Vagaro Reviews

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

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

Schedulicity and MassageBook

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

That it helps me attract clients, the ease of setting it up and your customer support is amazing. The web design and logo team are wonderful and efficient.

Cons

I don't care for adding products to sale on my website. It is difficult.

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Vagaro offered more choices and options for my money.

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

Vagaro is extremely user friendly. Our staff adapted immediately. The software is similar to other software on the market, therefore, it is an easy transition. Transitioning from our former software (Booker) was fluid. Vagaro was very helpful. The chat feature is priceless. Being able to resolve issues and/or get advice on best practices within a few minutes is worth its weight in gold.

Cons

There are a few functionality issues for the type of business that we conduct. We are a cryospa. We offer memberships to clients and there is little versatility in the membership option. In addition, there is a "glitch" in the check-out process that we see regularly. If a patron purchases a package and uses that package in the same transaction, the session does not deduct from the packages. Ex. Patron purchases 10 visits and uses one during the same visit, after checking the patron out, the package still shows 10 visits remaining when there should be 9. There are "fixes" or ways to finagle or adjust the account but that is time consuming and redundant.

Pros

Vagaro has such wonderful functionality, its very user friendly, and the updates and offerings that were implemented to serve users during the pandemic have been absolutely outstanding.
The multi use calendar has been a very valuable asset to myself and staff and the combined inventory tracking, checkout features, and marketing tools have streamlined my business. Using Vagaro has saved me time, frustration and has increased our professional presence in our community. One of the the best features is the unbeatable price. I haven't found any platform that has satisfied our needs as diverse Holistic Wellness Center with room to grow.

Cons

I wish I could print my address list to a label so I can send old fashioned b-day cards.
When I create my marketing blasts the finger scroll jumps very quickly leaving the user to have to manually us the scroll to the right.
Very minimal issues to even speak about.

Alternatives Considered

ChARM EHR

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Mostly cost, but I didn't need the specific features I was paying for, and it was difficult to learn the program

Switched From

Mindbody

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

User friendly, cost, and functionality. Vagaro seems like it has heart, and really cares about helping the user/business organize, streamline and grow.

Pros

I finally have the ease of doing that I am best at. I have NEVER liked the "paperwork" of my business, and Vagaro has allowed to excel at being a business owner but with out spending the insane amount of time I was use to using to keep my business running. I love that its like having my own personal assistant!!

Cons

there are so many features, that sometimes i have a hard time locating a setting change, or a feature I need to use, without help. I do love that I can ask them.

Alternatives Considered

Square Appointments, Schedulicity and Mindbody

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

I needed something that was more comprehensive and addressed all my business needs, and vagaro does just that.

Switched From

Schedulicity

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

I chose Vagaro because i could get all the features I wanted and the cost was minimal. I also wanted to have 24/7 support.

Pros

for the client: accessible through an app, sign up with facebook as well, automatic emails and or texts to confirm appts, client may cancel appt, online forms easy to fill out
for myself: accessible through the app, very easy to schedule and reschedule and cancel appts, a complete custom menu with limitless editing, email and text marketing, inventory easy to do using smartphone and barcodes, check out very efficient online, always choices, no need for a receptionist and very few telephone calls. Automatic confirmation of appts go to the client's email or text for them to add to their calendar

Cons

In Canada clients can't purchase on the website, although I do use Anycard online e-giftcards with the Stripe availability and clients can etransfer me directly or phone in their credit card for an online gift certificate.
Must purchase an extra website feature if wanting more space for pictures, etc, so I end up posting on Instagram with examples, before and after.
No feature to post videos, but I understand the site is looking in to this feature

Alternatives Considered

Insight, Wix and Mindbody

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

>Wix: is limited with the menu and didn't fit my spa menu and booking needs at all >Insight: I am familiar with but thought it was too expensive and did not like the booking method, as I have used it at a salon previously >Mindbody: I did purchase 2013 and used for a year when I had a large spa and staff. It was very expensive at the time and I had to buy all of their equipment for the program to work. Best suited for a large spa with many employees, as for myself as the sole service provider, I don't need a program for employee or contractor commission.

