Square Appointments vs. GlossGenius – Which salon and spa software should you choose?
If you’re a solopreneur or operate with a small team of one or two staff, these two popular choices could be the right fit for you.
Square Appointments is a comprehensive cloud-based appointment-scheduling solution with a genuinely free solo plan offering more functionality than some competitors’ paid tiers. Its sleek hardware creates a professional impression during checkout, a small but important detail for enhancing client experience.
Square attracts a large user base of solopreneurs and small teams due to its reliable payment processing and extensive integration options.
GlossGenius has carved out a strong niche in the salon and spa industry. This all-in-one appointment, payment, and marketing app is beloved by independent professionals who prioritize aesthetics and functionality.
GlossGenius offers premium beauty-inspired design with intuitive app-based software and stylish card readers, creating a seamless experience for the beauty industry. Their enhanced Teams feature now provides robust time-tracking, payroll, and team management capabilities, making it viable for growing salons.
I’ll admit, it’s a tough choice.
Today, I’ll walk you through the benefits of each system, including features, pricing, and user reviews. You’ll see the key differences and decide which platform is best for you.
In this Square Appointments vs. GlossGenius comparison, you will discover:
Square Appointments vs GlossGenius
Let's kick off with an overview of the two platforms we're diving into today.
Square Appointments
GlossGenius
Overall score
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Average price
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.
Who is it for
Ease of use
Customer Service
Countries
U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, the UK.
U.S.
Key features
- Large amount of native integrations with other apps
- Comprehensive, easy-to-use, marketing tools
- Best looking POS hardware on the market
- Free, sophisticated, website builder and online store
- Premium beauty-inspired interface design
- Professional-looking website in just a few clicks
- Integrated payment and card reader with customizable design
- Affordable, transparent, flat fee pricing
A Double-Click on Each System: Square Appointments vs. GlossGenius
Let’s cover what these systems are and the pros and cons of each.
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
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)
How Do They Compare? Strengths and Weaknesses
When comparing these platforms, their distinct approaches to salon management become apparent.
Square Appointments takes a modular approach to business management. Its interface balances functionality and usability, offering a complete ecosystem for running your salon. The platform’s versatility allows you to add only essential features, creating a customized workflow. This flexibility suits businesses expecting significant growth, but it comes with a learning curve. You might switch between different sections of the platform to complete related tasks, disrupting your workflow during busy periods.
GlossGenius prioritizes an intuitive, beauty-focused experience. The platform feels designed for salon professionals rather than adapted from general business software. The color scheme and feature organization reflect an understanding of salon workflows. This approach means less time learning the software and more time focusing on clients. The tradeoff? Fewer customization options than Square.
The booking experience highlights these differences. Square’s online booking system is functional and clean but offers limited design customization. Clients get a straightforward booking experience that works well but doesn’t reflect your salon’s brand personality. GlossGenius creates beautiful booking pages that impress clients, though you’re limited to their templates and must use their domain.
For multi-staff salons, Square historically had the advantage with robust team management tools. However, GlossGenius improved in this area, adding time-tracking, commission calculations, and staff management features. Still, Square maintains an advantage for larger teams with its extensive reporting and staff management capabilities.
The cost structure reflects their different approaches. Square offers a free solo plan but implements a steeper pricing curve as you grow, with team plans starting at $29-69 monthly plus additional costs for marketing and advanced features. GlossGenius uses a flat-rate subscription model that’s more predictable as you scale, though you’ll pay from the beginning.
Geography could be a deciding factor for some businesses. Square operates internationally across the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, and several European countries, while GlossGenius is available only to U.S.-based businesses.
Square Appointments vs GlossGenius
Let's kick off with an overview of the two platforms we're diving into today.
Ease of use
Design
Customer service
Pricing
Calendar and appointment management
Online booking
Point of sale and check out
Client data
Client communication
Inventory management
Team Management
Payroll
Marketing support
3rd party integrations
Mobile and tablet apps
Features: Square Appointments vs. GlossGenius
Each platform reveals its distinct approach to salon management.
Square Appointments excels in scheduling flexibility and business management. The calendar interface is clean and functional, offering multiple views (day, week, month) to manage your time effectively. Their automated reminders reduce no-shows, important for consistent revenue. Square’s new Go marketplace is valuable for client acquisition – it helps new customers discover your salon based on service needs and location, providing free marketing.
