Last Updated on April 14, 2025 by Ewen Finser
Having worked with spa software for several years, I am intimately familiar with the headaches that glitches and complicated interfaces can cause, not just for businesses, but for clients too. Thankfully, spa/salon software is continually evolving.
Vagaro has been around since 2009, but Boulevard, a new spa/salon software, hit the market in 2016. While normally being a relatively new business might indicate a lack of experience, it seems that in this case, newer means better innovation compared to Vagaro’s stagnation.
The Short Answer
Boulevard might cost more up front, but that’s because you are getting so much more as a result. Not only that, the interface is smooth, easy to work with, and doesn’t cause headaches from frantic searches and glazing over eyeballs. If you have a very small staff and only need simple booking software, Vagaro will save your money, but if you want anything beyond that, I would go with Boulevard.
The Main Differences Between Vagaro and Boulevard
- Vagaro offers a more affordable starting price (and often appeals to solo providers or smaller teams), Boulevard tends to cater to mid-size and growing businesses that need more hands-on support and built-in tools for scaling.
- While Vagaro includes a wide range of reporting options, Boulevard focuses on surfacing a smaller set of actionable insights in their reporting.
- Both Vagaro and Boulevard support memberships, rewards, and referral programs. Boulevard bakes those tools into their software better, especially when it comes to managing recurring billing or automating promotions.
- While Vagaro supports retail inventory and product sales, Boulevard adds a direct Shopify integration, something Vagaro currently doesn’t offer—giving ecommerce-focused businesses more flexibility on the online retail side.
- While Vagaro offers intake forms and SOAP notes, Boulevard supports HIPAA compliance and more flexible custom forms—an important distinction for med spas or clinics that handle sensitive treatment data.
- While Vagaro has phone, chat, and email support, some users report long wait times. Boulevard emphasizes a high-touch approach, with onboarding specialists and real human support available throughout.
- While Vagaro allows clients to book through a marketplace and provider app, Boulevard keeps the booking experience directly on your business’s site with a branded overlay—so it’s less about discovery and more about maintaining a consistent client experience.
- While Vagaro is built to support a broad mix of businesses—from barbershops to fitness studios—Boulevard is built specifically for salons, spas, and med spas, which can make some features feel more tailored out of the box.
About Vagaro
Vagaro is a cloud-based salon, spa, and fitness business management solution. Business owners report that the software is easy to use, especially for small companies just starting out. There are integrated options to manage client databases and inventory as well as notifications to clients about appointments.
Clients can look up available time slots and book appointments through the app or the website. That said, organizations with a larger number of employees have struggled to make the switch or found the software insufficient for their current growth with difficulty in data transfer, multiple glitches throughout the system, and lost revenue.
About Boulevard
Boulevard is a newer business management platform offering appointment-based self-care options from booking to payment. This more modern option builds lasting relationships, increases revenue, and optimizes time.
Intuitive calendar interfaces provide monthly, daily, and weekly schedules so that appointment slots can be optimized. Client Management Systems send automated reminders, reduce no-shows by 71%, and offer a POS system that speeds up transactions.
Business owners have noted that the cost is significantly higher, but you get better features, updated, modern technology, and improved business functions with that higher cost.
So which one is easiest to use? Which option is better for your spa?
Price Comparison
Looking at the upfront monthly price in isolation doesn’t always paint a clear picture, so let’s break down your expected costs based on the number of employees and additional features.
# of Employees | Vagaro | Boulevard |
1 | $30 per month | $175 per month |
2 | $40 per month | $175 per month |
3 | $50 per month | $175 per month |
4 | $60 per month | $175 per month |
5 | $70 per month | $175 per month |
6 | $80 per month | $175 per month |
7+ | $90 per month | $175 per month |
As you can see, businesses with more than a few employees will see Vagaro costs rise pretty significantly and immediately. If your business grows by even a single person, so do your Vagaro costs. But what else makes Boulevard worth the extra cost?
