Goldie vs. StyleSeat: Best StyleSeat Alternative in 2024

Diana Muresan

Sep 28 -- 8 minutes

Choosing the right scheduling software for your beauty business can be time-consuming. It often involves multiple trials and extensive research on other professional’s feedback. But here’s the real challenge: what works for others may not work for you.

It’s easy to settle for something that only partially meets your needs. Software with only a few features you need isn’t the right fit, and one loaded with unnecessary features can be just as frustrating.

That’s why it’s crucial to identify your specific needs and find a software that checks all the boxes. Two of the top-rated tools in this space are Goldie and StyleSeat, each offering powerful features to help beauty professionals save time and run their businesses more efficiently.

In this article, you’ll discover the key features to look for based on your business type, how to choose the ideal booking software, and why Goldie is considered one of the best StyleSeat alternatives in 2024.

Summary

StyleSeat Overview

StyleSeat is a marketplace model scheduling app that helps professionals manage appointments, promote services, process payments, and more. It also promotes businesses by investing in ads, making connecting you with quality clients easier and keeping your calendar consistently booked. On the other hand, clients gain access to a wide range of professionals on the marketplace, making it easy to book appointments, view portfolios, and leave reviews.

StyleSeat is ideal for larger teams or beauty businesses needing advanced features like dynamic pricing, client retention tools, and detailed financial tracking. Its functionality makes it a good choice for managing higher client volumes and complex business operations.

Goldie overview

Goldie appointment scheduling app for salons

Goldie is an all-in-one software designed to help beauty, wellness, and lifestyle professionals streamline and grow their businesses. It offers all the tools you need to simplify daily tasks, including appointment booking, online scheduling for clients, automated reminders, payment processing, and access to financial and performance reports—all within a single app.

Goldie is available across all devices, including mobile, tablet, and desktop, and it syncs in real-time. Users often praise Goldie for its intuitive interface and ease of use. Whether you’re managing a salon, wellness business, or freelance beauty professional, Goldie offers everything you need to stay organized, increase client loyalty, and grow your business efficiently.

Clients have the freedom to book appointments themselves, manage them (confirm, cancel, reschedule, or pay), and even create a client account to access their past and future appointments.

Let’s find out what makes Goldie one of the best StyleSeat alternatives in 2024.

Feature comparison

Now that you’ve got an idea of the core features of both platforms let’s compare them in detail to help you choose the right one. We’ll include important aspects like ease of use, client management features, essential growth tools, and payment options.

Ease of use

When it comes to ease of use, StyleSeat scores 4.1 out of 5 on Capterra, showing it’s a great choice for beauty professionals. However, Goldie stands out with 4.8 out of 5, thanks to its simple and intuitive interface that professionals love for making their day-to-day tasks easier.

No-Show Protection

Both apps offer features to protect businesses from no-shows, even though Goldie provides more customization options. It allows for customizable reminder templates, ensuring clients receive timely and personalized notifications about their appointments.

Both apps enable automated message sending.

StyleSeat offers three predefined no-show protection options: Flexible (0% late cancellation fee, 50% no-show fee), Moderate (25% late cancellation fee, 50% no-show fee), and Strict (50% late cancellation fee, 100% no-show fee).

On the other hand, Goldie gives users more flexibility by allowing them to customize the deposit percentage or set a specific amount for no-show protection.

Payment Processing

Goldie and StyleSeat offer secure and efficient solutions, but with some differences in fees and systems. Goldie charges a lower payment transaction fee (2.6%), compared to StyleSeat’s fees, which range from 2.7% to 3%. Both offer the convenience of instant payouts, ensuring that businesses receive their funds quickly.

StyleSeat processes payments directly through its system, while Goldie uses Stripe integration, which provides an additional layer of security for users.

Client management

In terms of client management, Goldie offers a range of features that provide flexibility and customization. It allows users to add client notes that can either appear for every appointment or be tied to specific appointments, making it easy to keep track of both long-term client preferences and individual appointment details.

