Vagaro Reviews

Pros

It's a good option for organize all the company schedule, there are so many functions for all, anyone can use this and is not necessary to know about this software, is so intuitive.

Cons

I really thing that is unnecessary beacuse you can do a lot of this things in other app for free, but some functions are only in this app that made it better. If you don't have the money for pay this, I really recommend use your phone calendar or something like that.

Alternatives Considered

Google Calendar

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

It's free

Switched From

Google Calendar

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

free

Pros

Easy to use, able to do online booking and scheduling for multiple artists at the time. Each artist views the most resent schedule and any last min cancelations.Easy check out.

Cons

I would love to see more customized features when sending a confirmation message, or reminders.

Pros

Easy to set up, and app is pretty good as well

Cons

When a customer pays a deposit booking online (a feature I set up) and upgrades to a package when they come in for service the system doesn’t allow the deposit to be applied towards the package so you have to manually refund the deposit payment onto a gift card and then apply that gift card to the purchase of a package which is time consuming and confusing for staff who have not set up the system from the get-go. Not to mention when the client purchases this package Vagaro does not allow them to add gratuity to the package. So clients purchase a package of six sessions for laser hair removal and can spend $1000 Vagaro doesn’t see that as a service so they do not allow tipping which is upsetting for practitioners and as a business owner I would like my staff to have that opportunity. After contacting customer support Vagaro suggested that we ask our customers to tip us at each individual treatment, if I were that customer I would leave and never come back again!

Pros

I love Vagaro I have used many scheduling software and am picky about what to use because I need software that is robust. Vagaro and allows me to manage my business all in one place and it keeps getting better. Some of my favourite features are taking deposits to book appointments, Forms, branded app, booth rental management, reports, and classes. It is more than scheduling software it allows me to run all aspects of my business in one place which is why I love it so much. It is a must for any beauty professional.

Cons

Vagaro is constantly adding new features and always listens to users feedback to improve. It is one of the reasons I love it so much because they build it and improve constantly based on what users need.

Alternatives Considered

Setmore and Square Point of Sale

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Inexpensive and had all the features I need. It is also innovative and constantly adding features so I know it only can get better. The other software choices lacked features and were too basic for my needs

Pros

I recently switched back to vagaro, they added some features that I wanted and decided of all the scheduling software I’ve tried, with the updates, this is the best solution out there. Easy to use, almost every option I need or want and pricing is comparable with others.

Cons

The pos tablet is expensive and often freezes, but the software itself is great!

Alternatives Considered

Squire

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

I didn’t like DaySmart at all

Switched From

DaySmart Salon

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

The option to have both booth renters and commission employees

Pros

How truly easy it was to move around the app. Quickness of mobile mode. Customer service absolutely is the best. I never dread having to email or call with questions. Affordable, customizable, clients easily can access or confirm appointments. Love the add ons. they have every possible need met I am 100 percent confident that Vagaro is helping me with the tools to kick ass and keep completely professional.

Cons

the QB price for adding the cloud service on while paying for QB twice, this is seriously the only con i have.

Alternatives Considered

Square Payments

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

i used Vagaro over 10 years ago and loved it... i am certainly not disappointed

Switched From

Square Payments and Mindbody

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

\I liked the layout of vagaro, customizable, safe, easy, easier fees. a lot more options to integrate

Pros

What I like most about Vagaro is the price point and that it's user friendly. I love the way you can customize your subscription to meet whatever needs you have in your space. The site and app are easy to navigate and I love all of the reports that are available to me.

Cons

The main landing page and the search function are challenging to navigate sometimes. When I walk my clients through it, they understand it quickly but the main page isnt very intuitive.

Alternatives Considered

Booker and Phorest

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

I've never had a great experience with Millennium. Vagaro came highly recommended by other stylists that I know, and after the free trial I knew I wanted to go ahead with it.

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

The price point and the ability to use the free trial for month.

