GlossGenius Pricing 2026: Real Costs & Hidden Fees
GlossGenius costs $28/month (Standard, billed monthly) or $24/month billed annually, with Gold at $56/$48 and Platinum at $168/$148, plus a flat 2.6% payment processing rate on every transaction, a payroll add-on at $40/month + $6/seat, and a 1.8% fee on instant payouts. If you want a done-for-you alternative rather than an app you set up and run yourself, AI Business Sites builds a custom 85+ page website with an AI back office (chat/voice booking, CRM, content engine) for a $1,497 one-time setup and $497/month. GlossGenius is the cheaper entry point for beauty and wellness pros who want booking and payments; AI Business Sites replaces the DIY setup with a managed system.
Bottom line: GlossGenius wins on low, transparent entry pricing ($24–$28/month) and a flat 2.6% processing rate for beauty and wellness businesses. AI Business Sites wins for owners who want a fully managed custom website plus AI back office instead of self-running an app.
TL;DR
- •GlossGenius Beauty & Wellness plans: Standard $28/mo ($24 annual), Gold $56 ($48), Platinum $168 ($148).
- •Medspa & Aesthetics plans: Practice Essentials $168/mo ($148 annual) and Practice Advanced $298/mo ($248 annual).
- •Every plan carries a flat 2.6% payment processing rate with no tap-to-pay, card-on-file, or manual-entry fees.
- •Hidden costs to budget for: payroll add-on at $40/month + $6/seat, and instant payouts at an extra 1.8% fee.
- •Annual billing saves up to 14%, and multi-location operators get a 15% discount per location.
- •Reviewers flag missing back-office basics: no direct invoicing, no dedicated business line or in-app client messaging, and no online ecommerce.
- •AI Business Sites is a done-for-you alternative: $1,497 one-time setup + $497/month, live in 7 days, with the client owning all code, content, and data.
| Dimension | GlossGenius | AI Business Sites |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $28/mo Standard ($24 annual); Gold $56/$48; Platinum $168/$148; medspa plans $168–$298/mowinner | $1,497 one-time setup + $497/mo flat, all-inclusive |
| Payment processing | Flat 2.6% on all transaction types; instant payouts +1.8%winner | Stripe card payments built in for store, ordering, bookings, and tickets |
| Ease of use | User-friendly app, but the owner sets up, learns, and runs it | Fully managed — the team builds, trains, and runs everythingwinner |
| Features | 100+ features: booking, POS, marketing, memberships, waitlists, staff tools, EMR on medspa plans | Custom 85+ page site, AI chat/voice, CRM, content engine, jobs & invoicing, Stripe selling |
| Support | White-glove onboarding; premium support on Platinum; some users report slow chat/email support | Managed service with ongoing monitoring and improvementwinner |
| Integrations | Google Booking & Reviews, 2-way calendar sync, Tap to Pay on iPhone/Android | Stripe, Google Business Profile, Search Console, Cal.com/Calendly (Receptionist) |
| Setup | Free data transfer; self-setup of the app and booking site | Done-for-you build, live in 7 days from a $500 depositwinner |
| Ownership & exit | No contracts, no cancellation fee; data lives in the platform | Client owns code, content, data, domain; full code to GitHub + database export on exitwinner |
GlossGenius
glossgenius.com ↗GlossGenius is business management software built specifically for beauty, wellness, and health businesses — salons, barbershops, spas, medspas, tattoo studios, and fitness professionals. It combines 24/7 login-free online booking, a custom booking website, point of sale, payments, client management, inventory, email and text marketing, memberships and packages, and staff management in one app. The company reports serving 120,000+ businesses, with claimed results including 26% more revenue in year one, 75%+ average rebooking rates, and 40 hours of admin saved per month. Pricing is tiered and flat-fee: Standard, Gold, and Platinum plans for beauty and wellness, plus Practice Essentials and Practice Advanced plans with EMR tools for medspa and aesthetics practices. Every plan includes a flat 2.6% payment processing rate with no tap-to-pay, card-on-file, or manual-entry fees, free same-day payouts Monday–Thursday, free data transfer from your previous platform, and no contracts or cancellation fees. A payroll add-on and an upcoming 24/7 AI Reception product extend the platform, and multi-location businesses can run every location from one connected system.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (Beauty & Wellness) | $28/mo | Booking website, unlimited client notifications, email & text marketing, inventory & retail, packages & memberships; $24/mo billed annually (save 14%) |
| Gold (Beauty & Wellness) | $56/mo | Everything in Standard + forms & waivers, Google Booking & Reviews, automated waitlist, time tracking, room & resource management; up to 9 staff; $48/mo billed annually |
| Platinum (Beauty & Wellness) | $168/mo | Everything in Gold + team goal setting & analytics, customizable commissions, Google Marketing Analytics, unlimited staff; $148/mo billed annually (save 12%) |
