Continuing our reviews of the top business and booking software, today we land on GlossGenius. Created specifically for spa, salon, and wellness professionals, this comprehensive platform claims to manage all aspects—from scheduling to transactions—with minimal technical frustration. The question remains: underneath all the gloss, does this platform really shine when it counts? Read the full article for the in-depth review, or watch the video below for a quick visual overview.

Let's take a deeper look at what GlossGenius actually offers. Starting with the:

Key Features to Consider

Whether we’re talking about cars, houses, or salon software, we can split what they offer into two basic categories: the nice-to-haves and the must-haves. Regardless of which platform you select for your operation, specific capabilities should be considered non-negotiable—or at least worthy of evaluation—prior to confirming your choice, irrespective of your service offerings.

Whether you need tools for customer relationship management (CRM) or staff compensation systems, ensuring your selected software complements your business goals is crucial.

Cost

GlossGenius offers a straightforward pricing model with three distinct plans:

• Standard – $24/month
• Gold – $48/month
• Platinum – $148/month

The Standard plan includes a wide range of core features, making it a budget-friendly choice for individual professionals and small teams. For access to more robust employee management capabilities, upgrading to the Gold or Platinum plan is necessary.

Customization

GlossGenius offers a range of customizable features, including a mobile app and a booking website with editable themes, colors, and fonts. There are also options for service creation, management, and client communication, as well as customizable team reports.

Features

GlossGenius ticks all core feature boxes in terms of appointment scheduling, client management, inventory management, payment processing, business reporting, and basic marketing tools. Important features like forms and waivers, waitlists, and rebooking reminders require a plan upgrade. Team management features are exclusive to the higher-tier Platinum Plan.

Integrations

GlossGenius makes it easy for clients to book appointments through platforms like Google, Instagram, Facebook, Yelp, and directly from your website. However, it currently doesn’t offer a dedicated booking app for clients or a central marketplace to help new customers discover businesses.

Online Booking

GlossGenius offers a clean, easy-to-use booking interface with helpful features like color-coded scheduling, waitlist management, appointment reminders, and client notes. One thing to keep in mind: there’s no separate app for clients. For some, that’s a plus—fewer apps to download—while others may prefer having a dedicated place to manage their bookings.

Calendar

GlossGenius delivers comprehensive calendar functionality, though certain advanced features require upgrading to the Gold plan, including staff schedule synchronization and waitlist capability.

CRM

GlossGenius delivers robust customer relationship management capabilities, featuring automated messaging through both text and email for appointment confirmations, reminders, post-service appreciation notes, and follow-ups.

Reminders

Automated appointment reminders, confirmations, and other client notifications are included in GlossGenius’s scheduling and client management toolkit.

Reporting

GlossGenius gives users data-driven insights into their business. Reports cover service sales, retail, tax, expenses, inventory, payroll, and client activity. Staff reporting, commission reports, and advanced staff activity logging require a plan upgrade.

Inventory

GlossGenius offers comprehensive product tracking fully integrated with transaction and customer systems, featuring real-time inventory adjustments, barcode scanning, quick product searches, depletion alerts, and detailed stock reporting.

Loyalty Program

As of this review, GlossGenius does not offer a built-in client loyalty program feature.

Website Builder

GlossGenius offers an intuitive, attractive, custom website builder with personalized themes, an integrated booking system, built-in client management tools, and payment integrations.

POS/Payment Processing

GlossGenius's point-of-sale system accommodates all primary payment methods, including chip cards, contactless transactions, iPhone Tap-to-Pay functionality, and digital wallet services like Apple Pay and Google Pay. They apply a consistent 2.6% processing fee across all transactions. Card processing is included in the Standard plan, while features like chargeback protection for card reader transactions and Tap to Pay on iPhone require a Gold plan subscription.

Marketing

GlossGenius includes comprehensive marketing tools featuring email and text campaigns plus a website builder in its Standard plan. Gold plan subscribers gain additional access to advanced AI-powered email technology to streamline marketing efforts.

What Businesses Like Yours Are Saying About GlossGenius

A salon software platform may appear great in theory, but it’s how it works it performs in practice that matters most. Below are some firsthand accounts from professionals who have implemented GlossGenius in their businesses:

4.3/5.0 (7 reviews)

4.8/5.0 (345 reviews)

0/5.0 (4 reviews)

The Final Verdict: GlossGenius Pros and Cons

Designed specifically for the beauty industry, GlossGenius gets major points for its clean, easy-to-use interface. Even among many of its competitors, it delivers many valuable features at a competitive price, including robust tools for scheduling and client management. But...accessing more advanced (often necessary) team features may require a higher-tier subscription.

I’d say GlossGenius is best for individual users and small to mid-sized beauty businesses. While the basic plan covers most needs for solo use, managing a team typically requires a higher-tier plan—and a higher monthly cost.

GlossGenius’s mobile-first design supports only contactless payments via mobile device and card reader, offering a sleek, low-hardware setup. However, this limits access to full front desk hardware, and there’s currently no separate client booking app available.

So, on to my final verdict. Weighing its attractiveness, ease of use and lengthy feature list against some of its downsides, I give GlossGenius 7.5 out of 10.