Pros

It's easy to use, very cost effective which saves on the budget, customer service is very accessible and they make changes that their customers ask for

Cons

The deposits are charged when it is not set up that way. BUT, customer service is so easy to access and they always try to make things better with the software

Pros

This software was extremely beneficial as I started my own business. Customer support was amazing, the functions and different options Vagaro offers allowed me to tailor my business exactly the way I wanted it to run. I would highly recommend this for any massage therapist looking to go out on their own.

Cons

Honestly, nothing. Everything I have used from Vagaro has been awesome. Sometimes the software updates are a little annoying but nothing to complain about.

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

All the different options Vagaro offered as well as the price.

Pros

I love how accessible and easy this app is to use. It makes it easy to find new places and schedule my appointments all in one place.

Cons

Some salons and fitness centers are not on the app, but you can submit new places to help grow the application for the future.

Pros

The customer service. The majority of reps are great and very helpful. I also love the a la carte pricing, it makes it so much more affordable and you can add what you need as you grow. I also love how they are consistently adding new features. I also feel like they listen to user feedback and implement changes. Vagaro University on Youtube is great! The electronic forms are a lifesaver to help enforce our cancellation/refund policy. Thanks to Vagaro I could run my business with peace of mind and be seen as more professional by the public.

Cons

I wish the logging in part was faster for the client and also it feels like the experience is more on vagaro than our brand. I would like the option to create a brand app more affordable. Also, if a client already has an account from another user, it erases the information placed it by me and makes me start all over. I would also like the client to add their mailing address and date of birth on their intake. The mailing address is an important aspect of our marketing. I wish the star rating on employees could be a feature that could be turned off or on. At times, it makes it hard for newer therapists to get bookings.

Alternatives Considered

Mindbody

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

MindBody was terrible. The monthly price was ludicrous and expensive. They raised prices four times in one year without notice. All the "bells and whistles" they offered were so hard to use that it wasn't worth it. It was way too expensive for a start up. I hated the learning curve.

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Outstanding customer service, the learning curve was a quarter of what MindBody was. The price was so reasonable for a solo provider which is how I started.

Pros

I absolutely love this program. I was using paper calendar and paper files. I am SO happy I could help planet earth and take away my old school filing system and replace with an online. It was so simple to set up. So it’s a great program for beginners. I love the points system and the fact you can add products as I just don’t provide services - I also sell products. Customer service is always available for help also!

Cons

Ummmm…can’t think of anything I don’t like. Maybe to make your work hours easier to use. Like I have another part time job and when I switch my hours online it copies it as the business hours of the business which I do not like. I wanna keep it open 8-4pm but say I work 12-3 I don’t want it to switch it online to that. Do you know what I mean? I just want it to look like I’m booked.

Alternatives Considered

Booksy, Epos Now and GlossGenius

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

The free debit card machine to be honest! and come to find the software is better also! (Booking system)

Pros

I like that this software is a one stop shop for me. I can schedule appointments, offer online booking and gift certificates and use it as my point of sale system. I am able to email and text my customers reminders, note and even send out emails with promotions and newsletters.

Cons

It would be really great to be able to customize the reminder and confirmation reminder emails. As well as be able to have a text number attached to my account that a client can text back. Many clients text back the confirmation email and they are confused when we don't get their message.

Pros

Auto drafting, session tracking, point of sale of services and products ease of use and modification of sale and scheduling formats.

Cons

Honestly the only thing is waiting for deposits. 24 turn around would be great vs waiting for specific business days. This hasn't been an issue at all just a preference

Alternatives Considered

WellnessLiving

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

overpriced because of reputation only. I used them for year when all of a sudden they got rid of all their starter programs for less then 125 plus they didnt offer to grandfather prior customer that had been loyal for years before they nearly doubled their prices.

Switched From

Mindbody

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Customer service, development of POS took what felt like forever while being billed for a system that wasn't completely available for use.

