Listen, we adore the artistry and self-expression of salon work. But between booking clients, managing payroll, inventory, taxes – running all the business ops still happens on old-school spreadsheets? Honey, no. The brilliance of salon pros deserves better.

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Let your creativity and client care sparkle by modernizing management. Salon accounting software exists to handle the logistics and keep things organized. We're talking easy appointment scheduling, automated commission payments, bulk supply ordering, tax filings – all streamlined.

This guide reviews the top 10 salon accounting tools to match your budget and fabness. By the end, you’ll have intel to graduate from janky paperwork and inefficient systems cramping your style. Now, let’s get these digital makeovers started!

What to Look for in Salon Accounting Software

Running a profitable, sustainable salon is easier said than done. That's why salon-specific accounting software is so invaluable. Salon financial tools monitor, track, and organize all money matters, big and small. No detail escapes their attention. These powerful programs shine light into every corner of the business.

Let's start by going over what core aspects you should evaluate when researching beauty salon accounting software. As you compare options, keep these capabilities at the top of your priority list:

Price

Of course, cost is a significant factor for most small salon owners on a tight budget. Be sure to understand what features are included at each pricing tier. Look for simple, transparent pricing with no hidden or add-on fees. Many solutions offer free trials, so you can test them out risk-free.

Data Security

You'll be storing extremely sensitive information about your clients and employees within these platforms. Thus, it's absolutely vital that your software has robust security protections and protocols in place. Select established, reputable software that is fully compliant with PCI and GDPR data privacy regulations.

Accounting Features

At their core, these solutions need to provide complete income and expense tracking. This includes easy tools to capture daily sales, process payments, organize receipts/invoices, track payroll and inventory, calculate taxes, and run financial reports. Top systems connect bank/CC transactions automatically to save you even more administrative work.

Tax Management

Most stylists qualify as independent contractors, requiring specialized 1099 tax forms. Filing quarterly salon taxes can be extremely confusing and time-consuming. The best accounting software removes this entire headache for you by auto-calculating payroll taxes and estimated quarterly taxes owed. Some even support direct e-file integration with government agencies for additional convenience.

Ease of Integration

To maximize productivity, choose programs that offer abundant 3rd-party app integrations. For instance, connect to payment processors like Square or Stripe for POS transactions. Integrate booking systems such as Booksy or ScheduleOnce to sync appointment data. Connect ecommerce platforms like Shopify for unified inventory control. Tools like Zapier enable endless custom integrations, too.

Ease of Use

Let's be honest - you have 100 other things to focus on each day beyond accounting. Even the most powerful program fails if humans find it too complex or confusing to adopt. Prioritize solutions with smart yet intuitive interfaces, minimizing learning curves. Customizable features, role-based dashboards, and mobile optimization demonstrate designer empathy.

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Top 10 Best Salon Accounting Software in 2024

Here are our top picks for the best salon accounting software:

1. GlossGenius
2. Salon Accounting
3. FreshBooks
4. Mindbody
5. Vagaro
6. Meevo
7. Phorest
8. Mangomint
9. Acuity Scheduling
10. DaySmart

Okay, let's dive deeper into the features, pricing, and reviews of each software.

1. GlossGenius

Kicking off our list is GlossGenius. Users are immediately greeted by a beauty industry design that inspires confidence. It is an impressive all-in-one salon management suite. What sets GlossGenius apart is how beautifully its financial tools integrate for a unified salon workflow.

GlossGenius uniquely consolidates payments, expense tracking, and custom analytics into one salon-focused platform. One of its unique strengths is the transparent 2.6% processing rate. Add to that robust expense digitization and interactive reports depicting granular business metrics from multiple angles.

GlossGenius was created specifically for the beauty industry to solve very specific pain points. Think booking management, client records, inventory control, and staff payroll. Their seamlessly connected platform aims to automate and simplify tiresome administrative tasks.

Find easy tools to capture daily sales, process payments, track invoices, manage payroll, organize receipts, calculate taxes, and run detailed financial reports. GlossGenius delivers robust accounting capabilities. You'll enjoy features like:

GlossGenius notable features

• Complete accounting suite
• Built-in payroll
• Inventory management
• Auto deposits
• Tax assistance
• Mobile App

GlossGenius Pricing

GlossGenius offers transparent pricing starting at $24/month for their "Standard" plan. This includes all core financial features. The $48/month "Gold" plan adds waitlist management, liability waivers, and more. 

GlossGenius Reviews

• Capterra: 4.6/5 stars (52 reviews)
• G2: 5/5 stars (3 reviews)

2. Salon Accounting

As you may have guessed from the name, Salon Accounting is also purpose-built for beauty businesses. This bookkeeping software streamlines income/expense tracking and simplifies quarterly sales tax payments.

Upload receipts to securely store them within the app and easily integrate your bank account for real-time accounting. Salon Accounting also provides financial reports to help you make the best possible business decisions.

