The sticker price is never the full story
When you compare salon software, the number on the pricing page is just the starting point.
Most booking tools cover scheduling. That's it. Your clients still need a way to find you online, you need somewhere to track their preferences and history, and someone has to send reminders so they actually show up. Add those pieces together and the real cost looks nothing like the headline number.
Here's what running a salon actually requires:
| What you need | Why |
|---|---|
| A website clients can find on Google | Your online storefront |
| Online booking (no phone tag) | Scheduling |
| Client history, notes, preferences | Client management |
| SMS and email reminders | Reduce no-shows |
Price each of those separately and you're looking at $130 to $200 per month. The sticker price on any single tool is just one piece.
Booksy: $95 to $150/mo in practice
Booksy focuses on appointment booking and marketplace visibility. Clients can find you inside the Booksy app without visiting your website.
Base price: $39 to $55/mo for a solo stylist (Booksy Boost tier)
That covers booking, a marketplace profile, basic reminders, and client visit history.
It does not include a professional website, detailed client management, automated SMS, or Spanish language support. Most stylists on Booksy end up adding a website ($16-33/mo), a CRM ($19-50/mo), and better SMS ($20/mo).
Realistic total: $95 to $150/mo
Booksy's real value is the marketplace. Clients searching inside the app find your profile. That's useful when you're building from scratch. The tradeoff: your visibility depends on their platform. If their algorithm or pricing changes, your traffic changes with it.
One price. Everything included.
Website, booking, client management, and reminders for $59/mo. No extra subscriptions.
GlossGenius: $59 to $131/mo in practice
GlossGenius was built for beauty professionals. Cleaner design than most booking tools, solid client communication. Many stylists who leave Booksy end up here.
Base price: $24/mo (Standard) or $48/mo (Gold)
Standard includes booking, a branded mini-site hosted on GlossGenius, basic notifications, simple reporting, and payment processing. Gold adds advanced analytics, extra staff accounts, and limited email campaigns.
Neither plan includes a full website on your own domain, detailed client management, advanced SMS, or Spanish support. The mini-site works for booking but it's not the same as a real website that shows up in Google search results.
Common add-ons: Website ($16-33/mo), CRM ($19-50/mo)
Realistic total: $59 to $131/mo depending on plan
If you already have a website and just need booking, the Standard plan at $24/mo is reasonable. If you're starting from scratch and need everything, the cost adds up.
IDKWebsites: $59/mo, period
IDKWebsites was built for service businesses that want one platform instead of four subscriptions. Website, booking, client management, and reminders in a single plan.
Price: $59/mo. No contracts.
That includes a professional website (live in 24 hours), online booking built into your site, a client dashboard with history and notes, automated SMS and email reminders, bilingual support (English and Spanish), your own domain, and zero transaction fees.
No required add-ons. The $59 covers the full stack.
What it doesn't include: A marketplace for client discovery (your clients find you through Google, social media, and referrals), advanced marketing automation, or built-in point-of-sale processing.
Side-by-side comparison
| Feature | Booksy | GlossGenius | IDKWebsites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online booking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Professional website | No | Mini-site only | Yes |
| Full client management | Basic | Basic | Full dashboard |
| SMS + email reminders | Limited | Basic | Full automation |
| Spanish/bilingual | No | No | Yes |
| Marketplace discovery | Yes | No | No |
| Base price | $40-55 | $24 | $59 |
| + Website | +$16-33 | +$16-33 | $0 |
| + CRM | +$19-50 | +$19-50 | $0 |
| Realistic total | $75-138 | $59-107 | $59 |
Stop paying for four tools
Most stylists spend $130-200/mo on separate subscriptions. IDKWebsites replaces them all.
The annual math
Monthly costs are easy to shrug off. The annual numbers are harder to ignore.
| Platform | Low estimate | High estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Booksy + website + CRM | $900/yr | $1,656/yr |
| GlossGenius Standard + website + CRM | $708/yr | $1,284/yr |
| IDKWebsites (all included) | $708/yr | $708/yr |
A solo stylist on Booksy with a standard website and basic CRM pays at least $192 more per year than an IDKWebsites subscriber with the same coverage. At the high end, that gap reaches $948.
Who should use what
Booksy makes sense if you're building a client base from scratch and want marketplace discovery to speed things up. You're trading platform dependence for visibility.
GlossGenius works if you already have a website and just need a clean booking layer. The Standard plan at $24/mo is hard to beat for that specific use case.
IDKWebsites is for stylists who want one bill and one login. If you need a professional website that ranks on Google, serve Spanish-speaking clients, or just don't want to pay for four tools that should be one, the math works out. See our hair and beauty industry page for details on what's included, or check the full pricing breakdown.
The cost nobody talks about: your time
Every extra subscription means another login, another settings page, another support ticket when something breaks. When your website, booking tool, and CRM are separate systems, updating your hours or adding a new service means three changes across three platforms.
Running a salon is already a full-time job. Your business tools should save you time, not create more of it.