Pros

It is super easy to use, and if it isn't, customer service is there to help. The tutorials help too! TONS! There were a few things I had to give up moving to Vagaro from my old software, but I told customer service about it and not only did they figure out a way for me to still kinda offer the same thing to my clients, soon after, they came out with the option I needed!!! Like they did it just for me!

Cons

It's NOT the software I have an issue with...It's payment processing. WAY TOO LONG TO GET PAID when my clients pay through Vagaro. I discourage it mostly.

Pros

integration wasn't difficult , even if your not technology savvy its still very easy to learn and setup . Stylists and customers love it! from reminders to booking . Ease of use is very impressive with both. And as Stylists we have not even tapped into the full or depth of tools that vagaro offers. Iv'e tried others and hands down Vagaro is a win/win for you and customers. There's a video tutorial for every feature . My wish to grow salon or to multiple salons to take full advantage of the minds that built and continue to maintain/improve the perfection of Vagaro.... "Very Grateful"

Cons

No complaints and every now and then we'll hear something didn't work . But it's usually the User, the Cell service or Internet. NO COMPLAINTS VAGARO. I really don't have a complaint....unless you have the capability to read my mind , print real money, oh! let me customize my OWN colors , i love the Vagaro orange , sometimes black.....lol...keep up the great work!!!

Pros

Very easy to use on both desktop and mobile; great price for what you get, especially for a small or individual practice--calendar, email/sms confirmations, online booking (if you choose to use that); reports (though either I haven't found some yet or they could be improved, i.e. I accept checks and it gives me a total for check deposit, but not the # of checks); integrated payment system takes clear and fair CC fees out as they occur, COVID clean checkout can send signature/gratuity page to clients mobile; a la carte pricing, i.e. I needed "forms" for sending COVID forms, but can cancel that portion anytime and save $10/mo if not needed; Inventory management--could be improved, but for around $30/mo, can't be beat from what I've found.

Cons

Deposit reports: how many checks are in the total that I need to deposit for a period of time? Would save me from adding all checks manually to see if amounts match; Inventory: To adjust current inventory items, it seems I need to do it item by item... they have a "mass edit", but I have never figured out how to get it to work for me and I HAVE contacted support about this issue, the back and forth chat is exhausting and sometimes you need to step away from the computer for a reason and the chat ends. Pricing on Service items: There should be a button to allow the pricing to show in the Appt and/or confirmation emails, if I want the price to show, I have to make it part of the Service title, thus when my prices change, I have to change each of those titles manually. I have clients who like to prewrite checks and they need to easily know the price ahead of time.

Alternatives Considered

MassageBook and Schedulicity

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Booker was great for the individual or small business when they first came on the scene, now their minimum price (with fantastic features, online booking/sales whether you want them or not) is $129/month, that is ridiculous for one person to pay and they didn't want to work with me even though I'd been with them for over 10 years (when it was $25/month for an individual to have all of those things). I understand inflation, but clearly they only wanted to work with larger accounts and that is their business decision to make.

Switched From

Booker

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Inventory management was the big reason, I don't believe either of the above had them at the time....

Pros

Vagaro iseasy to use, easy to train, and offers fair pricing.

Cons

If a client has a Vagaro profile but is new to my salon I have no choice but to accept their existing profile because you can not use the same email for a new profile. That should be an option as some clients may need a new profile for these services vs other service they obtain elsewhere

Alternatives Considered

Rosy

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

At the time, Phorest has some things to work out being that their were difference between UK and US based salons. Also their pricing was much higher.

Switched From

Phorest

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Ease of use. We are a new salon, first time salon owner. This was our transition from an appoint book with manual entries. The training and support Vagaro provides is great.

Pros

What I like the most about Vagaro is the user friendly mobile app. I like how easy it is for clients to receive text confirmations and book on the mobile app within a few clicks. I also like the fact that I trust the email system sending emails out successfully. Other email marketing softwares I have used seem less successful in reaching the customers inbox.

