Best Dog Grooming Software UK (2026 Comparison)
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Table of Contents
Dog grooming business software splits into three camps. There’s software built for UK groomers, software built for American groomers, and generic salon tools that treat a full groom like a haircut. All three can run your diary. Only one camp was designed for the way you actually work.
This guide compares eleven platforms UK groomers actually use and recommend to each other, including the ones that come up in every grooming Facebook group. What they cost, what they do well, and who each one genuinely suits. We build one of them, and we’ve said so plainly at the bottom of the page. Everything else here is as fair as we can make it, because you’re about to check our claims anyway.
Prices and features last checked July 2026.
The short answer
Tuft is the best dog grooming software for UK groomers in 2026. It’s the only grooming-specific platform with a UK pet owner marketplace (100,000+ pet owners), its free Essential plan has no booking caps and 0% commission on salon bookings, and its deposit rules cut no-shows by up to 89%.
The strongest alternatives depend on what you run. MoeGo is the pick for US mobile groomers who need route optimisation. Gingr suits boarding-first facilities. Fresha fits multi-service salons doing beauty as well as grooming. Savvy Pet Spa and ShakeYourTail are the other UK grooming-specific options worth knowing about.
| Platform | Built for grooming? | UK pricing | Free plan | Pet owner marketplace | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuft | Yes (UK) | GBP | Yes, no caps | Yes (0% commission) | UK groomers, new and established |
| Savvy Pet Spa | Yes (UK) | GBP | No | No | UK salons wanting built-in email marketing |
| ShakeYourTail | Yes (UK) | GBP | Limited | No | Solo groomers wanting a bare-bones diary |
| MoeGo | Yes (US) | No | No | No | US mobile groomers needing route planning |
| Gingr | Boarding-first | No | No | No | Boarding and daycare facilities |
| Fresha | No (beauty) | GBP | Yes (with commissions) | Yes (20% commission) | Multi-service beauty salons |
| Square | No (payments) | GBP | Yes | No | Groomers already using Square POS |
| Goldie | No (beauty) | GBP | Limited | No | Solo groomers wanting something simple |
| SimplyBook.me | No (multi-industry) | GBP | 50 bookings/mo | No | Tinkerers who want a configurable widget |
| Booksy | No (beauty) | GBP | No | Yes (30% Boost commission) | Groomers chasing marketplace exposure |
| Appointy | No (multi-industry) | No | Limited | No | Hard to recommend for grooming |
Why Grooming Software Beats Generic Salon Tools
A hairdresser books a client. A groomer books a client and their pet. That sounds like a small distinction, but it changes everything about how the software needs to work.
Grooming-specific platforms let you build profiles for each pet, not just the owner. You can record breed, coat type, temperament notes, preferred styles, medical flags, vaccination status, and grooming history. When Mrs. Patterson books Biscuit in for a trim, you can see at a glance that Biscuit is a nervous cockapoo who needs a number 4 blade on the body and hates having his paws touched.
Generic platforms don’t do any of that. They’ll let you book an appointment and take a payment, but the pet is invisible to the system. Any notes about the dog live in a free-text field somewhere, if you remember to add them. There’s no way to link multiple pets to one owner, track vaccination expiry, or adjust pricing based on breed and coat condition.
That said, if you’re already locked into a generic platform and it’s working well enough, switching has a cost. But if you’re choosing for the first time, or you’re frustrated by workarounds and missing features, grooming-specific software isn’t the “advanced” option. It’s the one that was actually designed for how you work.
What to Look for in Grooming Software
Before comparing platforms, it helps to know what actually matters. Not all features are created equal, and some things that sound impressive on a features page barely matter in practice.
Pet profiles and grooming history are the single biggest differentiator. If your software can’t store per-pet records with breed, coat type, temperament, and style preferences, you’ll be asking the same questions every six weeks or relying on paper notes.
Client acquisition is the one most comparison guides skip. Most pet grooming business software helps you manage clients you already have. Very little of it helps you find new ones. If you’re newly qualified or filling gaps in your diary, a platform with a consumer marketplace is doing a job the others can’t. Check the commission model carefully, though. Some marketplaces take a hefty cut of every new client they send you.
Breed-based pricing saves a surprising amount of time. A Chihuahua bath and a Newfoundland full groom are completely different services at completely different price points. Grooming-specific tools let you set pricing rules by breed and size. Generic tools make you create a separate service listing for every variation, or list a single price and adjust manually at checkout.
Online booking that works for both sides matters. Pet owners want to book at 10pm on a Sunday. You want to control your schedule. Good software gives clients a booking page or app while letting you set your own availability rules, buffer times, and approval requirements.
Automated reminders cut no-shows dramatically. SMS reminders are more effective than email. The best platforms send them automatically at intervals you choose, and the honest ones tell you upfront whether SMS is unlimited, capped, or paid per message. That detail changes the real monthly cost more than the headline price does.
