The short answer
- Choose Maravoa if your salon wants a flat team price that does not rise with every professional added inside the plan's limit, plus portable professional records and focused chair workflows.
- Choose DaySmart Salon if you need deeper payroll, marketing, inventory, and larger-salon operating tools and are comfortable with user-based pricing.
- Price check: Maravoa Studio is $59/month for up to five working professionals and Salon is $119/month for up to ten. DaySmart's team tiers included three users and charged for additional users when verified Jul 23, 2026.
- Important tradeoff: DaySmart reaches further into mature salon operations. Maravoa offers a simpler and more predictable pricing shape for smaller teams.
The worked examples below show how the two pricing models change for a growing salon and for an individual professional.
How Maravoa and DaySmart Salon differ
Maravoa and DaySmart Salon both combine scheduling and business tools, but they price teams very differently. Maravoa charges a team a flat monthly band no matter how many professionals work under it, so a growing salon's software cost does not climb with each new chair. DaySmart prices by user: its team tiers include three users and add a published per-user charge above that. Maravoa also keeps small, explicit entry paths for a single professional, and DaySmart's higher tiers reach into deeper payroll, marketing, and operations features. Prices below are US prices verified in July 2026.
Pricing shape
The clearest difference is how a team is billed. Maravoa charges a salon one flat band; DaySmart charges per user above a three-user base.
Maravoa team bands
Maravoa's public pricing describes two flat team bands (Model D — team access included, no per-seat charge):
- Studio: $59/month. One location, up to 5 working professionals. Team access is included, and invited professionals do not pay a second Maravoa subscription.
- Salon: $119/month. One location, up to 10 working professionals. Team access is included; teams above 10 contact Maravoa for assisted pricing.
Because the band is flat, adding a professional inside the band does not change the monthly price. A professional invited into one of these bands can work on a sponsored seat at $0 to them.
DaySmart team tiers
DaySmart's published US team tiers as of July 2026 price by user:
- Deluxe: $69/month for three users, with additional users listed at $9/month each. It adds tools including gift cards, digital forms, client loyalty, basic payroll, email marketing, and 1,000 text messages per month. DaySmart lists text marketing and two-way texting as add-ons at this tier.
- Deluxe Growth: $149/month for three users, with additional users listed at $9/month each. It includes text marketing, two-way texting, reputation management, and 1,000 text messages per month.
- Premium: $199/month for six users, additional users $9/month each, adding QuickBooks Connect and a 2,500-message allowance.
- Premium Growth: contact DaySmart for pricing. Unlimited users, expense tracking, advanced payroll, commission tools, and 5,000 text messages per month.
DaySmart also publishes a single-user Basic tier at $29/month (one user, 500 text messages, no text marketing or two-way texting). Its public page does not list a separate per-location price; a multi-location buyer should ask DaySmart for a written quote covering every location and user.
The practical difference is shape: Maravoa's team cost is a flat band, so it is predictable as the team grows, while DaySmart's team cost rises with each user above three.
The individual entry paths
Maravoa also prices a single professional by how they sign up, not by where they work. This ladder supports the team story — a professional invited into a Studio or Salon band pays $0, while a professional signing up on their own has two small plans:
- Owner-sponsored professional: $0 to the professional. When a Maravoa salon owner invites them into a sponsored seat, the salon's flat team band covers that seat.
- Stylist: $19/month for a self-signed account. A dedicated texting number is an optional $2/month add-on.
- Solo: $29/month. This includes texting plus the full solo-business toolset: booking, recurring appointments, client texting, payments and checkout, reports, client management, and a per-client color card that keeps each formula, developer, processing time, technique notes, and before-and-after photos on a color history timeline. Compared with Stylist, Solo also adds checkout, gift cards, inventory, sales-tax tools, a service catalog, and business settings.
Texting and marketing
On Maravoa, a team's shared salon texting is part of the flat Studio or Salon band. For individuals, Solo includes texting at $29/month; a self-signed Stylist account is $19/month with an optional dedicated texting number for $2/month; and an owner-invited professional in a Maravoa salon can use a sponsored seat at $0 to them.
DaySmart includes monthly text-message allowances across its published plans: 500 on Basic, 1,000 on Deluxe and Deluxe Growth, 2,500 on Premium, and 5,000 on Premium Growth. Its plan grid distinguishes appointment messages from marketing and two-way texting: text marketing and two-way texting are unavailable on Basic, listed as add-ons on Deluxe, and included from Deluxe Growth upward.
That makes the choice depend on the job. A salon that wants two-way client texting on DaySmart needs either an unpublished Deluxe add-on or Deluxe Growth; on Maravoa two-way client texting rides the flat team band. A salon that wants large campaign allowances and reputation management may prefer DaySmart's Growth tiers. Ask DaySmart what happens after the published allowance and get any add-on price in writing; its public pricing page does not show that amount.
Payments and money
Both platforms pass through card-processing costs separately from the software subscription. Compare the complete processing quote for your own card mix rather than using one side's rate in isolation.
DaySmart publishes integrated payments on every plan. Its payments page describes next-business-day funding, deposits, no-show charges, recurring memberships, contactless checkout, tipping, and stationary or mobile salon hardware. Maravoa connects payments and checkout to each professional's own account and ledger, and a salon band uses a shared salon Stripe account for team-managed work.
If payment hardware and a mature front-desk POS are central to the decision, DaySmart offers the broader public hardware story. If keeping each professional's payments and records attached to their own business is the priority, inspect Maravoa's live workflow before deciding.
Portability and cancellation
Maravoa is designed around portable client records and supports client export. There is no long-term software contract on the plans described here.