If you also need an appointment scheduling system, Salon Accounting offers this service as well. Although it will cost an additional fee. Let's examine the notable functionality provided by Salon Accounting:

Salon Accounting's Notable Features

• Easy income & expense tracking
• Connect bank/CC accounts to auto-import transactions
• Mobile receipt scanning: upload and organize expense receipts on the go
• Quarterly sales tax reminders & estimated payments are calculated
• Appointment scheduling integrations are available

Salon Accounting Pricing

This software is affordably priced at just $7.99 per month for basic financials and appointments. Additional capabilities like appointment setting raise this to $14.99 per month. And finally, quarterly tax preparation comes in at $21.99 per month.

3. FreshBooks

Boasting over 300,000 satisfied small business customers, FreshBooks is likely the most widely used accounting software out there. With abundant tutorials and responsive 24/7 customer support, it's a great choice if you want an easy-to-use yet powerful bookkeeping solution.

Loaded with helpful support resources and reviews, it's a great choice if you want an intuitive yet full-featured accounting system.

FreshBooks enables growing beauty businesses to start with basic financials like invoicing, expenses, and reporting. You can then scale capabilities as needed - upgrading to advanced bookkeeping, bill pay, mileage tracking, inventory control, and more.

FreshBook's notable features

• Double-entry accounting following GAAP standards
• Customizable chart of accounts & advanced bookkeeping
• Accounts payable: bill/vendor management
• Inventory management: track stock, sales, cost of goods sold
• Expenses & mileage tracking
• Bank reconciliation automation & reporting

FreshBooks Pricing

FreshBooks offers three transparent pricing tiers based on the number of clients supported: Lite ($7.60/month for up to 5 clients), Plus ($13.20/month for up to 50 clients), and Premium ($24/month for unlimited clients).

FreshBooks Reviews

• Capterra: 4.5/5 stars (4,375 reviews)
• G2: 4.5/5 stars (671 reviews)

4. Mindbody

Mindbody is another excellent option, especially for clients using their salon booking software. The accounting features are seamlessly integrated for unified financial management. You also get access to the MindBody Marketplace, where over 2.4 million users intersect. Additional features like the 24/7 AI chatbot and marketing automation make Mindbody a powerful all-in-one solution for beauty businesses.

Founded in 2001, Mindbody provides wellness businesses with specialized software covering almost every operational area – from appointment scheduling to payroll, inventory, reporting, and more. Their all-in-one platform aims to automate and simplify key tasks.

Securing funding for your business is another possibility with Mindbody. They offer a variety of funding programs to help beauty entrepreneurs grow their businesses, including business loans and financing options.

Let's learn about the built-in accounting capabilities Mindbody provides:

Mindbody Notable Features

• Robust reporting dashboard shows key salon metrics
• Sales reporting with income breakdowns by service, product, employee, location
• Payroll management: shift scheduling, hourly & overtime tracking
• Staff performance metrics
• Inventory monitoring with automated reorder alerts
• Integrated payment processing with Mindbody Payments

Mindbody Pricing

Unfortunately, Mindbody does not disclose pricing publicly. You must contact sales and receive a custom quote. Published prices start around $129/month for "Starter" plans and scale up based on the number of locations, users, and desired features.

Mindbody Reviews

• G2: 3.6/5 stars (378 reviews)
• Capterra: 4/5 stars (2,771 reviews)

5. Vagaro

Shifting the focus to a dedicated salon accounting system, Vagaro provides comprehensive financial tools integrated with their appointment booking app. It is mostly focused on scheduling but provides some basic accounting features for small businesses.

Notably, you'll have access to reporting, payroll management, and credit card processing. Additionally, Vagaro boasts a marketplace to help you gain new customers.

Below summarizes Vagaro's notable financial capabilities:

Vagaro's Notable Features

• Great Calendar App
• Accounting and bookkeeping suite
• Custom reports for sales, payments, payroll, inventory
• Integrated payroll
• Rent collection tools: recurring booth charges, deductions

Vagaro Pricing

Software plans start at $25 per month and scale based on number of locations and revenue. The exact monthly rates are transparently listed on their website.

Vagaro Reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 stars (141 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 stars (3,358 reviews)

6. Meevo

Meevo is another salon management software that is getting rave reviews for its abundance of features, including bookkeeping capabilities. It is also salon-centric. That means it is tailored to the needs of hair salons and spas.

According to their website, 100,000s of users rely on Meevo to help manage their business. Great security controls enable you to remain compliant while protecting your client data. In fact, it is a 100% HIPAA-compliant platform.

As for financial reporting, 150+ reports are included in the base package. These help with budgeting, forecasting, and other financial tasks.

Meevo's Notable Features

• Easy tax tools: sales tax tracking
• Custom sales reports by staff, service, products
• Salon performance metric tracking (KPIs)
• Client retention reports

Meevo Pricing

Meevo costs between $139 to $529 monthly depending on number of employees/workstations supported. Each pricing tier includes complete core financial capabilities. Custom quotes are also available for larger franchises.

