The short answer
Vagaro is the better choice when breadth matters most: a consumer marketplace listing, classes, memberships, multi-location tools, a branded client app and a large add-on ecosystem. Maravoa is the better choice for an independent stylist or small salon that wants straightforward pricing, portable client records, detailed color history and a focused salon workflow instead of a larger platform.
- Audience. Vagaro is a broad beauty and wellness platform with a consumer marketplace. Maravoa is a focused salon operating system for independent professionals and small teams.
- Pricing. Maravoa starts at $19/month, or $21/month with a dedicated texting number, and Solo is $29/month. Vagaro's one-calendar base subscription lists $30.00/month, currently $23.99/month as an exclusive rate for the first six months.
- Pricing shape. Maravoa's plan price follows how the account is set up. Vagaro's base subscription covers one bookable calendar and grows with additional employee calendars and optional premium features, so the configuration matters more than the sticker price.
- Texting. Vagaro includes notifications and appointment reminders in its base subscription and prices direct customer SMS and text marketing separately. Maravoa includes client texting on Solo, and a dedicated texting number is a $2/month add-on to the $19 Stylist plan.
The detailed comparison below covers audience, calendars and pricing shape, text message costs, payments, cancellation and exports, and a worked one-professional example.
How Maravoa and Vagaro differ
Maravoa and Vagaro solve overlapping problems, but they are built at different scales. Vagaro is a broad beauty and wellness platform with a consumer marketplace and a large add-on catalog. Maravoa is a focused salon operating system for independent professionals and small teams who want simpler pricing and a portable client book.
Vagaro's base subscription price below was checked against Vagaro's own public pricing page on Sep 1, 2026. Where a Vagaro figure could not be read from Vagaro's own public pages on that date, this comparison says so rather than restating an older number.
Audience: breadth versus focus
Vagaro sells reach and range. Its base subscription includes a free Vagaro Marketplace listing, online booking through Vagaro plus Instagram, Facebook and Apple Maps, memberships, packages, gift certificates, loyalty tools, inventory, invoices, advanced reporting and SOAP notes, and it extends into classes, multi-location tools, payroll and accounting integrations and a large hardware catalog. A growing wellness business or class-based operation is buying a platform.
Maravoa sells focus and ownership. It covers booking with recurring appointments, client records, color history with before-and-after photos, texting, checkout and clean reporting, and it keeps the client book attached to the professional who built it. A booth renter or small salon that does not want a larger platform is buying a smaller surface on purpose.
Pricing and fees
Vagaro: base subscription plus calendars
As checked on Sep 1, 2026, Vagaro's pricing page lists a base subscription of $30.00 per month including one bookable calendar, currently offered at $23.99 per month as an exclusive rate for the first six months.
Vagaro has historically charged a monthly price for each additional employee calendar up to a license cap. That per-calendar figure could not be read from Vagaro's own public pages on Sep 1, 2026, so this comparison does not restate it. If your business needs more than one calendar, ask Vagaro for the current per-calendar price and the license cap in writing, because for a team that number matters more than the base subscription does.
Note also that the $23.99 rate is introductory. Compare against the $30.00 regular price for anything past the first six months.
Maravoa: priced by how you sign up
Maravoa prices the account by how the professional signs up, not by where they work.
- Owner-sponsored professional: $0 to the professional. If a Maravoa salon owner invites them as a sponsored seat, the salon's flat team plan covers the seat.
- Stylist: $19/month for a self-signed account, wherever they work. A dedicated texting number is an optional $2/month add-on.
- Solo: $29/month when they sign up to run their own shop.
For teams, Maravoa uses flat bands: Studio at $59/month for up to five working professionals and Salon at $119/month for up to ten, one location, with team access included so invited professionals do not pay a second subscription. There is no per-calendar scaling within a Maravoa plan.
The fairest comparison is the total configuration you would actually use. Vagaro's base subscription includes a wide feature set, and some capabilities are separately priced premium features. Maravoa includes fewer categories of tools and keeps its plan structure narrower.
Features and day-to-day operations
Texting and appointment messages
Vagaro includes notifications and appointment reminders in its base subscription. Its direct SMS and text marketing system is priced separately through its own Text Messaging plans, which are sold by message credits. The current credit plan prices and the per-additional-credit rate could not be read from Vagaro's own public pages on Sep 1, 2026, so this comparison does not restate them. Ask Vagaro for the current Text Messaging plan price, the included credit count, the per-additional-credit rate, and which message types consume credits, because business-initiated customer SMS, customer replies delivered as SMS, longer segmented messages and media can all draw on the same balance.
Maravoa includes booking confirmations, appointment reminders and client texting in Solo at $29/month. On the $19/month Stylist plan, a dedicated texting number is an optional $2/month add-on. Maravoa does not currently offer Vagaro's large campaign builder, audience filters or marketplace-linked Daily Deals.
