Salon booking website checklist

Booking app prices and Google’s steps checked on each company’s own page on 2 October 2026. Prices change, so follow the links before you decide.

What you get here: the three ways a salon can take bookings online and what each costs, a 10-point checklist that tells you whether your site actually turns visits into bookings, published prices for four booking apps, and how to point your Google profile and Instagram at the same booking page.

What is a salon booking website?

It’s your salon’s website with one job: getting a new client from “this looks good” to a confirmed time. The website does the convincing (your work, your services, your prices, where you are). Your booking app does the booking (the calendar, the deposit, the reminders).

You don’t need the two to be the same product. For most salons, we’d keep the booking app they already run their day on and make the website a fast, clear front door to it.

Which setup is right for you?

There are three ways to do it. None is right for every salon, so here’s what each one really involves.

	Booking app page only	Your own website, booking app plugged in	Custom build
What it is	The booking page or booking site your app gives you, on the app’s web address or, with some apps and plans, your own domain	A website on your own domain, with every Book button opening your booking app	Software built for you, with your own booking system or a deep link to an app’s systems
Cost (as of October 2026)	$0 to $168 a month for the app in the examples below, plus card fees and, on some plans, extra staff	The app, plus a website builder subscription or a one-time build, plus a yearly domain fee	Quoted per project, plus a developer for changes. We haven’t found a reliable published range, so get written quotes
Control	Limited to what the app offers. Its templates and fields set the layout, and the page may show its branding	High over the website. The app still controls the booking steps	Highest, and you own every problem too
SEO (being found on Google)	Depends on the app. Some include SEO settings, but you can only add the pages and content its builder allows	Good. Your domain, your service pages, your words, built up over years	Good, if whoever builds it knows local SEO
Client data	Lives in the app. Check what you can export	Lives in the app. The website only sends people to it	You hold it, and you’re responsible for keeping it safe
Your effort	An hour or two to fill in services, photos and policies	A few days to set up yourself, or hand it to someone. Little upkeep	Weeks to months, plus ongoing upkeep
If you change apps	You rebuild the page in the new app. Links to the old app’s address stop working	Swap the link behind your Book buttons. The website stays	Depends how it was built
Best for	New and solo stylists getting started, and anyone who needs bookings this week	Most salons with a steady book that want to be found and look like themselves	Groups with needs no booking app covers

Three things the table shows:

• Start with the app page if you have nothing. It takes bookings today. Just fill it in properly: real photos, every service, starting prices and your policy.
• Add your own site when you want more control and independence. Some booking apps offer SEO tools and a custom domain (Square, for example, lists a website builder with SEO tools on all plans and connecting your own domain from its $49 plan, per its pricing page). A separate website goes further: your own pages for each service and area, such as “balayage in [your town]”, your design, and an address that stays the same if you switch booking apps.
• For a single salon, we’d usually skip custom booking software. Booking apps already do calendars, deposits, reminders and Google booking for a monthly fee. Build custom only when you can name what none of them do.

The salon booking website checklist

Do this on your phone, as a new client who has never heard of you. Mark each check pass or fail. “Sort of” is a fail.

1. The first screen says what, where and how to book

Before any scrolling, a visitor should see what you do, where you are and a Book button.

• Pass: a line like “Lived-in color and curly cuts in Oak Park” and a Book button, on a phone, with no scrolling.
• Common fail: a full-screen video or slideshow with the salon name and nothing else.

2. It works properly on a phone

Check it on a phone first. Google uses the mobile version of a site’s content for indexing and ranking (Google).

• Pass: text readable without zooming, buttons big enough for a thumb, no sideways scrolling, menu opens and closes.
• Common fail: a site designed on a laptop and never checked on a phone.

3. One Book button, on every page, that opens booking

• Pass: the same Book button sits in the header or bottom bar on every page, and from there a new client can reach a booked slot in three taps or fewer.
• Common fail: “Book” opens a contact form, a phone number or a page of nine links.

If your app lets you, link straight to a service or a stylist from that service’s page (“Book a silk press” opens the silk press booking). Fewer choices, fewer drop-offs.