Team tools matter once you’re not on your own. Grooming salon software needs individual calendars, per-groomer service assignments, and access controls, so check what’s included on each tier before you commit.
Mobile access is non-negotiable if you’re a mobile groomer, and pretty important even if you’re salon-based. You need to check bookings, take payments, and pull up pet notes from your phone.
How We Picked the Best Dog Grooming Software
We started with the platforms UK groomers actually use: the ones recommended in grooming Facebook groups, the ones that rank when you search for grooming software, and the two American giants everyone’s heard of. Eleven made the cut.
Every price and rate in this guide was checked against the platform’s own published pricing pages, FAQs and help centres wherever they publish them. Where a platform doesn’t (Gingr quotes both its plans and its processing rates through sales), we’ve used independent listings and said so rather than dressing an estimate up as fact. Verification dates are in the disclosure at the bottom of the page.
Then we compared them the way a groomer pays for them, not the way the pricing pages present them. That means the plan you’d actually need rather than the entry tier, since online booking hides on the £35 plan at ShakeYourTail and the £48 plan at Savvy Pet Spa. It means transaction fees, SMS caps and credits, setup fees, add-ons and marketplace commissions. Headline prices flatter nearly everyone. Real monthly costs don’t.
And yes, we build Tuft, so read our verdicts knowing that. It’s why every claim on this page is sourced, why we’ve named the things rivals genuinely do better (MoeGo’s route planning, Gingr’s kennel tools, Square’s POS depth), and why there’s a whole section further down on who shouldn’t choose us. Nobody on this list has paid us a penny to be here, or to be kept off.
The UK Grooming-Specific Platforms
Three platforms are built specifically for grooming and built in the UK: Tuft, Savvy Pet Spa, and ShakeYourTail. All three understand that you groom pets, not people. The differences are in what happens beyond the diary.
Tuft: Built for UK Groomers
Tuft is a UK-based pet grooming booking platform founded in 2021. It connects pet owners with local groomers through a dedicated app and gives groomers salon management software including booking calendars, client and pet records, automated reminders, and integrated payments. It’s the UK and Ireland’s first app-integrated pet salon management software, with 100,000+ registered pet owners on the platform.
The pet owner app does the admin for you
This is the bit no other platform in this guide can match. Clients download the Tuft app, create their own pet profiles (breed, photos, medical notes, grooming preferences, behavioural quirks), and book directly into your calendar. They pick a service, choose their preferred groomer if you have a team, find a time that works, and submit a booking request. You get a notification, review the details, and accept, reject, or reschedule. The booking lands in your diary with all the pet information already attached.
Over 100,000 pet owners are already on the platform, and 49% of bookings happen when salons are closed. Your calendar fills itself while you sleep, walk the dog, or just have a cup of tea without checking your phone. For newly qualified groomers, this is the difference between an empty diary and a growing business. For established groomers, it’s how you fill cancellation gaps without paid ads.
Breed-based variable pricing
Create a single “full groom” service and let Tuft handle the pricing automatically. The system uses Kennel Club breed classifications to categorise dogs by size and coat type (wire-haired, smooth, long, double coat, and so on), so a Chihuahua and a Great Dane get different prices and appointment durations without you creating dozens of separate service listings.
You can also set pet-specific pricing overrides. If a particular dog always comes in matted or muddy, adjust the rate just for that pet. New customers see “from” pricing on the app, while your regulars get their custom rate.
For what those prices actually look like across the UK, see our dog grooming prices guide, built from 15,029 real bookings.
Per-pet records and flags
Each pet has its own profile with breed, coat type, medical history, and full grooming history. Add flags for things like aggression, anxiety, or health conditions. Private groomer notes stay on the pet record, so when a different team member handles a returning dog, they know exactly what they’re dealing with. Owner notes from the app sit alongside yours, so both sides of the story are visible at a glance.
No-shows down by up to 89%
Automated reminders go out via push notification, SMS, and email. On top of that, flexible deposit rules let you set fixed amounts or percentages, and you can turn deposits off for trusted regulars. Release forms and clip-off policies are built into the checkout, so clients agree to your terms before the booking is confirmed. Bookings are held for 15 minutes during checkout to prevent double-booking.
Then there’s Protect My Bookings. Clients can save a card at checkout, which speeds things up for them next time, and gives you a card on file if they don’t turn up. Miss the appointment, and you can charge for it. Whether you do is entirely your call.
Calendar tools that save time
Creating a booking takes about 10 seconds: find a free slot, search the client name, add the pet, pick the service, confirm. The calendar refreshes every 15 seconds so you see new booking requests in real time. Switch to agenda view for a clean chronological list. Filter by booking status to see who hasn’t confirmed yet. Use the “next available” button to jump to your first free slot. Add day notes as digital sticky notes for your team. Set up recurring bookings at 6, 8, or 12 week intervals (or a custom period on Pro plans).
