Overview

Salonist brings appointment booking, sales, inventory and staff administration together for salons and other appointment-led personal-care businesses. It is best suited to owners who want one cloud-based system for front-desk and operational work, but the free plan’s 50-appointment monthly ceiling may quickly become restrictive.

The platform runs on web, iOS and Android without installation. Clients can book at any time through a business website, Instagram or the Salonist app, including recurring and package appointments. Automatic reminders, cancellation controls, staff calendars, appointment payments and external calendar sync help cover the booking cycle.

Key features

Bookings and staff access

Online self-booking lets clients arrange visits outside business hours, while customer history gives staff context for repeat appointments. Owners can assign different access levels to staff, which is useful when some employees should not see every profile or piece of account information.

Point of sale and inventory

The integrated POS handles card, contactless and Stripe terminal payments, with bulk checkout, payment reports and stock updates. Connecting sales and inventory is a practical advantage for businesses that sell products as well as services. Salonist also supports online payment processing.

Integrations, support and migration

Salonist lists more than 40 integrations, including Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Clover, QuickBooks, Qoyod, Tabby, Tamara and Authorize.Net. In-app chat and email support are available, with on-demand phone support on Essential and higher plans and support in English, Arabic and other languages. Salonist states 99.95% availability and 24X7 support and maintenance coverage for critical app failures or queries. Free onboarding and data import can bring over clients, services, staff, products and appointment history from systems such as Zenoti, Fresha, Vagaro, Mindbody or spreadsheets.

HTTPS secures sessions when customers use the app. Salonist’s broad feature set suits businesses consolidating several workflows, though the number of functions may be more than a small operator needs.

Pricing

Salonist uses a freemium model, with a free plan and a 7-day trial. All paid prices below are billed monthly.

Market Place Listing: 0.00 USD per free. It includes online booking, calendar and scheduling, and staff shift management, but caps usage at 50 appointments per month. That makes it a low-cost way to start or handle modest booking volume, not a roomy option for a busy salon.
Essential: 59.00 USD per month. It adds unlimited staff, POS, sales and appointment reports, customer history, coupons, inventory and reminders. This is the practical step up for businesses that have outgrown the free appointment allowance or need sales and stock tools.
Advance: 109.00 USD per month. It includes everything in Essential, plus surveys, rewards, gift cards, campaigns, inventory management and third-party SMS API integrations. Choose it when retention campaigns and customer engagement tools justify the higher monthly cost.
Expert: 179.00 USD per month. It adds multi-branch reporting, a dedicated account manager, waitlists, custom integrations and API access, as well as a custom-branded client app published under the salon’s name in both the Apple App Store and Google Play. It is aimed at multi-location operators or businesses that need a branded app and deeper integration options.

The marketplace has a separate cost to consider: Salonist charges a one-time 15% commission on the first visit from a brand-new client discovered through its marketplace. Returning-client and direct bookings do not incur that commission. The free plan’s cap and this first-visit fee matter most to businesses relying on marketplace discovery or handling many appointments.

Platforms

Salonist supports web, Android and iOS. Its cloud-based service requires no installation, making it accessible from desktop and mobile devices.

Who it's for

Salonist targets hair salons, massage centers, makeup artists, spas, barbershops, bridal salons, tattoo artists, pet groomers, nail salons, aesthetic skin clinics and salon booth renters. It makes the most sense for an owner who wants bookings, POS, stock and staff tools under one roof. A solo or low-volume business can begin on the free plan, while appointment volume above 50 per month or the need for POS pushes the decision toward a paid tier.

Pros and cons

Pro: Booking, POS, inventory and staff features share one platform, reducing the need to coordinate separate tools for core salon operations.
Pro: Free data import and onboarding can ease a move from another salon system or a spreadsheet.
Pro: The Expert plan’s branded app is published under the business’s own name in both major app stores.
Con: The free plan stops at 50 appointments per month, so growing businesses may need to pay to keep using the same booking workflow.
Con: Marketplace discovery carries a 15% one-time fee on a new client’s first visit, which can reduce the value of that acquisition channel.
Con: The branded app and multi-branch reporting sit at the 179.00 USD per month Expert tier, a substantial commitment for smaller operators.

Alternatives

For a free option with a different device and hosting mix, Pronto offers a Forever free plan with one staff member, 100 clients, 50 bookings a month and 100 products; it supports Linux, macOS, Windows, web and self-hosting.

DaySmart Salon is a paid alternative with a free trial; its Basic plan is 29.00 USD per month and includes one user, online booking, appointment confirmations and Instagram and Facebook booking.

Glamiti is worth comparing for a solo professional: its Solo plan is 19.00 CAD per month for one professional, with 100 emails a day and 100 SMS a month, and it offers a free trial.

For a single-employee cloud setup, Insight Salon Software has a Solo Edition at 25.00 USD per month and a free trial.

SALON STOCK is a narrower inventory-focused choice for iOS: its free plan supports one-person salons and includes unlimited inventory, barcode scanning, ordering and receiving, stocktaking, LINE notifications and current-month material costs.

Orbis Salon may suit a very small operation seeking a low monthly entry price: its Lite plan is 4.99 GBP per month for one staff member and one location, with 30 bookings a month, five services and a 50p booking service fee per booking.

JustBook and NeonO are other paid alternatives to compare.

For focused category comparisons, browse Salon Inventory Management Software, Salon Appointment Scheduling Software, Esthetician Software, Salon POS Software, Salon Staff Scheduling Software and Salon Booth Rental Software.

Verdict

Salonist is a strong fit for personal-care businesses that want appointment booking, POS, inventory and staff management in one cloud service, with room to add campaigns, multi-branch reporting or a branded app. Its main trade-offs are the free plan’s 50-appointment cap, the marketplace’s first-visit commission and the higher price required for advanced capabilities. Choose it if consolidating those operations matters; look elsewhere if you need a generous free booking allowance or a branded app without moving to Expert.

	Salonist	SpaSphere
Free plan	Yes	No
Free trial	Yes	Yes
Paid from	$59/mo	$29/mo
Open source	No	No
Platforms	Android, iOS, Web	Android, iOS, Web
Free plan	Yes	No
Online booking	Yes	Yes
Payment processing	Yes	—
Paid from	—	139 /mo

Salonist vs SpaSphere

Salonist

SpaSphere