The best nail salon booking apps in 2026

Nail techs get handed the same software lists as everyone else, and those lists rarely mention what actually matters at a nail table. If you are a solo tech, a suite renter, or running a multi-tech salon, three things decide whether a booking app earns its keep: per-service durations, so a 30-minute gel fill never blocks a two-hour full-set slot; deposits, because no-shows hurt more when a single appointment can take half your afternoon; and a booking page clients can use straight from your Instagram bio, since that is where most nail clients actually find you.

This guide compares seven of the most common picks for nail salons - hey.booked, GlossGenius, Booksy, Vagaro, Fresha, Square Appointments, and Acuity Scheduling - with real prices, the honest catches, and a one-line verdict for each. All prices were checked in August 2026.

hey.booked

hey.booked is our own product, so read this section knowing that - and knowing we would rather be plainly honest than cleverly salesy. It is the lean, booking-page-first option: the free plan covers one staff member, three services, and 30 confirmed bookings a month, with email confirmations and reminders, your own booking page, and post-visit reviews - no card required. Pro is $15 a month, or $150 a year, and unlocks unlimited staff, services, and bookings, 100 SMS texts a month, two-way Google Calendar sync, and up to 10 businesses. There is no marketplace, no commission, and no per-tech fee - a four-tech salon pays the same $15 as a solo.

Every service carries its own duration, so a fill takes 30 minutes on the calendar and a full set takes its real two hours - the slot math stays honest without you policing it. Clients book from a link in your Instagram bio with no account and no app, and manage their own reschedules through a magic link in the email. What hey.booked does not do: process payments. There are no processing fees ever, but also no deposits, no card-on-file, and no POS - if collecting deposits through the booking flow is non-negotiable, look at GlossGenius or Square instead.

Verdict: the calm flat-price pick for techs who book through a link and handle money at the table.

GlossGenius

GlossGenius comes up first in most nail-tech group chats, and there is a reason: it treats a solo nail artist as the main character rather than an afterthought. Standard is $28 a month ($24 billed annually), Gold is $56 ($48), and Platinum is $168 ($148). Card processing is a flat 2.6% on every plan - tap, card-on-file, and keyed entry all cost the same - and card-on-file plus deposits sit right in the booking flow, so a client who books a two-hour set has money on the line before she sits down.

Read the tier list before you pick, though. Standard skips forms, waivers, and booking through Google - and if you patch-test or collect allergy info, forms matter - so many nail artists land on Gold in practice. Teams are handled through tiers rather than a per-tech fee, which nudges a growing salon toward Gold and Platinum money. The 14-day trial needs no card.

Verdict: the polished all-in-one for solo nail techs who want payments, deposits, and marketing under one roof.

Booksy

Booksy is $29.99 a month plus tax, and each additional team member is $20 a month. Its consumer marketplace is one of the biggest in the category, and nail clients genuinely browse it - for a new tech in a busy city, that discovery can fill the early calendar. The mobile app and no-show protection tools are solid too.

The math deserves a slow look before you sign. Three techs on one book come to about $70 a month before card processing, and Boost - the marketplace demand engine - keeps a one-time 30% of a new Boost client's first visit. On a $70 full set that is $21 before you have picked up a brush, and the fee still applies when that "new" client actually found you through your nail art on Instagram. Your marketplace profile also shows competing salons one tap away.

Verdict: the discovery play - worth the fees while you need new faces, worth rethinking once your book is full of regulars.

Vagaro

Vagaro starts at $30 a month for one bookable calendar, plus $10 for each additional calendar up to seven, capping at $90 - calendars beyond that are free. The feature depth is real: POS, memberships, packages, marketing, payroll, plus a consumer marketplace where standard US bookings carry no commission (promotional tools like Daily Deals take a cut for new clients).

Read the pricing page slowly, because the extras are metered separately: text marketing, digital forms, the website builder, and a branded app each add their own monthly line, and a salon running several will clear the headline number by some distance. A multi-tech nail salon that genuinely uses the depth - a retail shelf of polish and cuticle oil, memberships for standing fill appointments, payroll - gets its money's worth. A solo tech who only needs a clean book is renting a warehouse to park one chair.

Verdict: the everything-system for established multi-tech salons that want one tool to run the whole business.

Fresha

Fresha is the one your colleagues remember as free, and that memory is now expensive - since July 2026 it charges subscriptions. Independent is $19.95 a month for one bookable team member; Team is $14.95 per bookable member per month. The number to understand at nail prices is the marketplace fee: a one-time 20% (minimum $6) of the first visit of any client who finds you through Fresha. On a $45 gel manicure that is $9; on a $70 full set it is $14. Clients who rebook after that are free.

