# SalonUltimate review (2026): is it worth $69 a month? > Salon software for single shops, franchises and multi-location chains Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. SalonUltimate, sold under the BookedBy name, is software for independent salons and spas as well as franchises and chains. It covers online booking and queuing, check-in and check-out, employee scheduling and time clock, customer records, inventory, email and SMS marketing, and over 100 reports across locations. - **Category:** Salon, Spa & Studio Booking - **Made by:** SalonUltimate - **Website:** https://www.salonultimate.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Pricey if you run one small salon: $159 a month. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, SalonUltimate is a paid product, starting at $69 per location per month (BookedBy on Clover). - **Pricing model:** Paid - **Free plan:** None. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | BookedBy on Clover | $69 per location per month | Software plus Clover hardware shipped to the business, for small independent salons; the page sends buyers to BookedBy. | | SalonUltimate Single Store | $159 per month for 1 location | Appointments, scheduling, time clock, payroll setup, memberships, packages, inventory and purchase orders; 100+ reports. | | SalonUltimate Multi-Store | $199 per location per month | Adds cross-store booking, consolidated customer history, formulas and notes for chains; sold through sales. | Read from https://www.salonultimate.com/pricing on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with SalonUltimate before buying. ## Key features - **Appointments and online booking:** Appointment book with recurring bookings, online queuing with live wait times, a branded booking portal and Google Reserve. - **Check-in and check-out:** Customers check themselves in, and guided or self check-out is built to raise tips and rebookings. - **Employee scheduling and time clock:** Staff schedules from anywhere, timecards and payroll setup with gross pay calculation. - **Franchise and central management:** Set brand standards, manage every location centrally and see consolidated customer history across stores. - **Marketing and memberships:** Email and SMS campaigns, memberships, promotions and referral rewards, with a branded mobile app available. - **Reports and integrations:** Over 100 report types, with Tippy, QuickBooks and Google Reserve listed as integrations. ## Good for - Franchise brands that need to lock in standards across locations - Walk-in heavy salons that run a queue with wait times - Multi-location groups that want cross-store customer history ## Worth knowing - Text messages beyond the plan allowance cost $0.03 each. - The $69 BookedBy on Clover figure appears on the about page, while the pricing page itself shows $159 and $199 and sends small businesses to BookedBy. - Multi-Store and Enterprise are arranged through sales, and the page lists no free trial. - The site lists no downloadable staff apps; a branded customer app is offered as a custom build. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 1.6 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. SalonUltimate is built for single shops, franchises and chains, with scheduling, payroll setup, memberships and 100-plus reports. Its pricing page shows $159 for one store and $199 per location for chains, which is the dear end of this category, with no trial. - **Value for money: D.** $159 a month for a single store and $199 per location for multi-store, past the $149 where the category's dearest tenth begins. - **Free plan and trial: F.** No free plan and no trial listed on the vendor pages, so nothing here is free. - **Features: C.** Appointments, time clock, payroll setup, memberships, inventory and reports. But no staff app is listed, and a branded customer app is a custom build. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record, and franchise tools mean a heavy setup. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, with Google Reserve, QuickBooks, Tippy and Clover links. No downloadable apps. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from SalonUltimate's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among salon, spa and studio booking apps - SalonUltimate's GPA of 1.6 is higher than 1 of the 85 other salon, spa and studio booking apps we grade, and level with 10. - It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 22 of 85) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $69 a month, against a middle price of $49 for the category: 38 of the 57 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 21 tools score higher and cost 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 SalonUltimate 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. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 74 of the 85 other salon, spa and studio booking apps grade higher. It costs $828 a year. - You could make: Appointment booking, inventory and reports: 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: Clocking in from a phone, checked against where and when. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Google Reserve, Tippy, QuickBooks, Clover **Tags:** Appointment booking, SMS marketing, Email campaigns, Time clock, Inventory, Reports ## Alternatives - [Meevo](https://toolgpa.com/tools/meevo): Salon, spa and med spa software with booking, POS and marketing. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/meevo-vs-salon-ultimate) - [Zenoti](https://toolgpa.com/tools/zenoti): Booking, POS and operations software for salons, spas and gyms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/salon-ultimate-vs-zenoti) - [SalonBiz](https://toolgpa.com/tools/salonbiz): Salon software for commission-based teams, with Aveda integration. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/salon-ultimate-vs-salonbiz) - [Phorest](https://toolgpa.com/tools/phorest): Salon and medspa software for booking, POS and marketing. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/phorest-vs-salon-ultimate) - [Boulevard](https://toolgpa.com/tools/boulevard): Booking, checkout and marketing for salons, spas and medspas. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/boulevard-vs-salon-ultimate) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.salonultimate.com/ - https://www.salonultimate.com/pricing - https://www.salonultimate.com/about Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/salon-ultimate Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).