Vagaro's headline price is among the lowest in this category: $30/month for one location and one calendar, or $23.99 for new customers' first six months. But that number excludes a long list of separately priced add-ons, and Reddit's operators describe real monthly costs landing 3–5x higher once they've added what they need. Boulevard costs more upfront and bills fewer surprises. Here's what separates them.
Vagaro is the better choice for a solo operator or small team that needs few add-ons and values marketplace discovery. Boulevard is the better choice for a business that wants predictable billing or does clinical medspa work. Vagaro's $30/month base ($23.99 intro rate) excludes a long list of separately priced add-ons, and Reddit operators report real costs landing 3–5x higher. Boulevard starts at $159/month with text and email allowances included, so the gap narrows once Vagaro's add-ons and extra calendars are counted.
Vagaro's base plan costs $30 a month for one location and one calendar ($23.99 for new customers' first six months), plus $10 for each additional calendar. Add-ons are billed separately, including text marketing (from $20/mo), API and webhooks ($10/mo), Data Lake reporting ($40/mo), and a branded app (currently $100/mo). Boulevard's salon plans cost $159–$325 a month at regular prices, plus $65 for Forms; medspa plans start at $199 with charting included.
Vagaro has the largest review base in the category, with 3,647 reviews on Capterra. Reviewers credit its included marketplace reach across Vagaro Marketplace, Instagram, Facebook, and Apple Maps. Repeated complaints describe outages during business hours that stop operators from checking out clients or viewing schedules, and medspa users on Reddit call its EMR module "not meant for anything medical."
Booking through Vagaro Marketplace, Instagram, Facebook, and Apple Maps is included in the base price, a broad discovery channel most competitors charge extra for or don't offer at all.
"You can actually reach them at 4 AM."Reddit, on Vagaro phone support
Not a one-off review. Operators describe outages during business hours where they "can't check out clients, view files, or schedule." Worth asking Vagaro directly about uptime history before committing.
"Can't check out clients, view files, or schedule" during an outage.r/hairstylist
Vagaro has a real EMR module (treatment plans, injectable tracking, e-prescriptions), but medical-focused Reddit threads describe it as "not meant for anything medical," with some operators integrating a separate charting tool instead.
Vagaro leads Boulevard on starting price ($30 versus $159 a month at regular prices), included marketplace discovery, review ratings (4.7 versus 4.6 on Capterra, 4.6 versus 4.4 on G2), and a 30-day free trial. Boulevard leads on bundled pricing with fewer add-ons, clinical charting included in its Aesthetics plans, and fewer reported outages and migration failures. Vagaro sells API access from $10 a month; Boulevard's public API is Enterprise-only.
| Feature area | Vagaro | Boulevard |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $30/mo/location, 1 calendar ($23.99 for first 6 months); +$10 per extra calendar | $159/mo/location (up to 5 providers) |
| Marketplace / discovery | ✓ Vagaro Marketplace, Instagram, Facebook, Apple Maps, included; opt-in promotions charge 20% new / 5% returning | ✗ No marketplace, direct booking only |
| Add-on structure | ✗ Long list of separately priced add-ons; real cost is hard to predict upfront | ✓ Fewer add-ons, more bundled per tier |
| Clinical/medical charting | ~ Full EMR module, but users call it "not meant for anything medical" | ✓ Included on every Aesthetics plan, more consistently recommended for clinical work |
| Reported reliability | ✗ Repeated outage complaints during business hours | ~ Reporting/usability complaints, not outage-specific |
| Migration experience | ✗ Botched Schedulicity migrations reported, missing client data | ~ Some migration failures reported, less frequently cited |
| API / integrations | ~ API from $10/mo, QuickBooks $10/mo, Xero $10/mo | ~ Zapier supported; public API Enterprise-only |
| G2 rating | 4.6 (395 reviews) | 4.4 (110 reviews) |
| Capterra rating | 4.7 (3,647 reviews) | 4.6 (375 reviews) |
| Free trial | ✓ 30 days | ✗ Not offered |
Choose Vagaro if marketplace discovery matters, you want to pay only for the add-ons you use, or budget is the main constraint; a lean single-provider shop can run close to the $30 base. Choose Boulevard if predictable billing matters more than the lowest starting price, clinical or medspa work is central to the business, or uptime during business hours is non-negotiable.
