If you're looking this up, you've probably already made the decision. Pricing that escalates without much warning, a 20% marketplace commission that applies even to clients you brought in yourself, a $499 fee waiting for you the day you try to leave — Mindbody's own reputation is doing a lot of the persuading here. This is a roundup of what else is out there, graded on the things that actually matter across pricing and commission structure. If you run a salon, medspa, or wellness studio, the vertical-specific breakdown below goes deeper on what fits your setup.
It depends on your business type more than any single "best" answer. Boulevard is the strongest general alternative for established appointment-based businesses — no marketplace commission, support included on every plan. Vagaro is the reasonable lower-cost landing spot. But which one actually fits changes by vertical: salons need color-scheduling depth, medspas need HIPAA-compliant charting, wellness studios need booking and commission fit tuned to appointment-based work. Find your business type below for the specific breakdown.
Same five platforms, graded against the criteria that actually matter for how your business runs — color scheduling for salons, clinical charting for medspas, class capacity for wellness studios.
Color appointment management, multi-service booking, and branded booking — graded for a 4–6 chair operation.
HIPAA-compliant charting, consent forms, and MD sign-off workflows — where the platform gap actually shows up.
Appointment-based practices — massage, acupuncture, float, IV, and similar — graded on booking and commission fit.
Pricing, marketplace commission, data export at cancellation, and support — the things every Mindbody exit gets evaluated against, regardless of business type.
| Criterion | Boulevard | Vagaro | GlossGenius | Square Appts | Booksy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Published starting price | $176/mo (Essentials, 5 staff) | $24–30/mo per calendar | $48/mo flat | Free–$80/mo | $30–50/mo base |
| Marketplace commission | ✓ $0 — no marketplace | ~ Opt-in only, 20%/5% on promoted bookings | ✓ $0 — direct booking only | ✓ $0 — no marketplace | ~ 30% on a new client's first visit, opt-in (Boost) |
| Data export fee at cancellation | None found in published terms | None found — manual self-export required | None found in published terms | None found in published terms | None found in published terms |
| Support | ✓ Included, all plans | ~ Ticket and chat | ✓ Responsive, well-reviewed | ✗ Self-serve only | ~ Email and chat |
| Typical all-in cost, single location | $300–600/mo | $150–650/mo | $48/mo — one provider only | Free–$80/mo — scales poorly past 2–3 providers | $30–50/mo + Boost fees if opted in |
None of these five carry Mindbody's confirmed $499 data-export fee — but "none found in published terms" isn't the same guarantee as a vendor stating in writing that no fee applies. Confirm directly before you sign if that matters to your decision.
A general read on each platform. The full breakdown — including which vertical-specific features matter for your setup — lives in the business-type pages above.
No marketplace commission on any tier, support included without a separate paid tier, and clients book directly on your own site rather than a discovery app. Operators who switched from Mindbody consistently name the included support as the thing they didn't expect to notice as much as they do.
The tradeoffs: the consumer-facing mobile app is smaller than Mindbody's, so if the Mindbody marketplace is still actively building your book, you'll feel its absence. Onboarding quality varies by account team. And Boulevard has zero class-scheduling capability, so it's not built for a class-heavy fitness studio. Find your business type below for the full cost and feature breakdown.
Vagaro is where a lot of Mindbody exits land, and it's not a bad choice. Broad feature set, reasonable pricing, solid scheduling infrastructure that's been around long enough to cover most standard workflows. Booking routes through Vagaro's consumer app rather than your own site, and support comes via ticket and chat rather than a dedicated account team. For owners whose primary motivation is escaping Mindbody's pricing, Vagaro is a reasonable landing spot.
Beautifully designed and genuinely right for a solo operator running a full book. The ceiling is real and arrives fast the moment a second provider joins — the scheduling logic and reporting weren't built for a team. It's the right answer for one person with a full book; it's not the right answer if you're running or planning to run a team.
Works if you need something operational by next week — fast setup, low price. It doesn't hold up for an established business: provider-level reporting is minimal and there's no live support to call when something breaks on a Saturday. A starting point, not a destination.
A discovery engine, similar in structure to Mindbody but with a real difference: Booksy's 30% commission (capped at $100) applies only to a new client's first visit through the opt-in Boost feature, not an ongoing tax on every marketplace booking. If you're leaving Mindbody specifically over commission on clients you already own, Booksy doesn't replicate that problem. If you're past the acquisition stage, the marketplace itself isn't much of a draw.
For the full breakdown of what each question actually means for your business type, see the vertical-specific pages above.
Your client records, appointment history, gift card balances, and active packages transfer. Mindbody charges $499 to export this data — it's called a "data export service fee" and it shows up in the contract. It's a real cost, but it's one-time, and most businesses recover it inside two months on a lower all-in plan.
The data transfers. The disruption is in the booking link — your Mindbody link goes dark on go-live day. A week of advance communication through email, text, and your Instagram bio handles the vast majority of it. The clients who don't get notified are the ones who call confused the first week. That's not data loss — it's a communication gap, and an avoidable one.
Boulevard is available month-to-month. No $499 exit fee. Your client data is yours — exportable, no holdback. The fear of getting into the same situation with a different platform is real, and the answer is to check the contract terms before you sign. Boulevard's are notably different from Mindbody's.
The right platform depends on how your business actually runs — what type of business, how many providers, how your book is built, what's been frustrating you, what you can't afford to disrupt. Answer 8 questions and the assessment gives you a recommendation on the spot. Sometimes it's Boulevard. Sometimes it's something else. Sometimes it's stay and negotiate.
Grove only gets paid when a business switches through us — which is exactly why we'll tell you if the timing isn't right, or if a different platform is the better fit for your setup.
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Want to talk it through instead? Start with the assessment and you'll see the option to book a 20-min call after.