Last Updated on June 13, 2025 by Ewen Finser
GlossGenius is an all-in-one booking solution. The software is mainly designed for processing payments and bookings for beauty and wellness professionals, and while it says all-in-one, there’s never one true “one size fits all” software that works for every business. GlossGenius might be missing some features that your business needs. If so, I have some great alternatives to consider.
Why Choose a GlossGenius Alternative
When I started using GlossGenius, I really liked the easy layout of the internal platform. I will say that they have a lot of great features, including:
- Requiring deposits on many bookings, which helped us reduce our cancellations and no-shows because people were already financially invested
- Automated waitlist features, which helped us fill last-minute cancellations
- Cancellation fee features, which helped us reduce cancellations and no shows by ensuring customers would still be charged if they chose to cancel
However, despite the fact that they had unique options like business loans and some very useful features, there were still some issues that had me looking for other options.
The main issues I’ve had and others have had with GlossGenius include poor customer service and the fact that, despite having a very well-designed layout, tech glitches (especially with Apple products) occurred. There are also limits on the platform in terms of services, which can be disappointing when it’s called “all-in-one,” and a lack of customer-facing Marketplace to help draw in new customers.
Top GlossGenius Alternatives I’m Considering
I am reviewing:
Each of these are equally well-rated software solutions for beauty and wellness professionals, ideal for solo professionals as well as scaling small and medium-sized businesses. Let’s see how they solve the pain points you might be experiencing with GlossGenius.
#1 Pain Point: Customer Service
A big issue with GlossGenius has to do with their customer service. While the layout and structure of their interface (as well as the interface itself) might be very easy to use, one of the most common challenges associated with the company comes from their customer service representatives.
When we used them, we would schedule appointments with customer service to make sure that we could get help with things like payment processing when there was an issue, and they just wouldn’t be there. And then, when they finally did call back, it was at random hours outside of normal business hours.
This was made worse by the fact that the actual customer service representatives didn’t really have any of the professionalism that you expect from a company whose brand is a very refined style.
If GlossGenius’ customer service has been your biggest pain point, here’s how the alternatives stack up:
- Boulevard: A lot of users have been incredibly happy with the customer service they have received since switching. Boulevard offers easy migration, top-tier onboarding support, and very fast responsiveness whenever they have an issue.
- Fresha: Fresha doesn’t have particularly great customer service either; It’s honestly hit or miss whether you will get legitimate help, especially if you have a billing issue.
- Mangomint: Their customer service is one of the best rated among booking software, with quick responses, usually within a few minutes, mobile-friendly responses, and a lot of supportive common knowledgeable staff.
- Vagaro: Customer service is pretty decent when you first start, especially when it comes to onboarding, but after that, it might be a little bit harder to get a hold of someone.
So, if customer service has been a pain point for you and you want to solve it my top selection is Mangomint. They have, by and large, the most highly rated customer service representatives. They are informative, knowledgeable, professional, and they are highly responsive. Boulevard offers a close second, especially if you’re worried about onboarding.
#2 Pain Point: Tech Glitches
Another major issue with GlossGenius has to do with the technical glitches, especially if you are using Apple products. This can cause system crashes, bugs, slow performance, and lead to significant issues with revenue loss.
For us, what really stood out, though, among the tech glitches was the fact that gift cards couldn’t be applied directly during the checkout process, so they had to be adjusted manually. This caused scheduling issues, communication issues, and led to a lot of frustrated (often new) customers.
- Boulevard: I’ve seen next to no complaints about tech glitches with Boulevard, with a lot of great interface options, add-on features, and integration. I’ve never experienced any myself.
- Fresha: Fresha has great functionality, with very few complaints regarding tech glitches. Their processes run smoothly and quickly.
- Mangomint: The software doesn’t have a lot of complaints involving tech glitches. They might, on occasion, have a freeze or a slow checkout process, but other than that, everything works beautifully.
- Vagaro: The performance of their interface can also be a little glitchy with incorrect appointment details, problems with data transfer, and double bookings. They also have problems with managing gift cards.