DaySmart's public salon policies say software subscriptions can be canceled at any time with no further financial obligation. The same page says software purchases are non-refundable and restricts hardware returns, so ask which policy applies to the exact cloud plan and hardware in your quote.
DaySmart advertises free migration into its product. During this review, we did not find a current public DaySmart Salon page promising a particular self-serve export format or post-cancellation access window. That is not proof that export is unavailable; it means a buyer should have DaySmart document the export fields, format, timing, cost, and access period before signing.
What you'd actually pay
These examples use public prices verified in July 2026. Card-processing costs are excluded on both sides.
A 6-professional salon that texts clients
Maravoa Salon — $119/month, flat. Up to 10 working professionals are covered by the one band, so six professionals cost the same $119 as three would. Shared salon texting is part of the band.
DaySmart Deluxe Growth — $176/month. $149 for the first three users plus 3 extra users at $9/month each ($27) totals $176. We compare against Deluxe Growth, not the cheaper Deluxe, because two-way client texting on Deluxe is an add-on whose price DaySmart does not publish — Deluxe Growth is the honest comparable because it includes two-way texting outright.
Because Maravoa's band is flat and DaySmart charges per user, the gap widens with every professional added: a seventh professional adds $9/month on DaySmart and $0 on Maravoa until the band's limit.
The individual-path comparison
For a single professional with texting, the entry plans compare like this:
Maravoa Stylist — $21/month. $19 for a self-signed Stylist account plus $2 for a dedicated texting number. If a Maravoa salon owner sponsors the professional instead, the seat costs that professional $0.
Maravoa Solo — $29/month. Texting is included, alongside booking, recurring appointments, client management, per-client color cards with before-and-after photos, payments and checkout, reports, gift cards, inventory, sales-tax tools, a service catalog, and business settings.
DaySmart Basic — $29/month. One user, online booking, appointment confirmations, integrated payments, online deposits, reports, and 500 text messages per month; DaySmart's grid does not include text marketing or two-way texting on Basic. A DaySmart configuration with two-way texting requires an unpublished Deluxe add-on quote or Deluxe Growth at $149/month.
Built for the Chair
Built with working stylists to make your Tuesday at 2 p.m. easier.
Maravoa is shaped around the work at the chair, and around who owns it.
- The portable book. A professional's clients, color history, and revenue records belong to them: an owner-invited professional works on a $0 sponsored seat inside a Maravoa salon, priced by how they sign up rather than where they work, and their book stays theirs.
- Color card timeline. Every client has a color card that keeps the formula, developer, processing time, technique notes, and before-and-after photos on one color history timeline.
- Recurring appointments in seconds. A standing appointment can be set to repeat, so a regular's future visits are scheduled together.
- Rebooking at checkout. Checkout prompts booking the client's next appointment in the same motion as taking payment.
- Texting included. Two-way client texting is included in the price, with a dedicated per-salon number.
- Owner money tools. A month-close profit-and-loss view in plain language, and refunds that can be undone.
Where DaySmart is better
DaySmart is the stronger fit when a salon needs more operational depth than Maravoa's flat bands are meant to provide.
- Team administration: its higher tiers publish multi-user allowances, basic or advanced payroll, commission tools, overtime rules, and employee reminders.
- Marketing breadth: Deluxe Growth and above combine text marketing, two-way texting, reputation management, email marketing, and larger message allowances.
- Front-desk and POS maturity: DaySmart publicly documents deposits, no-show charging, memberships, integrated transaction reporting, next-business-day funding, tipping, and stationary or mobile payment hardware.
- Larger-operation tools: higher tiers add QuickBooks Connect, expense tracking, productivity dashboards, multi-ticket checkout, resource management, packages, memberships, and unlimited users at the quoted Premium Growth level.
A growing salon that wants payroll, commission rules, marketing campaigns, reputation management, and integrated hardware in one established system may reasonably choose DaySmart. Maravoa's advantage is a flat, predictable team price and an ownership model centered on the individual professional; it is not a substitute for every enterprise feature DaySmart has accumulated.
Common questions
How does Maravoa's team pricing compare with DaySmart's on shape?
Maravoa charges a flat band per salon: Studio is $59/month for up to 5 working professionals and Salon is $119/month for up to 10, and invited professionals do not pay a second subscription. DaySmart charges per user: its Deluxe and Deluxe Growth tiers include three users and add $9/month for each additional user. So Maravoa's team cost stays flat as the team grows within a band, while DaySmart's rises with each user above three.
What do the professionals inside a Studio or Salon band pay?
Nothing extra beyond the flat band. Team access is included, so invited professionals do not pay a second Maravoa subscription. Underneath the bands, an individual professional has three paths: an owner-invited sponsored professional pays $0 for their seat inside a Maravoa salon; a professional who signs up independently can choose Stylist at $19/month and add a dedicated texting number for $2/month; and a Solo shop is $29/month with texting plus the broader business toolset.
What does Maravoa Solo add beyond Stylist?
Solo includes texting and adds the fuller business surface: checkout, gift cards, inventory, sales-tax tools, a service catalog, and business settings, alongside booking, client management, payments, and reports.
Does DaySmart include texting?
DaySmart publishes monthly text allowances from 500 messages on Basic to 5,000 on Premium Growth. Text marketing and two-way texting are not included on Basic, are listed as add-ons on Deluxe, and are included from Deluxe Growth upward. Ask DaySmart for written overage and add-on pricing.
Which is better for a larger salon?
DaySmart may be better when the salon needs published multi-user depth, payroll and commission controls, marketing campaigns, reputation management, QuickBooks integration, or integrated payment hardware. Maravoa may be better when the priority is a flat, predictable team price and keeping each professional's client and payment workflow attached to them.