Cons

The overall navigation of the site on the business end. Its alot of clicking around. The windows are hard to find. The search menu is annoying. If you are working in one window then have to edit something else you cannot continue or modify the edit within the same window you must leave that window enter another page then come back. Its too much back and forth for no reason. I do not like the reporting I think that could use alot of improvement. I do not like how I feel lost within Vagaro alot of times I find myself staring at the screen thinking "where do I go?" "How can I find this info?" These are not huge changes but I think with a few adjustment Vagaro's business user side can be more user friendly. Con: Marketing tool difficult to use. Con: when booking with multiple employees does not show all screens must click the name every time. Con: IOU feature, autopayments, editing packages and memberships for past and future sessions and costs.

Alternatives Considered

Booker, Rosy and Square Appointments

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

The last one I was with was Mindbody. After the pandemic I found that Mindbody was failing as a company. Their customer service plummeted and I did not feel like I was paying for that quality anylonger. The merchant fees were outrageously expensive. The quality of the software was not the same and I was no longer happy with their service.

Switched From

Mindbody and Schedulicity

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Cost! It looked good for the price. It was pretty straight forward and seemed like it had all the features I was looking for when I made the switch.

Pros

It's easy to use, customer service is always available and helpful (even if they can't solve your request right away, they get back to you), our customers LOVE the ease of the program, and it's actually affordable!

Cons

I do wish you could check people in to a class and if someone didn't show, it would register as like 7/8 in the class count after checkout so we could see the "realtime" class attendance.

Alternatives Considered

Glofox and Mindbody

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Vagaro has superior customer service, intuitive system use, MUCH better user-interface, and overall an excellent staff and customer experience! Our clients were SO happy when we switched back to Vagaro :)

Switched From

Mindbody

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Affordability, customer service, and better product.

Pros

I really liked the email and text confirmations, email marketing feature.

Cons

I feel like there could be an text to software window where clients could send messages thru to their service provider instead of your personal phone number.
Also when an appt is booked with a specific service provider and the client receives confimation email . Sometimes the client responds to the email but it goes directly to the owner rather then the actual service provider. Is there a way to direct those emails to the service provider?

Alternatives Considered

Rosy

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Mindbodys prices were becoming too expensive for my budget

Switched From

Mindbody

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

the price was better and offered more features

Pros

It's easy to use. The basic service is enough to operate a business. To give your business a boost, add on services are offered at a reasonable price. The customer service is outstanding and readily available 14 hours a day M-S.

Cons

Some of the add ons I might have appreciated in the base price like some of the other systems do. You can't open days up in the schedule if they are not your regular days without opening them up to infinity. For instance, if I work only Tuesdays and I want to work 1 Monday a month. I cant just open that one Monday, I have to open all Mondays in the system or manually blockout the Mondays I don't want to work.

Alternatives Considered

Booksy

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

I had a lot of problems using this CMS software. The cost of the service was high and the problems many. It didn't make sense to keep paying that much for problems. It did not feel like it was designed well for spas, salons or barbershops. There were a lot of things vital to my needs that I could not do

Switched From

Thryv

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

The customer service was not as available as Vagaro. There were some services that booksy did not offer that Vagaro did.

Pros

Very affordable for a small business/sole-proprietor. Easy to use, they have videos that show you how to set things up. You can create your own forms or use stock ones they have. The booking site works so much better than SquareUp and doesn't have random maintenance for no reason. Also, WAY cheaper than Mindbody.

Cons

As a massage therapist, I have many clients that want to book extras with their sessions, like aromatherapy. Vagaro doesn't allow for an extra to be added, so I have to book them as a separate appointment then make it a double booking.

Alternatives Considered

Mindbody, MassageBook, Schedulicity and Noterro

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Square had JUST started to offer forms for clients to fill out, and because they just released that feature, it was in a terrible state. First time clients needed to fill out AT LEAST 4 forms, sometimes up to 6 depending on what they were coming in for. Square would have me send each of those forms out individually. So a first time client would receive not only the booking email and reminder email, but 4 separate emails for paperwork. Who has time for that?!

