GlossGenius Pricing in 2026: Plans, Fees and Who It Suits

GlossGenius has three plans as of September 2026, according to its pricing page: Standard at $28 a month ($24 a month billed annually), Gold at $56 ($48 annually) and Platinum at $168 ($148 annually). There is no marketplace and therefore no commission on new clients. Card processing is a flat 2.6% on every transaction, whether tapped, keyed or charged to a card on file, with no per-transaction cents. That is the whole fee model, which is the main reason people like it. The trial is 14 days with no card required, and prices are in US dollars. This guide explains what each plan buys, works through a real salon's monthly cost, and says who GlossGenius suits and who should look elsewhere.

GlossGenius pricing: the three plans

| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing (per month) | Team size | Marketing texts included | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Standard | $28 | $24 | You plus 1 team member | 500 a month | | Gold | $56 | $48 | Up to 9 account members | 500 a month | | Platinum | $168 | $148 | Unlimited, built for teams of 10 or more | 2,500 a month |

The prices come from the pricing page; the team limits and text allowances come from GlossGenius's own plans article, which puts Standard at one additional team member, Gold at up to nine total account members and Platinum at unlimited. If you have three people taking bookings, you are on Gold.

What each tier adds, as listed on the pricing page:

• Standard: a custom booking website, unlimited client notifications, email and text marketing, inventory and retail, packages and memberships, deposits and 100% chargeback protection.
• Gold: everything in Standard plus forms and waivers, Google booking and reviews, an automated waitlist, time tracking, and room and resource management.
• Platinum: everything in Gold plus team goal setting and analytics, customisable commissions and Google marketing analytics.

There are also two medspa plans, Practice Essentials at $168 ($148 annually) and Practice Advanced at $298 ($248 annually), which most salons can ignore.

Annual billing saves 14% on Standard and Gold and 12% on Platinum, but you pay the year up front: $288, $576 or $1,776. Each additional location is charged the plan price at a 15% discount. Payroll is an optional add-on at $40 a month plus $6 per seat.

GlossGenius fees: the flat 2.6% processing rate

GlossGenius is built around its own payments, and the rate is the simplest in the category: 2.6% on every card transaction, with the pricing page stating there are no extra fees for Tap to Pay, card on file or manual entry. Instant payouts carry an additional 1.8% fee; standard payouts are free. Koalendar's review (June 2026) notes that buy now, pay later runs at 6% plus 30 cents and cannot be passed on to the client the way ordinary processing can.

Whether a flat 2.6% is cheap depends on your ticket size, because everyone else charges a percentage plus a fixed amount:

| Ticket | GlossGenius at 2.6% | Fresha in person at 2.29% plus $0.20 | Square Free at 2.6% plus 15 cents | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | $40 brow or nail service | $1.04 | $1.12 | $1.19 | | $60 cut | $1.56 | $1.57 | $1.71 | | $300 colour and treatment | $7.80 | $7.07 | $7.95 |

On small tickets the flat rate wins. On big tickets a lower percentage with a fixed fee wins. Where GlossGenius is clearly ahead is card on file and manual entry: those are 3.5% plus 15 cents on Square and 3.5% plus 19 cents on Vagaro, and still 2.6% here. If deposits and no-show fees are a big part of how you run the salon, that matters.

No marketplace, no commission

GlossGenius does not run a consumer marketplace. Clients book through your own booking site (Gold adds booking directly from Google), your Instagram link or your existing relationship. The upside is that there is no 20% or 30% new client fee and nobody's competitors appear next to your name. The downside is that GlossGenius brings you no new clients at all. If you are relying on a marketplace for discovery today, moving to GlossGenius means replacing that with your own marketing, and that is a real cost even though it is not on the invoice.

What GlossGenius really costs a salon with 4 staff

Take a four-person salon in the US taking $20,000 a month by card through GlossGenius, all of it through the app or the reader. Standard caps at two people, so this salon is on Gold.

| Line | Arithmetic | Monthly | | --- | --- | --- | | Gold plan, monthly billing | | $56.00 | | Card processing | 2.6% of $20,000 | $520.00 | | Appointment reminders and confirmations | Included | $0.00 | | Marketing texts | 500 included | $0.00 | | Total | | $576.00 |

That is $576 a month, or $6,912 a year on monthly billing and $6,816 on annual billing ($576 for the plan plus $6,240 of processing). Software is under 10% of the total. Processing is the rest, and it rises in a straight line with revenue: at $30,000 a month it is $780, at $40,000 it is $1,040.

