Pricing

How Much Does Salon Booking Software Cost Per Month in 2026? (Hidden Fees Included)

By Hunter Berge, Founder & AnalystUpdated June 29, 20266 min read

Most salon booking software runs $0 to about $200 a month for the subscription, but the subscription is rarely the real bill. Solo and booth tools cluster at $20 to $50; full salon platforms run $150 to $400 or more per location. What drives the real cost is per-staff fees, paid add-ons, payment processing, and marketplace commissions.

A smiling salon professional taking a client's card payment on a terminal at the front desk.

Key takeaways

01Subscriptions span $0 (Square's free tier) to $400-plus per location (Boulevard), but the sticker is rarely the full cost.
02Solo and booth tools cluster low: Fresha $19.95, Lilo Booth $20, GlossGenius from $24, Vagaro about $24-30 per calendar, Booksy $29.99.
03Full salon platforms run higher: Square Premium $149, Mangomint $165-375, Boulevard $176-421 per location, Mindbody from about $159.
04Hidden costs decide the bill: per-staff fees, paid add-ons (SMS, marketing, forms), 2.3-3.3% processing, and marketplace commissions.
05Lilo is flat, suite included: $20/month Booth, Pro from $59 with unlimited team, no commission, no exit fees.

How much does salon booking software cost per month in 2026?

Budget for two numbers, not one: a subscription and the costs stacked on top of it. The subscription itself spans a wide range, from $0 on a free tier to north of $400 a month for a premium platform priced per location. But the sticker is the smaller story. Most owners pay more in processing and add-ons than in subscription.

The market sorts into three tiers. Free-to-start tools (Square, and Fresha until recently) cost nothing up front and make their money on processing and add-ons. Solo and booth tools cluster between $20 and $50 a month: Fresha at $19.95, Lilo Booth at $20, GlossGenius from $24, Booksy at $29.99. Full salon platforms built for teams run $150 to $400-plus per location: Mangomint, Boulevard, Mindbody, and the top tiers of Square and GlossGenius.

Where you land depends less on the headline plan than on four variables: how many staff you pay for, which features are add-ons, what your card-processing rate is, and whether the platform takes a commission on new clients. The rest of this guide prices each one.

What do the main platforms charge?

Here are the entry prices and the levers that move them, for the tools a solo pro or small salon shops for. Card rates shown are each platform's standard in-person rate, since that's where most salon payments happen.

Verified June 2026Lilo is listed by its own publisher; confirm competitor figures at each provider's site, since plans change often.

Software	Lowest plan / mo	What drives the bill up	In-person card rate	New-client commission
Lilo Booth	$20 flat	Pro from $59 (unlimited team); +$49 per extra location	2.50% + $0.30	None
Fresha	$19.95 (Independent)	$14.95 per team member; marketplace fee	2.29% + $0.20	20% new client ($6 min)
GlossGenius	$24 (annual; $28 monthly)	Gold $48, Platinum $148; higher tiers unlock AI/team	Flat 2.6%	None
Booksy	$29.99 (first user)	+$20 per added staff; Boost commission	2.49% + $0.10 (reader)	Boost: 30% first visit ($10-$100)
Vagaro	$30 per calendar (promo $23.99)	+$10 per calendar 2-7; Forms/website/SMS/payroll add-ons	~2.75%	None (has marketplace)
Square Appointments	$0 (Free)	$49 Plus, $149 Premium; marketing/loyalty add-ons	2.6% + $0.15 (free tier)	None

A few honest reads on the table. Square's $0 tier is genuinely free to start, but it runs the highest processing rates and meters marketing and loyalty as paid add-ons. GlossGenius's $24 is the annual rate (month-to-month is $28), and its flat 2.6% processing with no per-transaction fee is a real advantage on small tickets. Vagaro's per-calendar pricing and Booksy's per-staff pricing both climb with team size. Fresha has the lowest subscription on the list, but its marketplace charges 20% on new clients it sends you. None of these is simply cheapest; it depends on your staff count, your add-ons, and where your clients come from.

