Salon CRM Software: What It Costs and What It Actually Does

Every salon already runs a CRM of some kind. It might be a box of cards at the front desk, a spreadsheet, or the notes field inside a booking app, but the client history exists somewhere. The real question is whether any of it does work for you. Salon CRM software keeps client profiles, visit history and spend in one place, tied to the appointment calendar. For a five-person salon the going rate sits between about $30 and $176 a month, and most of that gap buys marketing automation rather than better client records.

The guides that rank for this term are written by vendors, and almost none of them print a price. This one does. Every figure below came from the vendor’s own pricing page on 16 July 2026, and where a vendor does not publish prices, that is said plainly instead of guessed at.

Quick answer: Salon CRM software stores client profiles, visit history and spend in one system tied to your booking calendar. For a five-person salon, subscriptions run from about $30 to $176 a month, and the difference is mostly marketing automation and loyalty. Generic sales CRMs like Pipedrive cost more per seat and cannot run a salon calendar.

What is salon CRM software?

Salon CRM software is the client-record layer of your booking system. It holds who the client is, what they booked, what they paid, what colour formula worked, and when they are due back. In most salons it is not a separate purchase. It ships inside the booking platform, which is why comparing it means comparing whole platforms rather than standalone CRM products.

That matters because the word CRM covers two different jobs. The first is memory: a profile per client, service history, notes, allergies, spend. The second is action: segmenting that list and sending campaigns, rebooking prompts and loyalty offers. Nearly every salon platform does the first. They separate sharply on the second, and that is where the price differences live.

Boulevard’s own guide to this topic makes a version of the same point, and it is correct: client experience and operations sit close together, so a CRM that cannot see payment and booking data is only half a record. Where their guide stops is cost, which is the part owners actually ask about.

How is salon CRM software different from a generic CRM like Pipedrive or HubSpot?

Generic sales CRMs market hard to salons. Pipedrive runs a page titled Best Salon CRM Software, and it is worth reading closely, because the gap between what it implies and what it says is instructive.

Pipedrive’s salon page lists appointment scheduling as a feature. The linked product is Scheduler, a meeting-booking tool. It picks a mutually free slot; it does not model a 45-minute cut against one stylist, a 20-minute processing gap, and a shampoo bowl. The same page describes point of sale as an integration with third-party systems rather than something Pipedrive runs.

Its core object is a deal moving through a pipeline, which fits a sales team chasing contracts and fits a client who comes back every six weeks poorly.

The cost argument does not favour it either. Pipedrive’s Scheduler sits on the Growth plan at $39 per seat per month billed annually, so a five-person salon pays $195 a month before any booking software, and $390 at ten staff. That is more than every purpose-built salon platform in the chart below, for a product that still cannot take a deposit at the chair.

A generic CRM makes sense in one narrow case: a salon group running a real B2B pipeline, such as corporate wellness contracts or franchise sales, alongside its salon platform. For booking, checkout and client history, it is the wrong shape of tool.

What does salon CRM software cost in 2026?

There are five pricing models in this market, and the model matters more than the headline number once you hire.

Flat per business. Twizzlo charges $29.99 a month for Business Pro with unlimited bookings, staff, locations and client records, plus a free tier capped at 150 bookings a month. Headcount does not move the bill.

Per team member. Fresha’s Team plan is $14.95 per bookable team member per month. Cheap at three people ($44.85), $74.75 at five, $149.50 at ten. Client management is included, but Insights, which adds client analytics and team access control, is a separate $9.95 per bookable team member per month, and Client Loyalty is $59.95 per location per month.

Tiered by headcount. GlossGenius Standard is $28 a month, or $24 billed annually. Gold is $56, or $48 annually, and covers staff management for teams under ten. Platinum is $168, or $148 annually, for teams of ten or more. Each location is charged the plan price.

Per location with a staff cap. Boulevard Essentials lists at $176 a month per location for up to five professionals, Premier at $293 for unlimited professionals, Prestige at $410. A limited-time summer promotion cuts those to $140, $234 and $328 for new customers only. Forms is $65 per location per month on top, QuickBooks sync $45.

