Phorest vs LS Retail

Vagaro

DaySmart Salon

GlossGenius

Vagaro is all-in-one software for beauty, wellness, and fitness professionals. Manage appointments, accept payments, run marketing campaigns, and grow your business all from one easy-to-use platform designed to help you save time and boost revenue.

DaySmart Salon helps salons, spas, and barbershops manage scheduling, payments, staff, and client communication, all in one place. Built for solo pros and full teams, it keeps you organized and focused on clients. Start your 14-day free trial (no credit card required) or book a demo today.

GlossGenius is a booking and payment app for beauty and wellness professionals. With a custom website, card readers, smooth booking experience, text and email marketing, client reminders, and more, GlossGenius helps businesses make more and stress less.

Salon Coordinator and Online Representative

Support feels lacking after onboarding. When real issues come up, it often turns into finger pointing instead of problem solving.

Owner

I love the customer service and the fact that I can get in touch with someone and they get back to me right away if they don’t know something.

What I love most about Phorest is their outstanding customer service. Whenever I have a question, I always get a fast response from a real human—not just an automated text.

Phorest is salon, spa and clinic software for growth-focused premium businesses, combining bookings, payments, client management, marketing, loyalty and reporting to reduce no-shows, grow client spend, improve retention. Supports single site or multi-location growth.


AI Copilot

Alerts/Notifications

Appointment Management

Appointment Scheduling

Automated Scheduling

Availability Management

Barcode/Ticket Scanning

Before & After Pictures

Booking Management

Booth Rental Management

Calendar Management

Client Database

Client Management

Client Portal

Client Profiles

Commission Management

Confirmations/Reminders

Credit Card Processing

Customer Database

Customer History

Customer Mobile App

Customer Surveys

Customizable Branding

Customizable Forms

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Data Import/Export

Debit/Credit Card Processing

Discount Management

Drag & Drop

Electronic Forms

Electronic Payments

Email Management

Email Marketing

Email Reminders

Employee Management

Faculty/Staff Management

For Barbershops

For Medical Spas

For Salons and Spas

Generative AI

Gift Card Management

HIPAA Compliant

Inventory Management

Inventory Tracking

Loyalty Program

Marketing Automation

Marketing Management

Mobile Alerts

Multi-Location

Online Booking

Online Store

Payment Processing

Payroll & Commissions

Payroll Management

Performance Metrics

Point of Sale (POS)

Practice Management

Promotions Management

Ratings/Reviews

Real-Time Reporting

Receipt Management

Recurring Appointments

Reminders

Reporting/Analytics

Reporting & Statistics

Reputation Management

Rescheduling

Reviews Management

Sales Reports

Scheduling

SMS Marketing

SMS Messaging

SMS Reminders

SOAP notes

Social Media Integration

Staff Management

Stock Management

Third-Party Integrations

Transaction History

Treatment Packages

Wait List Management

Website Integration

Some users say Phorest’s start-up costs are competitive and appreciate the all-inclusive monthly fee with upgrades and essential features. However, many users report high overall costs, hidden fees, and affordability issues for smaller businesses.

Value for money

By industry, Phorest reviewers are most commonly professionals in health, wellness and fitness (36%). The most frequent use case for Phorest cited by reviewers is salon management (88% of reviewers).

Phorest

Windows

Android

iPad

iPhone

Linux

Web-based

Meevo

Mindbody

Boulevard

Booker

Fresha

Rosy

Mangomint

ZENOTI

SimplyBook.me

Starter

Grow

Complete Advantage

Elite

Core Aesthetics Med Spa Plan

Elevate Aesthetics Med Spa Plan

The price is higher than all other platforms similar, I feel like if I have two locations we should be able to split sms msgs between both locations, I’m paying for them already and if I don’t use all in one location I should have ability to use at other location.

Salon owner

Online booking has been great and the fact that we can requests deposits for first time client's and also give them a policy notice for no/shows-late appointment.

The only thing I wish I could fix about phorest is that phorest should automatically email the account holder when the inventory drops below the minimum quantity.

Owner Operator

The ease of use, keeping track of clients history, notes, the chat feature in the desktop version, and the quick response from support if I need help with anything.

President

Phorest is a game changer as far as being software that I feel like PARTNERS with me to bring the best experience to and for our guests as well as our team members.

I love the text reminder features as they are very helpful for ensuring my clients arrive when they're scheduled.

salon Davachi by Felor

The price is expensive, especially like I am one person and I pay $85 or something like that monthly so that’s lots for one person but as a group in Salon is a good price but not for me

I also like if I add products to my clients tab then exit out of it - it will remember the product.

salon leader and marketing director

some reports are a bit confusing, like the retention report. when you archive a guest, they still have the availability to book, but wont show on the appointment screen until you unarchive them.