In contrast, StyleSeat lets users add multiple notes to the client account, which are also visible in the appointment details, but without the same degree of customization per appointment.

Goldie’s client profiles go a step further by including client location and generating individual reports, such as revenue per client, number of appointments, no-shows, and cancellations — features which are not available in StyleSeat.

Additionally, while both apps offer reminder systems, Goldie only sends reminders via SMS, whereas StyleSeat provides both SMS and email options.

These features position Goldie as a great StyleSeat alternative, with more customizable client management tools.

Reports

Both Goldie and StyleSeat provide powerful reporting tools to help businesses monitor and analyze their performance, but they differ in the depth and structure of the data offered.

Styleseat’s revenue reporting feature allows salons to track their earnings and monitor growth over time. It provides insights into:

Net earnings
Appointment refunds
Cash earnings
Total tax
Total tips
Revenue from credit cards
Total fees, broken out by type of fee

Goldie offers more granular data with reports divided into four key sections:

Appointments: users can track total appointments, online bookings, no-shows, cancellations, breakdowns by staff and service.
Payments: reveals the total income, which staff members generate the most revenue, the split between cash and card payments, tips, and sales tax.
Clients: highlights your top clients.
Products: provides insights into revenue generated from product sales.

This makes Goldie’s reporting system the best StyleSeat alternative, being ideal for businesses that need detailed analytics across different areas of their operations.

Marketing & growth tools

The two booking softwares offer marketing and growth tools, though with some key differences.

Goldie provides SMS marketing, allowing users to easily send promotional messages to clients, while StyleSeat offers both SMS and email marketing options.

Both include “Book Now” integrations with Facebook and Instagram to attract more client bookings through social media. Additionally, Goldie integrates with Reserve with Google, making it easier for clients to book directly from Google search results or Google Maps.

StyleSeat offers multiple social media options within the app, including post templates, ready-made captions, and message templates ready to send to clients. Goldie, on the other hand, takes it a step further by using an AI-powered social media post generator to simplify content creation.

One unique feature of StyleSeat is that it actively promotes businesses but charges a 30% one-time fee for new clients gained through its promotions.

Ratings & reviews

When it comes to managing ratings and reviews, Goldie and StyleSeat take different approaches.

StyleSeat allows clients to leave reviews without requiring a name or login, offering a less personal feedback system. On the other hand, Goldie provides greater transparency by displaying the client’s name alongside their review, helping businesses identify who left the feedback.

Additionally, Goldie offers a unique Google Review Booster feature, which invites clients who leave 5-star reviews in Goldie to share their feedback on your Google profile as well, further boosting your online reputation.

Pricing structure

StyleSeat

StyleSeat has two pricing plan options: a premium plan with a $35 subscription cost per month and a Basic plan that is free.

Regarding credit card processing fees, each plan has its own rates.

For the Premium plan, the fee is 2.75% per transaction, applicable only to in-app payments. Premium users can also accept cash or other forms of payment.

On the Basic plan, the fee is 3% per transaction, and it applies to all appointments since payments are processed exclusively through the app.

Additionally, StyleSeat offers optional features for client acquisition and pricing optimization.

For new client connections, the Premium plan charges 30% of the first service fee, while the Basic plan charges 30% of the fee for a new client‘s first appointment.

With Smart Pricing, the Premium plan applies a 5.5% fee on services, whereas the Basic plan has a 5.25% fee.

Goldie

Goldie’s competitive pricing structure is designed to fit the needs of beauty, wellness, and lifestyle professionals, whether you’re working solo or managing a growing team.

There’s even a Free plan that covers the basics like appointment scheduling, client management, online booking, basic reports, and appointment reminders—perfect if you’re just starting out.

If you need more advanced tools, the Pro plan is only $19.99 per month and includes extras like automated SMS reminders, payment processing, ratings and reviews, product sales, customization possibilities, marketing options, and detailed business reports.

