6 Vagaro alternatives for salons and solo pros (2026)

Vagaro is one of the most complete platforms in the booking world - point of sale, memberships, packages, marketing, payroll, even a consumer marketplace. Plenty of salons run on it for years and never look back. But if you are searching for an alternative, something is probably nagging you, and it is usually one of three things.

The first is the math. Vagaro starts at $30 a month for one bookable calendar, then adds $10 a month for each additional calendar up to seven, so a full team can sit at $90 a month before a single add-on. And the add-ons pile up: text marketing from $20, forms for $10, the website builder for $20, the online shopping cart for $10 - each one small, together a second subscription. The second is the marketplace: your Vagaro listing appears beside your competitors, so the platform that hosts your calendar also shows your clients other options. The third is simpler - many small shops pay for a suite of features they never open.

None of that makes Vagaro a bad product. It makes it a big one. Here are six alternatives, compared honestly, for the shops it no longer fits.

What to look for in a Vagaro alternative

Before you compare logos, decide what you are actually shopping for. Four questions do most of the work:

• How does the price scale when you hire? Per-staff and per-calendar fees are how a $30 tool becomes a $90 one.
• Does the platform run a marketplace? Discovery can help a new shop, but it also means your profile lives next to your competitors.
• What do payments really cost? Processing rates look alike until you run the math on your monthly volume.
• Which features will you honestly use? A short feature list you use beats a long one you pay for.

hey.booked - a flat price and a calm calendar

hey.booked takes the opposite bet to Vagaro: instead of doing everything, it does the booking part well and keeps the price flat. The free plan covers one staff member, three services, and 30 confirmed bookings a month, with email confirmations and reminders, your own booking page, branding, post-visit reviews, and an embeddable widget - no card required. Pro is $15 a month, or $150 a year, for unlimited staff, services, and bookings, up to 10 businesses, 100 SMS texts a month, two-way Google Calendar sync, and time off management. There are no per-staff fees, no add-ons, no commission, and no marketplace - your booking page is yours, with no competitors beside it. Clients book from a link with no account and no app, and manage their booking through a magic link in their email.

It is not for everyone. hey.booked does not process client payments, which means no processing fees ever, but also no deposits, no card-on-file, and no point of sale - if you need built-in payments or POS, look at Square or GlossGenius instead. It also skips intake forms, client notes, memberships, and marketing campaigns. If what you mostly need is a clean calendar that treats you and your clients well, at a price that never grows with your team, that is the whole point.

GlossGenius - the polished all-in-one

GlossGenius is the closest to Vagaro in ambition, minus the marketplace. Standard is $28 a month ($24 billed annually) and brings beautiful booking sites, built-in payments at a flat 2.6% card rate no matter how the card is taken, and a strong brand among US beauty pros. Gold at $56 adds forms, waivers, and booking through Google; Platinum runs $168. There is a 14-day free trial with no card.

The watch-out has the same shape as Vagaro's pricing: it is solo-first, and teams get pushed into Gold or Platinum quickly. If the flat processing rate and the polish matter to you, it earns its price; if you only need scheduling, you are paying for a suite again.

Square Appointments - free for solos, POS included

Square Appointments has the most genuinely useful free tier on this list: free for a solo at a single location, with Square's first-class payments hardware and the wider ecosystem of invoices, payroll, and marketing behind it. Processing on the free plan is 2.6% + $0.15 in person and 2.9% + $0.30 online.

The jumps are the thing to know: Plus is $49 a month per location and is what unlocks cancellation and no-show fees, and Premium is $149. Booking is a side of Square's payments business, so beauty-specific features are thinner than Vagaro's - but for a solo who wants free booking plus a real POS, it is hard to argue with.

Booksy - marketplace discovery, especially for barbers

Booksy keeps the part of Vagaro many shops actually wanted - a big consumer marketplace with real client discovery, strongest among barbers - and pairs it with a polished mobile app and no-show protection tools. It costs $29.99 a month plus tax, with each additional team member at $20 a month, and a 14-day trial with no card.

Two things to watch. Per-staff pricing means a five-person shop pays real money every month. And Boost, the marketplace demand engine, takes a one-time 30% of a new Boost client's first visit - which stings when that "new" client already knew you. Like Vagaro, your profile appears beside competitors; that is the price of discovery.

Fresha - marketplace reach, no longer free

Fresha built its name on being free, and that era is over - worth knowing because older advice still repeats it. It is now subscription-based: Independent at $19.95 a month for one bookable team member, or Team at $14.95 a month per bookable member. Processing is 2.29% + $0.20 in person and 2.79% + $0.20 online, and clients who discover you through the Fresha marketplace cost a one-time 20% of their first visit, minimum $6; returning clients are free.

What you get is a genuinely polished product with strong POS and inventory, a huge marketplace, and a worldwide footprint. What you should model before switching is the per-member math and the new-client fee - the same two habits that may have sent you away from Vagaro.

Acuity Scheduling - the scheduling specialist

Acuity is the general-purpose option: rock-solid scheduling logic, intake forms, deep integrations, and the Squarespace ecosystem behind it. Starter is $20 a month ($16 billed annually) for one calendar, Standard is $34 for six, and Premium is $61 for thirty-six. There is no free plan and no marketplace.

It is not built for beauty specifically - no POS, no marketplace discovery, and text reminders only start at Standard. But if your main complaint about Vagaro was complexity rather than cost, Acuity's calm, reliable scheduling core is the appeal.

Vagaro alternatives at a glance

All numbers are US pricing as of July 2026.

How much does Vagaro cost per month?

As of July 2026, Vagaro is $30 a month for one bookable calendar, plus $10 a month for each additional calendar up to seven, capping at $90; calendars beyond that are free. Add-ons like text marketing (from $20), forms ($10), and the website builder ($20) cost extra.

Is there a free alternative to Vagaro?

Yes. hey.booked has a free forever plan with one staff member, three services, and 30 confirmed bookings a month, and Square Appointments is free for a solo at a single location. Both work without a card.

Which Vagaro alternatives do not run a marketplace?

hey.booked, GlossGenius, Square Appointments, and Acuity do not list you beside competitors. Booksy and Fresha both run consumer marketplaces, like Vagaro does.

What is the cheapest Vagaro alternative for a small team?

hey.booked Pro is $15 a month flat with unlimited staff, so the price does not move when you hire. Fresha's Team plan starts lower per member at $14.95, but the bill grows with every bookable person you add.

Will I lose my clients if I leave Vagaro?

Your regulars book you, not the software. Export your client list before you cancel, set up your new booking page, and share the new link everywhere your old one lived - your bio, your Google profile, your reminder messages. Clients who found you through the Vagaro marketplace are the ones to message personally.