Switched From

Square Point of Sale

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

All the other products were missing a component I was wanting. Some didn't have a good booking site. Some didn't include a POS system. Some were just too expensive. Vagaro was the most similar to Square, but better.

Pros

It's very easy to use Vagaro for online and mobile booking for both the owner and client. COLOR CODING: I like the use of color bands to show confirmed, show, no show etc. it helps me keep track at a glance. CHECK OUT: The check out is also very easy with all options for payment available. If you like keeping track of customers paying with MasterCard, Visa etc this option is available. This was not my experience with other programs, although it's not something I used it would be helpful for tracking clients paying with Medical Flex Plans. NOTES: I like this section it's comprehensive to different professions. The medical note section is helpful for massage therapists and other medically oriented professions. I especially like the POP UP notes. Very helpful when you have special needs clients. Also helpful for an aging (post menopausal) memory (LOL, some may not understand this importance). PERSONAL TASK: This is a great option that allows you to block off chunks of time. It also allows you to choose reasons for the block, sick, personal time etc. Especially nice when tracking you personal down time. All in all it's a well thought out program. Whenever I've needed help the CHAT feature and the customer service representatives have been very helpful in solving my issues. Generally you don't have to wait long for help. That's especially helpful as every self-employed persons time is valuable.

Cons

If you need to shut off the online feature (which I've needed to do during Covid) you can't last I checked. Plus, I'm in the process of downsizing toward retirement. I'm no longer looking to take new clients but I want to continue using the program to book my existing clients. I just wanted to prevent clients from being able to book on line so I can control my schedule. The only way to do this was to block out all my time slots with the Personal Task feature. Clients eventually end up calling me, which is what I want. I sent notifications, but you know how that goes. The other option I think would be helpful that isn't available is the option to choose different colors for the PERSONAL TASK blocks. I'm a visual, color oriented person, right now the only option for Personal Task is brown. I like to be able to assign or have assigned colors associated with the different block options, like green for "sick time", blue for "meeting" etc. Lastly I believe this program leads the on line booker to believe it's more of a salon oriented environment. I know for a fact some more medically oriented massage therapists have shied away from using it for that reason, because I've recommended it and received this feedback. I think the developers maybe doing themselves a disservice in this regard. The program is very comprehensive for medically oriented massage therapists, chiropractors, craniosacral therapists, reiki masters and like professions.

Pros

Best feature offerings which can be customized fairly easily. Excellent price for the value. Live customer support is essential, while this could be better in how it is set up Vagaro staff care about doing good, thorough work to be helpful. That is like gold as a business owner when trying to trouble shoot so this is their strongest asset in my mind.

Cons

The platforms, and even features, are inconsistent on how things are seen & done. For instance, creating a gift certificate through "reports" with a discount shows up on your quarterly reports differently than if you create a gift certificate through the "check out" screen and do the same discount there. Also, the application is different than the desktop in so many little ways that make a big collective difference. --I would love it if they cleaned up their current features to be streamlined. Having beta testers who are business people that actually use their software would reveal SO many little things that make a big difference to my daily "clean ups" for all the goofiness that they don't seem to realize exists in their software. I have suggested this idea at least 10 times to reps.

Alternatives Considered

Square Appointments

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

MB is okay but the software limitations made all kinds of important things confusing like financial reports. For years I gave them thoughtful feedback but there was never an investment in the software improving in the slightest way. Vagaro is the opposite of this, constantly implementing customer feedback.

Switched From

MassageBook

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

I used Square Appointments between Massagebook and Vagaro. I still use Square for my email marketing as I like it much more than Vagaro's. Square is wonderful with fantastic service as well. They are just limited and do not offer the HIPPA compliance, intake forms, memberships, rewards program that Vagaro does.