Honest comparison

Salonomy vs Vagaro

Vagaro is a broad, established platform with a deep feature catalogue, much of it priced as add-ons. Salonomy is a focused, flat per-chair subscription with the differentiators built in. Here is an honest, capability-by-capability comparison — no disparagement, just the facts as we understand them in June 2026.

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Fair play

Vagaro is a mature, feature-rich platform with a long track record, a wide module catalogue (from marketing to a consumer marketplace) and a large installed base, particularly in the US. If you want the broadest possible menu of bolt-on modules under one roof, that breadth is a genuine strength.

Why Salonomy

What Salonomy leads with

A real native app

iPhone and Android from day one — run the whole salon from your pocket, not just the iPad by the till. Works offline and syncs when the Wi-Fi comes back.

A live walk-in queue

Cancellations and gaps become a live queue clients join from their phone — a link, not an app-store download. They watch their place and ETA, and you keep the chair warm.

Honest comms

Unlimited email and push. SMS and WhatsApp are included with a monthly allowance and a cap you set — at the cap we pause and ask. We never auto-spend your balance.

No contracts, ever

Monthly rolling. A discount doesn't tie you in. Cancel in one click, in settings, without a phone call or a retention team.

Sealed per-renter books

Shared salon book, sealed books per chair renter, or a mix — chosen at setup and per renter after. When a book is sealed it is sealed by architecture, not a role setting.

Published pricing maths

The price on the page is the price on your invoice. Card payments are 1.9% + 5p in person; we publish that interchange and scheme fees cost us ~1.2% and we keep ~0.7%. No per-booking commission on your own clients.

Feature by feature

Salonomy and Vagaro, side by side

A factual capability matrix. Where we mark a competitor “partial” it means “available, but check the detail for your workflow” — not a criticism. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.

Capability comparison between Salonomy and Vagaro
CapabilitySalonomyVagaro
Pricing model
One flat subscription — £12 /chair /month. The differentiators are included, not bolt-ons.
A base per-bookable subscription with several capabilities priced as separate add-on modules. Total the modules you actually need.
Published payment-cost breakdown
1.9% + 5p in person; we publish ~1.2% interchange + ~0.7% kept.
Card processing rates are quoted; the underlying interchange/margin split is not published. Confirm current UK rates.
Native mobile app for the business
iPhone + Android from day one; full diary, queue, takings and client books from your pocket.
Native iOS and Android apps are offered for business and clients; check current feature parity for your workflow.
Live walk-in queue (public ticket page)
salonomy.com/q/<salon> — clients join from a link, watch place + ETA live; diary gaps offer to the queue.
No equivalent live walk-in queue surface as far as we are aware.
No fixed-term contract
Monthly rolling; one-click cancel in settings. A discount never ties you in.
Plans are typically month-to-month; confirm current terms, notice and any hardware financing before signing.
Comms billing model
Unlimited email/push; SMS + WhatsApp allowance with a cap you set — we pause, never auto-spend.
Email/notifications are included; SMS and marketing are typically priced separately. Review how overage is charged for your volume.
Sealed per-renter client books
Sealed by architecture (row-level isolation), not a role toggle; renters export in one tap.
Booth/renter and employee setups are supported; verify whether books are truly isolated per renter for your structure.
Online booking with real URLs
Server-rendered booking pages on real paths, indexable by search engines.
Online booking and a consumer marketplace listing are offered; URL/SEO structure differs.
Public roadmap & changelog
Published from day one — "you voted, we shipped".
No public, versioned roadmap/changelog that we are aware of.

Which is the better fit?

Choose Salonomy when…
—You want one flat per-chair price with the key features included, not metered as add-ons.
—Walk-ins and last-minute gaps matter and you want a live queue to fill them.
—You want published payment maths and no contract to think about.
—You rent chairs and want genuinely sealed books per renter.
Vagaro may suit you when…
—You want the widest possible catalogue of bolt-on modules under one roof.
—A specific Vagaro module or its consumer marketplace is core to how you work.
—You prefer a large, long-established platform, particularly if you operate in the US.

Try Salonomy free — and decide for yourself.

No contracts, ever. One-click cancel in settings. 30 days free, no card needed.

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