Built-in communication
Free in-app messaging between you and your clients, including photo sharing. No extra charge, no SMS costs on this channel. Need to tell everyone about a price increase or a last-minute cancellation opening? The “send all” broadcast feature lets you message your entire client base in one tap. On Pro plans, you also get unlimited SMS. Not capped, not credit-based, not an add-on. Unlimited.
Reviews, tips, and the marketplace
After a completed appointment, clients get prompted to leave a review and an optional tip directly in the app. Your reviews show on your salon profile in the Tuft marketplace, where new pet owners discover groomers by location, star rating, price, distance, and qualification level. No paid advertising needed.
Team management
Add team members with individual roles, logins, service assignments, and working hours. Restrict dashboard access if needed. Assign specific groomers to specific services. On Pro Multi plans, you get unlimited team members and calendars for larger salons.
Pricing and payments
Essential (free forever): booking calendar, client and pet management, deposits (fixed or percentage), automated email and push notifications, marketplace listing, clip-off/release forms, cash/card/SMS/in-app payments, pricing by size and coat type, the embeddable booking widget for your own website, and the groomer mobile app (iOS and Android). No monthly fee, no contract, no credit card required.
Pro Premium: everything in Essential plus unlimited SMS, recurring bookings (6, 8, 12 week or custom intervals), cards on file so no-shows can be charged rather than chased, breed classification overrides, next available slot button, booking slot control (15/30/60 min intervals), and daily data backups. 14-day free trial, cancel anytime, reverts to Essential.
Pro Multi: everything in Pro Premium plus unlimited team members and calendars, groomer preference selection by clients, and individual team access with onboarding. Built for salons with multiple groomers. 14-day free trial.
Grooming schools get Pro free. All subscriptions are month-to-month or annual, no long-term lock-in. See current pricing on Tuft’s website
Payment processing: online payments and deposits go through Ryft at 2.5% + 5p per transaction. Ryft setup is free, and money goes directly to your bank account. In-person card payments use an integrated PAX reader at 1.58% or SumUp reader at 1.68% per transaction. 0% commission on salon bookings. Tipping built in.
Customer support: 4-minute average response time, 6 days a week. UK-based team. Migration support included (template provided or they’ll handle it for you).
It’s not the right fit for every business, and we’ve written a whole section on that further down. The short version: boarding-first operations and mobile groomers who need route planning have better options, and we’ve named them.
“Tuft has cut my workload to way under half. My clients reschedule themselves, I don’t waste hours on the phone, and I’m getting more bookings just because of the app. And the customer support? Insane. Tuft actually gives a damn about my business.”
– Kelly Davis, KD Grooming Studio. Britain’s Best Groomer on BBC’s Pooch Perfect.
Savvy Pet Spa
UK grooming-specific booking software with built-in email marketing.
Savvy Pet Spa (recently rebranded as Savvy Pet for version 3) launched in 2018 and is run by UK company It’s All Savvy. It’s proper grooming-specific software: pet records, no-show protection, electronic contracts, and a colour-coded diary, used by over 1,500 pet professionals across the UK and beyond.
Pricing
Four tiers on the current Savvy Pet platform: Basic at £25/month, Advanced at £38, Extra at £48 and Salon at £53, with a free trial but no free plan. Same small print problem as ShakeYourTail, though. Basic covers the calendar, records and email reminders, but their own pricing page lists customer support, SMS reminders, payments and analytics from the £38 Advanced plan, and online booking only arrives on the £48 Extra plan, which they label their most popular. SMS is capped at every tier: 150 credits a month on Advanced, 350 on Extra and Salon. Payments run through its own SavvyPay system at a listed 1.4% + 12p per transaction, in person and online, with card machines costing £100 and a £5 minimum customer spend.
Strengths
Genuinely grooming-specific and UK-based. Unlimited users, pets, clients and appointments on its plans. Electronic contracts and forms. Email marketing and newsletters built in, which most grooming platforms don’t offer. Before-and-after photo tools you can post straight to your socials. Groomers on the support team.
Limitations for groomers
No pet owner marketplace or consumer app, so it can’t bring you new clients. And read the tiers carefully: online booking doesn’t arrive until the £48 Extra plan. On Tuft, clients booking you online through the app is what the free Essential plan is for. Even the top £53 Salon plan caps SMS at 350 credits where Tuft Pro gives you unlimited SMS. Some reviewers on Capterra and Software Advice mention price increases and slow support responses, though plenty of others praise it, so mileage clearly varies.
Good for
Established UK salons with a full client base who want grooming-specific software with email marketing baked in, and who don’t need help finding new clients. Budget for the £48 Extra plan if you want clients booking themselves online.
ShakeYourTail
Long-running UK dog grooming diary software.
