The Ultimate GlossGenius Review (2024)

How Users Rate and Review GlossGenius

GlossGenius has an engaged user base of solopreneurs who really like the product. The system gets a high score on most review sites.

4.6

5.0

4.7

4.1

GlossGenius is lighter on features than many of its rivals. However, your compromise on fewer features would mainly be a limitation if you run a bigger business. Small salons and independent professionals will most likely find the lower complexity a relief.

Supported Features

Salon software often includes the following common features. The table below indicates which of these features are supported by GlossGenius.

	GlossGenius
Online Booking	GlossGenius
Website booking widget Note Can you integrate the entire online booking experience directly into your website?
Branding control Note Can you customize the look and feel of the booking experience to fit your brand?
No-show protection Note Can you store credit card details and charge deposits to reinforce your cancellation policy?
Service customization Note Can clients adapt their service when they book, and can this change the price and duration of the booked appointment?
Free from account creation Note Can clients book without having first to create an account with the software?
Integrated gift cards Note Can you sell digital gift cards as part of the booking process?
Calendar and Appointment Management
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.
Customize notification timings Note Can you change when reminders and other messages go out to your clients?
Client waitlist management
Rooms and resource scheduling Note Can you manage equipment, rooms, and other resources required to complete a service?
Repeat appointments Note Can you schedule clients for recurring appointments?
Time block Note Can you block out time on your calendar?
Processing time Note Can you allow for double booking of service providers by accepting appointments during service processing time?
Duration and price by staff Note Can you adapt the price and time needed for a service based on who is performing the service?
Automated check-in Note Can clients check in to their appointments themselves?
Point of Sale/ Check out
Tablet compatible Note Can you run the POS on any tablet or do you need special hardware?
Dedicated POS hardware Note Does the system provider offer hardware to improve the check out expereince?
Self check out Note Can clients check out from their appointment themselves?
Route payments to renters Note If you have booth renters in your business, can you route payments directly to them?
Cards on file Note Can you store credit card details and charge the customer later?
Integrated payments Note Does the software offer a first-party payment processing solution?
Client Data & Communication
SMS Notification
Email Notificition
Dedicated business SMS number Note Do you get a business phone number that your messages and notifications are send from?
Two way SMS communication
Forms Note Can you create intake forms, store SOAP notes, and have clients sign your forms?
Client notes Note Can you store notes about clients on their profile?
Client files and images Note Can you store files and image on in the client’s profile?
Inventory and Product Types
Inventory tracking Note Will the system keep track of stock levels, notify you when it’s time to re-order?
Purchase orders Note Can the system create automatic purchase orders for you?
Retail
Memberships
Packages
Gift cards
Team Support & Payroll
Fully integrated payroll Note Can you run payroll and cut paychecks directly through the software?
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)?
Payroll reports
Commission support Note Can you track and report on commission for service, retail, and other product types?
Multi-location support Note Does the system have specific support for businesses with multiple locations
Booth renter support Note Can the system help with rent collection, payments, and other booth renter management tasks.
Marketing Support
Email marketing
SMS marketing
Website builder
Client marketplace Note Does it offer a platform where potential clients can browse businesses using the software?
Add-on offers Note Can you promote service add-ons/upsells as part of the online booking flow?
Cloud & Mobile App Access
Full-featured mobile app Note Can you access all software features in the mobile app?
Web browser
iPad
iPhone
Android

Integration Support

There isn’t much support to extend the software through integrations. But as an independent business owner, what you have built-in would normally be enough. Integrations is typically only offered by software designed for teams.

	GlossGenius
Custom integrations Note Does the platform allow you to create new integrations to support your business-specific needs?
Native integrations Note Built-in integrations that you can activate as needed	Google Calendar Phone contacts

Alternatives to GlossGenius

Here are my recommended alternatives to GlossGenius. Mangomint if you run a business with a team and need more. Fresha if GlossGenius is not supported in your country and you need something that also fits the wallet.
Browse all GlossGenius Alternatives.

#1

Mangomint

Read my detailed GlossGenius vs. Mangomint 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.

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.

$245 per month

Supported countries

U.S. and Canada

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.

4.9

4.4

Ease of use

5.0

5.0

Customer service

5.0

3.0

Capterra user score

5.0

4.6

G2 user score

4.8

5.0

Learn more

#2

Fresha

Read my detailed Fresha comparison

Who is it for

For the independent professional or business on a budget that want to avoid subscription fees and a big technical learning curve.

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.

$80 per month

Supported countries

Available in 22 languages in over 120 countries worldwide

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.

4.1

4.4

Ease of use

5.0

5.0

Customer service

2.0

3.0

Capterra user score

4.8

4.6

G2 user score

4.2

5.0

Learn more

GlossGenius Features

This beautiful little app and card reader is packed with rich features. The rest of this review will walk you through the details and how they work.

