The 5 Best GlossGenius Alternatives for Hairdressers

GlossGenius has built a devoted following among hairdressers for a good reason. The platform is beautiful, the flat 2.6% processing rate is transparent, and the booking experience feels premium.

But as your salon grows or your needs evolve, you’ll likely start hitting walls that GlossGenius can’t break through.

Maybe you’ve added your tenth stylist and realized you need to jump to the $168/month Platinum tier just to accommodate your team. Maybe you need a booking widget that integrates directly into your existing website, not a separate GlossGenius-hosted site.

The good news is that no matter which problem you’re running into, there’s a good alternative that can meet your needs. Today, we’re covering the top five.

Where GlossGenius Falls Short

Limited Team Scalability

GlossGenius caps you at 9 team members unless you upgrade to Platinum ($168/month), which is a massive jump from Gold ($56/month). This means that if you’re a smaller salon with just 10–20 stylists, you’re either paying enterprise pricing or splitting your team across multiple accounts — neither of which is ideal.

It’s also easy to miss the fact that if you want to add payroll functionality for those 10 staff members, you’re immediately adding another $100/month to your subscription cost! That’s $268/month without premium features like advanced analytics.

For salons in that growth phase, this pricing structure just doesn’t make sense.

No Website Widget Integration

GlossGenius doesn’t allow you to embed a booking widget directly on your salon website. Instead, it requires clients to book through your GlossGenius-hosted booking site.

For salons that have invested in building a professional website with their own branding, this breaks the experience. Clients click “Book Now” and suddenly they’re on a different site with different branding. It feels disconnected, and some clients drop off during that transition.

Plus, if you ever want to switch away from GlossGenius, you lose that entire booking page.

Few Sophisticated Features

GlossGenius keeps things simple, which is great… until it’s not! As salons grow and need sophisticated reporting, multi-location management, or advanced automation, GlossGenius doesn’t scale to meet those needs.

Especially as you scale, you’ll need something with more robust features, but most software in this echelon comes with month-long onboarding, clunky interfaces, and support teams that don’t understand salon operations.

Middling Data and Reporting Features

GlossGenius’s streamlined interface is beautiful, but ultimately shallow. It doesn’t offer the kind of analytic features that some hairdressers really need, like advanced reporting, complex client charts, and detailed service history tracking.

So if you want to dig into trends, analyze service profitability by stylist, or track detailed client histories beyond basic notes, you’ll hit GlossGenius’s limits fast.

A Disconnected User Experience

One of the biggest pain points that drives hairdressers absolutely crazy is having to use one app for booking, another for POS, a third for marketing emails, a fourth for payroll, and a fifth for inventory.

Even “all-in-one” platforms like GlossGenius require workarounds, since they have limited integrations, features that don’t talk to each other smoothly, or gaps that force you to bolt on third-party tools.

The result? You’re constantly switching between platforms, re-entering client data, reconciling information that doesn’t sync, and training staff on four different systems! It’s exhausting, error-prone, and expensive when you add up all those monthly subscriptions.

The Top 5 GlossGenius Alternatives

Whether you’re hitting team size limits, need more flexibility, or want true all-in-one integration, there’s a platform here that will meet your needs.

Mangomint: Best for Team Scalability

Mangomint is built from the ground up for teams of 10+ providers, providing sophisticated scheduling designed specifically for busy multi-stylist salons without the sticker shock of enterprise pricing.

Its Express Booking™ streamlines the booking process for both clients and staff — think of it as an automation that speeds up what would normally take multiple steps. It requires no login from clients, and the calendar includes lightning-fast refresh rates that really matter when you’ve got 15 stylists all updating schedules simultaneously.

Automated reminders are unlimited with no per-message fees, no caps on SMS or email. This alone can save you hundreds of dollars annually compared to platforms that nickel-and-dime you for communications.

Deposits can be required at booking and integrate seamlessly with the POS, while the built-in waitlist automatically fills last-minute cancellations. Recurring appointments make it simple to schedule standing appointments for your regulars.

And for booth rental salons, Mangomint’s individual payment routing is a game-changer. Each stylist can have payments go directly to their own account instead of you having to manually distribute funds.