Pros

I love that I don't have to be a slave to my phone. I don't have to go back and forth with clients, "how bout this time? or this time? or this time?" they can just get online and see all my openings!
I don't (often) have to leave my clients in the middle of appointments to book another one. When i'm off/busy i set my work phone to driving mode, directing my clients to book online.
The reminder texts are a God Sent according to my clients and compliments very well the ability to set my clients up on a rotating schedule which is also very convenient!
Oh, and the dashboard is a great tool to track busy times, slow times and number of clients, repeat clients and if they're booking online or not

Cons

I don't know if this is already a feature or something I need to do on my end through my phone but it'd be very useful if i got some sort of sound notification, a ding of some sort, when someone booked online so i would be aware of it when i'm super busy and think I know my schedule and end up telling a walk-in to come back when I think I have a gap in my day but it's been filled online.
I do wish there was a way I could make certain appointments only available during certain times for services that I share a room with another stylist.
And not that it happens often (maybe 3 times in 3 years) but when the site is down.... i feel totally lost, like a have no control over my life, I don't know when my next appointment is, who they are or what they're having done! it's awful. but it never lasts more than an hour or two I don't think.

Alternatives Considered

Square Point of Sale

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

I don't remember the exact features that the other ones it tried lacked.

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

better over all lay out, ease of use and convenient domain name.

Pros

There are so many things that I really love about Vagaro. I looked at a lot of different scheduling systems before deciding on Vagaro. The others that I looked at were either too bulky and complicated or were too simple and lacked key features. Vagaro strikes a great balance of being full-featured while keeping things simple, intuitive, and easy to use.

Cons

I wish there was a better way to add upgrades to services instead of having to add an upgrade as a separate service. I think this would make things easier for massage services which often have upgrades that are added onto the regular service.

Alternatives Considered

Booker, Mindbody and Acuity Scheduling

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Vagaro had the features and functionality that I needed in a clean easy to use format.

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

Vagaro had the features and functionality that I needed in a clean easy to use format. Price was a big factor as well. Vagaro provides great value for the price. Great entry-level pricing that lets you get started and expand as you need.

Pros

This booking system makes my business so much easier to run as a soloprenuer . It is so much more than just a booking system , it is my website and POS as well. I love how it sends out multiple reminders to clients (3) I believe . My clients love it as well for the ease of use and the reminders. I get compliments on this and how the website looks as well. I love that Vagaro listens to its clients requests and adds new features from time to time . There is also a chat feature for help and on the phone assistance as well. I love the fact that I can sell gift certificates, and cc cards as well . Today I got an email that now if we wish we can have clients pre pay for services. The customer service is just wonderful. I revcently changed the template on my website to something that reflects my business image now . I love how it is easy peasy to do so , without assistance. Many of my clients like the option to book online themselves. I love how to make reports for my accountant is easy as well . Another benefit is email marketing. If you want to know more sign up for the free trial .

Cons

I wish they had an answering service. Maybe one day . They do have a place where you can put a clients formula which is great . But if a client gets multiple services it would be nice if there were multiple type cards for them for , facials , lashes , hair , etc . I wish they also had online forms for clients to fill out and sign . But these are not really cons just potential features that haven't been created yet

Pros

The online booking feature is a MUST with our clients, they absolutely love it. Also, the fact that you can have your website attached, a beautiful website at that. The ease of entering in all of our services into the service menu, our prices, and individual time intervals per service and per provider. But, the BEST thing about vagaro, is the ease of paper work. We do our daily tally and weekly tally sheets, and vagaro makes that absolutely a breeze. I am part owner, salon manager, and reception and I do all of the employees paperwork and money handling, and vagaro is absolutely amazing and makes the process so much easier than other software I've used over the years. The transaction list, to be able to go through all checkouts for the day, to be able to refund, charges, cash, and checks all separated into categories. It's just amazing. The checkout through vagaro is nice as well, you can put in the tip amount, check, cash, or charge, without using their merchant services, which is a benefit because you have an actual layout of each customer, each transaction, whereas on the credit card machine, which is completely separate, you can only see customer, and how much paid, including tip. Since, we opened this salon, we have only had vagaro, and we will continue to only have vagaro. It's the best salon and spa software that is available. No matter the size of salon, or services offered. This system works for everyone. Also, the text message updates they send out when theyre down.