The price point could be more competitive comparably to other brands. When there are bugs in the system sometimes takes awhile to get it fixed.

Manager

For my end on the fly I need the app to be ready for me whenever because I am on the move and not in front of a PC.

owner

the text reminders the control in management that I have being able to navigate the system

Salon owner and stylist

Very salon friendly, good options to customize the service to fit the specific needs of our salon.

Also, I don’t like that I can’t see all stylists on the screen when I’m searching for the weak view.

Operations Manager

I also enjoy the consistent updates that keep us up to date with all the latest feature to help our salons business run smoothly!

It has made our front desk WAY more proficient, labor costs go down due to easy simple to use features that make cashing in and out a breeze.

Director of Team Development

For someone who is not tech savvy having the ability to quickly jump on a call and navigate the site with a Phorest employee has been very helpful.

I don’t like that the save card on file is  hard to see when checking out.

Salon Owner

Anytime i have a question about a feature or if I can't figure something out I can send a quick email and get fast responses from their team.

The email marketing built in helps us get so many bookings from repeat customers.

Barber

I wish clients could get on a waiting list and be notified of openings

Lots of ways to customize for personalization

Excellant top notch service is awesome questions always answered in a timely fashion smart move to switch

Features are bugged and take forever to get fixed.

They told me they would credit me this month when I’m signing off the contract and without notice they disabled my account during a work day and took hours to get ahold of anybody.

security seems pretty good and haven't had any bugs or issues with the software itself.

Salon Owner Manager

Director of Operations

We have one person to reach out to if we have specific questions or need support on specific things.

It makes knowing tracking your progress very easy.

I have been flying solo and I'm sure I'm not utilizing things correctly to help improve business.

I think there are some things that can be changed to make it more user friendly.

I’ve been with them for about 7 years, and their constant evolution has elevated my business and kept me ahead in the beauty industry.

I was told that I would get business support through my journey and I have yet to get that.

Phorest has the BEST reporting system I have ever worked with!

Co-Owner CEO

The cost/charge per text. And the text line not being able to go to just one employee.

Secretary

Pricing wise its on much higher side, I hope Phorest will consider pricing structure making it much more affordable

The helpdesk feature for our front desk staff has been super helpful.

there is no return inventory besides the returns report.

Owner, Educator

It has almost every feature we need and being able to actually utilize the features is simple.

The marketing tools are unmatched, the reporting capabilities are endless.

I am not happy with high pricing, I personally feel phorest can revise pricing making it more affordable.

There are differences between the desktop and web applications as far as functionality, so I find myself toggling between the 2 to get the information I need.   And most importantly, there was not honest full disclosure from sales on what was included AND that we would be locked into a 1-year contract that will be automatically renewed unless you give no less than 2 months notification in writing to cancel.  

All the options for reporting, tech support, Phorest Go.

I also appreciate their constant innovation; Phorest is always evolving to meet salon and beauty industry standards.

The reporting isn't always as straight forward as I hope for it to be. But we always ask for help when we can't find what we are looking for.

Overall We love the product from reporting to appointments and everything in between.

I like that it’s really user friendly for clients and salon.

Pricing

Customer Support

Ease of Use

Salon Management

Reports

Reports and Stock Management

Reminder Emails and Texts

Client Cards and Payments

Small Business

Large Enterprises

Mid-size Business

Freelancers

Some reviewers find Phorest’s start-up costs competitive and appreciate that ongoing monthly fees include upgrades, support, and access to all core features without extra charges. They like that the app is included in the price, unlike some competitors. Some users report that, despite initial doubts, they see good value for their investment over time. However, many users say Phorest is expensive compared to alternatives, especially for solo operators, and mention hidden or high costs for certain features like SMS. Reviewers indicate that the pricing structure can feel inflexible and unaffordable for smaller businesses.

Phorest Software

Epos Now

Epos Now is a leading global cloud-based point-of-sale and payment system that specializes in helping US retail and hospitality businesses trade efficiently.

Thanks to a selection of tools, and an extensive app store, users can create bespoke systems that make running a business simple.

Shopify

Shopify is a commerce platform that allows anyone to easily sell online, at a retail location, and everywhere in between

A unified ERP + POS software solution built on Microsoft Dynamics technology that is ideal for retailers, restaurants, hotels, pharmacies and gas stations with at least 50+ employees, or multiple locations. Ideal also for companies with ambitious growth goals.

Phorest vs LS Retail Comparison (2026)

Phorest

LS Retail

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives