Last Updated on November 21, 2025 by Ewen Finser
Whether you run a nail salon, spa, or fitness center, you’ve probably run into some of the same issues with Simplybook: an inability to link to comprehensive POS systems, integrate with other third-party platforms, or give calendar controls to all of your staff. I struggled for a long time to find a good replacement for Simplybook. After trying several alternatives, I am going to show you which ones work for different businesses.
I’m comparing alternatives for:
- Nail Salons
- Spas and Salons
- Fitness Centers and Gyms
- Medical and Wellness Clinics
All of the software solutions below offer comprehensive management features for the wellness and beauty industries, including nail salons, spas, fitness centers, and health centers. However, there are variations in their approach to marketing, no-show management, and POS capabilities, making some more suitable than others for specific industries.
SimplyBook Alternatives for Nail Salons
Nail salons have a particular need to schedule many walk-ins, which means a calendar that can be moved around and accessed by everyone. Equally important is having features that support payment processing for different staff members and services assigned to different staff.
Fresha
As a small nail salon, Fresha might be a good starting point for you. It offers basic but functional free membership features within its platform, with a strong focus on online booking and POS for nail salons.
The user interface is pretty simple, so learning to navigate is equally simple, except for the fact that the layout relies pretty heavily (a little too heavily in my opinion) on images instead of text. So, you’re going to end up clicking on the wrong pictures several times over before you figure out what they each mean (spoiler: the pictures are far too small to make out any detail).
- Starting Price: ~$21/month (for accounting software)
- Pricing Model: Per user
- Marketing: Marketing tools, marketplace exposure.
- Booking and Calendar Functions: Online booking 24/7, automated reminders, Google Calendar sync.
- No-Shows/Cancellation Options: Automated reminders, option to require upfront payment/card on file.
- POS: Full POS, integrates payment processing.
Boulevard
If you have a more robust nail salon offering services beyond basic manicures from one or two estheticians, it’s worth scaling immediately to Boulevard. Boulevard is a good alternative because it lets your staff make, change, and view all bookings, especially through the Front Desk and calendar functions.
You can book more than one service at a time directly in the booking app or the admin app. So if someone calls the front desk, it actually rings directly through the platform, where any of your staff can book multiple services at once. Moreover, if someone books multiple appointments on your website or via another social media platform, they will automatically be listed in the correct scheduling order, thanks to a proprietary feature by the same name.
- Starting Price: ~$158 – $195/month
- Pricing Model: Flat-rate per location with optional add-ons
- Marketing: Automated emails/texts, paid campaigns, loyalty programs.
- Booking and Calendar Functions: Online booking, multi-view calendar, scheduling rules.
- No-Shows/Cancellation Options: Automated reminders, payment card holds/fees.
- POS: Integrated POS, payment processing, retail sales
Best For Nail Salons
Boulevard is best for salons that want to add break and lunch times, use drag-and-drop calendar functions, and let multiple staff members manage a company calendar.
SimplyBook Alternatives for Salons and Spas
Salons and spas have to focus on SimplyBook alternatives that have good POS integration, marketing capabilities, and calendar functions with a lot of flexibility.
SimplyBook makes it easy to book appointments, but a lot of spas and salons have multiple employees, many of whom might be independent contractors renting a chair, but all of whom need to be able to manage the same interconnected calendar, book appointments throughout the day, not just on the hour, and change lunch or break times accordingly when a walk-in shows up.
Boulevard
For salons and spas with multiple services and multiple staff, Boulevard is the winner. With Boulevard, you can set fixed start times per booking, for example, making one service bookable on the hour or on the half hour. In fact, you can make the most out of any available time by booking in 10-minute increments throughout the hour.
So, for example, if you know that one of your haircuts is only going to take 20 minutes and it’s booked at 1:00 p.m., you can book someone else at exactly 1:20.
Boulevard makes it easy to assign services to specific staff (and payments to specific chairs/staff), drag-and-drop bookings on the calendar, and add break/lunch times. What’s more, Boulevard is a better option than SimplyBook because you can move break and lunch times around on the calendar (anyone can, actually) in case bookings come in.
- Starting Price: ~$158 – $195/month
- Pricing Model: Flat-rate per location with optional add-ons
- Marketing: Automated emails/texts, paid campaigns, loyalty programs.
- Booking and Calendar Functions: Online booking, multi-view calendar, scheduling rules.
- No-Shows/Cancellation Options: Automated reminders, payment card holds/fees.
- POS: Integrated POS, payment processing, retail sales
Vagaro
Vagaro is an ideal Simplybook alternative if you are worried about price and want marketplace exposure for your salon or spa. While not as large as MindBody (see below), Vagaro’s marketplace can help you build out your client base by exposing your services and business profile for a fee. Vagaro has a user-friendly interface that lacks the same reporting functions as Boulevard but offers similar marketing options.
- Starting Price: ~$30/month (for one user/calendar)
- Pricing Model: Per user/calendar basis with optional add-ons
- Marketing: Email/text marketing, customizable websites, app visibility.
