Comparison
Trimsy vs Vagaro — picking a booking platform without per-transaction fees
Vagaro is a US-headquartered booking and POS platform with a strong feature set — but its pricing model layers a monthly subscription on top of per-transaction processing fees and per-staff add-ons. Trimsy is Australian-built with a flat AUD subscription, zero per-transaction Trimsy fees, and bring-your-own card processor.
Best fit: For Australian salons that want the depth of a Vagaro-style platform without American processing fees and add-on creep.
Side by side
| Feature | Trimsy AU-built — fixed monthly fee, 0% per-booking commission | Vagaro US-based subscription + per-transaction fees |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat AUD subscription — $24.99 to $49.99/mo | Tiered subscription from ~US$30/mo + per-staff and per-add-on charges |
| Per-booking commission | 0% — always | 0% on bookings (but processing fees apply per transaction) |
| Per-transaction Trimsy fee | None | 2.2% – 3.5% Vagaro processing on top of subscription |
| Card processor | Your choice — Stripe Connect or Square Terminal | Vagaro-owned processor only (limited alternatives) |
| Walk-in queue + kiosk | Yes — kiosk + digital queue board | Limited (check-in app only, no queue display) |
| Multi-location | Growth plan, no per-location surcharge | Per-location pricing — scales fast for chains |
| SMS reminders | Per-tenant Twilio at-cost | Bundled credits, then per-message overage |
| Country focus | Built for Australia (AUD, GST, AU support hours) | US-focused (USD, US support, AU customers pay FX) |
| Customer ownership | Your data, exportable any time | Yours, but card-on-file is locked to Vagaro processor |
| Learning curve | Onboarding wizard, most setups in <1 hour | Deep platform — significant configuration to fully exploit |
✓ Where Trimsy wins
- →Flat AUD pricing with no per-transaction Trimsy fee — predictable monthly cost
- →Bring your own Stripe or Square account — pay your processor's actual rate
- →AU-hours support, AU billing, AU GST
- →Walk-in queue dashboard (Vagaro has check-in only, no live queue board)
Where Vagaro may be the better choice
- ·Smaller feature surface than Vagaro on retail/inventory and marketing automation
- ·Smaller integration ecosystem than Vagaro's 100+ third-party app marketplace
- ·No native US-style email-marketing add-on (Vagaro's is mature)
Frequently asked
Does Vagaro charge per booking?+
Not directly — Vagaro has 0% commission on bookings. The catch is per-transaction processing fees (~2.2% – 3.5%) on every card payment, layered on top of the monthly subscription. With Trimsy you connect your own Stripe or Square account and pay only the processor's standard rate — Trimsy never adds a percentage on top.
Is Trimsy cheaper than Vagaro?+
For most Australian businesses, yes — once you factor in FX, per-staff add-ons, per-location surcharges, and processing fees. Vagaro's headline subscription looks competitive, but the bundled fees stack up. Trimsy's entry plan is $24.99 AUD/mo with no processing markup.
Can I migrate my data from Vagaro?+
Yes. Vagaro exports your client list, services, and historical bookings as CSVs. Trimsy's onboarding wizard imports them. Recurring appointments and active future bookings need to be manually re-created — we can help during a free 30-minute onboarding call.
Does Trimsy do retail inventory like Vagaro?+
Trimsy supports product items and barcode POS for retail-alongside-service businesses, plus gift cards and promo codes. Vagaro's retail-only feature set (purchase orders, supplier management, deep inventory analytics) is stronger if retail is more than 30% of your revenue.
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