Square Appointments is a popular appointment scheduling solution built specifically for booking within Square’s larger suite of business software. Monthly pricing ranges from free for one location to $69 per location for multi-location businesses, with processing rates between 2.6% + 10¢ and 3.55% + 15¢.

The following article will dive into Square Appointments’ various pricing tiers, hardware fees, customer reviews,and more to help you decide if it’s the best option for your beauty or wellness business needs. Whether you’re a massage therapist, salon/spa owner, nail artist, esthetician, personal trainer, or other professional who uses appointment scheduling software, we’re here to help you understand whether Square Appointments is right for your needs!

Simply put, the Square Appointments base plan is free but it doesn’t include a number of features that are critical for beauty and wellness businesses. This is especially the case for scheduling features like waitlists, appointment reminders, and email/text marketing. When you factor in these add-ons and Square’s payment processing fees, which are amongst the highest in the industry, you’ll find that Square Appointments could actually be one of the more expensive software options for your business.To gain a broader understanding of the beauty and wellness software market, including an analysis of offerings that may be more cost-effective, check out our resource center and see how GlossGenius compares to Square.

Want to quickly calculate how much Square Appointments will cost you? Jump to our Square Appointments pricing calculator down below.

Square Appointments Pricing Details

Square Appointments base subscription tier price starts at $0 per month, with an in-person payment processing fee of 2.6% + 10 cents.

Payment processing fees also vary based on the subscription tier you’re in and the client’s payment type:

All subscription tiers of Square Appointments’ plans include unlimited staff and unlimited locations - with the exception of the free plan, which only allows for one location. 

It’s important to note that Square Appointments is one of many solutions Square has to offer. If you are a beauty or wellness business looking for invoice, or marketing features, they are additional Square tools, each with their own individual cost. The fee for each of these will be in addition to your Square Appointments base subscription fee.

Add-on tools by Square include:

• Square Online 
• Square Invoices 
• Square Marketing 
• Square Loyalty 
• Square Payroll
• Square Gift Cards

Basic scheduling features oftentimes are not enough for beauty and wellness business managers. Without things like waitlists, marketing, and easy billing, your staff may be frustrated, your clients can end up confused, and you may be limiting the potential for your business to grow.  That’s why it’s important to highlight that Square Appointments locks most of its advanced scheduling features behind the Plus and Premium plans. 

Let’s take a look at what scheduling features are not included on the free plan:

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Square vs. Square Appointments Pricing

If you don’t need Square for your appointment scheduling and just want to use it for payment processing, you might want to look into their general Square subscription.

Below, you’ll find a comprehensive look at Square’s pricing broken down by tier, featuring both the monthly subscription rates, as well as the individual payment processing rates users can expect. Again, note how processing rates change for different subscription tiers and payment types.

Square Appointments Hardware Pricing

Square has several POS hardware options, all available for additional costs that you can either pay all-at-once or via a payment plan, depending on what works for you:

• Square register; merchant & client-facing display - $799
• Square terminal - $299
• Square Stand - iPad POS, no reader required - $149
• Square stand mount - $149
• Square reader 2nd gen - $59
• Square reader 1st gen - $49
• Square reader for magstripe (smart device accessory, plug in for swipes - First one free)

Surprise Appointments Add-Ons

While Square Appointments is one of the only platforms in its industry that offers a free plan, the amount of add-ons needed, especially those important to beauty and wellness businesses, can pile up quickly. 

Running a beauty and wellness business is stressful - flat out. Between balancing scheduling, supply orders, staff, clients, and more, finding the right software is critical. That’s why it’s important to point out how Square parses out many of these business elements into add-ons. 

These add-ons, many of which are not communicated on Square Appointments’ pricing page, may be a surprise for business owners that need these key tools to run their business effectively.

Here’s a list of some add-ons that are not available in the base version of Square Appointments:

• Square Email Marketing - pricing based on customer quantity (range from 500 at $15 to 75k at $425)
• Square Text Marketing - $10/mo + usage based pricing (range from 250 at $20 to 500k at $3,760; GlossGenius offers first 500 free, while Square would cost $20 + $25 (500 quantity) = $45 for this service)
• Square Invoices Plus - $20
• Square Messages - $10/mo (2-way texting)
• Square Retail Plus - $89/mo/location
• Square Loyalty - between $45 - $105/mo, dependent on loyalty visit rate
• Square Payroll - $35 + $6 per employee
• Gift cards - between $1.50 - $0.34 per card, dependent on order volume

Square Appointments Payment Processing Fees

Square Appointments’ base payment processing fees are higher than industry averages. In fact, it features one of the highest card-not-present rates of any other major player in the beauty and wellness software space. 

Its lack of flat payment processing rates on all transaction types, as well as its hidden fees like no key-in or card-on-file fees, can add up and cost beauty and wellness businesses quite a bit - even on a free plan.