Meevo Reviews

• G2: 3.5/5 stars (43 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 stars (251 reviews)

Related Reads: Top 10 Best Meevo Alternatives for Salons

7. Phorest

Switching things up, Phorest is salon management software hailing from Europe. But with over 15,000 spas/salons served, they offer tons of global capabilities. Founded in 2002 by entrepreneurs Ronan Perceval and Jamie Myerscough, Phorest set out to transform the salon experience through better booking and business management systems. Based in Dublin, their software is now used in dozens of countries across thousands of the world's leading salons and spas.

The Phorest platform aims to simplify operational tasks like appointment scheduling, client records, inventory management, marketing automation, staff management, and reporting. This allows salon owners to focus on client relationships and service delivery. Financial tools are seamlessly built-in to remove bookkeeping headaches.

Phorest Notable Features

• Sales reporting: services, retail, payments, cancellations
• Stock management: orders, transfers, consumption, wastage
• Staff productivity & ranking reports
• Client retention rate tracking
• Salon growth forecasting based on KPI analytics

Phorest Pricing

Phorest offers tiered solutions from "Starter" to "Elite" plans to meet the needs of any size salon. Exact monthly rates can be obtained via custom quotes from their sales team.

Phorest Reviews

With hundreds of positive software reviews, Phorest wins over Beauty Pros around the globe:

• G2: 4.4/5 stars (30 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.8/5 stars (363 reviews)

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8. Mangomint

If you're seeking a cloud-based solution that simplifies salon bookkeeping, take a closer look at Mangomint. Loaded with intelligent features, it aims to automate all back-office tasks. As a newer option, it is still used by over 10k salons and spa professionals.

As an all-in-one system built specifically for salons and spas, Mangomint also offers a wealth of effective financial tools – from payroll processing to custom sales analysis reporting. The software receives rave reviews for its beautiful and intuitive interface design.

Mangomint Notable Features

• Easy income/expense tracking
• Intelligent automation
• Great interface
• Mobile-friendly

Mangomint Pricing

Available plans range from $165 to $375 monthly depending on the number of staff supported. Bulk discounts can be negotiated for large multi-location brands.

Mangomint Reviews

• G2: 4.9/5 stars (44 reviews)
• Capterra: 5/5 stars (128 reviews)

9. Acuity Scheduling

Expanding beyond specialized salon software, Acuity Scheduling is a popular general-purpose appointment booking app. But they offer helpful financial capabilities worth mentioning. For instance, they have lots of integration with third-party apps.

Easily connect it to Zapier, Stripe, Square, Paypal, or Google Analytics. This enables you to sync and export all your data without hassle. You'll be able to automate tasks with the help of their stellar customer service team.

Acuity Scheduling Notable Features

• Income tracking
• Expense management via integration with QuickBooks Online
• Partial & advance payments support
• Loyalty tools
• Branded scheduling

Acuity Scheduling Pricing

Monthly rates start at just $16 for solo service providers and scale to just $49 for their "Powerhouse" plan supporting enterprise operations. Extremely affordable for organizations of all sizes.

Acuity Scheduling Reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 stars (399 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.8/5 stars (5,586 reviews)

10. DaySmart

Lastly, DaySmart Salon software aims to be an all-in-one beauty business platform incorporating tons of helpful financial tools. Its goal is to increase sales in salons worldwide. Tracking is very accurate and helps you keep your schedule full.

This company works with both independent contractors and full-service salons. They offer online booking, POS, automated marketing, and much more, all from one platform. DaySmart claims you can save up to 6 hours per week on administrative tasks.

DaySmart's Notable Features

• Accounting capabilities with reports
• Attentive customer support
• Product inventory, cost, and distribution tracking

DaySmart Salon Pricing

Plans start at $29 for the Basic Plan. The Deluxe and Deluxe Growth plants take that to $69 and $149 per month, respectively. Finally, the Premium Growth Plan is $199 monthly, depending on desired capabilities.

DaySmart Salon Reviews

• G2: 4.6/5 stars (28 reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 stars (349 reviews)

Conclusion

After reviewing all these valid options, it becomes clear that most salon accounting platforms have something to offer. Owners now have a comprehensive perspective guiding the best choice for their operation. Mind you, all tools aim to organize finances. However, notable differentiators in reporting, automation, payment processing, and customization reveal which is ideal for a particular business.

Try GlossGenius free for 14 days!

For a complete all-in-one accounting and insights system purpose-built for beauty professionals, GlossGenius stands unmatched. The integrated singular platform concentrates on essential ownership tasks and creates welcomed simplicity. GlossGenius elevates and combines critical components to facilitate salon success.

Visit GlossGenius today to start a free 14-day trial showcasing a uniquely unified financial services ecosystem.