ShakeYourTail is a family-run UK business that’s been building grooming software since 2009, when the founders digitised their own grooming salon’s paper diary. It’s cloud-based, simple, and priced across four tiers that reward reading the small print.
Pricing
Four tiers: Free (£0, capped at 100 clients, email reminders only), Core at £15/month, Business at £35/month and Enterprise at £45/month, with up to 10% off annual billing. Read the grid before the headline price, though. Free and Core are single-user, and their own pricing table lists no support, no marketing, no reporting and no online booking on either. All of that arrives on the £35 Business plan (5 users, 200 SMS credits, 1 campaign credit), with Enterprise adding unlimited users and multi-site management. SMS runs on credits at every tier, unused credits roll over. Payments go through Lopay or SumUp at those providers’ own rates: Lopay from 0.79% in person (0.99% if you want next-day payouts) and around 1.28% for payment links, SumUp at 1.69% in person and 2.5% for online payments.
Strengths
Cheap entry if all you want is a digital diary. Grooming-specific records: breed, medical notes, grooming notes, emergency contacts, appointment history. Colour-coded schedules, electronic contracts from the Core plan up, and appointment confirmations that reduce no-shows. Built by people who actually ran a grooming business.
Limitations for groomers
The plan structure is the catch. Until you’re paying £35 a month, you get no online booking, no support, no reporting and no marketing, which makes the £15 Core plan look cheaper than it is. For contrast, online booking sits on Tuft’s free plan, and where the £35 Business plan caps SMS at 200 credits, Tuft’s Pro plans are unlimited. Even the top £45 Enterprise plan caps you at 300 SMS credits a month. Beyond pricing: no pet owner marketplace, no consumer app, no breed-based automatic pricing, and the interface shows its age next to newer platforms. It’s a decent diary, but it’s a diary.
Good for
Solo groomers who take bookings by phone or message and just want a cheap, trustworthy UK diary. The moment you want clients booking themselves, you’re on the £35 plan, and at that point compare what it buys against what Tuft’s free plan already includes.
The US Grooming-Specific Platforms
MoeGo and Gingr are the two biggest grooming software platforms by traffic and brand recognition globally, and you’ll see them ranking in every search you run. They’re serious products. They’re also American products first, which matters more than you’d think once you’re paying in dollars and waiting for support in a Colorado time zone.
MoeGo
The biggest name in mobile grooming software, built for the US market.
MoeGo is a California-based grooming platform with a strong following among American groomers, especially mobile ones. If you’re after mobile grooming software with route planning built in, this is the product everyone else gets measured against.
Pricing
USD only. Mobile plans run $49 (Basic), $99 (Growth) and $159 (Ultimate) a month per van; salon plans run $79, $149 and $239 a month per location, with custom Enterprise pricing above that. No free plan. Watch the SMS allowances: each tier includes a capped number of texts (200 a month on the entry mobile plan), and unlimited auto-messaging only arrives on the top Ultimate tier, so heavy texters end up on pricier plans than the headline suggests. Payment processing through MoeGo Pay (built on Stripe) runs at 2.9% + $0.50 for card-present payments and 3.4% + $0.30 online or card on file, per MoeGo’s own help centre, and some MoeGo Pay features like pre-authorisation aren’t available in the UK.
Strengths
Route optimisation for mobile groomers is genuinely the best in the business, with smart scheduling that fills your day in geographic order. Polished apps, strong two-way messaging, digital agreements, no-show protection, and 24/7 support. A big, active user community.
Limitations for groomers
Everything is priced and designed for the US: dollar billing, US payment processors, US support hours. There’s no UK pet owner marketplace, so it won’t bring you clients here. The per-van and per-location model plus SMS caps make the real monthly cost meaningfully higher than the entry price for most busy groomers.
Good for
US-based mobile groomers, full stop. If route planning is the feature your business lives on and you’re comfortable with dollar billing, MoeGo earns its reputation. For UK salon and home groomers, the maths and the market don’t favour it.
Gingr
US facility management software where grooming is one service of several.
Gingr is a Colorado-based pet business platform built primarily for boarding kennels, doggy daycares and training facilities. Grooming is supported through its Spa plan, but it’s one module in a system designed around kennels, capacity and check-ins.
Pricing
USD only, per location. The Spa plan for grooming sits around $100 to $109 a month depending on billing cycle, with daycare and boarding plans running up to roughly $209 a month and Enterprise custom-quoted. Expect a setup fee per location, and note that several capabilities (integrated payments, two-way SMS, employee scheduling) are paid add-ons, so real costs climb from the headline. Gingr doesn’t publish its processing rates: Gingr Payments runs on Stripe with rates quoted through sales, and Gingr’s own material talks about card fees of 3 to 3.5% per transaction, with tools to pass those costs to clients via a surcharge of up to 3% or a $4.50 convenience fee.
