The best booking software for salons & spas.
A great salon booking tool does more than fill a calendar — it takes deposits to stop no-shows, nudges clients to rebook, and brings them back with reviews and offers. Here's an honest look at the leaders, who each suits, and where it stops.
IgniteOS
Editor's pick · best all-rounderOnline booking with deposits and reminders, plus the rebooking nudges, reviews, SMS marketing and AI receptionist that keep chairs full. The one tool here that handles both the booking and the marketing that drives it — on one client record, with no per-seat fees.
Strengths
- 24/7 online booking with deposits to cut no-shows
- Automatic rebooking nudges & review requests
- AI receptionist books missed & after-hours calls
- Memberships, packages and gift cards built in
Worth knowing
- Broader than a pure booking app — most powerful when you use the marketing too
- No walk-in marketplace of new clients (it grows your own list)
Fresha
Best free starting pointHugely popular with salons for its free booking core and a client marketplace that can bring walk-ins. Great to start — but it monetises through new-client fees and card processing, and the marketing tools are lighter than they look.
Strengths
- Free booking calendar to get going
- Marketplace can surface new clients
- Deposits and card-on-file
Worth knowing
- New-client and processing fees add up
- No AI receptionist; thinner CRM & automation
Square Appointments
Best if you use Square POSA tidy booking layer on top of Square's payments and POS. Ideal if you already run Square at the counter; less compelling as a growth system, with marketing and reviews bolted on rather than built in.
Strengths
- Seamless with Square payments & retail
- Simple to set up and run
- Fair pricing for solo & small teams
Worth knowing
- Marketing & reviews are add-ons
- No AI reception or deep automation
Vagaro
Best feature breadthA long-standing salon/spa platform with booking, POS, memberships and a marketplace. Capable but can feel dated and add-on-heavy, with costs climbing as you switch on each extra module.
Strengths
- Broad feature set: booking, POS, memberships
- Marketplace listing for discovery
Worth knowing
- Interface feels dated; add-ons cost extra
- No conversational AI receptionist
Timely
Best clean interfaceA well-designed booking and salon-management tool popular in AU/NZ, with nice consultation and stock features. Strong on the booking experience; lighter on the broader marketing engine and AI.
Strengths
- Polished, easy-to-use booking
- Consultations, forms and stock control
Worth knowing
- Marketing & automation are basic
- No AI reception or unified inbox
How we judged these
An empty chair is lost revenue you can't get back, so we looked past the calendar at the things that actually keep a salon full: deposits and reminders that stop no-shows, rebooking and reviews that bring clients back, marketing that fills quiet days, and whether missed and after-hours calls still get booked. IgniteOS leads because it does the booking and the marketing on one client record; the others are excellent booking tools that leave the growth side to you.
Booking that keeps the chairs full.
Book a 20-minute demo and we'll set up booking, deposits and rebooking on your salon.