StyleSeat vs Acuity Scheduling

If you run a beauty salon or a small shop, you are probably wondering whether or not it’s a good idea to get an online booking service. Online appointment booking and scheduling is a fast-growing trend in the beauty professionals' community. It is an efficient way to manage your business and keep customers coming back to your chair. Many entrepreneurs struggle with selecting StyleSeat or Acuity Scheduling, so we decided to give you information on the two.

STYLESEAT, price starting at $35 a month

StyleSeat is a big name in the world of beauty appointment scheduling. It is a one-stop shop for beauty & wellness professionals. It is not limited to hair only and covers other services such as massage, spa or even tanning. StyleSeat has been around for a while and has proven to be a stable and a reliable platform. In addition to all the bell and whistle of booking, Styleseat offers a service called Client Delievery Program that markets your business across the web. For each new client delivered, StyleSeat splits the first appointment fee with you 50/50.

We find Styleseat subscription cost to be a little high. Besides, the subscription doesn’t give you access to all the features. Some features such as the Client delivery program have an additional cost. The interface of Styleseat is packed with tons of features; maybe too many features to handle, which could make it overwhelming if you are not tech-savvy. The old-school calendar is not very user-friendly and could get some improvements. Also you cannot accept payments via StyleSeat which is a bummer. Unlike Acuity, StyleSeat does not let you customize the platform to your brand identity.

ACUITY, price starting at $25 month

Acuity scheduling is not just for the beauty industry, it supports over 50,000 businesses of all kind and has been around since 2006. Therefore, is not known for being solely a Beauty app. It packs lots of interesting features such as payments and deposits through PayPal, Square, Stripe, Braintree, or Authorize.net. The interface is Acuity offers great calendar syncing options. You can sync your book with your iCloud, Google or Office 365 calendars. You can also customize the platform to fit your brand identity. Acuity has custom forms you can create for one service or all services.

The client booking page is pretty basic with cancellation policies and a dry list of services. The interface has a very corporate feel and doesn’t feel like a beauty app.

Just by reading the comparisons of the two platforms, I would definitely suggest Acuity. The choice is up to you tho!