Pricing: Starts at $165/month for up to 10 providers on the Essentials plan.

Pros

• Perfect for chair rental models
• Month-to-month pricing (no long-term contracts)
• Exceptionally responsive customer support with live chat
• Color-coded calendar makes multi-stylist days manageable 

Cons

• Not ideal for true solopreneurs (minimum 2 providers)
• Higher entry price than GlossGenius Standard ($165 vs. $28)
• Limited third-party integrations compared to some platforms
• Some features require add-ons (two-way texting is $75/month; forms $50/month)

Best for: Salons with 10 to 20 stylists who need fast, intuitive scheduling that’s designed for teams. If you’re running a booth rental model and need individual payment routing, or if you’ve outgrown simpler systems but aren’t ready for full enterprise software, Mangomint hits that sweet spot.

Fresha: Best for Website Integrations

Fresha gives you full control over how booking integrates with your website. You can embed booking directly on your site, link to your Fresha page, or use both approaches — whatever works best for your brand. You also get access to a massive global marketplace with over 130,000 businesses, where potential clients can discover your salon organically.

Fresha’s calendar management features include waitlists, resource booking for equipment and stations, and processing time settings. Its online booking integrates with Instagram, Facebook, Google, and the Fresha marketplace itself.

Its team management (on the Team plan) includes shift scheduling, tips management, sales commissions, and timesheets. Another huge plus is that HIPAA compliance is included, which matters if you’re offering any services requiring medical-grade documentation.

Processing fees are 2.79% + $0.20 for online transactions, or 2.29% + $0.20 in-person. The marketplace also charges a one-time 20% commission (minimum $6) when brand new clients discover you through Fresha, but returning clients cost you nothing.

Pricing: $19.95/month for solo practitioners, while the Team plan is $14.95/month per bookable team member.

Pros

• Marketplace drives new client discovery
• True website integration with embeddable booking
• Robust features, including inventory management
• HIPAA compliance without premium pricing
• Genuinely affordable for small teams

Cons

• Locked into Fresha’s payment processing
• Basic plan email support has a 48-hour response time
• Marketplace commission cuts into profit on new clients
• Less customization than premium platforms

Best for: Solo stylists and small teams (up to 15 providers) who want affordable, comprehensive software with built-in marketing through the marketplace. If you’re newer or still building clientele, that marketplace can genuinely drive business that offsets the commission cost. And if you’ve invested in building your own website and want booking to stay on-brand instead of redirecting to a separate page, Fresha delivers that seamless integration. 

Zenoti: Best for Enterprise-Grade Power

Zenoti is an enterprise-grade software built for multi-location operations, with everything integrated and no plugin dependencies. This means your marketing, booking, gift cards, client communication… all of it happens through Zenoti without connecting separate third-party apps that can break at any time. 

What I really like about Zenoti is that it lets you oversee multiple salons from one dashboard. Advanced reporting and analytics go way beyond basic revenue tracking, too. You can see client retention patterns, service popularity across locations, staff performance comparisons, and more. 

Meanwhile, its integrated marketing automation handles campaigns, client segmentation, and automated communications, and its full inventory management tracks stock across all locations — you can even automate reorders so you never sell out of retail.

Perhaps the biggest perk is the 24/7 live support, which matters enormously when your busiest days are weekends, and you can’t afford to wait until Monday morning for help! 

Pricing: Starts at $250/month for barbershops and $350/month for hair salons for the Growth tier. Yes, that’s expensive, but you’re getting enterprise capabilities from day one. Note that higher tiers require custom quotes.

Pros

• Truly all-in-one (no separate apps for payments, marketing, client notes)
• 24/7 live support
• Scales seamlessly from a single location to a franchise
• No plugin integrations means no broken connections

Cons

• Expensive entry point ($250–$350/month minimum)
• Steep learning curve due to comprehensive features
• Complexity requires staff training and longer onboarding
• Overkill for solo stylists or salons under 5 employees

Best for: Growing salons with dreams of multiple locations or franchise operations, willing to invest in enterprise software that can handle sophisticated operations. If you’re serious about scaling and need a platform that won’t limit your growth, Zenoti is built for that journey. 

