Blast Emails – specific # included with each plan, $0.01 per email thereafter
With “Offset” Feature
- 3% charged to client, business charged 1%.
Without “Offset” Feature
- In-person transactions: 2.6% + 10¢
- Virtual transactions: 3.5% + 10¢
Fresha
Average Price
$80 per month
Trial Options
Free subscription
Minimum contract
Cancel any time
- No fixed monthly charge
- Marketplace new client fee: 20% (min $6 per new client). This only applies to new clients who book via the Fresha marketplace.
- Automated notifications: $0.01 per text (50 included for free)
- Email blast campaigns: $0.02 per email
- Text blast campaigns: $0.02 per email
- Insights (enhanced reporting): $9.95 per team member
- Card: 2.19% + $0.20 per transaction
- Tap to Pay: $0.10 per authorization
Booker
Average Price
$450 per month
Trial Options
No free trial
Minimum contract
12 months
- Starter: entry-level plan – $129 per month
- Accelerate: mid-tier plan – $269 per month
- Ultimate: most popular plan – $429 per month
- Ultimate Plus: premium plan – $549 per month
Messenger[ai] feature can be added on to Accelerate and Ultimate packages
Credit card processing rates through Mindbody Payments:
- US:
- In-person – Card-present (CP): 2.75% per transaction
- Online or on-file: Card-not-present (CNP): 3.5% + .15 USD per transaction
- Canada:
- In-person – Card-present (CP): 2.39% + .10 CAD per transaction
- Online or on-file: Card-not-present (CNP): 2.89% + .25 CAD per transaction
Zenoti
Average Price
$350 per month
Trial Options
No free trial
Minimum contract
12 months
Zenoti doesn’t offer transparent pricing information on their website. These are the “recommended packages” they offered us as a potential salon client:
“Recommended Option #1” – $350 (per month, per location)
- “Salon Core Package”
- ezConnect (two-way SMS feature)
- 7500 marketing emails
- 1000 marketing texts
“Recommended Option #2” – $450 (per month, per location)
- Everything in Option #1, plus
- “Marketing Plus Package”
- Custom-branded client-facing mobile app
- ezRepute (review management feature)
“Recommended Option #3” – $500 (per month, per location)
- Option #1, plus
- Smartbot (AI powered chatbot feature)
- ezConnect – In-App Two-Way Text Messaging: $29 – $169 per month per location
- ezRepute – Reputation Management Suite: $189 per month per location
- Smart Bot (Web / IVR): $150 – $400 per month per location
- ezPulse – Employee Performance Tracking Suite: $49 per month per location
- Credits (Email & SMS Marketing Campaigns): $180 – $1500
Credit card processing rates through Zenoti Payments:
- Card Present
- All cards except Amex: 2.45% + 10c
- Amex: 2.95% + 10c
- Card Not Present
- All cards except Amex: 2.95% + 10c
- Amex: 3.25% + $0.10
Mindbody
Average Price
$450 per month
Trial Options
No free trial
Minimum contract
12 months
- Starter: entry-level plan – $129 per month
- Accelerate: mid-tier plan – $269 per month
- Ultimate: most popular plan – $429 per month
- Ultimate Plus: premium plan – $549 per month
- Branded mobile app
- Messenger[ai]
- FitMetrix
- Branded web tools
- Video on Demand
- Live Stream
- Insights
Credit card processing rates through Mindbody Payments:
- US:
- In-person – Card-present (CP): 2.75% per transaction
- Online or on-file: Card-not-present (CNP): 3.5% + .15 USD per transaction
- Canada:
- In-person – Card-present (CP): 2.39% + .10 CAD per transaction
- Online or on-file: Card-not-present (CNP): 2.89% + .25 CAD per transaction
Comparison Summary
Supported features is not the only thing that matters when picking the right system. Thus, before we dive into the functionality of each systems, this is how I’d score them on design, ease of use, pricing, and customer service.
Ease of use
Design
Customer service
Pricing
5
5
5
4
5
5
3
5
4
4
3
4
3
3
3
5
4
3
4
3
4
4
5
3
5
3
2
3
4
3
3
3
3
2
4
2
3
2
3
3
Salon & Spa Management Software Features:
Review & Tutorial
The systems listed here offer more than point-of-sale support. They are built to help manage your total business.
Kayle and I have recorded tutorials for all of the most popular systems. In these videos, we dive deep into the software features that the POS systems support, and we also share what we see as the pros and cons of the platforms.
So to learn more about a specific system, I highly recommend you watch the relevant video below.
Integrations Compared
The more sophisticated POS systems also allow you to integrate with other platforms to achieve what you want. The extent at which these systems allow for integrations vary greatly so let’s go through the available integrations.
Note
Does the platform allow you to create new integrations to support your business-specific needs?
Note
Built-in integrations that you can activate as needed
Note
On Enterprise plan only
Note
On Enterprise plan only.
Ready to Choose the POS for Your Salon or Spa?
I hope you found this review and comparison of the best POS for salons and spas helpful and that you’ve been able to decide on the best system for your business.
If you’re still unsure about which system to go with, I recommend you explore each system further in the specific system reviews linked to below.
Quick Overview of The Best Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems for Salons and Spas 2024
Below is my list of the 10 best salon POS systems in 2024. The system that best fits your business best will depend on things such how big retail vs service share you have, the product types you offer, how you distribute products as well as team size and other the specific business characteristics. This is why I strongly recommend you quickly asses all options on this list before you make your final decision.