You can use the links below to find the most relevant for you.

• Credit Card Processor
• GlossGenius POS
• Appointment Calendar
• Online Booking
• Client Data Management
• Inventory Management
• GlossGenius Marketing
• Reporting and Analytics
• Teams & Payroll
• GlossGenius Apps

The GlossGenius credit card reader can check out your customers in style. The reader comes in various designs you can explore at the GlossGenius Website.

It connects via Bluetooth directly to your phone and the app. The reader accepts all payment types including contactless payments. The cost per credit card swipe is 2.6%.

In fact, it’s one of my top recommended credit card processors for salons and spas.

You access the POS by navigating directly to it in the main navigation or by tapping an appointment that you want to check out.

Just tap to add services or products to the appointment and check out. When you’ve processed the payment (using the card reader or cash) you can choose to have the receipt emailed directly to your client.

I find the calendar to be very intuitive to navigate. Switch between day view, week view, or month view. Show multiple calendars or just one. Appointments are colored based on the category of services booked.

Just tap an appointment for details and swipe to see any comments about the upcoming appointment.

Your calendar can also be synced directly with the calendar on your phone so that you can see both personal data mixed with your booked appointments.

This makes it one of the top options on my list of the best appointment-scheduling apps.

One of the coolest things about GlossGenius is that you can spin up a really professional looking website that allows you to accept appointments, sell gift cards, and present your business and team.

All in just a few seconds.

The website is generated based on the information you’ve added about your business and you can also add additional information, connect your social profiles, show your team, and feature your portfolio.

Below is an example website I just generated using only what’s already provided by the platform.

You can also integrate with Facebook and Instagram to have clients book you directly from your account.

The online booking and website functionality is awesome for the non-tech person who just wants to get going. However, for the more advanced user, you may find some limitations with how this works.

The main limitations are:

You do not have much flexibility with the website design and must use what GlossGenius provides you with. You’re also not able to set up a custom domain name but need to stick with “yourname.glossgenius.com”.

If you already have a website, you’ll not be able to embed just the booking widget but you need to link out to the separate GlossGenius website if you want to keep your existing site.

You can set up different email and SMS notifications that are sent to your clients automatically. This includes reminders ahead of appointments and birthday wishes where you can feature a promotion.

You can also include a link to capture reviews inside your notifications. Notifications are enabled by default so you don’t need to think about it. 

The limitation however is that there’s not much room for customization here. You’ll need to use the pre-defined text and email design formats. You can however insert additional text in case you have some specific information you want to ensure is included in your notifications.

GlossGenius allows you to store notes about clients, maintain a portfolio of e.g. before and after images of the client, and access history about past purchases. It covers the basics of what you’ll need.

A cool feature they offer is that you can add and book clients that you have stored in your phone’s address book.

You get access to basic inventory support. Store product with price and description. Setup stock-level and a threshold for when you consider stock low so that you can access it as part of the reporting.

GlossGenius comes with support for sending email and SMS marketing campaigns. It’s super easy to do – just select the clients you want to send it to and write your subject line and what you want your message to say.

You cannot go wrong.

What I also find powerful is the segmentation feature that allows you to filter the group of people you want your campaign to reach (see image below).

On the other hand, if you’re looking for customization of campaign design, you’ll find the marketing support limited as you’re stuck with the designs offered by the tool. You can only enter the text you want to add to the campaign, nothing visual.

The analytics and business reports available in GlossGenius are surprisingly strong and well developed. You’ll get a solid snapshot of the day on your dashboard when you log in and you can pull very detailed business reports that you export to PDF for your total business.

I’ve long recommended GlossGenius to solo entrepreneurs, but its recent updates make it a stronger tool for smaller teams.

The new Teams feature allows you to track individual team member performance and get an overview of your business’s health. You’ll receive weekly reports with valuable data like booking trends and service revenue.

The Commission Earnings Report feature streamlines compensation management by accurately tracking everyone’s earnings, regardless of their role. It gives you the transparency you need to ensure fair pay for all.

GlossGenius’ Payroll add-on lets you process payments for your team directly through the platform. While it costs $40 a month plus $6 per team member, you can run payroll as often as needed without extra charges if your team size remains stable.

You’ll be managing everything through the mobile app. In fact, it’s the only way that you can access all features and settings of GlossGenius.

As you would expect, the app is very easy to use and has a stunning interface. It’s available for both Apple iOS devices (iPhone/iPad) and Android devices.

The app has a 4.1 user rating (1000+ votes) for Android and 4.7 user rating (3000+ votes) on the Apple App Store.