Fees
The $175 you pay monthly for Boulevard includes all the bells and whistles. (I’ll get to the features below). You get access to everything. With Vagaro, you pay a smaller upfront cost for access to the software, but all of the add-on functions come at an additional cost, so depending on how many add-on functions you need, you might go well over the comparative cost of Boulevard.
For example:
- If you want to feature your business on Vagaro, that comes at an extra fee.
- If you want to develop a form, that comes at an extra fee.
Manual Entry vs. Card Reader
Vagaro comes with a card reader, and many customers like this function because the card reader is included in the cost. However, when that card reader doesn’t work and you have to manually enter the customer’s credit card information, there is an extra fee to process that manual entry, so you lose money every time the “free” card reader isn’t working.
In my experience, whenever the “free card reader” doesn’t work, clients immediately get defensive, assuring me that “there’s money in there,” embarrassed. I would offer my apologies about the system. They would try another card. Eventually I would need to ask for a card back to enter it manually knowing it would take more time (right when the client was already on their way out), ruin the atmosphere (they aren’t relaxed anymore, they are worried about money), and cost our company more (in processing fees).
It always made us look bad, even juvenile, like a company play acting at being professional and most of the time, I never saw that person again. If I did, it took a lot of extra marketing and a long wait.
Glitches
More importantly, Vagaro has many areas where system errors can occur, and if you are not vigilant as the business owner, scanning and searching for those errors on a regular basis, your company software can make you look incompetent, reflecting upon your professionalism.
For example:
Some businesses indicate that the platform will randomly delete client profiles but keep the appointments for those clients. When the business owner tries to check them out, they can’t because the client profile has been deleted. So, the entire appointment has to be deleted, and everything has to be added back into the database. All respective client information, as well as any credit card information, is lost.
Vagaro uses a strict no-refund policy, so any financial losses that a business incurs because of glitches in the software, like the deleted client profiles mentioned above, are not compensated. What’s worse, because your client won’t necessarily differentiate between your company and your software, they might assume you were careless with their information.
Deployment Options
Boulevard is slightly more limited in its deployments, as indicated in the table below:
Boulevard | Vagaro |
Cloud, SaaS, Web-based | Cloud, SaaS, Web-based |
Mobile: Android, iPhone, iPad | Mobile: Android, iPhone, iPad |
Desktop: Mac, Windows, Linux, Chromebook |
Boulevard
That said, Boulevard Software has a downloadable program for Windows and a web-based version for Chromebooks, Macs, and other devices. The companion app for tablets and Android phones complements the desktop software.The payment processing and POS Hardware requires a desktop or iMac and a client-facing iPad for the Boulevard Dashboard.
Vagaro
Vagaro is a web-based software that can be accessed through the website on any supported browser. It works best on a PC. The Pro App is designed for phones and tablets and offers the same features and functionality.
If you use the Pro app and the web-based software, you can sync all of the information across multiple devices.
Interface
The Boulevard interface is much smoother and more intuitive. There are easy buttons on the top that make it simple to see who has booked appointments, change or add bookings, facilitate payments, check up on marketing efforts and memberships, look at other relevant business trends, and communicate directly within the platform.
When I worked with Vagaro, all the buttons were there, but they were clunky, visually overwhelming. Working with client data was a constant source of stress because each of the tiny fields had drop down menus or circles to indicate, and they were all small and close together.
When I worked with Boulevard for the first time, I felt my brain breath. I could smoothly follow the client data without it being chunky and shoved together. The spacing, the shape, the color, even the size were perfect. I could live in that interface.
These communication interface options make it easy to send confirmations via text or email, whichever method of communication a client has set as their preference. When they respond, they can view those text messages and emails within the confines of the platform.
With Vagaro, the platform for calendars, bookings, and payments is very crowded, so visually, there are a lot of text fields and selection options that take up a lot of time when trying to book an appointment.
