Every quote you get for salon software will be a monthly number, and the monthly number is between a third and two thirds of what you will actually pay. Not because anyone is lying — because the monthly number is the software, and software is one of four costs.
Here is the whole shape, so you can compare two quotes honestly.
The four costs
1. Software subscription. The advertised number. For salon systems it typically runs from around $30 a month for a single-operator tool to a few hundred for a multi-staff system with the phone and booking included. Often priced per staff member or per seat, which means it grows as you hire.
2. Payment processing. Usually the largest line, and usually not in the comparison. A card-present rate somewhere around 2.5% to 3% plus a per-transaction fee is the normal range. At $30,000 a month in card volume, a rate difference of half a percent is $150 a month — more than most people's entire software bill.
3. Hardware. Terminal, card reader, cash drawer, receipt printer, tablet or screen. Anywhere from a few hundred dollars for a card reader and an existing iPad to a few thousand for a proper counter setup.
4. Everything at the edges. Onboarding or setup fees, data migration, training, extra locations, SMS and marketing credits, the monthly minimum on a merchant account, PCI compliance fees, and occasionally a fee for a feature you assumed was included.
An illustration, with the assumptions on the table
Three-stylist salon, $35,000 a month in card volume, $22,000 of it service and the rest retail. These are illustrative numbers, not a quote from anyone:
- Software, three seats at $45: $135/month
- Processing at 2.7% plus 10 cents, roughly 700 transactions: $1,015/month
- Hardware, $1,400 amortised over three years: $39/month
- Texting, PCI fee, incidentals: $45/month
Total: about $1,234 a month, of which the software is 11%.
Which is the point. A salon choosing between a $45 system and a $70 system while ignoring a half-point processing difference is optimising the wrong line by a factor of about six.
The questions that change the total
Ask these before signing anything.
What is the processing rate, and is it flat or interchange-plus? Flat is simpler and usually costs more at volume. Interchange-plus is cheaper if your mix is favourable and requires reading a statement to verify.
Is there a monthly minimum on the merchant account? And does it survive cancelling the software?
What happens to the rate after the first year? Introductory rates exist here.
Is the hardware bought or leased? Leases in this industry have a bad reputation for a reason. A four-year non-cancellable lease on a terminal is a common and expensive trap, and it often outlives the software contract.
Is migration included, and what migrates? Client records, appointment history, sales history, gift card and package balances. The last one is somebody else's money and it has to come across.
Is texting included or metered? Appointment reminders at volume add up if they are per-message.
Per staff member, or per active staff member? It matters for a salon with part-timers and booth renters.
Where "free" fits
Free salon software exists and it is free in the software line only. It is paid for through a higher processing rate, which is invisible and which scales with your success.
The arithmetic is simple: if a free system's rate is 0.4% higher than a paid one, and you take $35,000 a month, the free system costs you $140 a month more than a $45 system. We have gone through this in detail in what a free salon POS actually costs, because it is a genuinely common miscalculation rather than a scam.
Free is right when volume is low. A new single-operator business taking $4,000 a month should probably take the free one, and reconsider at around $15,000.
What we charge, for comparison
Since this is our site: plans are priced by team size, from $99 a month for up to five staff, $199 up to ten and $299 up to twenty, with both the register and the AI receptionist and unlimited calls and texts included. Setup and migration are included rather than quoted. There is a 30-day free trial with no card.
We are not the cheapest software line and we do not pretend to be. Compare the total, including processing and including whether you were going to pay separately for something to answer the phone.
How to compare two quotes properly
Build one number for each option: twelve months of software, plus twelve months of processing at your real volume, plus hardware divided by three years, plus anything at the edges.
Then check what happens in year two, when introductory rates end and you have hired someone.
That number is comparable. The monthly software price is not, and every vendor knows it, including us.