- Booking and Calendar Functions: Online booking 24/7, customizable calendar, class scheduling.
- No-Shows/Cancellation Options: Automated reminders (email/SMS), charge fees via card on file.
- POS: Full POS, card processing, inventory, gift cards.
Best For Salons and Spas
Boulevard is best for spas and salons that want the ability to book multiple services at once, in automated order, with assignments for specific staff and POS.
SimplyBook Alternatives for Fitness Studios and Gyms
Fitness studios and gyms have a couple of key alternatives to SimplyBook: GlowFox and Mindbody. Both focus on building memberships through marketplace exposure and through different membership plans.
Glofox
Glofox is specifically designed for health centers and gyms, ideally suited to those institutions that want to focus on building different membership models (classes, recurring dues, attendance tracking).
It also offers MailChimp integration, so if you are already using MailChimp to send emails to your client list, you don’t have to learn a new system. However, if you are switching to a SimplyBook alternative as expensive as Glofox, you might as well find something more robust.
- Starting Price: ~$100 – $190/month
- Pricing Model: Tiered plans (Basic, Advanced, Premium)
- Marketing: Email/SMS notifications, Mailchimp integration.
- Booking and Calendar Functions: Class/appointment scheduling, mobile app booking, and cancellation rules.
- No-Shows/Cancellation Options: No-show reports, automated reminders, and the option to deduct class credits.
- POS: Payment processing via Stripe integration.
Mindbody
For fitness centers and gyms, the best Simplybook alternative is Mindbody. Mindbody has a tiered pricing plan with robust scheduling options. More importantly, it has a large consumer marketplace: the MindBody App.
This marketplace helps gyms and fitness centers acquire new members. The software positions itself as applicable to all manner of industries, including spas, salons, medical spas, nail salons, tattoo parlors, and more, but the majority of the benefits focus on membership plans and the marketplace.
For example, the marketplace generates significant exposure within the app, offering features like class passes to rapidly grow membership. Mindbody offers tiered and loyalty programs, in addition to integrated payment processing features, that are best suited for fitness centers.
- Starting Price: ~$129 – $159/month (depending on plan)
- Pricing Model: Tiered plans with add-ons and user limits
- Marketing: Automated emails/texts, strong marketplace presence, loyalty tools.
- Booking and Calendar Functions: Online/app booking, robust scheduling, class management.
- No-Shows/Cancellation Options: Automated reminders, ability to hold credit cards for fees.
- POS: Integrated POS for services and retail products.
Best For Fitness Studios and Gyms
Mindbody is best for fitness studios and gyms that want to leverage a large marketplace for increased visibility.
SimplyBook Alternatives for Medical and Wellness Clinics
Medical and wellness clinics should consider Doctoralia or Wellness Living, depending on their offerings. Doctoralia is significantly better suited to healthcare companies, particularly those looking to increase their patient list, whereas Wellness Living is ideal for a holistic health center.
Doctoralia
Doctoralia is a specialized option for healthcare professionals. So if you run a health clinic or medical spa and focus on patient management, you’ll find many key features here. Perhaps one of the best is increasing patient acquisition through better visibility on online marketplaces and Google integration, as well as secure patient records and telemedicine capabilities.
These features do come at a customized and potentially high cost, with limited options for managing gym memberships, group classes, or merchandise sales.
- Starting Price: Custom pricing
- Pricing Model: Sales staff can give quotes
- Marketing: Email/SMS campaigns, patient engagement tools.
- Booking and Calendar Functions: Online booking, multi-calendar management, and telemedicine.
- No-Shows/Cancellation Options: Automated reminders (email/SMS), real-time availability.
- POS: Online payments and invoicing, but not a full retail POS.
Wellness Living
Wellness Living is an ideal Simplybook alternative for wellness centers or holistic health centers. It offers a wide range of booking options that other platforms simply don’t, specifically the ability to choose between appointment-based services like one-on-one consultations and class- or group-based options, like yoga classes or health workshops.
Beyond basic booking functions, it also has tools for a comprehensive POS System, including retail products and services, a rewards program to build loyalty, and inventory management. In the client portal, individual clients can manage and book appointments and pay their invoices.
- Starting Price: ~$69/month (for Starter plan)
- Pricing Model: Tiered plans (Starter, Business, BusinessPro, etc.)
- Marketing: Automated emails/SMS, Reserve with Google, rewards program.
- Booking and Calendar Functions: Online/app booking, flexible calendar, Book-a-Spot feature.
- No-Shows/Cancellation Options: Automated reminders, automatic fee charging/point deduction for no-shows.
- POS: Full POS, integrated payment processing, and inventory.
Best For Medical and Wellness Clinics
Wellness Living is best for healthcare companies, fitness, and health industries that need invoicing, online payments, and patient management, rather than retail POS.
Summing Up
So if you’ve had issues with Simplybook, especially with integrations, the calendar, and POS, there are some great alternatives out there. The best one is really based on your size, scale, business type, and budget.
The best option for medical and wellness clinics is certainly Wellness Living, Mindbody for gyms, but for nail salons, salons, and spas, Boulevard takes the cake.