Finding affordable salon booking software that handles appointments, client messages, and payments without straining your budget can transform how you run your business. This guide breaks down three standout platforms that deliver essential features at prices that work for salon owners.
One powerful option is building your own custom salon booking app with Adalo—a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. This approach lets you create a branded booking experience tailored exactly to your salon's workflow, with the added benefit of reaching clients through app store visibility and push notification reminders.
Whether you want a custom-built solution or a ready-made platform, these three picks will help you launch fast and keep clients booking with ease.
How Does Booking Software Make My Salon Booking Easier?
Booking software will make your operations run smoothly. It’ll do all your scheduling work for you, so you won’t need to spend time answering the phone, entering appointments into your Google calendar, or writing them in a calendar. Using booking software will give you more time to dedicate to clients.
Solid booking software should present a seamless booking process for clients, too. We kept this in mind when we reviewed the booking software. All of the booking software we chose includes these three features:
- Simple and Easy to Use Appointment Scheduler: Clients should be able to find appointment times and book within seconds. This is important because your clients will appreciate being able to book appointments quickly and with ease, without spending considerable time finding your number for sending a text message or using the phone.
- A Messaging Feature: If a client wants to confirm your salon received the booking or has a few questions, a messaging feature in the software allows them to do it quickly. Millennials and Generation Z both prefer using messaging services instead of the phone - so it’s important to appeal to this demographic.
- Payments Processing: Allow your clients to pay directly from their mobile devices immediately after they finish their appointment. Software that has integrations to payment platforms like Square and Stripe lets you do this. Your clients will love the simplicity of having the option to pay for your services with the press of a button.
Booking software will let your clients book, get answers, and pay for your services all in one place. It will also save you loads of time, so you’ll be able to onboard more clients and focus on your craft, not administrative scheduling tasks.
Our Top Three Salon Booking Platform Picks
Adalo, if you want to custom-build your very own salon booking app.
Fresha, if you want to feature your salon on a large salon-centric social network.
Rosy, if you want software that blends booking and client-relationship management (CRM).
Adalo
If you want your salon booking software to reflect your salon's brand like a mirror, then Adalo is a great choice for you. Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. This means you can craft your salon booking software to your exact needs and wants.
Wait, don’t you need coding knowledge to build an app? Not with Adalo. It features an intuitive drag-and-drop interface for rapid app building and requires absolutely no technical or coding skills. Just choose a template that matches your idea, and start building.
Why Adalo Made Our List
- Adalo's agnostic builder lets you publish the same app to the web, native iOS, and native Android, all without writing a line of code or rebuilding. If your plan is mass distribution through the app stores vast marketplaces, then this is a great option versus many of the vibe-coding builders out there today.
- Adalo comes packed with over 5,500 different integrations. Just a few things you can do include sending booking revenue and cost data to your Quickbooks account and Google Sheets or tracking your inventory with purchase orders and sales records using Adalo’s Zapier integration.
The huge number of integrations in Adalo will give you the opportunity to build the app of your dreams. If you need a specific integration, Adalo most likely has you covered.
- After you finish building your Adalo-made app, make it easily available to your clients by publishing it on the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, or your own website. With just a few clicks, your clients will be able to find your app with ease and directly download it.
- You can change your app’s appearance and add or delete functions whenever you want. When you build an app with Adalo, you have an endless amount of design opportunities. This means you can keep your app looking fresh, unique, and appealing by changing the color and appearance of your app.
Pricing
Start using Adalo at $36/month.
Fresha
Formerly known as Schedul, Fresha is a booking software designed for any type of salon. Fresha has individual booking systems customized for every salon niche, like hair, nails, waxing, and much more. After you create your own profile on the Fresha app, clients on the app can find your business and book your services.
Why Fresha Made Our List
- Fresha is not just booking software; it comes packed with useful marketing tools that will make your salon shine and reach new clients. You can leverage Fresha’s analytics features to initiate targeted email marketing campaigns and make special offers while spreading the word about your salon.
Use Fresha to transform potential clients into regulars.
- A large number of professionals use Fresha for their salons. Salon professionals have booked 700 million appointments worldwide using Fresha. When you get on the Fresha platform, your salon will get immediate exposure to a growing number of users. You’ll have the chance to transform these users into your clients.
