Vagaro Pricing in 2026: What a Salon Actually Pays Per Month

Vagaro's US pricing page shows $23.99 a month for one bookable calendar as of September 2026, labelled as a limited-time rate with $30 shown as the regular price, plus $10 a month for each additional calendar up to seven, after which extra staff are free. There is no marketplace commission. Card processing through Vagaro's own merchant services is 2.6% plus 10 cents in person for businesses taking under $4,000 a month, or 2.29% plus 19 cents plus a $10 monthly fee above that, and 3.5% plus 19 cents for keyed-in payments. The catch is not the base price. It is the à la carte add-ons: Forms $10, Text Marketing from $20, a website builder $20, the Branded App $100, and a dozen more. This guide adds them up for a real salon.

Vagaro pricing: the subscription by calendar

Vagaro charges per bookable calendar, which in practice means per person who takes appointments, with a ceiling. Here is how the US subscription scales, taken from the pricing page and Vagaro's own plans and pricing article (updated 2 September 2026):

| Bookable calendars | Monthly at the $23.99 rate | Monthly at the $30 regular rate | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | $23.99 | $30.00 | | 2 | $33.99 | $40.00 | | 3 | $43.99 | $50.00 | | 5 | $63.99 | $70.00 | | 7 or more | $83.99 | $90.00 |

Once you reach seven licences, you can add more employees at no extra cost, so a 12-person salon pays the same as a 7-person one. That cap is Vagaro's real pricing advantage over per-seat competitors, and it is why large teams like it.

Other things the page states plainly:

• A 30-day free trial.
• Cancel any time with no cancellation fees.
• No extra fees for managing several locations from one account; multi-location subscriptions themselves are quoted by sales, so check the vendor's pricing page.

In the UK the same page shows £20 a month for one bookable calendar. It does not state the UK price for additional calendars, so check the vendor's pricing page for that.

Which base price will you actually pay? The page presents $23.99 as a promotional figure and $30 as the standard one. Third-party guides published this year, such as Koalendar and GlossGenius's own comparison, describe it the same way. Confirm what applies at sign-up and at renewal before you budget on the lower number.

Vagaro add-ons: where the bill actually grows

Vagaro's base subscription covers online booking, the calendar, client records, point of sale and basic email marketing. Most of the things a salon assumes are included are priced separately. These are the US monthly prices listed on the pricing page and the plans article as of September 2026:

| Add-on | Monthly price (US) | | --- | --- | | Forms (intake, consent, SOAP notes) | $10 | | Text Marketing | From $20 (the plans article lists 1,000 credits at that level) | | Email Marketing | Free to start; a Medium tier at $10 | | Online Shopping Cart | $10 | | Vagaro MySite (website builder) | $20 | | Branded App | $100, plus a $100 one-time development fee, plus $10 per additional location | | Payroll | $34, plus $5 per employee | | Check-In App | $10 | | Live Stream | $10 | | Vagaro Drive (storage) | From $10 | | QuickBooks integration | $10 | | Xero integration | $30 | | Data Lake | $40 |

Nothing here is unreasonable on its own. The problem is that a salon rarely wants one of them. Forms, text marketing and a website are the usual trio, and that is $50 a month on top of the subscription before anybody takes a card.

Vagaro fees: card processing

Vagaro's card processing page and its US rates article (updated 16 September 2026) split merchants by monthly volume:

| Payment type | Under $4,000 a month | $4,000 a month or more | | --- | --- | --- | | Swipe, dip or tap | 2.6% plus 10 cents | 2.29% plus 19 cents | | Tap to Pay on a phone | Adds 6 cents per tap | Adds 6 cents per tap | | Keyed-in and other card-not-present payments | 3.5% plus 19 cents | 3.5% plus 19 cents | | Monthly merchant fee | None | $10 |

The rates article also lists a $1.25 monthly Mastercard location fee and chargeback fees of $7.50 for the first and $15 for the second. A card reader is free when you sign up for merchant services, with terms attached.

The number to notice is 3.5% plus 19 cents. That is the rate for anything without a physical card present, which is what an online deposit or a stored card on file is. If your no-show policy relies on cards on file, budget at that rate, not 2.29%.

In the UK, the same page shows 1.15% plus 20p for chip and tap, 1.40% plus 25p keyed, an extra 7p per Tap to Pay transaction and no monthly fee.

There is no marketplace commission on Vagaro. Your marketplace listing is included, and Vagaro does not charge for clients who find you there. That is a real difference from Fresha and Booksy.