Support
Both Boulevard and Vagao offer email and help desk support, as well as an FAQ section. The respective platforms also have a chat function with 24/7 access to a live representative.
The only difference between the two in terms of the support they offer is that Vagaro provides phone support.
That said, customer reviews indicate that customer service is insufficient even when it extends to phone support and live chat functions. The majority of personnel simply provide links to online customer support articles, and if you contact them via email, it might take several weeks to get a response.
Key Features
Boulevard’s platform was developed by salon insiders who built the software to solve the exact frustrations they’d experienced firsthand and as I reviewed the demo, I could see this in action a lot.
Boulevard offers features that clients absolutely love, in particular the smart scheduling option, which allows clients to add multiple services in a single trip and place those services in the order they prefer.
For example:
Some clients want to book a massage, a sauna session, and a float, but they would prefer to do the sauna session first, followed by the massage, and conclude with a float. Using Vagaro, clients can only add the services they want to a given appointment, but with Boulevard, they can change the order.
*Note: I love that Boulevard goes above and beyond for clients; For some services, things have to be booked in a certain order like a massage before a facial so you aren’t lying face down after your treatment. But not all customers know that and we don’t want them to feel embarrassed (see the card reader issue above) or like they have to do a lot of research before booking. Boulevard knows this so when customers select treatments that for specific reasons need to be specially ordered, they simply select all the treatments and the software automatically schedules them in the right order, and assigns the correct staff member to them.
Boulevard stands apart in the self-booking overlay, too, because it doesn’t send customers off-site, or sending them to a third-party portal. This makes the entire client experience seamless, and I belive can realy have a direct impact on customer ease of use and loyalty.
Other features that I think are great
- Smart-Scheduling Order, as mentioned
- Add-ons and upsells at booking
- Custom forms and text reminders
- Secure client profiles + SOAP notes
- Integrated retail management + Shopify sync
- Automated email marketing (blasts + drip campaigns)
- Actionable reporting (staff, payroll, top clients)
By comparison, Vagaro offers:
- Online booking that redirects
- A marketplace where your business can be listed, but for an additional fee
- Payment processing, with additional fees for manual entry
- Marketing and design services for additional fees
- Interest-free payment installment plans
Why Invest in Boulevard
The key features, support, and deployment options from Boulevard solve a lot of issues for businesses:
- Staff Turnover: The easy design of the interface means that training requirements are much more limited, saving companies money and reducing staff turnover
- Easy Tech Integration: Integrating from multiple platforms means there’s no tech overwhelm like there is with Vagaro.
- Ecommerce integration: Boulevard’s POS is built to support both in-person and online retail, with a direct integration with Shopify—a huge plus for businesses expanding into ecommerce.
- Compliance: Boulevard maintains HIPAA compliance for med spas.
- Performance: The interface and features provide high visibility into performance and inventory, solving problems that many users encounter with other products like Vagaro.
- Attendance: Through enhanced communication no-show rates are reduced; Boulevard users see a 71% reduction in no-show rates.
In large part, the reduction in no-show rates, reduced staff turnover, and improved performance are due to the modern interface, all-in-one solution, and modern technology. With updated tech, clients and potential clients aren’t driven away through frustrating interfaces. Staff members are equally encouraged to stay with easy-to-use designs that facilitate better customer interactions.
Summing Up
When deciding between Vagaro and Boulevard, it’s important to recognize the intended audience:
- Vagaro: This platform is designed to help businesses manage their online bookings and payments almost exclusively.
- Boulevard: This platform is designed to be a fully integrated business management platform, handling more than just bookings and payments, extending to point of sale systems and assistance with increased client retention and revenue.
Obviously, if you are looking for the cheapest option for a small business, Vagaro will give you the basics, but Boulevard supports every touchpoint. It is an all-in-one tool with a modern interface and features that users and business owners enjoy.