Why is the subscription rarely the real cost?

Because the monthly plan is the floor, not the ceiling. The number you pay is the subscription plus everything the platform charges around it, and for most salons those extras add up to more than the plan. Five of them do the damage:

Per-staff or per-calendar fees. Vagaro adds about $10/month per calendar for staff 2 through 7; Booksy adds $20/month per added staff; Mangomint and Boulevard charge full price for each location. A flat-team plan avoids this entirely.
Paid add-ons for core tools. Square sells Email Marketing from about $15/month, SMS at $10/month, and Loyalty around $45/month. Vagaro sells Forms ($10), a website ($20), SMS marketing (from $20), and Payroll ($34 + $5/employee). The plan you can run on and the plan you signed up for are different numbers.
Payment processing. Every platform takes a card-processing cut, typically 2.3% to 3.3% plus a per-transaction fee. On $6,000 of monthly card volume at 2.6%, that's about $156 a month, more than almost any subscription on this page. This is usually your largest software cost, and it's the one buyers forget to compare.
Marketplace commissions. Directory apps charge for the new clients they send you. Booksy Boost is a one-time 30% of a new client's first visit ($10 to $100); Fresha is 20% with a $6 minimum. Only marketplace models do this.
Annual-only pricing and exit fees. Headline rates are often the annual price; GlossGenius is $24 annually but $28 month-to-month, and Boulevard gives 10% for paying yearly. On the way out, some platforms charge an early-cancellation or data-export fee. Vagaro lists a $150 cancellation fee within the first 12 months.

Add those up and the cheapest sticker is frequently not the cheapest year.

What do full salon platforms cost for an owner with a team?

Expect $150 to $400-plus per month, per location. These are the platforms built for staffed salons and spas, and they price for it. Mangomint runs $165/month for Essentials (up to 10 service professionals), $245 for Standard, and $375 for Unlimited, with extra locations from $95 to $175 each (Mangomint). Boulevard starts at $176/month for Essentials and climbs to $293 (Premier), $410 (Prestige), and $421 for its medspa bundle, charged per location with no free trial (The Salon Business).

Mindbody is the opaque one. It doesn't publish flat pricing and routes you to sales; reviewers report entry plans from roughly $159/month, with real-world starts often closer to $269 once the tools a salon needs are switched on. The pattern across all three is the same: a premium base, priced per location, with messaging and marketing frequently extra.

For comparison, a flat-team plan changes the math. Lilo Pro is $59/month for the first location with unlimited team members, plus $49 per additional location, and the suite is included rather than metered. A six-chair shop pays the same $59 as a two-chair shop. The gap against per-seat and per-location pricing widens with every chair you add.

What's the cheapest way to run a salon or booth?

The cheapest sticker is a free tier; the cheapest year is usually a flat, low-commission plan. If you're truly bootstrapping, Square's $0 plan or a low solo subscription is a fair place to start, and there's no shame in it. The question is what happens at volume.

Run the total. A "free" plan that charges 2.6% + 15¢ in person and meters marketing and loyalty as add-ons can cost more over twelve months than a $20 flat plan that includes them. A marketplace plan that takes 20-30% of new-client first visits can cost more still if you'd have found those clients yourself. The honest ranking depends on your numbers: your card volume, your staff count, how many new clients come from a directory versus your own link, and which features you'll switch on.

So the cheapest tool isn't a single answer. It's whichever one has the lowest total of subscription plus processing plus add-ons plus commissions for the way you work.

How does Lilo price compare?

Lilo is flat, with the suite included and nothing taken off the top of a booking. Lilo Booth is $20/month for a solo pro; Lilo Pro is from $59/month with unlimited team members at one location, plus $49 per additional location. There are no feature unlocks, no per-booking commission, and no exit fees, and you can leave anytime with your data. Payment processing is standard Stripe (2.90% + $0.30 online, 2.50% + $0.30 in person), the same on every plan.

