Spa software is sold on a long feature list and bought on three things: how quickly the front desk can take a booking and a payment, whether the client rebooks before leaving, and whether retail and gift cards are handled without a second system. Everything else is real but secondary, and the products cluster: some are built around booking, some around the treatment record, some around retail and memberships. Decide which of those is your weak point before you score anybody.
Systems small spas commonly shortlist, and what to make each one show you
Not a ranking. Siftvo publishes no score of its own and no vendor pays to be named here. The order is alphabetical and the line after each name is the thing to make that vendor show you in a demo, scored on your own sheet.
- Boulevard: front-desk-led with published tiers: run the five o'clock scenario on the terminal reception will use
- Mindbody: large marketplace attached: ask what the marketplace costs per booking and whether you can turn it off
- Vagaro: priced per seat and published openly: useful as a cost floor, and score the retail and gift card flow
- Zenoti: aimed at multi-site spa operators: ask what the smallest sensible configuration is before you price it
Score the front desk at five o'clock, not at ten
Ask for a demo of the busy hour: a walk-in while the phone rings, a client checking out with a retail product and a tip, and a rebook, all on the terminal your reception will actually use. Time it. This is the surface where a spa either runs or backs up, and it is barely represented on a feature grid. Use the same scenario at every vendor so the timings are comparable and the scores mean something.
Memberships, packages and gift cards are the revenue
Monthly memberships with an included treatment, packages bought up front and drawn down, gift cards sold online and redeemed in person, and what happens to each when a card fails or a client does not attend. Ask to see a package drawn down across two visits and a gift card partially redeemed. Products differ wildly here and it decides how much cash you take in January.
The staff side is half the product
Rostering, commission or rent splits, tips and payout, and what a therapist can see on their own phone. A system your therapists like is a system that gets used properly, and one that makes payroll a spreadsheet job every fortnight is a permanent cost. Put commission handling on the sheet as its own row and score it against how you actually pay people rather than how the vendor assumes you do.
Questions people ask about best spa software
How many spa systems should we compare?
Three, chosen one from each cluster: a booking-led product, a retail and membership-led one, and one built around the treatment record. Comparing three from the same cluster tells you very little.
Does spa software handle medical aesthetics?
Some do and most do not properly. If you offer injectables or anything requiring consent and a clinical record, weight that block heavily and expect the shortlist to change.
Do you rank spa software?
No. There is no ranking and no score of ours anywhere here, and no vendor pays to appear. The sheet scores what you put in it against your own weighting.