A solo professional on Standard at $24 a month (annual) taking $8,000 a month by card pays $24 plus $208, or $232 a month. That is a very clean bill.

Hidden and easy-to-miss GlossGenius costs

• The two-person cap on Standard. The moment a third person takes bookings, you double the plan price to Gold.
• Annual is prepaid. The $24 headline requires $288 up front; the month-to-month price is $28.
• No volume discount on processing. Vagaro drops to 2.29% above $4,000 a month and Square Premium is 2.4%; GlossGenius is 2.6% whether you take $5,000 or $50,000. On $300,000 a year that is $7,800 in fees.
• Instant payouts cost 1.8% on top. Use them habitually and your real processing rate is 4.4%.
• Text overages. 500 marketing texts on Standard and Gold, 2,500 on Platinum; the price per extra text is not on the pricing page, so check the vendor's pricing page before planning a big campaign.
• Payroll is $40 plus $6 per seat, so $64 a month for four staff.
• Extra locations each pay 85% of the plan price.
• US dollars only. The pricing page shows no other currency; if you are outside the US, check availability before you plan around it.
• A booking site, not an app under your name. Your booking site carries your branding, but GlossGenius gives your clients a website to book on rather than an app with your salon's name in the App Store.

Who should stay on GlossGenius

• Solo professionals and small US teams who want one polished tool with payments built in and a bill they can predict.
• Small-ticket, high-volume businesses: nails, brows, lashes, barbering, where the flat rate beats percentage-plus-cents pricing.
• Salons that run on deposits and cards on file, because 2.6% on card-not-present is the best rate among the mainstream options.
• Anyone allergic to marketplaces who already has a full book.

If that is you, GlossGenius is a very good product and its pricing is honest.

Who should look at a GlossGenius alternative

• Teams of 10 or more. Platinum at $168 plus 2.6% on a large team's revenue adds up; compare it with Vagaro's seven-calendar cap and 2.29% rate before you decide.
• High-ticket salons doing mostly colour, extensions or treatments at $250 and up, where a lower percentage matters more than the absent fixed fee.
• Salons that still need discovery and would benefit from a marketplace, at least for now. See our guide to the best beauty salon booking apps.
• Salons outside the US.
• Owners who want their own app on the client's phone, with push notifications instead of text credits and the client list in their own hands.

The owned-app alternative

Codersy Apps builds and publishes a booking app under your salon's own name and logo in the App Store and Google Play for a flat €50 a month, with no development or setup fee, no per-booking fee and no commission; cancel any month. It includes a client app and an admin app, per-employee calendars, prices and hours, 24/7 self-booking, push and email reminders, deposits against no-shows through Stripe or a local processor (their processing fees are separate and are not marked up by us), the option to ban repeat no-shows, push notifications to all clients at no per-message cost, and revenue analytics. The client list belongs to the salon. There is a demo on your phone within 7 days and the app is live in both stores in 3 to 4 weeks. Ana Beauty Club, Lila Vanila, ARDNAS nails and AngelDoll Studio are among the salons using it.

Against GlossGenius the comparison is close on price: a flat €50 is in the same ballpark as Gold. The differences are ownership and reach. GlossGenius gives you a booking website and a broad back office including retail, forms and marketing; an owned app gives you your name on the App Store, a direct push channel to every client, and a business that does not depend on a platform's pricing decisions. Processing is separate either way. If most of your clients already come back by name, our beauty salon app page shows what that looks like, and our nail salon app page covers the small-ticket, high-volume case specifically.

The bottom line on GlossGenius pricing

GlossGenius is one of the more honest pricing models in salon software: $28, $56 or $168 a month, no commission, and 2.6% on everything. For a solo professional or a small US team with modest ticket sizes it is hard to fault. The costs to watch are the two-person cap on Standard, the absence of any volume discount on processing, and the fact that it brings you no clients. If your book is already full of regulars and you would rather they had your app than your booking link, get in touch and we will show you what your own app would cost.