Are you looking for better, cheaper alternatives to Mindbody in 2024?
Then you’ve landed in the right place.
Mindbody, originally founded in 1998 as HardBody Software, is one of today’s most well-known salon and spa software systems.
I have mixed feelings about Mindbody, though. While it is very full-featured, it’s not at the top of my list for the majority of salons or spas for a few important reasons.
Mindbody offers a truckload of features and caters to a pretty wide audience of business types. This is both a pro and a con, but it’s also undoubtedly why it has become such a popular option worldwide.
However, Mindbody is certainly not your only option, and there are good reasons why you may want to consider something else, especially if you run a salon or spa (and not a fitness business).
Why Consider a Mindbody Alternative?
Some of the reasons you may want to choose an alternative to Mindbody are:
- It’s expensive: Mindbody’s monthly costs easily creep into the $450-and-up range if you want to take advantage of its best features. While Mindbody does offer less expensive plans, those plans lack the more advanced features that make Mindbody an attractive choice in the first place.
- The clunky, outdated, and unintuitive interface: Mindbody has been around since the late 90s, and—wow—does the app show its age. While newer competitors in the salon and spa software space have been innovating on their app design, Mindbody has stayed stubbornly stuck in the past with confusing menus and extra steps for even the most routine tasks (like booking and checking out).
- Spotty customer support: As your business grows, so will your demand for better support and system flexibility. While Mindbody lists their support contact info on their support site, getting in touch with them was more difficult than expected in our experience. Many user reviews confirm that poor support is also an issue for other business customers.
As with any system, there are pros and cons of Mindbody. Let’s dive into my top recommended alternatives.
Mindbody Alternatives
We’ll start with a quick summary of my recommended Mindbody alterntives. Following this, I’ll dive into each one in a bit more depth.
Mangomint
Read my detailed Mangomint vs. Mindbody comparison
Who is it for
The highest-rated software for salons & spas. Designed for businesses with a team who want the best design experience, smart automations, and the flexibility to integrate with other systems.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$245 per month
Supported countries
U.S. and Canada
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
GlossGenius
Read my detailed GlossGenius vs. Mindbody comparison
Who is it for
For independent professionals who want to start accepting payments and get appointment scheduling, a website and marketing up fast without compromising on the experience of their brand
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$48 per month
Supported countries
U.S.
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Square Appointments
Read my detailed Square vs. Mindbody comparison
Who is it for
For solopreneurs or small teams in any type of local service business (salon, spa, fitness, repair, cleaning, and professional services) who want access to Square’s broad range of products.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$45 per month
Supported countries
U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, the UK.
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Booker
Read my detailed Booker vs. Mindbody comparison
Who is it for
For the new and growing business with funds to spare that needs integrated marketing tools and must have a first-party online marketplace to drive new client acquisition.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$450 per month
Supported countries
Available almost worldwide
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Vagaro
Read my detailed Vagaro vs. Mindbody comparison
Who is it for
For cost conscious solopreneurs or smaller teams who are looking for an all-in-one software, with a lot of features, to support their salon, spa, or fitness business.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$120 per month
Supported countries
U.S., Canada, Australia, and the UK
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Alternative #1: Mangomint | The Highest Rated Software for Salons and Spas
It’s not uncommon for businesses to transition from Mindbody to Mangomint as their business grows.
Mangomint is built for businesses with 5+ service providers and offers richer support for small and large teams alike. Better yet, its features are specifically designed for the needs of salons and spas, and its app is considerably easier to use than Mindbody’s.
Mangomint is the fastest and most well-designed platform currently available on the market. With their newly expanded feature set, they’ve brought email marketing tools and fully integrated payroll processing into the mix, making them a feature-for-feature competitor with Mindbody at a much more attractive price point.
Mangomint also has a major leg-up over Mindbody when it comes to payroll, offering fully integrated payroll processing for multiple compensation types and unlimited payroll runs.
Then there’s the price. Feature-for-feature, Mangomint comes out ahead with a lower average price point, offering better bang-for-your-buck value than Mindbody.