So, if tech glitches are your main pain point, I would recommend Boulevard. They have everything you need in one place, which makes the fact that there aren’t technical glitches even more impressive, because you can integrate almost all of your other services like POS, sales, marketing, client data management, and scheduling without issue.
#3 Pain Point: Platform Limits
GlossGenius has some surprising limits on their platform. In my experience, I was surprised that they were missing essential features like intake form options and invoicing. It was a huge problem for us that we couldn’t generate intake forms for new clients or new services, and have them automatically sent to customers before an appointment.
GlossGenius also presented problems with discounts. I mentioned that there were issues applying gift cards, but the platform limits extend to all manner of discounts, which can make it really hard to schedule things with new or returning clients who might want to use a loyalty benefit or a membership benefit that we offer.
- Boulevard: Great platform with a wide range of options including invoicing, intake forms, marketing opportunities, gift cards, and loyalty programs.
- Fresha: Fresha is also somewhat limited in its capabilities, lacking no-show features and only offering a limited cancellation policy.
- Mangomint: Mangomint has a pretty extensive platform, comparable to Boulevard with regard to offering promotional products like gift cards, loyalty packages, and intake forms. Mangomint even has functions where things like gift cards are kept on file, so all of the data regarding previous payments and existing balances are maintained within the system.
- Vagaro: Vagaro does really well with things like intake forms – including mandatory forms that all clients have to fill out when they book an appointment or during checkout, and forms that can be sent before or after an appointment. All of these can be created from scratch, or you can use a pre-built template, which does make things a lot easier.
So, if platform limits are your main pain point, I would strongly recommend Boulevard. They offer the most comprehensive service in terms of all the things you get in a single platform, not least of which include essential features like invoicing. We can send clients invoices, intake forms that we can customize and generate before appointments, discount options for memberships, marketing promos, and loyalty programs.
A note about costs and add-ons:
I want to be clear about costs; Boulevard is the most expensive platform on this list, followed by Mangomint, Fresha, GlossGenius, and Vagaro, respectively.
However, within those costs, you have to consider that companies like Boulevard and Mangomint are legitimately all-in-one services, offering a lot more than GlossGenius without any hidden fees, while all of the others operate on a tiered system.
With my comparisons in this and the following category, it’s worth keeping in mind that some of the platform and marketplace features come at an additional cost. Of the software on this list, Boulevard is the only one that gives you everything advertised for one price.
#4 Pain Point: Marketplace
One of the things that GlossGenius doesn’t have is a front-facing or customer-facing marketplace. This means there isn’t a search engine within the platform where you can market your company and help encourage bookings.
- Boulevard: Boulevard doesn’t have a front-facing marketplace, but it offers a lot of supportive marketing options.
- Fresha: Fresha does auto-recommendations that load when customers open the page, based on location and business ratings, as well as categories like “new businesses” or “trending businesses” to offer a range of support for increased bookings.
- Mangomint: Like Boulevard, Mangomint doesn’t have a front-facing marketplace, but they have a lot of well-received marketing options within the system for existing clients.
- Vagaro: Vagaro has a beautiful front-facing marketplace with things like “Daily deals” to advertise last-minute discounts or “live stream classes”, which can be great for certain services (more geared toward health and fitness, though).
So, if having a customer-facing marketplace is important to you, I would pick Fresha or Vagaro. They both have really good front-facing options with different forms of support for encouraging bookings. I really like the way Vagaro supports last-minute deals and has live stream classes that can increase bookings virtually, but that is geared more toward educational content from things like tattoo artists or estheticians, as well as fitness classes, and less toward things like salons and med spas. For that reason, Fresha might be a better option for you.
Summing Up
Overall, there are many great GlossGenius alternatives depending on the pain point that you are looking to overcome.
- Customer Service: Go with Mangomint or Boulevard if you want improved customer service.
- Tech Glitches: Go with Boulevard if you don’t want to deal with tech glitches and you want a smooth, streamlined operation.
- Feature Limits: Go with Boulevard if you struggle with app limits and want something that is comprehensive, with all of their services built into one place.
- Marketplace: Go with Vagaro or Fresha if you want a focus on a front-facing or customer-facing Marketplace to increase bookings.