4. Services in clients’ words, with starting prices and times

• Pass: each main service has a short line on what it is, who it’s for, how long it takes and a starting price, for example “from $85, about 2 hours”.
• Common fail: “Prices on consultation” for everything, which can send people to your DMs or to a salon that shows a number.

Add a “new client” or “consultation” option for complex services like color corrections and extensions, so a first-timer knows exactly what to book.

5. Your work, real and recent

• Pass: finished results on real clients, in good light, on the home page and each service page. Ask clients’ permission before you post their photos.
• Common fail: stock photos of models, or a gallery last updated two years ago.

6. Your deposit and no-show policy is one tap from the Book button

• Pass: a short line near the Book button (for example, “A $25 deposit holds new-client color appointments. Policy”) linking to your full policy, and the same policy shown in the booking flow.
• Common fail: the policy only appears after someone no-shows.

Need wording? Copy one of the three levels in our salon cancellation and no-show policy templates.

7. Your Google profile’s booking link opens the same booking page

• Pass: the Book button on your Google profile opens your booking page, not your homepage.
• Common fail: an old booking link from an app you left, or three different links from three providers.

How to set it is in the next section.

8. Name, address, phone and hours match Google exactly

• Pass: identical on your website, Google profile, Instagram and booking app, down to the suite number, with tap-to-call and tap-for-directions on the phone.
• Common fail: a new phone number on Google and the old one on the website footer.

9. It loads fast

• Pass: the main content appears within 2.5 seconds, which is the threshold Google’s web.dev calls good for Largest Contentful Paint, measured on real visits (web.dev). Free check: run your homepage through PageSpeed Insights on mobile. If it shows no real-visit data, use the lab LCP figure as a guide.
• Common fail: huge uncompressed photos, an autoplay video, and five pop-ups before the menu.

10. You can tell where bookings come from

• Pass: your booking app or website shows you roughly how many bookings came from Google, Instagram and the website each month.
• Common fail: no idea which channel is working.

Google says it doesn’t show performance data for custom booking links (Google), so check what your booking app reports and ask new clients “how did you find us?” at their first visit.

Score yourself: 9 or 10 passes, your site is doing its job. 6 to 8, fix the fails in the order above this week. 5 or fewer, the front door is likely costing you bookings, and that’s worth fixing before you spend anything on marketing.

What do salon booking apps cost?

These are published prices from each app’s own US pricing page, checked on 2 October 2026. They’re listed alphabetically, and this isn’t a ranking: the right app depends on your team size, your services and how you take payments. We include only what each page states. Card fees are charged on top of the monthly price.

App	Published monthly price	Team	Card fees (as published)	Booking page and Google
Booksy	$29.99 plus tax. 14-day trial	$20 a month per extra user	2.49% + 10¢ on its card reader, 2.49% + 20¢ Tap to Pay, 2.69% + 30¢ mobile and keyed-in	Online booking website and Reserve with Google included. Also lists no-show protection
GlossGenius	$24, $48 or $148 billed yearly ($28, $56 or $168 billed monthly). 14-day trial	Standard and Gold: teams under 10. Platinum: 10 or more	Flat 2.6%	Custom booking website, deposits and cancellation policies on all plans. Google booking from the $48 plan
Square Appointments	$0, $49 or $149 per location	Unlimited staff calendars on all plans	Online: 3.3% + 30¢ on the free plan, 2.9% + 30¢ on paid plans. In person: 2.4% to 2.6% + 15¢ by plan. Card on file or keyed: 3.5% + 15¢	Booking site, deposits and Book Now buttons for Instagram and Google on all plans. Card-on-file no-show fees and your own domain from $49
Vagaro	$23.99 a month for the first 6 months (regular price shown as $30)	$10 a month per extra calendar, up to seven, then no extra charge	Separate Vagaro payments rates; ask Vagaro	Online booking through Vagaro, Instagram, Facebook and Apple Maps included. Page also lists booking through Google and an embeddable widget

What to check before you switch or sign up:

• The real monthly total. Add extra staff, add-ons you’d actually use, and card fees on a typical month’s takings.
• Deposits and no-show fees on your plan. On some apps they’re on every plan; on others, card-on-file fees need a higher tier.
• Google booking. Some plans connect to Google so clients can book from your profile; on others you add the link yourself (that’s free, see below).
• Exporting your client list. Ask how you’d get your clients, notes and future appointments out if you ever leave.
• Marketplace fees. Some apps charge a fee when a new client finds you through their marketplace. Our salon marketing cost guide works through what those fees leave you per client.

