# GlossGenius review (2026): is it worth $24 a month, billed yearly?

> Booking, payments and marketing for salons, spas and medspas

Checked Oct 24, 2026 · graded Oct 24, 2026 by ToolGPA.

GlossGenius is booking and point-of-sale software for beauty, wellness and health businesses, from solo stylists to multi-location salons and medspas. It combines a booking website, a staff calendar with waitlist and deposits, card payments, client records, and email and text marketing. Medspa plans add charting, photo markup and medical director sign-off, and payroll and an AI phone receptionist are sold as add-ons.

- **Category:** Salon, Spa & Studio Booking
- **Made by:** GlossGenius, Inc.
- **Website:** https://glossgenius.com
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Who should skip it:** Tight if you want to stay free: there's no free plan, only a 14-day trial, and every card payment carries a fee of 2.4% + $0.15 in person or 3.4% + $0.15 online.
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 24, 2026

## Pricing

As of Oct 24, 2026, GlossGenius is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $24 per month, billed annually ($28 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** 14-day free trial of any plan, no credit card required.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Standard | $24 per month, billed annually ($28 billed monthly) | Booking website, unlimited client notifications, email and text marketing, inventory and retail, packages and memberships. |
| Gold | $48 per month, billed annually ($56 billed monthly) | For teams of up to 9 staff: adds forms and waivers, Google booking and reviews, automated waitlist, time tracking and 500 text credits. |
| Platinum | $148 per month, billed annually ($168 billed monthly) | For teams of 10 or more: unlimited team members, goal setting, custom commissions, Google marketing analytics and 2,500 text credits. |
| Practice Essentials | $148 per month, billed annually ($168 billed monthly) | Medspa and aesthetics plan with EMR charting, photo markup, medical director sign-off and 50 GB of client photos. |
| Practice Advanced | $248 per month, billed annually ($298 billed monthly) | Medspa plan for unlimited providers with the full AI clinical suite, 100 GB of client photos and premium support. |

Read from https://glossgenius.com/pricing on Oct 24, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with GlossGenius before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Save up to 14% with annual billing** (Annual discount): The pricing page lists a 14% saving on Standard, Gold and Practice Essentials and 12% on Platinum and Practice Advanced when billed annually. Source: https://glossgenius.com/pricing
- **15% off each additional location** (Other savings): GlossGenius charges each additional location the plan price at a 15% discount. Source: https://glossgenius.com/pricing

## Key features

- **Booking website and calendar:** A booking site with templates and team profiles, 24/7 online booking without a client login, gap and processing times, and two-way calendar sync.
- **No-show protection and waitlist:** Deposits, card-on-file and cancellation policies on every plan; the automated waitlist and room and resource booking start on Gold.
- **Payments and point of sale:** Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android, card readers, split payments, tips, invoices, gift cards, memberships, packages and Buy Now, Pay Later.
- **Email and text marketing:** Unlimited marketing emails on every plan, with text credits included on Gold (500) and Platinum (2,500) and an AI marketing assistant.
- **Forms, notes and EMR:** Intake forms and waivers the vendor describes as HIPAA-compliant, SOAP notes, and charting with photo markup on the medspa plans.
- **Staff, payroll and reports:** Roles and permissions, commissions, time tracking, sales and staff reports, and add-on payroll that files payroll taxes in all 50 states.

## Good for

- Solo stylists and small salons that want booking and payments in one app
- Medspas that need charting and photo records beside their booking
- Salons that want a booking site without building their own website

## Worth knowing

- There is no free plan. In-person card payments cost 2.4% + $0.15 and online payments 3.4% + $0.15, with invoices at 2.9% + $0.30.
- Payroll is an add-on at $40 a month plus $6 per seat, and Reception, the AI phone and text answering service, is $50 a month.
- Forms and waivers, the automated waitlist, chargeback protection and included text credits start on the Gold plan.
- Each additional location is charged its own plan price, at a 15% discount.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Oct 24, 2026. GlossGenius puts a salon's booking website, staff calendar, card payments and email and text marketing in one app, from $24 a month billed yearly, with charting for medspas on dearer plans. What holds it back is how the extras stack up: forms, the automated waitlist and text credits start on Gold at $48, payroll is $40 a month plus $6 a seat, and there's no free plan, only a 14-day trial.

- **Value for money: C.** Standard is $24 a month billed yearly ($28 monthly), and Gold covers up to 9 staff for $48, so a team of five pays about $9.60 a head. GlossGenius is the only booking tool on our site so far, so this category is too thin to compare yet, and it sits at the ordinary grade until there's something to set it against.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** No free plan, but a 14-day trial of any plan with no credit card. After that it's $24 a month at least, and card payments carry fees on top: 2.4% + $0.15 in person and 3.4% + $0.15 online.
- **Features: B.** A booking site, a staff calendar with deposits, payments and point of sale, email and text marketing, forms, SOAP notes, commissions and reports, with charting on the medspa plans. Nothing in the booking job is missing, but forms, the automated waitlist and text credits need Gold, and payroll costs extra.
- **Ease of use: C.** No app store rating on record. Before clients can book and pay, you set up a booking site from templates, your services, staff and deposit and cancellation rules, and card readers or Tap to Pay.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with Tap to Pay on both phones, plus Reserve with Google, Google Reviews and two-way calendar sync. No desktop app and no API on record, which keeps it from an A.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from GlossGenius's own pages on 24 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among salon, spa and studio booking apps

- GlossGenius's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 6 of the 15 other salon, spa and studio booking apps we grade, and level with 5.
- It stands best on features (B, above 3 of 15) and worst on ease of use (C, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $24 a month, against a middle price of $49.45 for the category: 3 of the 13 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 1 tool scores higher and costs less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/service-booking

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace GlossGenius you would be making texts to thousands of numbers, registered with the carriers. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $288 a year.

- You could make: Appointment booking, forms, clinical notes and review collection: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Texts to thousands of numbers, registered with the carriers.
- You could not: Newsletters sent to thousands of people that still reach the inbox.
- You could not: Payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: HIPAA and roles and permissions.
- You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Reserve with Google, Google Reviews, Tap to Pay on iPhone

**Tags:** Appointment booking, SMS marketing, Email campaigns, Forms, Payroll, Clinical notes, Review collection

## Alternatives

- [Vagaro](https://toolgpa.com/tools/vagaro): Booking, payments and marketing for salons, spas and studios. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/glossgenius-vs-vagaro)
- [Fresha](https://toolgpa.com/tools/fresha): Salon and spa booking with a consumer marketplace for new clients. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/fresha-vs-glossgenius)
- [Mangomint](https://toolgpa.com/tools/mangomint): Salon, spa and medspa software priced per location and user. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/glossgenius-vs-mangomint)
- [Boulevard](https://toolgpa.com/tools/boulevard): Booking, checkout and marketing for salons, spas and medspas. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/boulevard-vs-glossgenius)
- [Booksy](https://toolgpa.com/tools/booksy): Booking app and marketplace for barbers, salons and beauty pros. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/booksy-vs-glossgenius)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 24, 2026:

- https://glossgenius.com/pricing
- https://glossgenius.com
- https://glossgenius.com/about
- https://glossgenius.com/payment-processing
- https://glossgenius.com/payroll
- https://glossgenius.com/forms-waivers
- https://apps.apple.com/us/app/glossgenius-booking-payments/id1081286979
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.glossgenius.GlossGeniusSaaS

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/glossgenius
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).