Square stands out in payment processing and checkout experience. Their sleek card readers handle basic card payments to digital wallets, creating a memorable professional checkout experience. The ability to store cards on file for no-show protection adds business security without uncomfortable cancellation policy conversations.
GlossGenius approaches features from a beauty-first perspective. Their calendar is designed for salon professionals, with color-coded appointments based on service categories and easy swiping for appointment details. Their system allows direct syncing with your personal calendar, integrating work and personal scheduling seamlessly.
The GlossGenius booking experience prioritizes aesthetics. You can create a professional-looking booking website that showcases your services, team members, and portfolio. Their Genius Forms feature automatically generates customized intake forms based on your service offerings, saving setup time while collecting important client information.
GlossGenius offers sophisticated tools for marketing within a simple interface. Their client segmentation features let you target specific groups (like clients who haven’t visited in 3+ months) with tailored promotions. While the template options aren’t endlessly customizable, they’re professionally designed and effective without requiring marketing expertise.
Both platforms offer comprehensive reporting but with different emphases. Square provides detailed financial analytics and inventory tracking, ideal for businesses selling products alongside services. GlossGenius focuses on service performance metrics and client retention insights, showing which services drive your business and which clients need attention.
The mobile experience differs significantly. While both offer apps, GlossGenius is primarily mobile-focused. You’ll manage everything through their beautifully designed app. Square works well on desktops, tablets, or phones, giving you more options for running your business.
Feature Comparison
Square has substantially richer feature offer out of these two. However, GlossGenius do offer solutions to independent beauty professionals that still makes it a preferred option to many. Let's go through what these features are and where they differ.
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Square Appointments
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GlossGenius
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| Online Booking | Square Appointments | GlossGenius |
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Website booking widget Note Can you integrate the entire online booking experience directly into your website? |
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Branding control Note Can you customize the look and feel of the booking experience to fit your brand? |
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No-show protection Note Can you store credit card details and charge deposits to reinforce your cancellation policy? |
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Service customization Note Can clients adapt their service when they book, and can this change the price and duration of the booked appointment? |
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Free from account creation Note Can clients book without having first to create an account with the software? |
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Integrated gift cards Note Can you sell digital gift cards as part of the booking process? |
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| Calendar and Appointment Management | ||
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Customize notification messages Note Can you change the text sent to your clients as part of appointment reminders and other messages? |
Note You can enable/disable parts of the notification and add an additional message. |
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Customize notification timings Note Can you change when reminders and other messages go out to your clients? |
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| Client waitlist management | ||
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Rooms and resource scheduling Note Can you manage equipment, rooms, and other resources required to complete a service? |
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Repeat appointments Note Can you schedule clients for recurring appointments? |
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Time block Note Can you block out time on your calendar? |
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Processing time Note Can you allow for double booking of service providers by accepting appointments during service processing time? |
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Duration and price by staff Note Can you adapt the price and time needed for a service based on who is performing the service? |
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Automated check-in Note Can clients check in to their appointments themselves? |
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| Point of Sale/ Check out | ||
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Tablet compatible Note Can you run the POS on any tablet or do you need special hardware? |
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Dedicated POS hardware Note Does the system provider offer hardware to improve the check out expereince? |
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Self check out Note Can clients check out from their appointment themselves? |
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Route payments to renters Note If you have booth renters in your business, can you route payments directly to them? |
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Cards on file Note Can you store credit card details and charge the customer later? |
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Integrated payments Note Does the software offer a first-party payment processing solution? |
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| Client Data & Communication | ||
| SMS Notification | ||
| Email Notificition | ||
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Dedicated business SMS number Note Do you get a business phone number that your messages and notifications are send from? |
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| Two way SMS communication |
Note Clients can confirm appointments by replying to SMS |
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Forms Note Can you create intake forms, store SOAP notes, and have clients sign your forms? |
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Client notes Note Can you store notes about clients on their profile? |
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Client files and images Note Can you store files and image on in the client’s profile? |