How do you connect your booking link to Google?

Your Google profile is often the first place a new client sees you, so its Book button matters as much as the one on your site. Google’s steps (Google):

1. Sign in to the Google account that manages your salon and open your Business Profile.
2. Select Bookings, then Add link (or Add another link).
3. Paste your booking page address and select Save.
4. If there’s more than one link, choose Set preferred link and pick the one you want shown first.

If your booking app is a Google booking partner, its link may appear on your profile automatically. If an old provider’s link is still there after you’ve left that app, you can ask for it to be removed from Search or Maps with Remove provider, and Google says providers have 5 days to process it.

Then tap the Book button on your own profile, on your phone, and make sure you land on the booking page. For the rest of your profile (categories, services, photos, posts), see our Google Business Profile guide for hair salons.

Tip: Use the same booking page everywhere: website, Google profile, Instagram bio, Facebook and your text signature. One link is easier to test, easier to change and easier to track. Our salon Instagram bio ideas show how to word the bio around it.

Embed the booking app or link to it?

Many apps offer both: a widget that sits inside your page, or a link that opens their booking page. Square, for example, says you can add a Book Now button, a QR code or an embedded booking widget (Square).

There’s no single right answer, so test it the way a client would:

1. On your phone, tap Book on your site and count the taps to a confirmed time.
2. Check nothing is cut off, squashed or needs zooming.
3. Try it again on a second phone (one iPhone, one Android if you can).

Pick whichever is faster and cleaner. If the embedded widget is fiddly on a phone, a plain button that opens the booking page is fine.

What should a salon booking website include, page by page?

You don’t need many pages. You need the right ones. To see how they look put together, our hair salon website examples walk through salon designs section by section.

Page	What it must do	Must include
Home	Say what you do, where, and get people to book	One-line promise, Book button, 3 to 6 photos of real work, top services with starting prices, address, hours
Services (one page, or one per main service)	Help people pick and know roughly what it costs	What it is, who it’s for, time, starting price, what changes the price, Book button for that service
Team (if more than one stylist)	Help people choose a stylist	Photo, specialties, a few photos of their work, a Book with [Name] link if your app supports it
Policies	Set expectations before booking	Deposit, cancellation, no-shows, lateness, children, refunds
Contact and location	Get people to the door	Map, parking, entrance, accessibility, tap-to-call, hours

A short FAQ (parking, consultations, what to bring, patch tests for color) saves you messages and helps people who search those questions find you.

Common mistakes that cost salons bookings

1. The Book button opens your homepage. Every extra tap is a chance to lose someone. Link straight to booking.
2. Different booking links in different places. After an app change, old links live on in bios, Google and email signatures. Check them all.
3. No prices at all. Starting prices filter out the wrong clients and reassure the right ones.
4. Forcing an account before showing times. If your app allows it, let people see available times first.
5. A pretty site that’s slow on a phone. Compress photos and drop the autoplay video.
6. A policy nobody sees until it’s used against them. Show it at booking, not after the no-show.
7. Building custom software to save on app fees. Compare a build quote, plus its upkeep, with several years of app fees before you decide, and remember you take on the security of your clients’ data.

Want it done for you?

Winflow builds salon websites around one job: getting the right people into your chair. Your existing booking link (Booksy, GlossGenius, Square, Vagaro and others) sits one tap away on every page, and we connect your domain and booking link when you go live. A salon template website is $299 one-time; a custom design is quoted after a short scope, never more than $799. You keep your booking app and your client data where they are.

Check your booking path today

Your website is one of the places a new client decides. Run the free Salon Profile Check on your phone, the way a new client would, to test your Google profile, Instagram and booking path together. For the whole picture, read how to get more clients for your hair salon, and if your profile needs more reviews, our free Google review QR code tool makes a print-ready sticker in a couple of minutes. If you’d rather we looked, Winflow’s free diagnostic covers your Google profile, Instagram and booking path, written up by people, not software, in your inbox within 48 hours.