Cons

There are really only a few things that I like the least about Vagaro. One would be, the system issues, especially with the credit card processing. When we first opened we were using vagaro as our merchant as well for our credit cards, and we had nothing but issues. Even now, I get the texts whenever there is a software malfunction, and it seems most of the malfunction is with credit card processing. So, we ended up having to buy an actual credit card machine and go with a different merchant provider, and now all of that is resolved. The next thing I like the least is, you can't separate your business at all. We have both tanning and a hair/nail salon. So, our tanning hours are slightly different from our hair/nail hours, and there is no way on vagaro, or our website, to separate and add additional hours. The last thing I like the least, is that Vagaro really only allows you to add services, there's no where for us to list our prices for tanning on our website, unless we take a picture of the menu and post it in our pictures, which would be out of place.

Pros

I love Vagaro it is user friendly and streamlines my entire business. My whole business life in one system. Clients love it because of ease of booking and appointment reminders which is great because of obvious reasons but it also is good if there was a miscommunication between myself and a client and we can correct it before a mistake in appointment time and day. It shows me so much data and allows me at a click of a button to see what is going on and see my results. I love it.

Cons

There have been once or twice where a client booked online and it did not show up. I've also had clients show up for an appointment they booked but because I was so busy I did not realize they were coming in. With that being said the Pro's out way a few hiccups. However I have been highly dissatisfied with there mag swipe it is finicky and sometimes doesn't work and I have to key enter a sale which costs more and wastes precious time. Then I bought the blue tooth chip reader but it won't stay connected. So customer service has been very helpful and I am waiting for a docking station for the chip reader which is supposed to keep it connected. I have high hopes for this device. However I wish they would have explained that there was a docking station and that the chip reader would need to be paired after 30 minutes.

Pros

I like the inventory reports and most reports they offer to you to examine your business profile. I love the marketing features,

Cons

The one thing they have not changed is the ability to customize more than 1 processing time per section with a client assigned to the same stylist. They have the notification setup not for solo salons but for clients that have to see multiple specialist in one section. Im a solo salon I do everything myself. So I don't split the service by doing the relaxer color and sending the client to different stylist to roller set the hair and sit them under the dryer. So I hate there is no consideration for this kind of customer. I have to create two separate appointment which means the clients get two or 3 separate time notifications. So the client is confused. We note them as a no show not knowing they thought there was an error and show up later scheduled time for the roller set portion at 3:00 instead of 12:00 for the actual start of the service. I now use the personal time off option to avoid 2 notification. But if the client cancels their actual starting appointment online the blocked time I made to roller set the hair remain on the schedule because its really not Linked to the actual appointment. Im patient that if others are open about this same concern it will be changed.

Pros

The price point is unbeatable. Vagaro is very user friendly and is very easy to set up. Teaching the team to use it is also much easier than other software. Integration with other programs is available and again easy to set up. The email blast capability is much more robust than other cloud based software like it. They also helped provide some COVID-19 relief to small businesses which was very generous.

Cons

Customer service is slightly lacking. Not everyone there is trained the same and we were promised some things that apparently didn't come as part of the service and were made to be up charged for many things that we didn't know about. The available reports are lacking and some functionality is limited.

Alternatives Considered

Envision MedSpa

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

The price was going up and the functionality just wasn't where I needed it to be.

Switched From

Booker

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

The price point and what was promised.

Pros

the viusal design for left brain people in the world! i love the reports are listed up and down!

Cons

I do NOT like the pop ups each time- but I get it! nor do we LIKE the screen going both left to right and top to bottom, It is hard if you are a visual learner! i also know that there is a more simple way to add inventory for both salon use * back bar and retail. I have never had one assistant enter the new inventory properly until this year! 10+ years - the back bar and inventory system should be more user-friendly!!!