Quote only. Phorest publishes no prices at all. Its pricing page lists four plans, Starter through Elite, and every button says request a quote. It states the plans suit salons with three or more staff and include unlimited staff and devices. Two hard numbers do appear: SMS at 5 cents each on Starter, and Phorest Chat two-way messaging at $99 for 7,500 texts. Whether Phorest is cheap or expensive for your salon is not knowable from public information, which is itself worth weighing when you budget.

None of these figures include payment processing, and that spread is real money. Fresha charges 2.29% plus $0.20 in person and 2.79% plus $0.20 online. GlossGenius runs a flat 2.6% with no extra fee for tap to pay or card on file. Boulevard does not publish a rate but offers Offset, which passes a 3% fee to the client while the salon pays 1%. Twizzlo processes through Stripe and publishes no rate of its own, which is a gap in its pricing page rather than a hidden fee.

Salon CRM software: monthly subscription cost by team size (list pricing, one location, July 2026)

Sources, all fetched 16 July 2026 from vendor pricing pages: twizzlo.com/pricing; glossgenius.com/pricing (annual billing; Gold covers teams under 10, Platinum 10+); fresha.com/pricing (Team plan, $14.95 per bookable team member); joinblvd.com/pricing (regular list price, excludes the limited-time new-customer promo of $140/$234); pipedrive.com/en/pricing (Growth, $39 per seat, billed annually). Pipedrive is a generic sales CRM shown for contrast: it has no salon booking calendar or native POS. Excludes payment processing, SMS overages and add-ons. Phorest is omitted because it publishes no prices.

Figure 1: Monthly subscription cost by team size, one location. List pricing from each vendor’s own pricing page, fetched 16 July 2026. Excludes payment processing and add-ons.

Which features actually matter in a salon CRM?

Vendor checklists all look the same. These are the ones that change a working day.

Service history on the profile, not in a report. The stylist needs the last formula and the allergy note at the chair, in two taps. Phorest stores before-and-after photo portfolios and digital consultation forms against the client card; GlossGenius does photo markup and forms; Twizzlo carries notes, preferences, allergies, visit log and total spend per client.

Automated rebooking prompts. The single highest-return automation in this category, because it converts memory into a booking. Fresha, GlossGenius, Boulevard and Phorest all run rebooking or reconnect automations tied to a predicted return window.

Staff access control on the client list. Your client list is the business. Phorest lets you block contact details from staff while leaving service history visible, and set different permissions in salon versus on the mobile app. Fresha puts login permissions on the Team plan and access control inside the paid Insights add-on. Twizzlo has role-based access across staff. This is the feature owners forget until a stylist leaves and takes a phone list with them.

No-show and behaviour flags. Phorest flags repeat no-shows on the profile. Most platforms handle the money side through deposits and card on file instead.

A unified client list across locations. If a second site is even a possibility, check this before you sign. GlossGenius, Boulevard, Phorest and Twizzlo all support multi-location client records, though GlossGenius and Boulevard bill per location.

What can a salon CRM do that a booking calendar cannot?

A booking calendar answers one question: who is coming in at two o’clock. A CRM answers the ones that pay, such as which clients have not rebooked in nine weeks, which stylist retains best, and what a given regular is worth a year.

The matrix above is the honest version of that split, and it is not flattering to everyone, including us.

Twizzlo covers the memory half well and the action half not at all. Client profiles, visit history, notes, allergies, spend per client, repeat-client tracking, role-based access and forecasting are all in the flat plan. Loyalty programmes, memberships, retail and inventory, gift cards, consultation forms and email or SMS marketing campaigns are not on the features page as of July 2026. Twizzlo sends transactional confirmations and reminders, with 50 SMS free and $0.03 a message after, which is above Fresha’s $0.02 per text. If the retention plan runs on points and campaigns, Twizzlo does not do that yet, and no amount of price advantage fixes it.

