GlossGenius Pricing: Plans, Card Fees and the Catch

GlossGenius's own pricing page lists three salon plans at $28, $56 and $168 a month billed monthly, each carrying the same flat 2.6% card processing rate. Set Square Appointments' published numbers next to them and the cheaper platform depends on how many card payments a chair takes each month, not on either company's own pitch.

Quick answer

• GlossGenius: Standard $28/mo ($24/mo billed annually), Gold $56/mo ($48/mo annually, up to 9 account members, labeled most popular), Platinum $168/mo ($148/mo annually, unlimited team members). Every tier runs a flat 2.6% card rate with no per-payment fee.
• Square: Free $0/mo, Plus $49/mo and Premium $149/mo per location, with in-person rates of 2.6%, 2.5% and 2.4% plus 15 cents a payment.
• Against Square Free in person, where both charge 2.6%, GlossGenius Standard's $28 divided by Square's 15 cents is about 187 card payments a month: below that Square Free costs less, above it GlossGenius Standard does. Other pairs need the full sum below.
• A domain you already own can be forwarded to the booking site, whose own address stays businessname.glossgenius.com.
• Only Platinum adds Google and Meta pixel tracking on the booking site, and it records actions on the site, such as a booking, not whether the client showed up or came back.

How much does a GlossGenius plan actually cost, tier by tier?

(GlossGenius pricing, checked 2026-10-07; GlossGenius pricing and subscription plans, checked 2026-10-07; The GlossGenius Platinum Plan, checked 2026-10-07)

In Canada, marketing emails and texts sent from these tools fall under CASL, which prohibits sending a commercial electronic message unless the recipient has consented, expressly or by implication (CASL, section 6, checked 2026-10-07).

What does GlossGenius keep from every card swipe?

Every plan, Standard through Platinum, runs the same flat 2.6% rate on card payments, with no added charge for Tap to Pay, card-on-file or a manually keyed card (GlossGenius pricing, checked 2026-10-07). The same page lists free same-day payouts Monday through Thursday; an instant payout, available any day including weekends and holidays, costs an additional 1.8% fee.

No tier buys a lower percentage the way Square's paid plans do. The only cost that moves between plans is the subscription itself.

How does that stack up against Square Appointments, plan for plan?

(GlossGenius pricing, checked 2026-10-07; Square Appointments US pricing, checked 2026-10-07; Square's live page would not show its rates for this check, so these come from the Wayback Machine copy of its US page dated 2026-09-29)

To compare any pair, add up a typical month on each side: subscription + (percentage x card volume) + (per-payment fee x number of card payments). Against Square Free in person, both percentages are 2.6%, so the sum shrinks to one division: the GlossGenius plan's monthly price divided by $0.15 is the payment count where the two totals cross. Square Plus and Premium take a lower percentage, so run the full sum for them. Vagaro's rate card runs through the same sum.

What would an imaginary lash artist actually pay each platform in a year?

Illustrative: every figure in this section is made up for an imaginary solo lash artist, and apart from the published rates above, none of it comes from a client.

She processes $6,000 in card payments a month, all in person, across 150 appointments averaging $40. On GlossGenius Standard, billed monthly: $28 subscription + ($6,000 x 2.6%) = $28 + $156 = $184 a month, or $2,208 a year. On Square's Free plan: $0 subscription + ($6,000 x 2.6%) + (150 x $0.15) = $156 + $22.50 = $178.50 a month, or $2,142 a year.

The breakeven transaction count here is GlossGenius's $28 subscription divided by Square's 15-cent per-transaction fee: $28 / $0.15, about 187 appointments a month. At her 150, she sits below that line, so Square Free's zero subscription just edges out GlossGenius's zero per-transaction fee: $2,142 against $2,208, a $66-a-year gap.

Run her a busier month instead, 220 appointments at the same $40 ticket, $8,800 in card volume: GlossGenius comes to $28 + $228.80 = $256.80. Square Free comes to $228.80 + (220 x $0.15) = $228.80 + $33 = $261.80. Past 187 appointments, GlossGenius is the cheaper line, and the gap widens by 15 cents with every appointment past it. Swap in your own payment count and card volume to see which side you fall on.

What do you actually control on the website GlossGenius builds?

GlossGenius's help center says booking site addresses are always formatted as businessname.glossgenius.com (GlossGenius, checked 2026-10-07). If you already own a domain through a provider such as GoDaddy or Squarespace, your provider can forward it to the booking site, and GlossGenius says it supplies no IP address, DNS record, or A or CNAME record because forwarding does not need one (GlossGenius, checked 2026-10-07). That is forwarding, not hosting: the site itself stays on GlossGenius, and the tracking code GlossGenius documents for it is the Platinum-only pixels below.

For search visibility, GlossGenius's own SEO guide says much of the work is already done and names three owner steps: keep the booking site's About section, location and service list current, since geo-specific details such as a city name help it rank for local searches; gather client reviews through the GlossGenius portal; and link the booking site with reputable sites such as Yelp or local blogs (GlossGenius, checked 2026-10-07).

Can GlossGenius show you which ads bring a booking?

GlossGenius's own Platinum plan article lists "Google Ad & Meta Pixel Tracking" as a feature that tier adds over Gold. It calls the feature tracking and optimizing ad campaigns "directly through your GlossGenius booking site" (The GlossGenius Platinum Plan, checked 2026-10-07). Its dedicated pixel article spells out what each one records. Google tracking collects page views, clicks and appointments booked; that feeds Google Analytics and helps refine which searchers an ad targets next. The Meta Pixel tracks visitors who land on the site after clicking a Facebook or Instagram ad and lets the salon retarget them, and it records the same page-view and conversion activity, worded as "booked an appointment, bought a retail item, etc" (GlossGenius, checked 2026-10-07).

By GlossGenius's own description, both pixels record what happens on the booking site. Neither follows a booked appointment to whether the client showed up or came back for a second visit, since that happens after the booking page closes. Keeping an ad's credit attached from the click to the second visit covers the gap a pixel event cannot close on its own. Standard and Gold include no pixel tracking at all in GlossGenius's plan comparison.

What's the trial, and what happens the day you cancel?

The 14-day free trial starts the day a GlossGenius account is created, and every new trial is placed on the Gold plan, so a solo stylist can test Gold-only features like forms and the waitlist before deciding; downgrading to Standard is available at any point during the trial (GlossGenius, checked 2026-10-07). No card is required to start. If the trial ends with no card on file, the account loses access until one is added, and paid billing cannot start early even with a card already on file.

GlossGenius's plan comparison lists no lock-in contracts or upfront fees on any plan (GlossGenius, checked 2026-10-07). The cancellation form runs through Settings in the app or browser, and the account deactivates at the end of the current billing cycle; on an annual plan, unused time is non-refundable unless the request falls within 15 days of the most recent payment (GlossGenius, checked 2026-10-07). Client records, appointment history and the booking site's setup are retained, but the account becomes inaccessible, so pull reports first. Only a separate account-deletion request erases data for good.

What's worth asking before you pick a tier or switch platforms?

• At my own card volume and transaction count, does GlossGenius's flat 2.6% beat Square's percentage plus a per-payment fee, or the other way around?
• Which tier actually turns on the feature I want: the waitlist, forms and waivers, booth-renter accounts, or the Platinum-only ad pixel?
• If I already own a domain, do I forward it to the booking site, or keep my own site and add a Book Now link to the booking site?
• What exactly exports if I switch platforms: clients, appointment and rebooking history, forms, and reviews, in a file the next platform can actually read?