Best Booker Software Alternatives

Last Updated on May 19, 2025 by Ewen Finser

Mindbody is a well-known platform used to support business operations including marketing, sales, and online booking specifically for those in the fitness industry, with a lot of their main pull having to do with a customer-facing marketplace. This doesn’t necessarily make it a great fit for spas and salons, so the company created Booker. Booker is meant to be a version of Mindbody for spas and salons, and while it certainly has all the things a spa or salon needs to manage operations where Mindbody doesn’t, it still might not be a great fit for your business.

I love their recently revamped app but a lot of the core things you might need to do to run your business, like remove employees who’ve left or take advantage of marketing promos, have to be done from the web platform, not the app. And unfortunately, the web platform looks like it was the love child of MySpace and MineSweeper.

Top Booker Software Alternatives I’m Considering

So what software alternatives should you consider?

I’m looking at:

• Zenoti
• Square
• Mangomint
• Boulevard
• Lightspeed

Bottom Line Up Front

When should you consider these best Booker software alternatives? There are a lot of pain points that each of my alternatives can help tackle:

• Solo stylists looking for cheaper booking support: Square Appointments
• International med spas or enterprise teams who need better support and report generation: Zenoti
• Best all-in one solution, especially for scaling salons in the U.S. who want a B2B front desk support system: Boulevard
• Hybrid teams or those with a lot of room/chair-rentals: Mangomint
• Salons or medspas that are selling products too: Lightspeed

Choice 1: Zenoti – Best for large salons, med spas, and privacy-focused businesses that are international

So right off the bat I’m going to say that Zenoti looks like it was the second love child of Myspace and Minesweeper, and it shares a lot of traits with Booker like using CAPS for main headings or having an outdated 1990’s corporate feel to it. However, despite looks, it is a really good option for people who manage larger operations.

It’s an enterprise-level tool that offers a lot of features.

Main Pain Point:

With Booker, a big complaint among users is the difficult and clunky interface for the web based platform. It almost looks like it’s designed for large-scale operations, but it’s missing a lot of key elements that large-scale operations would need, like comprehensive report generation or customer data management.

Booker has a recently revamped app which is sleek, modern, and very easy to use. However, a lot of the key elements to running a successful business cannot be managed from that app and can only be managed through the platform. This means that it works well if you have business owners who run the platform and you just want to relegate things like new appointments and calendar functions to individual stylists or team members.

Zenoti, with a similar structure, is a better version of Booker, making it the best alternative to enterprise level organizations or International organizations. Zenoti also has significantly more robust data and report generating capabilities as well as customer data management.

Features

• Booking and Calendar functions
• Memberships
• Gift Cards
• Smart Marketing

Availability

• 50+ countries

Price

• ~$420/month avg.

Automations

• AI phone
• Customer reminders
• Inventory Management

User-Friendliness

Multi-window interface but still best for teams with training resources because it is a bit outdated and takes a long time to learn.

Overall, I’d recommend Zenoti for international med spas or enterprise level teams that need something with more location and language support.

Choice 2: Square Appointments – Best for solo stylists and contractors who want a free option

Square Appointments is a basic alternative to Booker. It’s a simple, affordable way to manage calendar workflows, appointment bookings, and payments. The best part about it is that it’s free for individuals.

Main Pain Point:

Booker starts at $139, which can be a lot for an independent stylist or contractor. They also don’t really have options just for solo stylists who need appointment management and basic automations for things like appointment reminders.

Square Appointments is a simple alternative for barbers, stylists, and estheticians who want a no-fuss, bare-bones sort of solution.

Features

• Appointments
• Website builder for those who don’t have one
• Payroll options

Availability

• U.S.
• Canada
• Australia
• UK
• Japan

Price

• Free if you are a solopreneur
• $45+/month for teams

Automations

• There are some calendar widgets and email reminders–all that a basic operation needs but nothing more

User-Friendliness

Square Appointments can be managed from an app, without all the fuss of needing the app for some things but the web platform for others. It offers a minimalist interface with a new Gantt calendar view that Booker doesn’t have.