| Practice Essentials (Medspa) | $168/mo | Essential EMR tools for compliant aesthetics practices; $148/mo billed annually |
| Practice Advanced (Medspa) | $298/mo | Full AI clinical suite, unlimited providers; $248/mo billed annually (save 12%) |
| Payroll add-on | $40/mo | $40/month + $6 per seat for built-in team payroll |
Pros
- +Transparent flat-fee pricing starting at $24/month billed annually, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required
- +Flat 2.6% processing on every transaction type — no per-transaction fees, unlike Booksy, StyleSeat, Vagaro, or Square
- +Free white-glove data transfer imports appointments, clients, services, and inventory from your previous platform
- +Strong retention results reported: 75%+ average rebooking rates and waitlists that fill 12% more cancellations
- +No contracts, no cancellation fee, and plans can be switched at any time
- +Reserve with Google users report 60% higher appointment volume
Cons
- −Reviewers flag missing back-office basics: no direct invoicing, no dedicated business line or in-app client messaging, and no online ecommerce
- −Add-on costs creep: payroll runs $40/month + $6/seat, and instant payouts cost an extra 1.8%
- −Some users report slow chat/email support and occasional app glitches and sync issues
- −The booking website is a template-based builder inside the app — the owner must set up, learn, and self-market the business
- −Platinum at $168/month (or $148 annual) is a significant jump from Gold at $56/$48 for teams of 10+
Best for: Independent beauty, wellness, and health professionals and salons/spas up to large teams that want industry-specific booking, POS, and marketing in one app at a low, predictable flat fee.. Avoid if: You need ecommerce, direct invoicing, or a dedicated business line today; or you want a managed, done-for-you web presence and marketing engine rather than software you run yourself..
AI Business Sites
aibusinesssites.com ↗AI Business Sites, built by AIQ Labs, is a done-for-you AI business operating system rather than a website builder or SaaS toolkit. The team builds a custom website with 85+ pages at launch — 25–30 hand-crafted core pages including 15–20 individual service pages with schema markup, plus 60 AI-generated SEO pages (service/location, coverage-area, and comparison pages) — and sets up the full Google presence (Business Profile, Search Console, sitemaps). It goes live in 7 days from a $500 deposit. The $497/month managed subscription includes hosting, 14+ new SEO content pieces every month, daily industry news, 24/7 website chat and a browser-based voice agent, a CRM with automated lead follow-up, a Jobs & Estimates field-service module (quotes, job board, invoices, review requests), and online selling with Stripe (store, restaurant ordering, bookings, tickets). Four optional add-ons are available: Lead Generation ($149/mo), Outreach ($229/mo), Social Content ($299/mo), and an AI Receptionist with a dedicated 24/7 phone line ($199/mo). Clients own everything — code, content, data, and domain — and can cancel month-to-month with 30 days' notice.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| One-time setup | $1497/mo | Custom 85+ page website, Google presence, CRM, knowledgebase, FAQ bot, chat & voice; $500 deposit, $997 due at launch |
| Managed monthly | $497/mo | Hosting, 14+ SEO content pieces/month, 24/7 chat & voice, CRM, Jobs & Estimates, store/bookings with Stripe; everything included except the four add-ons |
| Add-on: Lead Generation | $149/mo | AI B2B lead discovery with business-intelligence summaries |
| Add-on: Outreach | $229/mo | AI cold email engine + form-submission browser agent with human approval |
| Add-on: Social Content | $299/mo | Daily posts across 9 platforms with AI images/videos |
| Add-on: AI Receptionist | $199/mo | Dedicated phone number answered 24/7 with booking and call transcripts |
Pros
- +Fully done-for-you: built, trained, and managed by the team — no technical setup, prompting, or babysitting
- +One flat price with no tiers: $1,497 setup + $497/month covers hosting, content, chat, voice, CRM, and selling
- +Live in 7 days; client approves the build before the $997 launch balance is due
- +Client owns everything — full code to a GitHub repo and database export if they leave
- +Month-to-month with 30 days' notice; add-ons can be added or removed at any time
Cons
- −Higher monthly cost than GlossGenius entry tiers ($497/mo vs $24–$56/mo)
- −$1,497 upfront setup cost versus GlossGenius's free trial start
- −Not a POS-first tool — no in-person card readers or booth-renter bank splits like GlossGenius offers
- −Not for DIYers who enjoy running their own stack or teams wanting bespoke custom software
Best for: Local service businesses — trades, clinics, salons, restaurants, agencies — that want a managed custom website plus AI back office instead of self-running booking software.. Avoid if: You want the cheapest possible website, enjoy building and running your own tools, or need a front-desk POS with card readers as the core of your checkout..