Two honest concessions. Lilo has no free tier, so Square and a bootstrapping Fresha start lower on sticker price. And GlossGenius's flat 2.6% processing beats Lilo's per-transaction cents on small tickets. Where Lilo wins is the total: the marketing suite, loyalty, memberships, intake forms, a branded website on Booth, and a built-in Lilo AI assistant are all included, not add-ons, and there's no commission and no charge to leave.

If you're comparing real numbers and thinking about a move, two next reads: how to switch salon software without losing your clients, and the full plan breakdown on the pricing page. This is general guidance, not financial advice, and every figure here should be confirmed on each provider's site before you commit.

Lilo publishes this guide and includes its own product, so treat us as an interested party. Competitor pricing and rates are as of June 2026, vary by region, plan, and billing term, and should be confirmed on each provider's site before you buy.

Frequently asked questions

For one person, plan on roughly $20 to $30 a month for the subscription, plus card processing on top. As of June 2026, Fresha's Independent plan is $19.95, Lilo Booth is $20 flat, GlossGenius starts at $24 (billed annually), Booksy is $29.99 for the first user, and Square Appointments has a genuine $0 free tier. The subscription is only half the picture: every one of these also takes a processing cut of roughly 2.3% to 2.9% on each card payment, which on real volume usually outweighs the monthly fee. Watch for add-ons too, since some tools meter marketing, forms, or a website separately. Total the subscription plus processing plus any add-ons before you call one cheapest, and confirm current rates on each provider's site.

Four categories, and they usually cost more than the headline subscription. First, per-staff or per-calendar fees: Vagaro adds about $10/month per calendar and Booksy $20/month per added staff, while premium platforms charge full price per location. Second, paid add-ons for tools you'll use day to day, like SMS marketing, loyalty, intake forms, or a website, which several platforms sell separately. Third, payment processing, a 2.3-3.3% cut on every card transaction that is often the single largest line. Fourth, marketplace commissions on new clients, like Booksy Boost (30% of a first visit) or Fresha (20%, $6 minimum). Two more to read your contract for: annual-only discount pricing that's higher month-to-month, and exit or data-export fees when you leave. Add these up before comparing stickers.

It's free to start, not free to run. Square Appointments has a real $0/month tier and Fresha was free for years, so both are legitimate ways to begin at no subscription cost. The catch is everything stacked on top. The free tier carries the highest processing rates (Square's runs about 2.6% + 15¢ in person, 3.3% + 30¢ online), and the tools that grow a business, marketing, loyalty, a custom domain, are paid add-ons. Marketplace models can also charge a commission on the new clients they send you. On a busy month you pay the same processing percentage whether the plan is free or $30, so the monthly fee is rarely where the money goes. Total the real cost before assuming free is cheapest.

More than the solo number, and the model matters as much as the rate. Tools that charge per staff or per calendar climb with headcount: a six-person shop on Vagaro pays for six calendars, and on Booksy adds $20/month per extra staff. Full salon platforms price per location and run higher: Square Premium is $149, Mangomint $165 to $375, and Boulevard $176 to $421 per location as of June 2026. Mindbody doesn't publish flat pricing; reviewers report entry plans from roughly $159/month, often higher in practice. Flat-team pricing is the exception: Lilo Pro is $59/month for the first location with unlimited team members, plus $49 per additional location. For a growing team, a flat plan with unlimited staff usually pulls ahead of per-seat pricing fast.

Only the ones that run a consumer marketplace. A booking commission is a cut the platform takes on new clients its directory sends you, and it's specific to marketplace apps. Booksy Boost charges a one-time 30% of a new marketplace client's first visit ($10 minimum, $100 cap); Fresha charges 20% on new marketplace clients ($6 minimum). Both apply only to genuinely new clients from the marketplace, never to existing clients or to people who book through your own link. Software without a marketplace, like Lilo, charges no booking commission at all: you pay a flat subscription plus standard card processing and keep the rest. If you rely on a marketplace for discovery, treat the commission as paid advertising; if your clients come from your own link and word of mouth, a no-commission tool is cheaper.