best-barber-scheduling-software

Best 7 barber
scheduling software For
small businesses [in
2024]

Being a barber means providing a highly personalized service. You don’t want the day to day tasks that come with running any business to distract you from providing a service that’s sure to delight your customers.

When you’re running a small barber shop and trying to build a rapport with your local customer base, you’ll need to remove as much admin as possible from your workload to ensure you’re giving customer experience your all.

For many barbers, getting equipped with effective barber shop software can be the ultimate answer to providing the best service possible, helping you automate away tasks like scheduling, payment processing, and more.

In this guide, we’ll take you through a round-up of some of the best barber shop software on the market, and the features you can use to give your business the boost it needs to succeed.

vev-barber-software

1. Vev

Who It’s For

Free forever and designed for all-around ease of use, Vev is one of the best barber shop software suites available for barbers who want to have the right tools to fulfill their potential, but don’t want to tackle a steep learning curve or spend a fortune on their software.

Features Overview

Vev’s intuitive barber software gives you a user-friendly platform to manage your business, and gives your clients a hassle-free booking experience to help start your relationship right.

Through Vev’s booking system, you can easily create a list of the different cuts, fades, and other services you offer, adding your own logo and branded color scheme to communicate a clear idea of your brand identity. With this setup, you can then invite your customers to quickly pick the service they want and secure a free timeslot for their appointment.

Supported with a robust array of marketing, payment processing, and business reporting features, Vev gives you all you need to start taking bookings and managing a thriving barber shop.

Pricing

  • Forever free, with features that provide all you need to keep your barber shop running smoothly.

  • $89.00 per year for Vev+, for users who need additional advanced features.

Pros

  • A multifunctional free version that will give most barbers all they need.

  • User-friendly no-code interface that still allows for great customization.

  • Easy setup and readily-available tech support.

  • User-friendly with no complex learning curve.

  • Versatile payment options, including scan-to-pay and tap-to-pay.

  • Robust in-built CRM so you can tailor your trims to your clients.

Cons

  • While the free version is perfect for most businesses, the no-code design may disallow certain advanced features.

  • There’s currently no enterprise version, meaning some medium-to-large businesses may find the scalability limited.
barber-scheduling-software

2. Mangomint

Who It’s For

Mangomint provides software solutions designed around several different niches in the health and wellness industry, including purpose-built barber software. While the core booking system is fairly simple, there’s many options for users to develop their Mangomint plan and gradually adopt more features. This makes it a suitable barber shop software for small businesses who may require more tech capabilities in the future, but want to start with something simpler and more manageable.

Pricing

  • Free trial available.

  • $165 per month for a maximum of 10 individual service providers, with higher-priced plans at $245 and $375 per month for a higher number of users and additional features.

Pros

  • High-quality, responsive customer service.

  • Contract-free subscription for greater flexibility.

  • A range of features for smoother customer interaction, including live chat, smart waitlist, and segmented marketing features.

Cons

  • Expensive entry point compared to other barber shop software that offers similar features.

  • Some users have reported technical glitches and scanning issues.

  • Not suitable for global teams as the platform is only accessible in the US and Canada.
fresha-barber-appointment

3. Fresha

Who It’s For

Like Mangomint, the Fresha platform is purpose-built for businesses in the wellness niche, meaning that you’ll be able to enjoy a number of features well-suited for running a barber shop from your very first use. Its unique pricing structure is made to reflect your usage directly, which makes it a great match for budget-conscious barbers who want to make sure they’re not paying for things that they’re not using.

Features Overview

Fresha users consistently report a high level of user-friendliness when they’re first getting to grips with the software, and barbers will find it easy to build their profile on the platform’s online marketplace in order to start taking client-directed bookings immediately.

With the automated marketing features, you’ll be able to segment your customers into distinct groups based on their brand loyalty, spending behavior, and other variables, then use this information to target email and SMS campaigns that are more likely to get a response.

Pricing

  • Free version available.

  • Marketing communications platform, payment processing, and reporting are all billed based on your usage, or in some cases the number of different users you want to have access to these features.

Pros

  • Usage-based pricing ensures you’re not paying for features you don’t need.

  • Easy to set up and start receiving bookings from day one.

  • Global platform that’s available in many different localities and languages.

Cons

  • Users have to factor in a new client fee as part of growing their business.

  • Other platforms offer their paid features for a reduced cost, such as payment processing.

  • The customization options don’t allow for particularly strong branding, and your client touchpoints will look similar to competitors who are also using Fresha.
square-appointment

4. Square Appointments

Who It’s For

Facilitated by payment processing company Square, this appointments system provides a simple yet effective booking system, which can be integrated with Square’s other products like card readers and POS systems. This makes it a great choice for barbers who are already using other elements of the Square ecosystem, and want business software that will mesh well with it.

Pricing

  • Free version available.

  • Plus: $29 per month per location.

  • Premium: $69 per month per location.

Pros

  • Free basic version.

  • Integration with other Square products for more seamless payments.

  • CRM and team management tools available at higher price tiers.

Cons

  • Communication to your payment processing and reporting may be difficult if you’re not already a Square customer.