Meevo: Best for Robust Analytics

Meevo offers a powerful backend with extensive data and reporting capabilities that let you really dig into what’s working in your salon (and what’s not).

Meevo’s advanced reporting and analytics give you the benchmarks serious salon owners need to make informed decisions. Its comprehensive client management and charting also go way beyond basic notes. You can track full service histories, detailed formulas, client preferences, allergies… everything.

One of my favorite features here is Meevo’s Convobar. Simply speak your question or what you’re looking for, and the system guides you to what you need! It’s like having a voice assistant built specifically for salon software, which helps offset the complexity of the interface.

And for salons offering medical-grade treatments, 100% HIPAA compliance is built in, not a paid add-on.

Pricing: No public pricing available. You’ll need to contact them for a custom quote, and contracts are annual only.

Pros

• Exceptional data depth for analytics-focused owners
• HIPAA compliance built in
• Convobar makes navigation easier despite complexity
• Evolved from Millennium, a salon software pioneer with decades of industry knowledge

Cons

• Interface can be unintuitive for new users
• Annual contracts only
• No public pricing
• Steeper learning curve than simpler platforms

Best for: Established salons that prioritize data, analytics, and detailed client tracking over interface simplicity. If you’re willing to invest time learning a powerful but complex system, and if you want the depth to really understand your business through numbers, Meevo delivers.

Boulevard: Best All-in-One Salon Software

Boulevard was built from the ground up specifically for salons and spas — rather than being adapted from fitness studios or generic service businesses. Every feature is designed to work together seamlessly because it’s purpose-built for the beauty industry.

Its no-login booking can be embedded directly on your website and connects to the platform’s Precision Scheduling™ feature. This automatically optimizes your calendar by suggesting booking times to most efficiently fill gaps. Additionally, its smart resource scheduling feature assigns rooms, equipment, and stations alongside services — so you’re never caught with two clients booked for the same space.

Its POS handles deposits, booth rental payment routing, and all the payment processing you need. On the back end, it integrates with QuickBooks, automatically syncing each day’s sales and payment settlement data.

Boulevard’s marketing automation capabilities include email and SMS campaigns, waitlist notifications, and rebooking reminders — all managed from the same dashboard where you handle everything else. And its comprehensive reporting lets you dig deep into revenue patterns, staff performance, client retention, service popularity, and other important metrics.

Pricing: Choose from three main tiers: Essentials ($176/month), Premier ($293/month), and Prestige ($410/month), plus custom Enterprise pricing for large operations.

Pros

• Purpose-built for salons means intuitive workflows
• Modern, clean interface despite sophisticated functionality
• Exceptional customer support
• True all-in-one eliminates juggling multiple subscriptions
• Precision Scheduling™ fills gaps and maximizes revenue
• Scales smoothly (single stylist to multi-location)

 Cons

• No free trial (demo only; must speak with the sales team)
• Premium pricing
• Maybe more than simple or smaller salons need

Best for: Established salons (5+ providers) ready to consolidate multiple tools into one comprehensive platform, multi-location businesses needing centralized management — or any salon tired of juggling disconnected systems and ready to invest in premium software for long-term efficiency and growth. 

Choosing the Best GlossGenius Alternatives for Hairdressers

The right software comes down to three factors: your team size, your tolerance for complexity, and whether you need a budget solution or a comprehensive growth platform. 

• If you’re scaling past 10 stylists, Mangomint handles team scheduling beautifully without the enterprise price tag.
• Need true website integration with an embeddable booking widget plus marketplace exposure? Fresha delivers with affordable pricing.
• Planning multi-location growth? Zenoti provides enterprise capabilities with 24/7 support.
• Love data and want to dig deep into analytics? Meevo offers unmatched reporting depth.
• Want to stop juggling multiple disconnected platforms? Boulevard’s all-in-one, purpose-built offering eliminates that headache entirely.

Sign up for demos and trials, ask about migration support, and choose the platform that solves your specific pain point.

No matter which you pick, your choice should make your life easier, not add complexity. It should help you deliver exceptional client experiences and support your growth, not become an obstacle you have to work around. Keep this in mind as you explore your options, and you can’t go wrong.