What Vagaro really costs a salon with 5 staff

Take a five-stylist salon in the US with $30,000 a month going through Vagaro's card reader across 500 in-person transactions at an average of $60. It uses Forms, Text Marketing and MySite, and nothing else.

| Line | Arithmetic | Monthly | | --- | --- | --- | | Subscription, 5 calendars | $23.99 plus 4 x $10 | $63.99 | | Forms, Text Marketing, MySite | $10 plus $20 plus $20 | $50.00 | | Processing, percentage (large merchant) | 2.29% of $30,000 | $687.00 | | Processing, per transaction | 500 x $0.19 | $95.00 | | Merchant fee plus Mastercard location fee | $10 plus $1.25 | $11.25 | | Total | | $907.24 |

About $907 a month, or $10,887 a year. Software is $113.99 of that, 13% of the total, and processing is the rest. At the $30 regular base rate the software line becomes $120 and the total $913.25.

If this salon also wanted the Branded App, add $100 a month and the $100 set-up fee: $213.99 a month in software, which with the set-up fee is about $2,668 in the first year. Keep that number in mind for the alternative section.

A solo stylist is a different picture: $23.99 a month with no add-ons, plus 2.6% and 10 cents on every card, is genuinely cheap.

Hidden and easy-to-miss Vagaro costs

• The promotional base rate. $23.99 is labelled limited-time; $30 is the standard figure. Budget on $30 and treat the rest as a bonus.
• Add-ons stack. Every feature you switch on in the trial and forget about becomes a line item.
• Card-not-present is 3.5%. Deposits and stored cards cost more than you think.
• The $4,000 threshold cuts both ways. Above it you get the lower rate but pay $10 a month and 19 cents rather than 10 cents per transaction. On many small tickets the difference narrows.
• Text credits run out. Reviews on Capterra repeatedly mention the cost of texting once you pass the included credits.
• Chargebacks are billed at $7.50 and then $15.
• Hardware terms. The reader is free with merchant services; one Capterra reviewer reported being charged for it after cancelling, so read the terms before you leave.
• Tax is extra on all of the above.

Who should stay on Vagaro

• Teams of seven or more. The calendar cap makes Vagaro one of the cheapest per-head options at scale: $83.99 for 12 stylists is $7 each.
• Salons and spas that want everything in one place and will genuinely use payroll, forms, retail, memberships and classes. Bought as a bundle, Vagaro is still cheaper than the enterprise suites.
• Businesses that want a free marketplace listing with no commission attached.
• US salons happy with Vagaro payments and the 2.29% large-merchant rate.

If you are in one of those groups, Vagaro is a sensible home. Trim the add-ons you do not use and the cost is fair.

Who should look for a Vagaro alternative

• Solo and two-to-three person salons paying $100 or more a month in software for booking, reminders and a website.
• Owners who bought the Branded App and are paying $100 a month plus the subscription for an app that is still Vagaro underneath.
• Salons that find the pricing hard to predict because every month's bill is a different combination of credits and add-ons.
• Anyone who wants the client relationship and the client list to be theirs, in an app under their own name.

Our Vagaro alternative page walks through the switch. If you run a hair salon specifically, the hair salon booking app page covers the features that matter for stylists.

The owned-app alternative

Codersy Apps builds and publishes a booking app for your salon under your own name and logo in the App Store and Google Play, for a flat €50 a month. There is no development or setup fee, no per-booking fee and you can 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), banning repeat no-shows, push notifications to all your clients at no per-message cost, and revenue analytics. The client list belongs to you. You see a demo on your phone within 7 days and go live in both stores in 3 to 4 weeks. Milano Beauty, Duo Gea Studio, ARDNAS nails and AngelDoll Studio are among the salons already running on it.

Set against the five-stylist example above, that is €50 a month against $213.99 for Vagaro with the Branded App, and there is no $100 set-up fee. The honest caveat is scope: Vagaro does payroll, retail inventory, forms and classes, and an owned booking app does not try to. If you need the whole suite, stay. If what you actually use is booking, reminders, deposits and messaging, you are paying for the suite anyway. Our beauty salon app page shows what is included.

The bottom line on Vagaro pricing

Vagaro's subscription is fair, its seven-calendar cap is generous, and its marketplace charges no commission. What makes it expensive is everything around the subscription: add-ons at $10 to $100 each, 3.5% on card-not-present payments, and texts once the credits are gone. Large teams that use the full suite get good value. Small salons that just need a reliable way for clients to book often end up paying $100 to $200 a month for a fraction of what they are billed for, and that is the point at which an app of your own is worth a look. Get in touch and we will show you one built for a salon like yours.