Atelier Booking vs Vagaro
Vagaro is one of the most established names in salon, spa, and fitness booking. Here's how it compares to Atelier on the things that matter most to a working business.
| Dimension | Atelier | Vagaro |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | Free plan · paid from $29/mo ($49 BYO processor) | Base + per-staff + add-ons |
| Grows with team size? | No — same at any size | Yes — per extra staff |
| Per-location fees | $25/mo per extra — full plan at each | Per-location upcharge |
| Cut of your bookings | Never — $0 per booking, no commission | Marketplace listing (verify terms) |
| Features | Unlimited staff on every plan; higher plans fold the add-ons in | Forms, marketing, website, branded app cost extra |
| Your own domain | Day one — no upgrade fee | Yes — MySite (paid add-on) |
| Your own texting number | Yes — two-way; with text reminders on every paid plan | Paid add-on (text plans from ~$20/mo) |
| AI receptionist for texts | $39/mo — books by text, staff approve by text | Inbox chatbot — not a booking receptionist |
| Booth renters paid directly | Included — each pro's own account, no extra % | Yes — via separate merchant accounts |
| Whose website ranks? | Yours — full site on your domain, structured data from live booking data | Your site, but no structured data; booking in their iframe |
| Payment processor | Atelier Payments (Stripe), or your own Stripe/Square/Clover | Integrated payments |
What Vagaro does well
Vagaro has been in the space for a long time and offers a comprehensive suite — booking, point-of-sale, payroll, marketing, and a built-in customer-facing marketplace where new customers can discover your business. The platform is mature, the integrations are deep, and the support team is responsive.
How they price
Vagaro's public pricing layers per-staff fees on top of a base subscription, with add-ons for many of the features a working business actually uses (forms, text marketing, a custom website, a branded mobile app) priced individually on a monthly basis. The total scales with team size and feature usage; verify current rates on their public pricing page.
How Atelier prices
Free Starter plan; paid plans from $29/month ($49 with your own processor), with every team member included at every plan. Vagaro's public model layers on charges as you grow: a per-calendar base, per-additional-staff fees, per-additional-location fees, and separate monthly add-ons for forms, text marketing, a custom website, and a branded mobile app. By the time a working business has the features it actually uses, the bill is meaningfully higher than the Atelier plan carrying those same features — and the branded mobile app in particular is a substantial monthly add-on. Verify current Vagaro pricing on their site for specifics.
Where Atelier is different
Atelier puts your booking flow on a vertical-branded subdomain (yourshop.atelier.salon, .tattoo, .spa, .dance, .fitness, .golf, .dog, .pet, .skin, or seated.studio) from day one, and you can connect a domain you own at no upgrade fee. Atelier also has a public directory like Vagaro, but the bookings click through to YOUR URL rather than completing inside the directory — so there's no per-booking commission and no marketplace cut. SEO traffic builds up on your URL, not the platform's.
Where Vagaro might fit better
If you actively want the marketplace exposure (Vagaro's discovery network does generate some new-customer traffic), or if you need their specific integrations with payroll providers and POS hardware they've built deep ties into, Vagaro's established ecosystem is a real advantage.
Who each is best for
Vagaro fits established salons that want a marketplace where bookings happen inside the platform and don't mind per-staff pricing as they grow. Atelier fits operators who want directory discovery without giving up the customer relationship — bookings click through to your URL, listings cost nothing extra, and pricing doesn't scale with team size.
Start free. Take real bookings today.
Free to start — and your first month of any paid plan is free. Paid plans from $29 a month, every team size.