Check out this comprehensive table that pits Square’s processing rates against competitors in the space:

Square Appointments Pricing Calculator

If you want to understand how much Square Appointments might cost you and your business, try out this calculator:

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Is Square Appointments Worth the Cost for Beauty and Wellness Businesses?

Where Square Appointments’ Pricing Makes Sense

To put it simply - Square Appointments pricing might make sense for your business if you are in need of a free plan with basic scheduling features, and primarily conduct in-person transactions. 

This is because both manually entered and online transactions feature relatively high payment processing fees, and more advanced features that are important for most beauty and wellness businesses are locked behind higher-priced subscription tiers.

Square Appointments’ pricing might also make sense for your business if you’re looking to use Square’s POS hardware devices. Keep in mind, though, that these products must be purchased individually - separate from additional subscription and processing fees.

Where Square Appointments May Be Less Cost-Effective for Beauty and Wellness Businesses

Square Appointments’ pricey payment processing fees, as well as the basic scheduling features in its free plan make the overall product seem less cost-effective for beauty and wellness businesses.

Let’s talk about its effectiveness beyond features for a second. Square Appointments - although powerful - is ultimately a non-specialized tool designed for a variety of business types. There are pros and cons, but this jack-of-all-trades approach ultimately provides a far more generic and less specialized experience for beauty and wellness businesses.

Solutions like GlossGenius offer specialized features for the beauty and wellness industry, like stylish credit card readers, modern and customizable booking site templates, easy-to-use waitlists, a forms and waivers builder, and marketing tools, at more affordable subscription prices. GlossGenius also offers transparent pricing and industry-best 2.6% flat processing fee with no additional add-ons.

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What Customers Are Saying About Square Appointments’ Pricing

The overall sentiment around Square Appointments’ pricing is mixed. While reviewers are satisfied with the online booking features Square Appointments has to offer, some have expressed frustration with its processing fees and general costliness.

Check out these selected reviews from small business owners that can serve as a temperature check:

Why GlossGenius Is a Cost-Effective Alternative to Square Appointments

Clear Pricing with No Hidden Fees

One of the primary cons of Square Appointments is its lack of transparency in add-ons that beauty and wellness businesses might need to purchase later on.

GlossGenius features simple pricing plans with no surprise add-ons. Email and text marketing, for example, are featured on GlossGenius’ base plan, while Square charges an additional $15 per month in addition to your Square Appointments plan. 

Core marketing features are critical for any beauty or wellness business, and are not treated as surprise add-ons in GlossGenius.

Lower, Fixed Payment Processing Fees

One of the most stark differences between GlossGenius’ pricing model vs that of Square Appointments is in its fixed processing fee. No matter the plan, no matter the transaction type, GlossGenius features a flat processing fee of 2.6%

A flat 2.6% processing rate on all transaction types can help save beauty and wellness businesses thousands per year. Paired with no hidden fees - GlossGenius offers a comprehensive suite of features for transparent, affordable pricing.

Built For the Beauty and Wellness Businesses

Above all else, your beauty and wellness business can expect an experience tailored to your specific needs with GlossGenius. Square Appointments is definitely serviceable for a vast array of different industries, but this non-standardized approach is really not designed for hyper-specific businesses that are looking for long-term growth.

Furthermore, GlossGenius allows for customization options when creating a booking website. In the beauty and wellness industry, unique branding is key. On-call support with real individuals is also available for GlossGenius customers.

For customers transitioning from other related software, like Square Appointments, GlossGenius offers free data transfers for new users. We’ll transfer all  appointments, client lists, services, and products from your current booking system, no matter what it is, over the GlossGenius for free. GlossGenius also offers a 14-day free trial so you can see how GlossGenius can work for your business without any upfront commitment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Square Appointments free?

Square Appointments offers a free plan for single-location businesses with basic scheduling features. This free plan, however, does not feature add-ons like email marketing, text marketing, and payroll.

How much does Square Appointments cost per month?

Square Appointments features three pricing tiers, as well as custom pricing for enterprises. Here is a comprehensive table that shows all pricing tiers for Square Appointments:

What percentage does Square Appointments take?

Square Appointments has a variable processing rate that depends on the monthly pricing tier selected, as well as the transaction type. In-person card transactions have a fee starting at 2.6% + 10¢ for the free plan, 2.5% + 10¢ for the Plus and Premium plans. Online payments have a fee of 2.9% + 30¢, and manually keyed-in transactions have a fee of 3.5% + 15¢.

Here is a table that drills down on individual processing rates:

NOTE: All prices and feature comparisons are as of August 4, 2024. GlossGenius has no affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement with Block, Inc. or its affiliates. All trademarks, logos and brand names are used for identification purposes only and remain the property of their respective owners.

The Capterra logo is a service mark of Gartner Inc. and/or its affiliates and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner Digital Markets reviews are shared across its different brands sites and constitute the subjective opinions of individual end-users based on their own experiences and do not represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates.