ML Booking vs Vagaro

Why choose ML Booking
over Vagaro?

Price it for your staff and your ticket. Then look at the booking features you actually use.

Price it for your shop

See the monthly number.

Move staff, ticket size, and paid bookings. Subscription, marketplace, and payment fees update as you go.

ML Booking Vagaro
Subscription
Marketplace fees
Payment processing fees
Monthly total
Yearly savings with ML Booking

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ML Booking subscription is CAD from our live catalog. Vagaro is CAD from public list prices and can change. Our from $0.29 CAD is the ML Booking platform fee on a paid online booking for the plan this calculator picks. Square or Stripe still charge their own card rates. Vagaro processing uses their published online rate (2.29% + $0.19). Vagaro vs Fresha pricing (Canada)

Features you actually use

Booking next to booking.
Price next to price.

Only the pieces ML Booking sells. No loyalty club. No register. No inventory suite.

ML Booking Vagaro
Online booking Yes. Widget, booking link, free site or your custom domain. Yes. They send your client to Vagaro.
Extra staff seat $9.00/mo per extra seat $10 CAD/mo per extra staff calendar
Team calendar Yes. Shared columns and a personal staff view. Yes. Inside Vagaro.
Email confirmations Yes. Unlimited, on every booking. Yes. From their system, in their brand.
SMS reminders Yes. Included in the plan. US and Canada only, with opt-in. Yes. Included on their base plan.
Late-cancel and no-show rules Yes. You set what you keep. The software applies it. Yes. In their product, on their terms.
Booking payments Yes. Your Square or Stripe. The fee for your plan (from $0.29 CAD) per paid online booking. Yes. 2.29% + $0.19 on a card they process. You do not use your own Square or Stripe.
Branded website Yes. Included with the plan. Yes. MySite is often a paid add-on. The booking still sits in Vagaro.
Marketplace fee None. Clients book on your site or link. No marketplace commission in this model. The money is in the subscription and card fees.
Staff portal Yes. Staff see their day. The business runs the shop. Yes. Their staff login, in their product.

The catch with Vagaro

Vagaro sells a salon-and-spa suite: booking plus a pile of extras. You pay for the whole stack even if you only needed a calendar.

Where shops pick ML Booking

Choose ML Booking if you want appointments on your website, not a full salon operating system you will not open.

Questions

Why switch from Vagaro to ML Booking?

If you already have clients, ML Booking is the booking layer: calendars, a widget or link, email, optional SMS, and Square or Stripe if you take cards. You keep the relationship and more of the visit.

Does the calculator include everything they charge?

It prices subscription, marketplace (when they take one), and their published online card rate against our CAD plan plus from $0.29 CAD per paid online booking for the plan the calculator picks. POS hardware, SMS overages, websites, and other add-ons on their side are often extra and are not in the total.

Is the ML Booking fee the same as their card processing?

No. The fee for your plan (from $0.29 CAD) is the ML Booking platform fee on a paid online booking. Square or Stripe still charge their own card rates. Vagaro typically processes the card themselves at a percent plus cents, which is what the calculator uses for their payment line.

Can I move my shop over?

Yes. Add services and staff, connect Square or Stripe if you take cards, put a widget on your site or share a link, and start free.

Keep more of the chair.

Connect the calendar. Take the booking. Get paid when they book.

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