GlossGenius pricing: the real monthly cost in 2026
GlossGenius's sticker price starts at $28/month for the Standard plan on monthly billing, dropping to $24/month billed annually — a saving of up to 14%. Gold, the most popular tier for businesses up to 9 staff, runs $56/month ($48 annual), and Platinum for teams of 10+ is $168/month ($148 annual). Medspa and aesthetics practices have their own track: Practice Essentials at $168/month ($148 annual) with essential EMR tools, and Practice Advanced at $298/month ($248 annual) with the full AI clinical suite for unlimited providers. On top of the subscription, every plan carries a flat 2.6% payment processing rate — no tap-to-pay, card-on-file, or manual-entry fees — which is genuinely simple compared with variable-rate competitors. The costs that creep: the payroll add-on at $40/month plus $6 per seat, instant payouts at an extra 1.8% fee (free same-day payouts only run Monday–Thursday), and text marketing credits (500 on Standard, 2,500 on Gold). Annual billing saves up to 14%, multi-location operators get a 15% per-location discount, and there are no contracts or cancellation fees. A 14-day free trial with no credit card lets you test any plan first.
Hidden fees and gotchas to watch
GlossGenius markets 'always know what you'll pay,' and its processing side largely delivers: one flat 2.6% rate across all transaction types. The real add-on creep sits elsewhere. Payroll is $40/month plus $6 per seat — a five-person team pays $70/month extra just to run payroll. Instant payouts, available any day including weekends and holidays, cost an additional 1.8% of the payout; the free same-day option only covers Monday through Thursday. Reviewers also flag structural gaps that function as hidden costs of a different kind: no direct invoicing, no dedicated business line or in-app client messaging, and no online ecommerce — meaning some businesses must bolt on second tools (and second subscriptions) to cover those jobs. Reception by GlossGenius, a 24/7 AI call-and-text answering product, is listed as coming soon, so phone coverage is not yet included. On the flip side, the free data transfer, no contracts, no cancellation fee, and free same-day payouts on weekdays are genuine cost savers. Budget realistically: subscription + 2.6% of card volume + payroll seats + any instant-payout usage is the true monthly number.
GlossGenius vs a done-for-you alternative
GlossGenius is a flat-fee app the owner must set up, learn, and self-market: you get a template-based booking website, a POS, marketing tools, and staff features, but driving traffic, publishing content, and managing the system remain your job. AI Business Sites takes the opposite approach — a managed service where a $1,497 one-time setup (starting with a $500 deposit, $997 due at launch) buys a custom 85+ page website with schema-marked service pages and 60 AI-generated SEO pages, live in 7 days, and the $497/month subscription covers hosting, 14+ new SEO content pieces monthly, daily industry news, 24/7 website chat and voice, a CRM with automated lead follow-up, a Jobs & Estimates module (quotes, job board, invoices, review requests), and Stripe-powered selling. The trade-off is price: $497/month versus GlossGenius's $24–$56 entry tiers. For a solo stylist processing modest card volume, GlossGenius is dramatically cheaper. For an owner losing leads to voicemail who will never write blogs or run marketing tech, the managed model — with full code, content, and data ownership and a 30-day cancel-and-take-everything exit — can replace several duct-taped subscriptions and the labor behind them.
Which should you choose?
If you You're an independent stylist, barber, or esthetician watching every dollar — choose GlossGenius — Standard starts at $24/month billed annually with a flat 2.6% processing rate, unlimited client notifications, email and text marketing, and a custom booking website included..