Goldie’s Pro Plus subscription includes everything in Pro, plus multiple client forms, AI Assistant, inventory management, +250 monthly messages, Google review booster, and team management, for $39.00 per month.

When it comes to transaction fees, Users in the U.S. and Canada will be charged 2.6% + $0.30 (USD/CAD, respectively) per card transaction each time they collect a payment.

No matter the size of your business, Goldie has a plan to help you stay organized and grow—all without breaking the bank.

Overall, according to Capterra reviews, StyleSeat has 3.4 out of 5 score for value for money, while Goldie has a 4.5 our of 5 score, making it the best StyleSeat alternative in 2024.

Availability

Goldie boasts a strong international presence, making it accessible to beauty and wellness professionals in the US 🇺🇸, UK 🇬🇧, Canada 🇨🇦, Europe 🇪🇺, Australia 🇦🇺, and Africa 🇿🇦.

StyleSeat primarily caters to the U.S. market, making it a good option for beauty professionals operating within the U.S 🇺🇸.

However, Goldie stands out as the more versatile choice for those seeking a software with international accessibility and broad geographical support.

Pros and cons

When deciding on the best StyleSeat alternative in 2024, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons of each app to find the right fit for your business needs. Let’s get started.

✅ StyleSeat Pros ✅

StyleSeat has a large user base and strong brand recognition
With a 4.1/5 ease-of-use rating, StyleSeat is intuitive and simple to navigate, according to users
StyleSeat offers a photo gallery function where stylists can showcase their work on their booking page, boosting visibility and attracting potential clients.
StyleSeat provides built-in marketing features that help salons increase their visibility, which can lead to business growth.
Automatic reminders are sent to both professionals and clients, helping reduce missed appointments and no-shows.

❌ StyleSeat Cons ❌

Additional service charges and taxes are imposed for each booking, which can be off-putting for some customers.
With transaction fees ranging from 2.7% to 3%, StyleSeat is more expensive in terms of payment processing compared to apps like Goldie.
The app charges a 30% fee on bookings from new clients gained through its promotions, which can significantly reduce profits.
StyleSeat primarily serves U.S.-based businesses, limiting its reach for international professionals.

✅ Goldie Pros ✅

Goldie’s biggest benefit according to user’s opinion is its ease of use, with a 4.8/5 rating, thanks to its intuitive and simple interface.
Goldie is flexible and easily customizable (customizable message reminders, business hours, etc.)
Goldie’s reporting system is well-structured, with deep insights into appointments, payments, clients, and products.
Goldie charges lower transaction fees (2.6%), helping you save money on each payment.
Goldie allows users to boost their Google profile reviews, making it easier for potential clients to find them in local searches with no costs.
Goldie is accessible in the US, UK, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Africa.
Content creation tools, including an AI-powered social media post generator.

❌ Goldie Cons ❌

While StyleSeat offers both SMS and Email reminders, Goldie is limited to SMS only.
Goldie has limited business promotion options compared to Styleseat
Goldie lacks a marketplace platform
Pricing: The Pro Plus plan costs $39/month, which is higher than StyleSeat’s Premium plan, though it comes with powerful features

StyleSeat vs Goldie: user reviews and testimonials

According to Capterra, StyleSeat has a 4 star rating out of 52 reviews, while Goldie has 4.7 out of 969 reviews, which makes it one of the best StyleSeat alternatives in 2024.

Here are the most recent reviews from Capterra for both Goldie and StyleSeat:

Conclusion

When choosing between StyleSeat and Goldie in 2024, it all comes down to your business needs.

StyleSeat is great for larger beauty businesses looking for a marketplace to boost visibility and attract more clients. But if you’re after something more flexible in terms of pricing and super easy to use, Goldie is the way to go! With customizable options, lower fees, and a simple, intuitive interface,

Goldie makes running your beauty business a breeze—whether you’re a solo freelancer or managing a growing team. Ready to switch to the best StyleSeat alternative in 2024? Here’s how to get started with Goldie!