Mangomint At a Glance
Overall score
Mangomint is the most modern and well-designed salon and spa software platform in the United States & Canada.
It’s the platform with the most buzz around right now that beats all competitors on user review websites.
Every little detail of this software has been designed to perfection – making it incredibly intuitive and easy to use. It also offers intelligent automations that reduces time spent managing your appointments and business operations.
Mangomint’s vision is to make salon software invisible—so smart and easy to use that it essentially disappears into your day-to-day operations. And boy, is this software a pleasure to use for both you and your clients, which is why it is now, in 2023, my #1 recommendation.
Pros and Cons
- Modern, easy-to-use, interface
- Smart automations that help cut down on time spent managing business operations
- Open data ownership and no contracts (you’re not locked into anything)
- Can integrate with any other platform that allow for integrations
- Highest-rated customer service on the market
- Not for solopreneurs. Only teams.
- Higher entry-level price than most other salon & spa software
- Only available in the United States & Canada
Alternative #2: GlossGenius | The Easy-to-Use Alternative for Independent Professionals
If you’re a solo business owner who cares about aesthetics and ease of use, consider GlossGenius. It’s head and shoulders above Mindbody in its app design and mobile capabilities.
Since GlossGenius is a mobile-focused salon software, you can control most of your business functions right out of their mobile app, but this also means you have fewer features overall compared to Mindbody.
In our experience, if you are a solo business owner, the feature set on offer from GlossGenius is likely more than adequate. And the headaches saved with its much more modern app make GlossGenius an easy recommendation.
For single service providers, Mindbody is considerably more expensive, so if you’re on a budget and want to run your business easily from your phone, give GlossGenius a look.
GlossGenius At a Glance
Overall score
GlossGenius is an all-in-one appointment, payment, and marketing app for salon and spa professionals in the USA.
It offers rich support for independent professionals. Teams can also use the app but it’s primarily designed for solopreneurs.
Here you manage your total business out of an easy-to-use, beautifully designed, mobile app.
In my opinion, it’s the design and premium beauty experience that GlossGenius delivers that makes this tool truly unique. You can even adapt the design of their credit card reader to fit your brand.
Pros and Cons
- Interface design that signals beauty (and not tech)
- Intuitive features that are easy-to-use
- Professional looking website in just a few clicks
- Integrated payments with beautiful hardware
- Affordable and transparent flat fee pricing
- Limited flexibility (you need to follow pre-defined standards)
- Can only be managed via app (only calendar can be accessed in web browser)
- No booking widget to integrate on existing website (need to link to your GlossGenius website)
Alternative #3: Square Appointments | The Complete POS & Appointment Software with a Subscription-Free Plan for Individuals
Square Appointments, and Square’s offer as a whole, makes a compelling counter to Mindbody’s kitchen sink approach to software.
Whereas Mindbody seems better suited to fitness and wellness businesses rather than salon and spa solopreneurs or small teams, Square Appointments and Square’s suite of other business applications make for a great integrated solution for smaller businesses, no matter the industry.
Square is also far less expensive than Mindbody at its entry price point, so it may make a better fit for small businesses on a tight budget.
Square is definitely more aesthetically pleasing than Mindbody, and you also get access to better-designed point-of-sale hardware with Square.
The complexity of Square can be a bit more involved than Mindbody. Square is built for any business type, so you may need to puzzle together the apps you want to use as you get set up. Mindbody is primarily targeted at salons, spas, and fitness and wellness businesses, so it has a potentially more straightforward setup process.
Square Appointments At a Glance
Overall score
Square Appointments is a cloud-based appointment scheduling software for salons, spas and really any other local service businesses.
It integrates with the full suite of local business solutions from Square which makes it one of the most complete business management solutions on the market.
At the same time, it is free for individuals and has therefore quickly become one of the most popular platforms for one-person businesses like beauty booth renters and individual professionals.
