The Front Desk Report

Re-verified monthly · last check Aug 21, 2026

The pricing tracker

Every price on this page was read off the vendor's own pricing page by us, on the date shown — never lifted from a roundup, a review site, or an AI summary. Booking-software pricing hides in the fine print: the subscription is only half the bill once processing rates and per-feature fees land. Prices rot. Dates are the preservative.

Each tool here has been through our lab or is in the queue; where a review exists, it's linked. Promos are listed with the expiry the vendor stated — if the date has passed, assume the promo has too.

To turn these numbers into what your own salon would pay — subscription plus card processing, per year — run them through the true-cost calculator. It reads from this same file, so the two pages can never disagree.

Front-desk & booking platforms

The all-in-one booking, scheduling, and payment platforms of the first review wave.

GlossGenius

Verified Aug 18, 2026 · pricing page

Standard $28/mo $24/mo billed annually
Gold $56/mo $48/mo billed annually — the "most popular" tier
Platinum $168/mo $148/mo billed annually

Trial: 14 days, no card required — confirmed at signup 2026-08-20: the card ask is skippable, though the trial forces the Gold tier (no tier choice) and the trial banner states the end date. Processing: flat 2.6%, no separate card-on-file or manual-entry rate per the pricing page. Instant payout costs +1.8%; payroll add-on $40/mo + $6/seat. Medspa/EMR plans exist but are outside our coverage.

Vagaro

Verified Aug 21, 2026 · pricing page

1 calendar $23.99/mo the advertised headline price
2–6 calendars +$10/calendar/mo in-app plan picker at trial signup, read 2026-08-21: 2→$33.99, 3→$43.99, 4→$53.99, 5→$63.99, 6→$73.99. Not published on the public pricing page.
7+ calendars $83.99/mo flat cap — large teams pay less per chair than small ones

Trial: 30 days — but a credit card is REQUIRED to start the trial (auto-bills at trial end; "no charge until your trial ends"), and signup routes through a merchant-processing application (hardware store → business info → identity & bank verification) that can be skipped via "Do this later" (verified at trial signup 2026-08-21). Our 5-provider salon + bookable owner = 6 calendars = $73.99/mo, ~3× the advertised $23.99. Processing (per Vagaro support article, read 2026-08-18 — rates NOT on the pricing page): Small Merchant (<$4,000/mo volume): swipe/dip/tap 2.6% + $0.10, keyed-in 3.5% + $0.19, Tap to Phone 2.6% + $0.16. Large Merchant (>$4,000/mo): swipe/dip/tap 2.29% + $0.19, keyed-in 3.5% + $0.19, Tap to Phone 2.29% + $0.25, PLUS a $10/mo merchant subscription and FANF + Mastercard Location fees. The two-tier volume threshold matters for true-cost math: a busy solo crosses $4,000.

Fresha

Verified Aug 18, 2026 · pricing page

Independent $19.95/mo single-person businesses
Team $14.95/member/mo multi-staff
Enterprise custom 20+ team members

Trial: 7 days (vendor-stated). Processing: in-person 2.29% + $0.20 (+$0.10 per tap auth), online 2.79% + $0.20, manual entry 3.30% + $0.20. New clients from the Fresha marketplace: 20% one-time commission, $6 minimum. 100 free SMS/mo then $0.02/text; 50 free marketing emails/mo then $0.02/email.

Square Appointments

Verified Aug 18, 2026 · pricing page

Free $0/mo per location; in-person 2.6% + 15¢, online 3.3% + 30¢. No cancellation-policy/no-show-fee tooling — that is a Plus feature.
Plus $49/mo per location, "best value"; in-person 2.5% + 15¢, online 2.9% + 30¢; adds cancellation policy + no-show fees, multi-staff booking, waitlist
Premium $149/mo per location; in-person 2.4% + 15¢, online 2.9% + 30¢

Trial: Plus/Premium: "Try free for 30 days" (vendor-stated; terms confirmed at signup). Manual entry & card-on-file: 3.5% + 15¢ on every plan (per squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees, read 2026-08-18). Key catch for our scoring: no-show fee enforcement requires the $49/mo Plus plan.

The catch log

Dated instances of why this page exists: what our verifications caught that secondhand numbers missed.

  • Aug 18, 2026 AI-generated answers quote Vagaro’s Large Merchant card-present rate as “starts at 2.2%” and keyed-in as “2.5–3.5%.” Vagaro’s own support article says 2.29% + $0.19 and a flat 3.5% + $0.19 — plus a $10/mo merchant subscription the summaries omit entirely.
  • Aug 18, 2026 Fresha, still described as "free salon software" across third-party roundups, lists no free plan on its own pricing page: $19.95/mo (Independent) or $14.95 per team member (Team), plus a one-time 20% commission ($6 minimum) on new clients from its marketplace.

Some links below are affiliate links — if you subscribe through one, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes a verdict; every tool runs the same test salon. Full disclosure