Payments and checkout
Both products charge card processing costs separately from the software subscription. The actual card cost depends on the provider, transaction type and account configuration, so this comparison does not use one platform's rate card without itemizing the other's on the same basis.
Vagaro's integrated card flow uses Vagaro Merchant Services and does not integrate with third-party card readers. A business can still process a card with another provider and manually record that payment in Vagaro for reporting. Eligible US businesses that activate Vagaro processing can receive a free or discounted reader, subject to Vagaro's promotion terms.
Maravoa sends card checkout to the professional's own connected Stripe account. Cash and external payment records can live beside card transactions, and reporting stays scoped to the business or independent professional who earned the money. Stripe processing charges are separate from the Maravoa subscription.
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.
Cancellation and taking your records with you
Vagaro provides a self-service cancellation path for the business account owner. Its support guidance recommends exporting records first: reports are run and exported individually to PDF or Excel, and the full customer list can be exported to PDF or Excel by the owner. If reports were not exported before closure, Vagaro says the owner must reactivate the account to retrieve them and then deactivate again.
That is real portability, with an owner-permission boundary. Vagaro says employees cannot export the customer list themselves, although the owner can filter the report to an employee's customers and export it for them.
Maravoa is designed around a professional-owned book. A professional who signs up for their own account can move between a hosted Stylist account and their own Solo business without rebuilding their client list, formulas, photos, appointments or financial history.
What one professional would actually pay
Comparing the subscription line only, using the prices verified above and excluding card processing on both sides:
Maravoa Stylist at $21/month
$19 for a self-signed Stylist account plus the optional $2 dedicated texting number. It includes the professional's calendar, client records, money tracking, reports, self-booking, recurring appointments, 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.
Maravoa Solo at $29/month
Flat, with client texting included. Solo adds the one-person shop layer beyond Stylist: checkout, gift cards, inventory, sales-tax tools, a service catalog and business settings.
Vagaro at $23.99/month for the first six months, then $30.00/month
One bookable calendar. Direct customer SMS and text marketing are priced separately through Vagaro's Text Messaging plans, so a professional who wants to text clients directly should add that quoted cost to the subscription before comparing.
On the subscription line alone, Maravoa Stylist with a texting number is below Vagaro's introductory rate and well below its regular rate, while Maravoa Solo sits close to the introductory rate and below the regular one. The honest caveat is that these are not identical products: Vagaro includes a much broader marketplace and feature ecosystem, and its true total depends on the calendar count and the text messaging plan you would need. Get both of those quoted before deciding.
Where Vagaro is better
Vagaro is the stronger choice when breadth and consumer discovery matter more than a compact salon workflow. Its base subscription includes a free Vagaro Marketplace listing, online booking through Vagaro plus Instagram, Facebook and Apple Maps, memberships, packages, gift certificates, loyalty tools, inventory, invoices, advanced reporting and SOAP notes.
Vagaro also offers capabilities Maravoa does not currently match: a branded consumer app, APIs and webhooks, check-in apps, large-scale email and text marketing, Daily Deals, classes, multi-location tools, payroll and accounting integrations, and a much larger hardware catalog. A growing wellness business, class-based operation, or salon that wants a marketplace channel and a broad ecosystem may reasonably prefer Vagaro even if the final monthly configuration costs more.
Maravoa is intentionally narrower. It is a better fit when an independent professional or small salon wants booking with recurring appointments, client records, color history with before-and-after photos, texting, checkout and clean reporting without adopting a larger platform.
Common questions
Is Vagaro cheaper than Maravoa?
It depends on the configuration. Vagaro's one-calendar base subscription is $30.00/month, currently $23.99/month as an exclusive rate for the first six months. In Maravoa, an owner-invited sponsored seat inside a Maravoa salon costs the professional $0; a professional who signs up for their own Stylist account pays $19/month, or $21 with a dedicated texting number; and a one-person Solo shop is $29/month. Vagaro's total can rise with additional calendars, its separately priced text messaging plans and premium features, so compare the configuration rather than the headline.
Does Vagaro include appointment reminders?
Yes. Vagaro lists notifications and appointment reminders in its base subscription. Direct customer SMS and text marketing use its separate Text Messaging plans and credit rules, which are priced on top of the subscription.
Can I export my Vagaro customer list?
Yes. Vagaro documents PDF and Excel export for the full customer list by the business owner. Employees cannot perform that export themselves, but the owner can filter and export an employee's customer list.
Which product is better for a booth renter or independent stylist?
Choose based on the job you need done. Vagaro offers broader marketing, marketplace, class, membership, hardware and integration tools. Maravoa offers a smaller salon-specific system with flat plan pricing and a client book designed to stay with the professional who owns it.
Can I try Maravoa before signing up?
Yes. Try the live demo with real sample data and no login, or start a free trial.