Strengths
Excellent for facilities: visual kennel boards, vaccination compliance checks at check-in, report cards with photos that owners love sharing, and deep multi-service management. Integrations with tools like QuickBooks, Mailchimp and Zapier. If you run boarding, daycare and grooming under one roof, it handles all three.
Limitations for groomers
Grooming is secondary to boarding and daycare, and it shows. Setup is genuinely involved, with reviewers describing two to four weeks of configuration and training. It’s expensive for a grooming-only business, it’s priced in dollars, and there’s no UK marketplace or UK-focused support.
Good for
Combined boarding, daycare and grooming facilities that need one system for everything. For grooming-first businesses in the UK, it’s paying for a lot of kennel you’ll never use.
Generic Booking Tools Groomers Also Use
These platforms weren’t designed for groomers but get used by them anyway. Fresha and Goldie in particular get recommended in grooming Facebook groups all the time, usually by groomers who came from the beauty world. Each has strengths, but none offer grooming-specific features like pet profiles, breed-based pricing, or vaccination tracking. They’re listed here so you can make an informed comparison.
Fresha
The world’s largest beauty & wellness booking platform, now marketing to groomers.
Fresha is a London-headquartered online booking and payments platform serving over 100,000 beauty and wellness businesses worldwide. It expanded into pet grooming in recent years and operates a consumer marketplace where pet owners can discover and book groomers. Of every generic tool here, it’s Tuft’s most direct competitor, precisely because it’s British and it’s everywhere.
Pricing
Free for solo users (no monthly fee). Team plan is £19.95/month per bookable team member. But Fresha charges 20% commission on new clients acquired through their marketplace, plus payment processing fees running from 1.40% + 25p up to 4.49% + 50p per transaction. Tips also incur a processing fee. The “free” headline can be misleading once you factor in transaction costs and marketplace commissions.
Strengths
Massive marketplace for client discovery. Polished interface. Built-in POS and card readers. Inventory management. Loyalty programmes and marketing tools. The booking experience for clients is slick.
Limitations for groomers
No pet profiles, no breed-based pricing, no vaccination tracking, no grooming history. Pets are invisible to the system. You’re essentially using a hair salon tool. The 20% marketplace commission on new clients is steep, and some groomers report feeling locked in once their clients book through Fresha’s platform.
Good for
Multi-service salons already using Fresha for beauty who add grooming, and groomers who prioritise marketplace discovery and don’t mind the commission model.
Goldie
Lightweight scheduling app popular with solo beauty professionals.
Goldie is a mobile-first appointment scheduling app designed for independent beauty professionals, including hairstylists, barbers, and nail technicians. It’s used by some solo groomers for its simplicity and low cost.
Pricing
Free Starter plan with basic features. Paid plans run from £24.99 to £49.99 a month. Payment processing costs 1.4% + 20p per transaction through the Stripe integration.
Strengths
Very easy to set up and use. Clean interface. Good SMS reminders. Deposit collection. Buy Now, Pay Later option. Product sales and inventory. Affordable for solo groomers, especially on the free tier.
Limitations for groomers
No pet profiles, no breed-based pricing, no grooming notes system, no vaccination tracking. Some users report the interface can be tricky with complex schedules. Limited marketplace compared to Fresha. Primarily designed for hairstylists and beauty professionals.
Good for
Solo groomers who want a simple, affordable booking tool and don’t need pet-specific features. A reasonable entry point for groomers just starting out who want something quick and free.
Square Appointments
Part of the Square payments family, available in the UK with GBP pricing.
Square Appointments is the scheduling module within Square’s payments and POS system. Originally US-based, it’s now available in the UK with GBP pricing. It’s an industry-agnostic booking tool used across retail, wellness, and professional services.
Pricing
Free plan with unlimited staff calendars (1.75% per card transaction). Plus plan is £29/month per location (1.6% per transaction). Premium is £69/month per location. The free tier is genuinely generous, though you pay for it through slightly higher transaction fees.
Strengths
Excellent payment processing and POS integration. Free tier includes unlimited staff with no monthly fee. Customer loyalty programme. Inventory management. Instagram and Google booking integration. Strong mobile app. Seamless if you already use Square for payments.
Limitations for groomers
Zero pet-specific features. No pet profiles, no breed records, no vaccination tracking, no grooming history. Completely industry-agnostic. No client discovery marketplace. The system treats a dog groom exactly the same as a guitar lesson.
Good for
Groomers already using Square for payments, or those who want a free scheduling tool with excellent POS integration and don’t mind tracking pet details elsewhere.
SimplyBook.me
Highly customisable booking platform with volume-based pricing.
SimplyBook.me is a Cyprus-based online booking platform serving businesses across multiple industries, from healthcare to education to pet services. It uses a modular “feature slot” system where you choose which add-ons to enable.