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| Inventory and Product Types | ||
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Inventory tracking Note Will the system keep track of stock levels, notify you when it’s time to re-order? |
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Purchase orders Note Can the system create automatic purchase orders for you? |
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| Retail | ||
| Memberships | ||
| Packages | ||
| Gift cards | ||
| Team Support & Payroll | ||
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Fully integrated payroll Note Can you run payroll and cut paychecks directly through the software? |
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3rd party payroll integration Note Does the software allow you integrate and share data with a 3rd party payroll solution (e.g. Gusto, ADP, Paychex, etc)? |
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| Payroll reports | ||
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Commission support Note Can you track and report on commission for service, retail, and other product types? |
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Multi-location support Note Does the system have specific support for businesses with multiple locations |
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Booth renter support Note Can the system help with rent collection, payments, and other booth renter management tasks. |
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| Marketing Support | ||
| Email marketing | ||
| SMS marketing | ||
| Website builder | ||
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Client marketplace Note Does it offer a platform where potential clients can browse businesses using the software? |
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Add-on offers Note Can you promote service add-ons/upsells as part of the online booking flow? |
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| Cloud & Mobile App Access | ||
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Full-featured mobile app Note Can you access all software features in the mobile app? |
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| Web browser | ||
| iPad | ||
| iPhone | ||
| Android | ||
Integrating with Other Platforms for Additional Features
As your business scales up, you will likely want to integrate with other platforms as you’ll probably need more specific features.
Given that GlossGenius is for solo business owners (or tiny teams), they haven’t invested in integrations. They do, however, allow for some pretty neat contacts/ calendar synchronization, which is valuable if your personal and business life blends.
Square Appointments is the better alternative in this regard and shines with easy integrations – connecting other Square products and third-party apps.
Integrations
These platforms do not put big emphasis on integration support even Vagaro is has the richest support out of the two.
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Square Appointments
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GlossGenius
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Custom integrations Note Does the platform allow you to create new integrations to support your business-specific needs? |
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Native integrations Note Built-in integrations that you can activate as needed |
The Square App Marketplace offer a lot of integrations. Some popular examples are:
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Pricing: Square Appointments vs. GlossGenius
Both Square Appointments and GlossGenius offer affordable pricing.
This is a big reason they have become so popular for independent professionals.
Owners love GlossGenius for the pricing model that is very easy to understand. There are not a lot of options; it’s straightforward, and you know what you’ll pay.
Square makes it a bit more complex to understand what you’ll pay, so you want to think through your needs and how you plan to use it before you sign up so that you have an idea of what you’ll pay.
Square Appointments vs GlossGenius Pricing
Both Square and GlossGenius offer affordable pricing. Let's look at what you'll pay.
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Square Appointments
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GlossGenius
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| Average Price | ||
| Trial Options | ||
| Minimum contract length | ||
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Plans
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| Plans | ||
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Add-ons
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| Add-ons | ||
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Credit card fees
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| Credit card fees | ||
What Do Users Think of These Platforms?
Now that you have read my opinion on these two platforms, it’s time to read the customer reviews for Square Appointments and Glossgenius.
User Reviews Compared
Let's compare scores for these systems on the major user review sites.
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Square Appointments
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GlossGenius
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What Alternatives Should You Consider?
Square Appointments and GlossGenius are good alternatives for independent professionals or small teams. However, if you’re still unsure, I would consider the platforms below.
Mangomint is the highest-rated software for salons and spas. If you have a team and you want the best customer service in the industry, I highly recommend you check them out.
Fresha is another option that serves similar businesses as Square Appointments and GlossGenius and is an interesting alternative.
Mangomint vs Fresha
A quick comparison of the two Square Appointments and GlossGenius alternatives.
Mangomint
Fresha
Overall score
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Average price
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.
Who is it for
Ease of use
Customer Service
Countries
U.S. and Canada
Available in 22 languages in over 120 countries worldwide
Key features
- Modern, intuitive, and easy to use
- 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 who allows for integrations
- Highest-rated customer service on the market
- Subscription free for solo practitioners, affordable pricing for teams
- Fresha marketplace where clients can discover your salon
- Easy to use with a modern minimalistic design interface
- Available in over 120 countries!
Conclusion
I hope this comparison of Square Appointments and GlossGenius has helped you decide on the right platform to succeed in your business.
I recommend you read my list of the best salon and spa software right now for more alternatives and insight into these platforms.