  • The appointments calendar has limited customization options compared to other booking platforms, meaning your branding won’t be as strong.

  • Higher tiers price by location, which can get expensive for growing businesses.
boulevard

5. Boulevard

Who It’s For

Boulevard provides several different versions of its “software for self-care”, including an iteration specifically for barbers. With an array of different customization options and a strong marketing suite, Boulevard’s barber shop software is a great choice for businesses looking to make a strong impact with their marketing.

Features Overview

Boulevard’s core features provide the same fare found across the barber shop software market. This includes a customer-directed booking calendar, payment processing, and reporting features to help you keep an eye on your business performance and project for the future.

Aside from this, the platform also includes a number of add-ons available through the higher pricing tiers, centered around email marketing and other two-way communication between your brand and your customers. These include a contact center where your customers can reach out with their questions or issues, a platform for creating loyalty programs and other promotions, and membership programs you can use to further promote your services.

Pricing

  • Essentials: $160 per month, only available for one location.

  • Premier: $295 per month per location.

  • Prestige: $410 per month per location.

Pros

  • A variety of marketing tools to integrate with your booking.

  • Resourceful help center to help new users get to grips with the software.

  • Marketing-oriented customer data harvesting to help you tailor your promotions to the individual.

Cons

  • More expensive than some other comparable barber shop software.

  • The wealth of marketing features may not be practical for smaller businesses.

  • Entry-level “Essentials” plan doesn’t come with many of the features you’ll need to get the most out of the platform.
vagara

6. Vagaro

Who It’s For

Vagaro’s barber shop software is just one version of their broader wellness service offering, which includes niche software tools for gyms, spas, and salons. Their Vagaro Pay Desk point of sale software is wrapped up in several of their pricing options, making it a good choice for barbers who are just getting started with setting up their physical shop, offering add-ons like nail salons, and need to find physical assets and tools at the same time as their software.

Features Overview

Vagaro’s calendar tool is simple to use for the majority of barber shops and their customers, and can be integrated as a widget into many different online platforms you may already use to interact with customers, including Instagram, Yelp, and Apple Maps.

One of the platform’s major stand-out features is that their subscription plans come with access to the Vagaro Payments POS system, including a free physical card reader. This allows you to start taking in-person payments at your barber shop premises, and feed this data instantly into Vagaro’s reporting tools.

Pricing

  • $30 per bookable calendar per month for a single location.

  • Monthly fees increase gradually depending on the number of calendars you need for one barber shop.

  • Enterprise plans for multiple locations must be discussed with Vigaro’s sales team.

Pros

  • Free card reader connected to Vagaro’s reporting tools, giving you more seamless financial admin and an easier way to project your future success.

  • Booking widgets can be incorporated across a number of customer touchpoints, including Instagram.

  • Pricing that scales with your needs.

Cons

  • Integrating a non-Vagaro POS system that you’re already using could be a challenge compared to their own card readers.

  • Some users have reported slow-loading pages and other technical glitches.

  • The automated client-facing messaging is somewhat inflexible, and may not allow you to properly showcase your brand identity.
squire-appointment

7. Squire

Who It’s For

Squire is one of the few software platforms on the market that’s designed specifically for barber shops. A “barber shop software” in the purest sense, its narrow focus on features made specifically for small barber shops make it a good choice for barbers who want a simple software system and don’t need much in the way of customization or advanced features.

Features Overview

Squire is a booking system at its core, offering a customizable menu of cuts with pricing and a user-friendly calendar that customers can use to choose the service they want and book it in any available time slot. This part of the system also comes with integrated payment processing options, allowing your customers to pay for their trim in advance online or later when they come to your shop.

Squire also includes a number of reporting dashboards that will automatically harvest data from your bookings and payment processing within the platform. Though these views are fairly simple compared to other barber shop software platforms, they can still give you useful insights and notice patterns about how your business is progressing.

Pricing

  • Pro: $100 per month per location.

  • Executive: $150 per month per location.

  • Titan: $250 per month per location.

Pros

  • A simple yet practical booking system that’s easy for clients to use and gives you a clear view of the work week ahead.

  • A platform developed specifically for barbers, including a number of profession-specific features and nuances that don’t require much initial customization.

  • Reporting features to help monitor the health of your business.

Cons

  • The narrow focus on barber shops means it’s lacking some of the supporting features you’ll find on other wellness business platforms.

  • Reporting isn’t as detailed as other platforms, and doesn’t have features you may want as your business grows.

  • Relatively high monthly price for a simple software suite.

Final Thoughts

There’s a wide variety of barber shop software on the modern market, ranging from simple calendar software to more granular marketing platforms and POS systems. Knowing exactly what kind of features and benefits you need, as well as the budget you’re willing to invest in these, will help you ensure you’re getting a software solution that will help you push the development of your business.

We hope this round-up has helped you understand the kinds of software solutions available on the modern market, and brought you closer to finding the ideal barber shop software for your business.

Create your own page in 3 simple steps

  1. Find your profession

    Choose from over 200 example businesses.

  2. Get started

    Click around to see how Vev works.

  3. Customize your page

    Add photos, descriptions and set your pricing.