Pricing
Free plan allows 50 bookings/month with 1 provider. Paid plans run from £10.90 to £45.80 a month depending on booking volume. Card payments cost 1.5% + 20p per transaction. The volume-based model could save money for low-booking businesses but gets expensive fast if you’re busy.
Strengths
Very flexible and customisable. The “feature slot” system lets you pick which add-ons matter to your business. Intake forms can collect pet information during booking, which partially bridges the pet profile gap. Generous free tier for very small operations. Booking widget for your existing website.
Limitations for groomers
No native pet profiles or breed-based pricing. The feature slot system means choosing which capabilities you want, and on lower plans you can’t have everything. Booking caps can be restrictive (the free plan’s 50 bookings/month is roughly 1-2 per day). The interface can feel overly complex for simple scheduling needs.
Good for
Tech-savvy groomers who want maximum customisation and are comfortable configuring a complex system. Handy if you have an existing website and want an embedded booking widget rather than a standalone platform.
Booksy
Business management platform with a consumer marketplace for pet services.
Booksy is a Polish-founded booking and business management platform with a consumer marketplace, originally built for barbers and hairstylists. It has expanded into pet grooming in some markets and is available in the UK with GBP pricing.
Pricing
£48/month in the UK for the first user. Each additional team member costs around £16/month extra. No free plan, but there’s a 7-day free trial. Payment processing fees of approximately 1.29% + 20p per transaction. Booksy’s “Boost” feature charges a 30% one-time commission on the first booking from new marketplace clients.
Strengths
Active consumer marketplace. Marketing tools including last-minute deals and promotions. Built-in review system. Card processing with reasonable per-transaction fees. Social media integration. All features included in the base price.
Limitations for groomers
No pet profiles, breed records, or grooming history. The £48/month base price is the highest of the generic platforms listed here, and additional staff fees add up quickly. The 30% Boost commission on new client first bookings is aggressive. Clients must create a Booksy account to book, which adds friction. No free plan at all.
Good for
Groomers who want marketplace exposure similar to Fresha and value the all-features-included pricing model. Better suited to businesses with one or two groomers rather than larger teams, where the per-user fees stack up.
Appointy
General-purpose scheduling platform across education, healthcare, and professional services.
Appointy is an India-based online scheduling platform used across education, healthcare, fitness, and professional services. It’s the most generic tool on this list, with no pet industry focus. Pricing is in USD with no UK-specific plans.
Pricing
Free plan with limited features. Growth plan is $19.99/month (annual) or $29.99/month (monthly). Professional is $49.99/month (annual). Enterprise is $79.99/month (annual). Pricing is in USD with no dedicated UK pricing page. 14-day free trial on paid plans.
Strengths
Supports 24+ languages. Good Google and Facebook booking integration. Automated reminders via email and SMS. Resource and staff scheduling from multiple locations (on higher plans). Decent free plan for basic scheduling. Data export available on all plans.
Limitations for groomers
The furthest from pet grooming of any platform on this list. No pet features whatsoever, no marketplace, no client discovery tools. USD pricing with no UK localisation. The interface can feel dated compared to newer competitors. Enterprise plan required to remove Appointy branding. Limited payment processing options compared to Square or Fresha.
Good for
Honestly, it’s hard to recommend Appointy over the other options here for groomers specifically. If you’re already using it for another part of your business and want to add grooming appointments to the same system, it’ll do the job. Otherwise, there are better choices.
Pricing Comparison: At a Glance
| Platform | Free Tier | Paid Plans | Transaction Fees | Marketplace | Pet-Specific |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuft | Yes | £35 → £49/mo (£29 → £41 billed annually), ex VAT | 0% commission, 1.58% (in-person payments), 2.5% + 5p (online payments) | Yes | Yes, full |
| Savvy Pet Spa | No | £25 → £53/mo | SavvyPay: 1.4% + 12p (in person and online) | No | Yes |
| ShakeYourTail | Limited | £15 → £45/mo | Lopay from 0.79% / SumUp 1.69%; online links 1.28% → 2.5% | No | Yes |
| MoeGo | No | $49 → $239/mo (USD, per van/location) | 2.9% + $0.50 in person, 3.4% + $0.30 online | No | Yes |
| Gingr | No | $100 → $209/mo (USD, per location) + setup fee | 3 → 3.5% card fees, with tools to pass costs to clients (up to 3% surcharge or $4.50 fee) | No | Boarding-first |
| Fresha | Yes | £19.95/user/mo | 1.40% + £0.25 → 4.49% + £0.50 per transaction | Yes | No |
| Goldie | Limited | £24.99 → £49.99/mo | 1.4% + £0.20 per transaction | Limited | No |
| Square | Yes | £29 → £69/mo per location | 1.6% → 6% + 30p | No | No |
| SimplyBook.me | Limited | £10.90 → £45.80/mo | 1.5% + £0.20 per transaction | No | Intake forms only |
| Booksy | No | £48/mo | 1.29% + 20p + 30% Boost commission | Yes | No |
| Appointy | Limited | $19.99 → $79.99/mo (USD) | 2.9% + $0.30 | No | No |
A note on “free” tiers: free almost never means free in practice. Fresha’s solo plan is free until you factor in transaction fees and marketplace commissions. Square’s free plan is genuinely free but charges 1.75% per transaction. SimplyBook.me’s free tier caps at 50 bookings a month, which most groomers will outgrow within weeks.