If you You run a salon or spa team of up to 9 staff — choose GlossGenius — Gold at $48/month annual adds forms & waivers, Google Booking & Reviews, automated waitlists, time tracking, and room & resource management with no per-staff fees..
If you You operate a medspa or aesthetics practice needing EMR compliance — choose GlossGenius — Practice Essentials ($148/mo annual) and Practice Advanced ($248/mo annual) are purpose-built with essential EMR tools and a full AI clinical suite for unlimited providers..
If you You're a contractor, clinic, or local service business losing calls and leads while on the job — choose AI Business Sites — The $497/month plan includes 24/7 website chat and voice, automated lead follow-up, and an optional $199/mo AI Receptionist that answers real phone calls and books appointments..
If you You know you need consistent SEO content and reviews but will never write them — choose AI Business Sites — The managed subscription publishes 14+ new SEO pieces every month plus daily industry news, with automated review requests built into the Jobs & Estimates module..
If you You want to own your website and data outright and leave anytime — choose AI Business Sites — You own the code, content, data, and domain; on exit you get the full site code pushed to a GitHub repo plus a database export, with month-to-month billing and 30 days' notice..
Frequently asked questions
How much does GlossGenius cost per month in 2026?
GlossGenius Beauty & Wellness plans are Standard at $28/month ($24 billed annually), Gold at $56 ($48 annual), and Platinum at $168 ($148 annual). Medspa & Aesthetics plans are Practice Essentials at $168/month ($148 annual) and Practice Advanced at $298 ($248 annual). Annual billing saves up to 14%, every plan includes a flat 2.6% processing rate, and a 14-day free trial requires no credit card.
Does GlossGenius have hidden fees?
The processing side is genuinely flat: 2.6% on every transaction type with no tap-to-pay, card-on-file, or manual-entry fees, and no per-transaction charges. The costs that add up are the payroll add-on ($40/month plus $6 per seat), instant payouts (an extra 1.8% fee — free same-day payouts only run Monday–Thursday), and the fact that reviewers note missing capabilities like direct invoicing, a dedicated business line, and ecommerce that may require other tools.
Is there a GlossGenius free trial?
Yes. GlossGenius offers a 14-day free trial on any plan with no credit card required, and you can switch plans at any time. There are no contracts and no cancellation fee, and the company provides a free data transfer service that imports your appointments, clients, services, and inventory from your previous platform.
What is GlossGenius's payment processing rate?
A flat 2.6% on all transaction types and all plans, with no additional fees for Tap to Pay, card-on-file, or manual entry. Free same-day payouts are available Monday through Thursday; instant payouts any time — including weekends and holidays — carry an additional 1.8% fee. GlossGenius also advertises 100% chargeback protection on Gold and Platinum plans.
Is GlossGenius cheaper than hiring a done-for-you service?
At the subscription level, yes: GlossGenius starts at $24–$28/month versus AI Business Sites at $497/month plus a $1,497 one-time setup. But GlossGenius is software you set up, learn, and self-market, while AI Business Sites is a managed service that builds an 85+ page custom website in 7 days and runs the AI back office — chat, voice, CRM, content, and selling — for you. The right choice depends on whether your constraint is budget or time and technical capacity.
What do users complain about with GlossGenius?
Common complaints from reviewers include missing back-office basics — no direct invoicing, no dedicated business line or in-app client messaging, and no online ecommerce — plus slow chat/email support at times and occasional app glitches and sync issues. Add-on costs also draw criticism: payroll at $40/month plus $6/seat and the 1.8% instant-payout fee. On the positive side, users consistently praise the booking experience, white-glove data transfer, and overall ease of use.
Sources
- 1.GlossGenius Pricing & Subscription Plans — used for: pricing, features
- 2.GlossGenius Plans & Plan Comparison — used for: pricing, features
- 3.GlossGenius vs. Square: costs, fees, and add-ons — used for: pricing, features
- 4.GlossGenius vs. StyleSeat: Features, pricing, and fees — used for: pricing, features, reviews
- 5.The True Cost of Most Salon Booking Apps, Explained — used for: pricing
- 6.GlossGenius homepage — scheduling, payments & more — used for: features, reviews
- 7.GlossGenius Memberships & Packages Software — used for: features
- 8.AI Business Sites — done-for-you AI business presence — used for: pricing, features
Pricing verified as of 2026. Always check the vendor's site.
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