5 Best Salon POS Software Systems 2023

We appreciate that Square, with its ever-expanding line of software for in-person and online transactions, makes it increasingly easy for even a single person to manage an entire business. The incredible amount of free features, like a free website or QR payment code, allow businesses to perform services at a store, at a customer’s home, and anywhere in between, whether there’s WiFi around or not.

This fully integrated POS, eCommerce, inventory management, appointment scheduling, and marketing solution is great for the independent contractor navigating an entire business from one device.

Note that prices are per location, not per register. You can use as many devices as registers and schedulers as you want in a single location.

Square also offers add-ons such as Square Loyalty program builder (starting at $45/month) and Square Marketing (starting at $15/month), which will both help small business owners gain a more consistent customer base.

Square Appointments’ best features for independent stylists are all free, including:

• Free customizable booking website, “book now” booking button, Book with Google integration, and “scan to book” QR code generator
• Square Assistant that sends automated appointment confirmations, lets customers cancel/reschedule appointments
• Google Calendar sync, with the ability to block off personal events
• Health and beauty product sales online for pickup/delivery and in person during appointments
• Create custom contracts and automatically send them to customers to sign
• Accept deposits with Square’s prepayment option
• Mobile and offline payment mode, so you can get paid even if there’s no WiFi available

While no-show protection is not available on the free plan, you can charge a refundable deposit as a sort of protection. You could even specify in a customer contract that you will charge their card on file the rest of the appointment cost if they don’t cancel their appointment within a certain timeframe.

Note: While you aren’t charged a fee for refunds, you will have to pay the payment processing fee whether you keep the money or refund it back to a customer who has cancelled an appointment. Keep this in mind when developing your own cancellation policies.

Paid plans are an affordable way for stylists who open one or more salons to manage more employees, resources, and locations.

Square Appointments mobile scheduling app on smartphone, desktop PC, and Square Register, plus Square card reader.

Square Appointments can run on iPads, tablets, and desktop computers. To take payments, you’ll need at least the $49 Square contactless card reader. If you open a physical location, the $299 Square Terminal is an excellent handheld POS system for taking payments around your shop, while the $1,199 Square Register kit could be a good option for taking cash payments and scan product barcodes.

Read our guide to Square POS hardware to decide what you need and how to pay for it.

Square requires you to use its in-house payment processor and charges the following fees:

• In-Person Payments: 2.5-2.6% + $0.10 per transaction (percentage varies based on your plan level)
• Online Payments: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
• Card-Not-Present/Card-On-File Payments: 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction

Note: Charges to your customers, such as no-show and cancellation fees, will be subject to online payment processing fees.

Square has a transparent month-to-month contract that you may cancel at any time. The company also has a great warranty coverage policy, which includes device replacements on damaged hardware that you didn’t purchase directly from Square.

We like that Fresha is one of the most cost-effective salon POS options on the market. This is especially true given that the software itself is free and the payment processing fees are lower than most flat-rate payment processors in the industry.

There are so many salon-specific features, like the ability to monitor shampoo or nail polish used in the salon, that salon and spa owners will have no trouble setting up the booking and retail sales solution they need.

Fresha is completely free to use, except for paid marketing blast campaigns and a 20% commission fee on first-time client bookings.

This fee does not apply to any existing clients or any clients who book anywhere other than these two locations. It only applies to the very first appointment a new client books. You may not profit from these appointments, but you do have the chance to reel in a lifelong customer that, if not for Fresha, might never have found your business.

Note: Make sure to import your existing client list to Fresha before launching your business’s booking site, that way you won’t have to pay that commission fee for returning clients.

Fresha is a salon and spa-specific POS and booking software, and its most unique features include the ability to:

• Generate links to services, memberships, vouchers, and everything your business has to offer
• Accept walk-in and standing appointments
• Offer products and services as packages
• Set up your own deposit and cancellation fees
• Create custom consultation forms, with the option to send prior to a client’s appointment
• Allow clients to save appointments to their online calendars
• Set employee services, commission rates, availability, and scheduling rules

The software has great resource tracking capabilities, including the ability to create resource-dependent appointment bookings (e.g. a massage in a certain room) so you don’t double book anyone. You can also track your inventory and the Fresha platform has built-in invoicing, purchase ordering, and stock order receiving management.

We also like that you can generate reports on referral sources and cancellation reasons. By doing this, you can better understand why clients cancel appointments and work to alleviate any of their pain points.

Fresha S1 card reader.