GlossGenius, Boulevard and Phorest are the fullest on the action half. Boulevard and Phorest are also the most expensive, and Phorest will not tell you by how much until you talk to sales. Fresha lands in between, with marketing included but loyalty and client analytics priced as add-ons that quietly rebuild the bill.

Pipedrive holds contact records fine and fails everything a salon does at the chair.

What salon CRM software includes, by platform (July 2026)

Compiled 16 July 2026 from each vendor’s own feature and pricing pages. Fresha Client Loyalty is a paid add-on at $59.95 per location per month; Fresha Insights (client analytics and access control) is $9.95 per bookable team member per month. Phorest publishes no prices and quotes per salon. Pipedrive markets itself to salons but its Scheduler is a meeting scheduler, and its own salon page describes POS as a third-party integration. Twizzlo lists client profiles, visit history, notes and spend per client, but no loyalty, memberships or marketing-campaign tools as of this date.

Figure 2: What each platform includes in-plan versus charges as an add-on. Compiled 16 July 2026 from vendor feature and pricing pages.

Who owns your client data, and can you get it out?

Every vendor promises easy migration in. Getting out is the part worth reading about before you commit, because a CRM is only as switchable as its export.

Phorest includes tailored setup and data migration on all plans and runs the import for you, and its migration team claims experience moving records from most other salon software. GlossGenius offers a free data transfer service covering appointments and client information. Fresha supports importing client details and inventory, with paid packages for more complex moves.

Boulevard is the most candid, and its honesty is worth quoting the substance of: it says that depending on your previous solution, only certain data types may be available, and that most systems allow export of client lists and inventory. That is the real constraint across this whole market. A client list exports cleanly almost everywhere. Ten years of service notes, formulas, consultation forms and before-and-after photos often do not, because there is no shared format for them. Ask any vendor you are evaluating a specific question: not can I export, but can I export service history and notes, in what format.

One structural point on marketplaces. Fresha charges a one-time 20% commission, minimum $6, on brand-new clients who find you through its marketplace, and nothing on returning clients or on clients who come from your own site, Google or social. That is a fair deal on its face. It also means some of your client relationships start as the platform’s introductions rather than yours, which is a strategic question, not a fee question.

How do you choose a salon CRM without overpaying?

Start by deciding which half of the word CRM you are buying.

If you need memory and a calendar, and your marketing happens on Instagram and by text from your own phone, the cheap flat options do the job and the money stays in the business. The same arithmetic plays out in our breakdown of nail salon software, where per-seat plans overtake flat ones at about the third hire. Twizzlo at $29.99 flat, or GlossGenius Gold at $48 annually, both hold the record properly. At ten staff that flat plan is $30 against Fresha’s $150 and Boulevard’s $293.

If retention runs on automated campaigns, points and memberships, pay for it, because bolting it on later is worse. GlossGenius Platinum at $148 annually is the cheapest full-featured option in this set. Boulevard and Phorest are the premium end, and Boulevard at least tells you the price.

If you are between three and six staff, run the arithmetic before you assume per-seat is cheaper. Fresha at five people is $74.75, and adding Insights and Loyalty takes it to $184.50, past Boulevard’s list price. Per-seat pricing looks cheapest at the demo and stops being cheapest at the third hire.

If the shortlist comes down to a salon-specific platform, compare each one against what a flat-rate salon booking plan includes before you sign. Two tests to apply to any shortlist. Ask what the bill looks like at double your current headcount, since that is the number the pricing model actually decides. Then ask the export question above. Everything else you can change your mind about later.

Twizzlo’s salon scheduling software keeps client profiles, visit history and spend per client on the flat $29.99 plan, with unlimited staff and locations. It does not run loyalty programmes or marketing campaigns, so if that is your retention engine, buy one of the platforms above instead.

The full plan detail sits on our pricing page, including the free tier and the 30-day money-back guarantee on Business Pro. More from Twizzlo: the full features page lists what is included on the flat plan, and we keep a side-by-side comparison of Twizzlo and Fresha as well as Twizzlo against GlossGenius if you want a single-vendor view.