Beauty · alternatives
Alternatives to Merlua
23 beauty tools sit alongside Merlua in this directory. Below is what separates each from Merlua on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 23
- With a free tier
- 7
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Merlua starts at
- Free
Why people look past Merlua
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. Merlua has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Free salon and spa software
- No free tier, where Merlua has one.
- Publishes an entry price of 149.95/month, where Merlua does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
- 3 tiers to Merlua's 2.
Book local beauty services
- No free tier, where Merlua has one.
- Publishes an entry price of $29.99/month, where Merlua does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
- 3 tiers to Merlua's 2.
All-in-one salon, spa & fitness software
- No free tier, where Merlua has one.
- Publishes an entry price of $25/month, where Merlua does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
- 4 tiers to Merlua's 2.
Free scheduling for beauty businesses
- No free tier, where Merlua has one.
- Sold on a usage-based model rather than freemium.
- 4 tiers to Merlua's 2.
Complete salon software from India
- Publishes an entry price of 2900/year, where Merlua does not.
- 4 tiers to Merlua's 2.
Appointment scheduling for service businesses
- Publishes an entry price of $14.95/month, where Merlua does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than freemium.
- 5 tiers to Merlua's 2.
Every Merlua alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merlua (this page) | Free | Freemium | 2 | |
| FreshaThe dominant salon booking platform, subscription-free with a marketplace attached, though it monetises through new-client fees and card processing rather than a plan. | 149.95/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Merlua |
| BooksySalon and barber booking with a consumer marketplace that brings in discovery traffic, which a standalone booking page does not. | $29.99/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Merlua |
| VagaroBroader salon, spa and fitness platform with POS, inventory and payroll, heavier than Merlua and priced per bookable staff member. | $25/month | Subscription | 4 | vs Merlua |
| Square AppointmentsBooking bolted onto Square's payments and POS, worth comparing for a salon that already takes card payments through Square. | On request | Usage-based | 4 | vs Merlua |
| Salonist | Free, then 2900/year | - | 4 | vs Merlua |
| Bookeo | Free, then $14.95/month | Subscription | 5 | vs Merlua |
| MyTime | Free | Subscription | 2 | vs Merlua |
| Goldie | Free | Freemium | 2 | vs Merlua |
| Resurva | Free | - | - | vs Merlua |
| Belliata | Free | Subscription | 2 | vs Merlua |
| DaySmart Salon | Free, then $29/month | Subscription | 5 | vs Merlua |
| SalonBiz | $160/month | Subscription | 5 | vs Merlua |
| Genbook | $29/month | - | - | vs Merlua |
| Milano | $69/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Merlua |
| Salon Iris | $29/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Merlua |
| Mangomint | $120/monthly | Subscription | 5 | vs Merlua |
| Phorest | $99/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Merlua |
| Rosy Salon Software | $29/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Merlua |
| Kitomba | 79/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Merlua |
| Envision | $79/month | Subscription | 2 | vs Merlua |
| Meevo | $129/month | Subscription | 4 | vs Merlua |
| DaySmart Spa | $29/month | Per user per month | 5 | vs Merlua |
| Salon Ultimate | $69/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Merlua |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Merlua badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
What you would be giving up
Merlua is most often brought in for taking salon bookings without forcing client accounts, cutting no-shows with deposits and reminders, coordinating several staff members' availability, running a branded booking page from an existing website, giving staff their schedule and earnings on their phone. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Merlua is broadly right and the question is cost, the Merlua pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Beauty category lists everything the directory holds, and best beauty tools ranks them.
Merlua runs on web, ios, android, wordpress. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Merlua alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Merlua?
- 23 other beauty tools are listed in this directory, led by Fresha, Booksy, Vagaro, Square Appointments. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Merlua?
- 7 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Salonist, Bookeo, MyTime, Goldie, Resurva.
- Is there a reason to switch away from Merlua?
- Nothing in the data flags one. Merlua has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from Merlua?
- Merlua is most often brought in for taking salon bookings without forcing client accounts, cutting no-shows with deposits and reminders, coordinating several staff members' availability, running a branded booking page from an existing website, giving staff their schedule and earnings on their phone. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Merlua?
- None of the beauty tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Merlua alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Beauty, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Merlua against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Merlua covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every beauty tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Beauty category, 23 tools beside Merlua. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.