Overall, I’d recommend Square Appointments for a solo stylist, who doesn’t need all of the extra features for employee management on the calendar but wants something simple and affordable.

Choice 3: Mangomint – Best for hybrid teams/large salons with independent contractors

Mangomint is a modern option that tackles daily business needs including POS, booking, payroll, automations, reports, and marketing. Like Booker, this option works for those who rent a booth or chair, and team members who work together, but independently.

Main Pain Point:

That said, Mangomint tackles a key pain point a lot of users experience with Booker: It offers better marketing, reports, and client data management. With Mangomint, you get an easier interface on the web platform, something that cannot be said for Booker. Within that platform you can manage a more robust marketing section, view client data easily when checking out appointments or looking over reports.

Features

• Intelligent waitlists which automatically fill open spots, empty time slots, or cancellations
• Payments routing
• Gamified UI

Availability

• U.S. and Canada

Price

• $245/month + add-ons

Automations

• Smart booking
• Customer check-in option with a front-facing display
• Waiting room option
• Wait list options to fill vacancies

User-Friendliness

It has a bright interface, with a lot of pastels, and a much better use of color allocation compared to Booker. But the interface isn’t as intuitive as some other Booker software alternatives like Boulevard.

Overall, I’d recommend Mangomint for salons or spas that have a lot of independent stylists renting rooms or chairs or a hybrid team

Choice 4: Boulevard – Best All-in-One Solution

Boulevard is a modern and very user-friendly software designed to be an all-in-one solution without superfluous features. The layout and its features are built with salons in mind, providing an internal front desk and management platform.

Main Pain Point:

Booker might offer calendar functions and make it easy to schedule appointments, but the marketing leaves a lot to be desired and it doesn’t compile customer data in an easily accessible way.

Boulevard does. When you look at an appointment, book a new appointment, or have the calendar function option, you get automatically populated customer data, complete with any relevant notes, requests, and a history of their services. You can also use the marketing functions to improve your campaigns by scheduling automatic (and, cannot stress this enough, incredibly simple to use) email or text blasts for things like birthdays, holidays, sales, promos, or when there are cancellations or wide availability at the last minute.

Features

• POS
• Inventory
• Email Marketing
• Booking and messaging platform

Availability

• U.S. only

Price

• $425/month, everything included

Automations

• Auto-booking
• Automatic services in order
• Check-in
• Marketing campaigns

User-Friendliness

The user friendliness is what I like best about Boulevard. It has a top-tier interface design and onboarding process that makes it easy for businesses to transition.

Overall, I’d recommend Boulevard for growing or multi-location salons that want better UI for internal management and client relationship building.

Choice 5: Lightspeed – Best for retail-heavy salons or medspas that need checkout integrations

Lightspeed is an alternative for those salons or spas that need a POS system to support selling products as well as service. While the focus is more on managing inventory, they still offer booking support online with the booking manager, and let you view your calendar to manage any reservations and appointments.

Main Pain Point:

For all that Booker has to offer, they don’t have support for retail. There isn’t any component for managing inventory or online checkouts for those who are buying products. This means if your organization sells any products up front, things like some of the Aftercare hair products or massage oils that you might use during appointments, you won’t be able to process the sale using Booker and you’ll need a separate POS for that. No one wants to stand at the front counter telling a customer that they can check out for the service on one machine and then they have to check out for the products on another.

So, Lightspeed is the best Booker software alternative for this issue, providing the same types of internal support with the added bonus of retail.

Features

• Inventory management
• AI benchmarking
• Booking and calendar support to filter by services or team members

Availability

• 100+ countries

Price

• $199/month + transaction fees

Automations

• Inventory
• Product sales

User-Friendliness

Lightspeed is designed more for retail than service-based workflows but it still covers the basic calendar functions that the Booker app does, so it can be a good fit for those who need to process services and sales.

Overall, I’d recommend Lightspeed for spas or salons that want basic booking options and support for product sales.

Final Recommendations

• Best for solo stylists: Square Appointments
• Best for international med spas or enterprise teams: Zenoti
• Best for chair-rental or hybrid teams: Mangomint
• Best all-in-one solution: Boulevard
• Best for retail-heavy salons: Lightspeed