Fresha is cloud-based and works on all operating systems, including iPads, smartphones, and desktop computers. The company offers a proprietary card reader, the Fresha S1, and charges a one-time fee for card readers. You simply request one via your Fresha partner platform portal.

You must use Fresha’s in-house payment processing, which charges 2.19% plus a $0.20 flat fee per transaction, whether its an online transaction or in-person. That is the smallest payment processing fee out of all POS providers on this list.

Fresha is refreshingly transparent about its service offering. There are no monthly fees, so there’s no cancellation policy.

The only requirement is that if you want to accept payments for products and services listed on your Fresha account, you must use Fresha for payment processing.

We love that Vagaro is a highly customizable POS solution that works for a variety of beauty, wellness, and fitness businesses. It’s also great for business owners that contract individual stylists, trainers, massage therapists, nutritionists, acupuncturists, etc.

Busy salon and spa owners with multiple employees, service, and product offerings will appreciate Vagaro’s all-in-one business management platform. The company’s built-in merchant services, inventory management features, payroll integration, accounting integrations (Quickbooks Online and Xero), and eCommerce add-ons allow you to build a tailored all-in-one sales solution.

Vagaro’s pricing varies depending on the number of bookable calendars. A bookable calendar is a calendar that an individual performing services can use to schedule their own appointments. Admin and front desk staff do not need their own bookable calendar.

One bookable calendar starts at $25/month and each additional bookable calendar is an extra $10/month if you only have one salon location. After seven calendars, you pay $85/month no matter how many calendars you need.

If you have multiple salons, you’ll get a custom quote on your Vagaro salon POS software.

Vagaro add-ons include:

• Self-Check-In App: $10/month
• Live Stream Classes/Consultations: $10/month
• Branded App: $200/month
• Booking Website Builder: $10/month
• Online Store: $10/month
• Text Marketing: $20/month

Vagaro is an excellent choice for several business types, including medical spas, personal trainers and stylists, massage therapists, and more. Vagaro works for so many business types thanks to the following unique features:

• SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan) notes for medical spa employees, personal trainers, etc.
• Customizable forms, surveys, waivers (paid add-on)
• HIPAA compliant software
• Live stream classes and consultations (paid add-on)

Vagaro also has one of the most comprehensive scheduling/employee calendar management software features among salon POS system providers. With Vagaro, you can:

• Accept customers on a waitlist and automatically or manually pull from the list in the event of a cancellation
• View the status of appointments in real-time on employee calendars (e.g. in-progress, prep, post-appointment cleaning)
• Automatically assign employees to appointments and let clients choose who they work with if they want to

Plus, you get excellent general employee management features, like the ability to collect rent and commissions from independent stylists renting a booth in your salon, configure and run payroll, and automatically generate 1099 forms.

Note: If you want a more comprehensive payroll and HR software, Vagaro does partner with Gusto, one of the best payroll software for small businesses.

Vagaro salon POS register with built-in customer-facing display, and Vagaro card reader.

The software itself is cloud-based, so you may use iPads or tablets.

Vagaro gives one free card reader to each new merchant.

The POS provider also offers various POS hardware screens and accessories, including a register with a built-in customer-facing display. You can purchase cash drawers, receipt printers, barcode scanners, and additional card readers for a custom-quoted price.

Vagaro breaks fees into two tiers: one for small merchants making less than $4,000/month and large merchants that make over $4,000/month.

Payment processing fees for the two tiers are the following:

• Small Merchants: 2.75% per swipe/chip/tap transaction; 3.5% + $0.15 per keyed-in transaction
• Large Merchants: 2.2% plus $0.30 per swipe/chip/tap transaction; 3% + $0.19 per keyed-in transaction; $15/year association fee

Note: Online and card-on-file transactions, such as monthly membership charges, are subject to keyed-in transaction payment processing rates.

There are several potential add-on payment processing fees, such as chargeback and retrieval fees. Read up on what those fees are and be sure to avoid them.

Vagaro hardware is under a one-year warranty.

A lot of salon POS systems do not have specific features, such as email marketing integrations or on-site chats, that small to midsize salons could use to upgrade their customer experience.

With Clover, it’s easy for you to add all the features to your POS system that you want, and gives you different hardware to work with. This POS walks the line between highly customizable and easy to use. Plus, Clover offers a large line of POS hardware, so you’ll find something that works for your location.