ShakeYourTail’s free plan caps you at 100 clients with email reminders only, and even its £15 Core tier lists no online booking or support. Tuft’s Essential plan has no booking cap, no support restrictions, 0% commission on salon bookings, online booking included, and the same 1.58% (in-person payments), 2.5% + 5p (online payments) as the paid plans. Always calculate your actual monthly cost based on your typical booking volume and average transaction value.
Free vs Paid Grooming Software: When Does It Make Sense to Upgrade?
Several platforms on this list offer a free tier or a free trial, which makes it tempting to stick with the free option indefinitely. And for some groomers, that’s genuinely the right call. But free plans come with trade-offs that aren’t always obvious until you’ve been using them for a few months.
Free plans (most platforms)
What you’ll typically get
- Basic calendar and scheduling
- Booking caps (SimplyBook.me: 50/month, Appointy: limited)
- Higher transaction fees or marketplace commissions
- Fewer automation options (manual reminders, no follow-ups)
- Minimal or no reporting
- Platform branding on your booking page
- Restricted or email-only support
Tuft’s Essential plan is different: no booking caps, no higher transaction fees, no support restrictions, and 0% commission. The trade-off is features (no SMS, no recurring bookings), not artificial limits.
Paid plans
What the upgrade actually gets you
- Unlimited SMS reminders (the single biggest no-show killer)
- Recurring bookings so regulars rebook automatically
- Groomer mobile app for managing your diary on the go
- Embeddable web widget for bookings on your own website
- Breed classification overrides and advanced pricing controls
- Daily data backups
- Team management with roles, access, and individual calendars
Works well for: groomers doing 15+ appointments a week, anyone with staff, businesses losing money to no-shows, or groomers who want SMS automation and recurring bookings handling the admin.
The maths on no-shows alone: if you average one no-show a week at £45 per groom, that’s £2,340 a year in lost revenue. Tuft’s deposit rules (included free on Essential) reduce no-shows by up to 89%. Add unlimited SMS reminders on Pro and you’re catching the ones who’d otherwise forget, too. And if someone still doesn’t show, Protect My Bookings means you can charge the card on file for the slot instead of writing it off.
There’s no shame in starting free. Most groomers should. Use the free tier to learn the platform, see if it fits your workflow, and decide whether the upgrade is worth it based on your actual numbers, not a sales page. But if you’re manually chasing clients for confirmations, losing appointments to no-shows, or spending your evenings replying to WhatsApp messages, a paid tier with SMS automation and recurring bookings isn’t an expense. It’s the thing that stops the bleeding.
Tuft’s Essential plan is genuinely free with core booking, client management, automated reminders, the groomer mobile app and the pet owner app. When your business grows and you need unlimited SMS, recurring bookings and a web widget for your site, Pro and Pro Multi plans are available with a 14-day free trial and no contract. See Tuft’s pricing plans
Who Shouldn’t Choose Tuft
Some groomers are better off elsewhere, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.
If boarding or daycare is your main business and grooming is the side dish, Gingr was built around exactly that workflow. Tuft wasn’t.
If you’re a mobile groomer whose whole day depends on route planning, MoeGo’s route optimisation is genuinely good and Tuft has no equivalent. You’d be trading it for GBP pricing and the marketplace, and for some vans that trade won’t add up.
If you sell a lot of retail product, Square’s POS and inventory tools run deeper than anything grooming-specific.
And if you’re outside the UK and Ireland, most of what makes Tuft worth choosing, the pet owner marketplace especially, doesn’t reach you yet.
Everyone else, and that covers most salon-based and home-based groomers in the UK, gets a system built around pets rather than appointments, with a marketplace on top. That combination doesn’t exist anywhere else on this list.
Switching From Another Platform
Moving software feels riskier than it is. Your client list, pet records and upcoming appointments are the only things you really need to carry over, and every platform in this guide will let you export at least your client list as a spreadsheet. Some make you ask support for it, but the data is yours and they have to hand it over.
With Tuft you’ve got two options: fill in the import template and upload it yourself, or send your export to the support team and they’ll do the migration for you. Pick your quietest day, keep your old system read-only for a month in case you need to look something up, then cancel it. Clients don’t need to do anything except download the app when you invite them, and plenty of groomers run their web widget and direct bookings alongside it, so nobody’s forced to change how they book.
The Real Question: Generic or Grooming-Specific?