Included exposure across Vagaro Marketplace, Instagram, Facebook, and Apple Maps is a real, meaningful channel for solo operators and newer businesses still building a client base.
The à-la-carte model means a lean single-provider shop can run on close to the $30 base. You're not subsidizing features you'll never touch.
Even with several add-ons stacked on, Vagaro's total often still lands below Boulevard's starting tier for solo and small operations.
Fewer surprise line items: what you see on the pricing page is closer to your actual monthly bill.
Boulevard's Aesthetics plans, with charting included on every tier, are more consistently recommended for aesthetic and injectable work than Vagaro's broader EMR module.
Vagaro's Reddit threads include specific, repeated outage complaints during business hours. If that's happened to you before with another platform, it's worth weighing heavily.
Vagaro's $30 base price excludes a long list of separately priced add-ons, and operators report outages during business hours and botched Schedulicity migrations with missing client data. Boulevard offers no free trial, keeps its public API on the Enterprise tier, charges $65 a month for Forms on its salon Essentials and Premier plans, and has some reported migration failures, though they are cited less often than Vagaro's.
One Reddit thread ("Vagaro is scummy," 47 upvotes) alleges aggressive outbound sales, including sourcing competitor platform data for cold calls. Worth going in with that context.
Vagaro's support pages say Daily Deals and Vera Fill My Books, which replaced Get Featured in 2026, charge 20% of the booking for a brand-new client and 5% for an existing one, only when you opt in. Owners in an r/SpaOwners thread from July 2026 said they got about a day's notice, and one reported Vera's dashboard credited roughly $7,000 in bookings while the business account showed under $2,000.
Multiple operators describe it as "frustratingly difficult to teach my team," a real cost in training time, especially with staff turnover.
4.6 stars on the App Store, but Reddit reports client messaging specifically requires desktop access, a real gap if you run your business from your phone.
This isn't a clean win for Boulevard either. Reddit describes its backend as "polished but day-to-day usability leaves much to be desired," particularly around reporting.
Vagaro fits a solo operator or small team where marketplace discovery matters, budget is the main constraint, clinical or injectable work isn't the core business, and Vagaro's uptime history checks out. Boulevard fits a business that wants predictable bundled billing, does medspa or clinical charting, has been burned by reliability problems on another platform, or would rather not manage a long list of add-on decisions.
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Operators comparing Vagaro and Boulevard ask three questions most: whether Vagaro is cheaper (its $30 base is, before add-ons and extra calendars), whether Vagaro suits medical spas (it has an EMR module, but medspa users on Reddit say it is "not meant for anything medical"), and whether Vagaro has reliability problems (operators report repeated outages during business hours).
The headline price, yes. Vagaro starts at $30/month for one location and one calendar (new customers get $23.99/month for the first six months), versus Boulevard's $159/month Essentials plan. But Vagaro bills a long list of add-ons separately (extra calendars $10/mo each, branded app currently $100/mo, e-prescribe $40/doctor/mo, API access $10/mo, Data Lake reporting $40/mo, and more), and operators on Reddit describe real monthly costs running 3–5x the headline number once they've added what they need. Boulevard's price is higher upfront but includes more in the base tier. Run your own feature list against both before assuming Vagaro is cheaper.
Vagaro has an EMR module (procedure notes, treatment plans, injectable tracking, provider sign-offs, photo annotation, e-prescribing through ScriptSure on the Surescripts network at $40 per doctor plus $5 per medical assistant a month), but Reddit users in medical spa communities describe it plainly as "not meant for anything medical," and some integrate a separate charting tool (RXPhoto) instead of relying on Vagaro's native module. Boulevard's Aesthetics plans, from $199/month with charting, photo markup, and sign-off included on every tier, are narrower in scope but more consistently recommended for clinical and aesthetic work.
Yes, outages are a repeated complaint about Vagaro on Reddit, not an isolated one. Operators describe outages during business hours severe enough that they couldn't check out clients, view client files, or access their schedule. Ask Vagaro directly about uptime history before committing, especially if you're a multi-provider business where downtime affects several people's day at once.
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