Pros and Cons
- Free for individuals
- Well-designed, easy to use, interface
- Integration with the full suite of Square applications for endless possibilities
- Robust core business management (inventory, reports, and client data)
- Limited flexibility when designing online booking page, booking widget, e-mails and other aspects that you may want to adapt
- It gets a bit expensive for the growing team that expands with more locations
Alternative #4: Booker | The Most Established Salon Software With the Best New Client Marketplace
Like Mindbody, its sister software, Booker is a salon and spa management software and a marketplace. In fact, it shares the same marketplace as Mindbody.
Booker‘s major leg up over Mindbody is that it offers all the same major features at the same price points in a much simpler app that was actually designed for spas and salons.
This makes Booker a more streamlined experience and one that we recommend over Mindbody for any salon or spa business that doesn’t teach classes online or need to sell livestreams or video-on-demand content.
Booker At a Glance
Overall score
Booker by Mindbody, is a subscription-based salon and spa software that has existed in some form since 2007. Booker is headquartered in San Luis Obispo CA, and is available nearly worldwide.
Booker’s strengths lie in its new client acquisition opportunities and integrated marketing capabilities.
While Booker’s lowest-tier plans are relatively affordable compared to the competition, they lack many of the noteworthy features that make Booker an attractive option, putting them somewhere in the middle of the pack when it comes to price-to-feature comparisons.
Pros and Cons
- Straightforward pricing
- Enhanced new client acquisition opportunities through MindBody Explore marketplace
- Integrated email marketing suite (on higher-tier plans)
- No free trial
- Must commit to a minimum 12-month contract before ever using the software
- US-based customer support only available to Ultimate and Ultimate Plus plans (outsourced on Starter and Accelerate plans)
Alternative #5: Vagaro | The Education & Engagement-Focused Salon Software Made With Marketing in Mind
As a final runner-up to Mindbody, Vagaro has to be mentioned. It is also rich in features and has an established marketplace.
Vagaro is not available in as many countries as Mindbody, but it is an attractive alternative in the territories it is offered in, with features like a great marketing suite, branded POS hardware, and support for classes, all at a better price than Mindbody.
Mindbody excels in its new client acquisition and marketing capabilities as well. However, it is an older platform, and if you were considering alternatives because you wanted a sleeker software interface and app, Vagaro doesn’t offer a major improvement here.
Vagaro is a much less expensive option than Mindbody, however, and considering the broad feature set makes much more sense for a lot of businesses.
Vagaro At a Glance
Overall score
Vagaro, headquartered in the US, is one of the most popular salon software options. It is a complete system for salons, spas, barbershops, health, and fitness businesses.
It’s one of the most feature-rich platforms on the market and comes with POS, online appointment scheduling, email/SMS marketing, credit card processing, subscription payments, video streaming, website builder, eCommerce, payroll, hardware, and advanced business reporting just to name a few.
Despite the large amount of built-in features, it’s one of the cheapest platforms on the market. So if you want to spend as little as possible for as much as possible, Vagaro could be the right platform for you.
Pros and Cons
- Rich in features
- Affordable price
- Client marketplace that could help you attract more new clients
- Integrations with other software (QuickBook, Xerox, Facebook, Zoom)
- Pages could load faster, and you may find some glitches as you use it
- Clients need to create a Vagaro account when booking, which some find annoying
- There is a slight learning curve in the beginning, as a lot of features
Choosing the Best Mindbody Alternative
I hope this list was helpful in determining if any of these Mindbody alternatives are a better fit for you.
If it’s a better price-to-performance ratio you’re looking for, Mangomint offers the best features and support for businesses with more than a couple of stylists or estheticians.
If you run a salon or spa and need a new client marketplace, Booker offers a much simpler app experience than Mindbody while retaining all the other bells and whistles.
However, if the price tag of Mindbody and Booker is too high, Vagaro‘s marketplace is a great choice at a much lower price.
If you’re looking for a great option as a solopreneur, GlossGenius is likely your best bet, but Square Appointments should also be in consideration.
Still unsure which software is the best for you? That’s OK! We’ve reviewed a whole bunch more.
Check out our list of the best salon software in 2024 right now and see how each competitor stacks up in our in-depth comparison!