If you’re a solo groomer who knows every dog by name and just needs a diary that sends reminders, a generic tool like Goldie or Square might genuinely be all you need. They’re simpler, often cheaper, and perfectly fine for basic scheduling.
But if you’re building a grooming business, hiring staff, managing dozens or hundreds of regular clients and their pets, the limitations of generic software start to bite. You’ll end up with workarounds: spreadsheets for pet notes, manual price adjustments for different breeds, no way to flag expired vaccinations, no grooming history when a different staff member handles a returning dog.
Grooming-specific software costs roughly the same as the generic alternatives once you factor in actual transaction fees and add-on costs. The difference is that it’s built around the way groomers actually work.
For UK groomers, geography settles part of the question but not all of it. MoeGo, Gingr and Appointy are American products with dollar pricing and support hours to match. But Fresha is built in London, and Square, Booksy and Goldie all bill in pounds. Against those, the case for Tuft isn’t the postcode. It’s that a generic tool treats a nervous cockapoo exactly like a blow dry: no pet profiles, no breed pricing, no grooming history. And where their marketplaces do bring you new clients, Fresha takes 20% and Booksy takes 30%. Tuft’s takes nothing.
The same care applies inside the grooming-specific camp. On Savvy Pet Spa and ShakeYourTail, online booking doesn’t unlock until £48 and £35 a month, and even then your SMS is capped. On Tuft, clients book you through the app or your own website on the free plan, and SMS on the Pro plans is unlimited.
“As a busy parent and business owner, Tuft made my life so much easier. I love being able to manage my diary online, and my clients enjoy booking appointments themselves without having to call or text. It saves time for everyone!”
– Polly Hartcup, Tail & Chase, Bungay
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best dog grooming software in the UK?
Tuft is the best dog grooming software for UK groomers. It’s the only grooming-specific platform with a UK pet owner marketplace (100,000+ pet owners), it has a free plan with no booking caps, no support restrictions, 0% commission on salon bookings, and online booking included, and its deposit rules cut no-shows by up to 89%. Savvy Pet Spa and ShakeYourTail are the other UK grooming-specific options, Fresha leads among generic tools, and MoeGo is the strongest US alternative.
Is Tuft or MoeGo better for UK groomers?
Tuft is better for UK groomers; MoeGo is better for US mobile groomers. Tuft bills in pounds, has UK-based support, and its 100,000+ strong pet owner marketplace brings you clients in the UK, none of which MoeGo offers here. MoeGo wins on route optimisation for mobile grooming vans, bills in dollars from $49 to $239 a month, and caps SMS by tier.
Can I use generic salon software for pet grooming?
Yes, but you’ll lose pet-specific features like breed profiles, grooming history, and variable pricing. Platforms like Fresha, Goldie, Square Appointments, SimplyBook.me, Booksy, and Appointy all handle basic scheduling and payments. The trade-off is no pet profiles, no breed-based pricing, no vaccination tracking, and no grooming history, which means more manual admin and less structured record-keeping.
How much does dog grooming software cost per month?
From free to around £70 a month for UK platforms, and $49 to $239 a month for the big US ones. Tuft’s Essential plan is completely free with no booking caps; Pro Premium and Pro Multi run £29 to £49 a month ex VAT depending on billing, with a 14-day free trial. Savvy Pet Spa runs £25 to £53 and ShakeYourTail £15 to £45, and on both, online booking sits on paid tiers that Tuft covers free. But the subscription is only part of the cost. Transaction fees (1.29% up to 6% per payment) and marketplace commissions (20 to 30% on new client bookings with Fresha and Booksy) can significantly increase the true cost.
What is the best mobile grooming software?
MoeGo is the best mobile grooming software for route planning; Tuft is the best for UK mobile groomers who need clients. MoeGo’s route optimisation fills your day in geographic order and leads the field, but it’s US-focused with dollar pricing. Tuft doesn’t offer route planning yet, but UK mobile groomers get the groomer app, the web widget, and a marketplace of local pet owners to fill the van’s diary.
How do I switch dog grooming software?
Export your client list from your current platform, import it into the new one, and switch on a quiet day. Every platform in this guide lets you export client data, though some make you ask support. Tuft provides an import template or will handle the whole migration for you free of charge, and most groomers keep their old system read-only for a month as a safety net.
Publisher disclosure
This article is published by Tuft, a UK-based pet grooming booking platform. Tuft is one of the products reviewed in this comparison. We’ve done our best to be fair and accurate about every platform listed, including our own, but you should know who’s writing. Platform details for Savvy Pet Spa, ShakeYourTail, MoeGo and Gingr were checked against their published pricing and independent review sites in July 2026; all other pricing was verified at the time of publication and may have changed since.
We don’t receive payment or commission from any of the other platforms mentioned. If you spot an error or something that’s out of date, let us know at support@tuftapp.com.