Clover monthly pricing varies depending on where you buy it and how many integrations you use. If you buy directly from Clover, your pricing will also vary based on whether you purchase your equipment outright or opt for a lease. If you purchase your hardware upfront, plans range from $14.95 to $94.85 per month plus the one-time cost of your equipment. If you lease your hardware, plans range from $50 to $290/month.

Clover offers software specifically for personal and professional services business owners and includes features like a customer database with a loyalty program setup and private feedback, digital and physical gift card sales, and inventory tracking/order creation. You can take online and in-person payments for products and services, send invoices, accept tips, and add service charges.

Additionally, all Clover users have access to the vast Clover app market, which offers everything from form builders to employee management apps to appointment schedulers. This is the real selling point of Clover as a salon POS software provider.

For example, the Sky Salon Scheduler, which gives Clover appointment management functionality, includes:

• Reminder texts for customers and service providers
• Booking with partial and full deposit payments
• Credit card saving so customers can check out faster in the future
• eSignatures on online waivers
• Custom calendar management and time blocking
• Scheduling by employee or department
• Google calendar integration

Clover countertop POS system, handheld POS system, barcode scanner, cash drawer, and card reader.

Clover’s POS hardware is flexible, with options to work in just about any size space. The actual hardware tends to retail for around about $500 to $1,800, depending on whether you opt for the handheld Clover Flex, pint-sized countertop POS Clover Mini, the full-sized solution Clover Station, or some combination thereof.

You can also purchase your hardware from an authorized Clover reseller, and pricing may vary.

If you purchase your Clover hardware from Clover, you must use Clover’s built-in payment processing, powered by Fiserv. In this scenario, you’ll pay a processing fee of 2.3% plus a $0.10 flat fee, or a 2.6% plus a $0.10 flat fee.

However, if you have a high volume of sales, consider purchasing your Clover hardware and merchant account from one of these best Clover resellers, as they use a different, more cost-effective fee structure for larger businesses.

If you do not purchase your Clover hardware and corresponding merchant account from Clover, be sure to read your contract very carefully. There are many Clover card reader scams out there that can devastate a person’s business.

We like that Rosy Salon has specific software for business owners that operate booth rental salons and for individual stylists renting booths. Salon owners get an overview of all the services and individuals available at their location and can help with client scheduling, especially if a client wants services from multiple independent renters within your building. Additionally, Rosy Salon software automatically takes commissions/rent from stylists’ earnings, so you don’t have to think about billing renters every month.

Renters get an affordable way to offer appointment booking services, purchase supplies from the salon owner, and take payments with a secure POS system.

Note: Rosy Salon offers a 30-day free trial, no credit card required. Once you create your trial account, let your account manager know that you’ll need a rental account to test out, too.

Rosy Salon software pricing starts at $29/month for salon owners and $19/month for booth renters. The two software packages can connect to each other for scheduling, inventory, and rental payment purposes.

Booth renters can take their Rosy Salon software and client information with them if they choose to go totally independent or work at another booth rental place.

Note: Employees are considered stylists/practitioners that require their own scheduling calendar.

If salon owners opt into advanced features like SMS/email marketing, text confirmations, and image libraries, pricing starts at $37/month.

Rosy Salon’s most unique feature is its dedicated booth rental management software, which allows salon owners to:

• Give booth renters access to client scheduling software
• Allow renters to purchase products from your salon
• Give renters control over their own finances and client list
• Automatically deduct rent and/or commissions from booth renters
• Choose whether renters can share their clients with other renters (an excellent choice for multi-service salons)
• Allow renters to sell their own products to clients from within their booth

Renters have their own accounts and can remove themselves from a booth if/when they move salons.

Vagaro is the only other salon POS system that offers booth rental management, but it does not have the dedicated booth rental accounts that Rosy Salon does.

Other notable Rosy Salon features include:

• Rewards and referrals program builder
• Suggestive selling, which makes product recommendations to clients based on the services they received in the past and on the day of their appointment
• Front desk management software
• Automated text and email confirmations and reminders

Rosy Salon’s scheduling and salon management software runs on browsers and as an Apple/Android app. You can take card payments with a Verifone MX915, Ingenio iSMP4, or Ingenio Link/2500 card reader. Pricing varies from between $300 and $700 for card readers when you purchase them new.

You will get your own merchant account with custom payment processing fees when you use RosyPay, Rosy Salon’s payment processing solution.

Be sure to read over the terms of your merchant agreement before signing off on anything.

Since you must get a merchant account to take payments through Rosy, it’s important to note that you may face contract terms like early termination fees. Make sure to negotiate a merchant agreement that works for your business before signing any paperwork.