In exchange you get a genuinely big consumer marketplace, plus POS and inventory tools that earn their keep if your front shelf sells polish and cuticle oil. Do the per-member math before signing, though - a three-tech salon on Team pays $44.85 a month before any marketplace fees - and know that many owners who joined in the free era learned about the switch from their invoice.

Verdict: marketplace reach plus real POS depth, at a per-member price that deserves a calculator before you sign.

Square Appointments

Square Appointments is the default at walk-in nail bars for a reason: the solo plan is free at a single location, and the payments side is Square doing what Square does best (2.6% + $0.15 in person on the free plan). If you already ring up retail on a Square reader, the calendar slots into the same account and the same payout schedule.

The catch for nail techs sits exactly where it hurts: cancellation and no-show fees need Plus, at $49 per location per month (Premium is $149). So the free plan takes payment after the appointment but cannot protect the two hours before it - and that protection is usually why a nail tech goes shopping for a booking app in the first place. Nail-specific touches are thin too, because booking is a side of Square's payments business.

Verdict: hard to beat for a solo already in the Square ecosystem, as long as you know no-show fees live behind the $49 plan.

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling is not a beauty product and does not pretend to be - it is scheduling machinery. Starter is $20 a month ($16 billed annually) for one calendar, Standard is $34 ($27) for six, Premium is $61 ($49) for thirty-six. There is no free plan, only a 7-day trial.

What earns it a place on a nail list is the intake: forms are built in on every plan, so you can ask about gel history, acrylic allergies, and patch-test dates before a first appointment instead of at the table. Text reminders only start at Standard, and there is no marketplace and nothing nail-shaped in the interface. Pick it when your scheduling rules - not your service menu - are the complicated part.

Verdict: rock-solid scheduling and forms for appointment businesses, with nothing nail-specific on top.

Side by side

How to choose

• Start from your no-show pain. If empty slots are eating your week, put deposit support first - GlossGenius, Square Plus, Vagaro, or Fresha - or pair a lighter tool with a firm reminder and cancellation policy.
• Count your techs and price your real headcount. Three techs cost about $70 a month on Booksy, $50 on Vagaro, $44.85 on Fresha Team, and a flat $15 on hey.booked Pro - the ranking changes completely with team size.
• Check what your clients book from. If they come from your Instagram bio, you need a clean booking link; if you need strangers to find you, a marketplace like Booksy or Fresha is the point.
• Give every service its real duration, then test it. A fill, a full set, a removal, and nail art all take different time - book a fake appointment and make sure a short service cannot land inside a long slot.
• Run the trial like a client. Book yourself in from your own phone before you commit - the booking experience your clients get is the part you can least afford to get wrong.

What is the best booking app for nail techs?

It depends on how you work. As of August 2026: hey.booked for a flat $15 a month with no per-tech fees, GlossGenius for built-in payments and deposits from $28, Booksy for marketplace discovery at $29.99 plus $20 per extra member, Vagaro for feature depth from $30, Fresha for marketplace reach at $19.95, Square Appointments for a free solo plan, and Acuity for complex scheduling from $20.

What booking apps do nail salons use?

Most nail salons use one of a handful of tools: Booksy and Fresha when they want marketplace clients, GlossGenius and Square Appointments when they want payments and deposits built in, Vagaro when they want POS and memberships in one system, and lighter tools like hey.booked or Acuity when they want a booking page without payments attached.

Is there a free booking app for nail techs?

Two real options as of August 2026. Square Appointments is free for a solo tech at one location, with card processing fees when you take payments. hey.booked has a free forever plan with one staff member, three services, and 30 confirmed bookings a month. Fresha is no longer free - since July 2026 it charges $19.95 a month for an independent professional.

Do booking apps charge my clients fees?

The subscription itself is charged to you, not your clients. Marketplace platforms work differently: Fresha charges the business a one-time 20% fee (minimum $6) on the first visit of a client who found them in its marketplace, and Booksy's Boost takes 30% of a new Boost client's first visit - fees you pay, but which shape the prices clients see. Non-marketplace tools like hey.booked, GlossGenius, Square, and Acuity add no fees on either side of the booking.

Can clients book specific nail services with their own durations?

Yes - any serious booking app lets you set a duration per service, so a 30-minute gel fill and a two-hour full set reserve different amounts of calendar. That per-service duration is the single most important setting for a nail tech: check it works on the client-facing page during the trial, not only in the admin.

Whichever way you go, decide with your real numbers: your team size, your no-show rate, and where your clients actually come from. If you want to see how hey.booked handles a nail book day to day - service durations, the booking page, reminders - the nail salon software tour shows the whole flow.