- If you sell products, Fresha comes with a convenient inventory management tool. Input the number of products you currently have in stock. When you’re running low, Fresha will notify you.
If you order your products directly from Fresha’s catalog, you can automate when you order your inventory. You’ll be able to automatically order a predetermined number of inventory each month or whenever you sell a substantial portion of your inventory.
Using this feature will help ensure you stay on top of your inventory count so you can never run out of that exclusive conditioner that your clients love so much.
Pricing
While Fresha is free to download, you will have to pay a monthly commission of 20% for each new client, a 2.19% fee for each card transaction, and $9.95 for each team member if you choose the analytics add-on. These fees might add up quickly, especially if you have a big team.
Rosy
Rosy blends effective booking management software with client relationship management (CRM) capabilities. You can use Rosy to create a detailed history of all your clients, their style preferences, and items purchased. This CRM feature can make your life a whole lot easier.
Why Rosy Made Our List
- Create detailed client data profiles with Rosy. This feature will allow you to record your clients' purchasing habits and how often they come into your salon. You can use this feature to stay in contact with your current clients, and you can offer them new products that they might want to buy based on their past behavior.
- You can automate messages with Rosy for solid client communication and reduction of no-shows. Simply set up your software to send each client a message 24 hours in advance of their appointment. Your clients will appreciate these reminders, and you’ll appreciate that clients show up on time.
- Rosy’s Reputation Manager, a tool that lets your clients publish reviews about your salon’s services, can boost your salon’s popularity. After a client visits your salon, Rosy prompts them to leave a review.
When clients shine a positive light on your salon’s excellence, other people will see the compliments and be more likely to visit your salon for their next beautification needs.
*ProTip: When a client leaves a positive review on Reputation Manager, reward them with a discount, salon merch, or product.
Pricing
Rosy offers several pricing tiers, and pricing increases with the number of users. The cheapest option for one user starts at $29/month, but when you add another user, the price jumps to $45/month.
If you want enhanced features like automated scheduling confirmation, email marketing, or the ability to build your own image library, pricing starts at $37/month for one user.
Conclusion
Remember, you’ll be using the software daily, and your customers will use it whenever they want to book an appointment. You’ll need to ensure that your software is well-maintained and bug-free. Salon software that fails to operate well will reflect poorly on your business. Ask customers how they like your app, and take their feedback into account.
If you have any questions about your chosen software, visit the software’s community message board. Each salon booking software we selected has an interactive community full of seasoned users. Communities are great places to find answers to questions and help new users while mastering your booking software and growing your salon’s business.
Using booking software will save your salon loads of time. Your spiffy salon booking software will book appointments for you while you focus on your craft.
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can I easily build a custom salon booking app without coding experience? | Yes, with Adalo's No Code App Builder, you can easily build a custom salon booking app without any coding experience. Adalo features an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that lets you choose from templates and customize your app to reflect your salon's unique brand and specific booking needs. |
| Why choose Adalo over other App Builder solutions? | Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. This ability to publish directly to app stores is crucial because marketing and distribution is often the hardest part of launching a new app or business. By getting your salon booking app into the vast marketplaces of Apple and Google, you gain immediate access to millions of potential customers, giving you a major competitive advantage over solutions that lack native app store publishing. |
| What are the essential features salon booking software should have? | Effective salon booking software should include three key features: a simple and easy-to-use appointment scheduler that lets clients book within seconds, a messaging feature for quick communication and booking confirmations, and payment processing integration with platforms like Square and Stripe. These features allow clients to book, communicate, and pay all in one place. |
| How can booking software help me save time and grow my salon business? | Booking software automates your scheduling work, eliminating the need to answer phones, manually enter appointments, or maintain paper calendars. This frees up valuable time that you can dedicate to serving more clients and focusing on your craft rather than administrative tasks. |
| Can I integrate my salon booking app with other business tools? | Yes, Adalo comes packed with over 5,500 different integrations through Zapier and other platforms. You can connect your booking app to tools like QuickBooks and Google Sheets for revenue tracking, manage inventory with purchase orders, and automate various business processes to streamline your salon operations. |
| Can I update and customize my salon app after it's built? | Absolutely. With Adalo, you can change your app's appearance and add or delete functions whenever you want. This flexibility means you can keep your salon booking app looking fresh, unique, and appealing by updating colors, features, and functionality as your business evolves. |
