A salon POS system handles your bookings, payments, stylist commission and retail sales in one place. Most salons end up paying for three separate things - the software subscription, the card processing and the hardware and it is almost always the processing that costs the most over a year, even though it is the number nobody compares.
This guide looks at ten salon POS systems on published US pricing, what each one does well, and where it falls short. If you are still working out what the software needs to do in the first place, our guide to what a pos system is covers the fundamentals.
1. Vibe Retail
Best for: Salons that sell product as seriously as they sell services
Published pricing: Essential is $19/month for one register. Pro is $97/month and is the tier that matters for a salon — appointments, employee management, loyalty and gift cards all sit there, not in Essential. Card-present processing runs from 2.9% + 15c on Essential down to 2.5% + 10c on Ultimate.
What stands out: Vibe comes at the salon from the retail side, which shows in the product handling. The shelf gets the same inventory control as a store — variants, reorder points, supplier ordering — rather than the thin product module most booking-first platforms bolt on. Bookings, commission and retail sit on one ticket, so a client paying for a cut and a bottle of shampoo is one transaction and one report. Our Salon POS software page has the detail on stylist scheduling and commission splits.
Tradeoffs: The $19 entry tier is genuinely limited — one register, two users, 100 items, and no appointments. If you are booking clients you are on Pro at $97, so compare against that number rather than the headline. Vibe is also newer to the salon-specific market than the booking-first platforms, so the treatment-room depth of something like Boulevard is not there yet.
2. Square Appointments
Best for: Solo stylists and chairs just starting out
Published pricing: Free for a single user, then $49 and $149 per location per month.
What stands out: The free tier is a genuine free tier, not a trial, and it includes booking and payments. Hardware is easy to buy, widely available and works out of the box. For a solo stylist taking a handful of clients a day, it is hard to argue with.
Tradeoffs: Costs climb quickly once you add staff, and you are locked to Square for processing — if you have negotiated a better rate elsewhere, you cannot bring it. Retail inventory is basic, so a salon with a real product range outgrows it.
3. GlossGenius
Best for: Salons that want one bill and no decisions
Published pricing: $28, $56 or $168 per month, with a lower equivalent on annual billing.
What stands out: Everything is bundled — booking, payments, marketing, website — and the pricing is flat and readable. The interface is the most approachable in this list, which matters if your team turns over.
Tradeoffs: The bundling cuts both ways: you take the whole stack or none of it, and processing is built in rather than chosen. Reporting is lighter than the retail-led platforms, and product inventory is not its strength.
4. Vagaro
Best for: Multi-service salons watching the monthly cost
Published pricing: From roughly $24 to $30 a month for one calendar, with each additional calendar charged on top.
What stands out: Cheap to start, broad feature set, and the marketplace sends some genuinely incremental bookings. It handles a mixed service menu — hair, nails, beauty — without complaint.
Tradeoffs: The per-calendar pricing means a six-chair salon is not paying the headline rate, and the total creeps as you grow. The interface carries a lot of features and feels it.
5. Fresha
Best for: Salons that would rather not pay a fixed subscription
Published pricing: Around $19.95 a month for an independent, or roughly $14.95 per bookable team member.
What stands out: The commission-based model means a quiet month costs you less, which is a real advantage for a new or seasonal salon. The client-facing booking experience is strong.
Tradeoffs: You pay on new-client bookings from the marketplace, so a busy salon can end up paying more than a flat subscription would have cost. Retail and reporting are secondary to the booking engine.
6. Mangomint
Best for: Established salons with a front desk and several staff
Published pricing: $120 a month per location, plus $10 per active user.
What stands out: Easily the most polished front-desk experience here. Automations around waitlists, forms and payments remove a lot of the admin a receptionist would otherwise do, and the support reputation is strong.
Tradeoffs: The per-user charge means a ten-stylist salon is well past $200 a month before processing. For a two-chair operation it is more system than the job needs.
7. Boulevard
Best for: High-end salons and spas with a treatment menu
Published pricing: $176, $293 or $410 per location per month before any annual discount.
What stands out: Built for premium service businesses, with the deepest handling of multi-stage treatments, resource scheduling and client history in this list. If your average ticket is high, the cost per booking is defensible.
Tradeoffs: The most expensive option here by a distance, and the onboarding is a project rather than an afternoon. Overkill for a standard hair salon.
8. Lightspeed Retail
Best for: Salons where retail is most of the revenue
Published pricing: $89, $149 or $289 per outlet per month on annual billing.
What stands out: A serious retail platform with strong inventory, purchasing and multi-outlet reporting. If you run a product-led beauty business with services attached rather than the other way round, this fits the shape.
Tradeoffs: Appointments are not its native strength, so salon scheduling can feel bolted on. Pricing is per outlet, which adds up across sites.
9. Clover
Best for: Salons that want to choose their own hardware and processor
Published pricing: Quote required — pricing comes through resellers and varies.
What stands out: A wide hardware range and a large app marketplace mean you can shape it to how you work. Often available through your existing bank or processor, which suits salons that already have a merchant relationship.
Tradeoffs: Quote-only pricing makes it hard to compare, and the experience varies a lot depending on which reseller you buy from. Salon-specific features come from third-party apps rather than the core product.
10. Booksy
Best for: Barbershops and booth renters
Published pricing: $29.99 a month for the first user, then $20 for each additional user.
What stands out: The marketplace is genuinely strong in barbering, and the booking flow is built around individual professionals rather than a salon as a business. Good fit where each chair operates semi-independently.
Tradeoffs: Weaker as a whole-business system — retail, reporting and multi-location handling are all thin. If you are running a salon rather than a set of chairs, you will feel the limits.
What a salon POS system actually costs
Software runs from nothing to around $410 a month per location, with most salons landing between $30 and $150.
Card processing adds roughly 2.5% to 3% plus a per-transaction fee on everything you take, which on $30,000 of monthly card volume is $750 to $900 a month, sveral times the software cost.
Hardware is a few hundred dollars if you buy it outright. Vibe Retail starts at $19 a month, with the appointments and employee management a salon needs on the $97 Pro tier.