Pros

I absolutely love this software because it takes alot of stress out of my day to day operation. It gives my customers the freedom they need to be independent and schedule at their on pace on their own time without having to get me on the phone to do it for them. I love the way I can pull up my reports to see how my money is looking as well as see where I can improve through their analytics. Vagaro has been especially helpful to me because it allows me to spend quality Time with my family without having to take time out on my leisure hours to handle customer questions and appointment requests because everything is already there such as appointment reminders, service history and costs! I love it !!!! I highly recommend to help keep your business organized and to give yourself a peace of mind.

Cons

I would like it if they had a text back feature for the clients that receive my text message campaigns. Sometime they text back the automated number and the message goes to oblivion and I never knew they were trying to reply. I think it would be helpful to at least have a message center.

Pros

The software is fairly intuitive, and for anything that is not obvious, there is a tutorial. I like that there are many integration options with other software, and I LOVE that they've stepped up and given independent beauty professionals free service during the COVID-19 crisis when most of us are without income.

Cons

The software has crashed on numerous occasions since I started using it, which has prevented me from checking out and/or rescheduling guests. It makes me wonder if the company hasn't grown too quickly for their server capabilities to keep up. In other words, I hope that they choose to add more server space to accommodate a growing business!

Pros

I love the ease of use, the clean layout, the many features and the attentive and polite customer service.

Cons

There are some features which I am waiting for: a dynamic website (I have my website pointed to Vagaro, but it's limited)-this is the most important feature I need.

Pros

I like a lot their customer service. Always ready to help out. It took me a while to get familiar with the app. But over time​ and after a lot of phone calls to their support team. I am enjoying more and more.

Cons

In the beginning, it was a bit confusing to use the software. I was coming from using Mind-Body software which from the very first time it was easy to use. Vagaro doesn't really make it so easy to use. It has great features. But it is complicated and confusing to use. On​ one occasion​ I made a mistake to charge a client a different package​. In order to change the package,​ I needed to refund my client her money and charge her again for the correct package. It seems like it was to much​ work, so I had to leave the ​package as is.

Pros

I loved the native advertising and marketing features that are included in this platform. It's so hard to find and implement these features on any other platform in the market. They work directly with facebook, google and yelp which makes it so easy to monitor, track and run campaigns.

Cons

There are no complaints for this platform. It's so easy to use, turnkey and scalable for any location based business that runs a team or staff, sells retail products and customer/client bookings as well.

Pros

Its easy to use and very self explanatory which makes it easier to train new employees on how to use the software. The reports are very useful for the marketing and management team.

Cons

Sometimes customers don't get the notifications for their appointment or to confirm their appointment.
Sending individual emails to clients from here is also difficult. I still haven't figured it out actually, it only lets you do email promotions and it doesn't let you pick what clients you want to send it to. Given that we have loyal clients and walk-ins we would like to be able to select who we send certain promotions to, whether its a special for all clients that have been coming to us since we opened, or flash sale that is only new clients. That would be a great feature specially for the marketing team, it would make it a lot easier given that all the customer emails are already on the account.

Pros

Tracks my clients and classes service, purchases etc.

Cons

Little things that can make use easier such as if I am checking out a clients an entire list of students from other class does not come up. This is currently happening and it's a pain.

Pros

This software is really easy to use and allows me to get back to doing what I love. Customers can easily book online, or through social media without me having to call or text back and forth about availability and scheduling conflicts.

Cons

The only con would be the merchant fee's and transaction fee's are a little pricey that you incur if processing card payments.

Alternatives Considered

Square Payments

Pros

Vagaro was created with my industry in mind, health and wellness, they provide a variety of options even at the least expensive level that allows me to customize the app for my business. This app has saved me time and money in other areas of my business

Cons

I wish that there were more options for precreated services that are offered.

Alternatives Considered

Schedulicity and Rosy

Reasons for Choosing Vagaro

Gloss Genius does not provide enough options for me as an esthetician

Reasons for Switching to Vagaro

because they had better options and I had used them before.