Starta.one
Vagaro gives you a marketplace and modules bought separately, but the client conversation is still yours to run. In Starta.one, StartaAI takes that work on — and every capability is in one plan.
Vagaro has a wide feature set, but its add-on pricing model means you pay extra for forms ($10/mo), text marketing ($20/mo), website builder ($20/mo), payroll ($34/mo + $5/employee), and more. Real cost for most salons: $100–150/mo. No free plan, no operational AI.
Starta.one takes the client admin work off you — StartaAI does it. The second difference: in Vagaro everything beyond the base scenario carries its own price — forms, marketing, website, payroll. Here it's all one plan.
Vagaro has plenty of checkmarks — the question is how many of them are already in your plan. Look at the "Add-on pricing" row: that's where the gap between $30 and $150 a month hides.
| Feature | Starta | Vagaro |
|---|---|---|
| Who handles client messages | | |
| How you manage your business | | |
| What your specifics cost | | |
| AI receptionist for clients | | |
| Online booking | | |
| Calendar & scheduling | | |
| CRM / client database | | |
| AI assistant | | |
| P&L reports | | |
| Loyalty program | | |
| SMS notifications | | |
| Salary management | | |
| Inventory | | |
| Mobile app | | |
| Add-on pricing | | |
| Whose brand the client sees | | |
| Free plan | | |
Starta.one Lite — free, unlimited bookings
Starta.one Pro — from €6.29/mo for one specialist or €10.79/mo for up to 5 staff (annual billing), +€1.26/mo per additional
$30/mo for 1 calendar, +$10/mo per additional. Add-ons: forms +$10/mo, text marketing +$20/mo, website builder +$20/mo, payroll +$34/mo + $5/employee
No free plan — 30-day trial only. Payment processing: 2.2–3.5% per transaction. 'Free' card reader requires a 12-month commitment ($100–140 cancellation fee). Real-world cost for most salons: $100–150/mo.
Vagaro's $30/mo starting price is misleading — real costs with essential add-ons reach $100–150/mo for most salons. Starta.one Lite is genuinely free, and Pro starts from €6.29/mo for one specialist or €10.79/mo for up to 5 staff — all features included.
Vagaro prices verified: June 2026
Forms, SMS marketing, a website builder, payroll — Vagaro has all of it, and each is sold separately. So the less standard your salon, the more it costs. In Starta.one every capability is in one plan — your configuration doesn't change the price.
A "free" card reader is a 12-month commitment, and a branded app costs +$100/mo. Decisions that felt small become the reason you stay a year later. Starta.one has no contracts and no hardware lock-in.
In Vagaro marketing and campaigns are separate subscriptions, and a person still holds the client conversation. StartaAI answers, books, reminds and wins back the ones who drifted off — and it's in the plan, not added to the invoice.
StartaAI handles the clients. That leaves you running the business — also by conversation.
A traditional system hands you tools and leaves the work with you.
Vagaro does that through the price list too: the base scenario costs $30, while forms, marketing, a website and payroll are bought separately — and you still run the client conversation yourself. Starta.one takes the client admin work on itself: StartaAI does it, and every capability is in one plan.
Starta.one is assembled from blocks — services, staff, slots, payments, packages, equipment rental, group classes, walk-ins. The assistant composes your configuration from them in a conversation, so most "non-standard" setups come together right away. If a block doesn't exist, you'll hear that straight, not "someday". Message us in the chat before you sign up and we'll tell you whether it already works.
Vagaro has a wide feature set but splits everything into $10–20/mo add-ons — real costs reach $100–150/mo.
Starta.one includes all features in one plan, adds a full AI assistant (which Vagaro lacks), offers a genuinely free Lite plan, and keeps your clients yours without marketplace ads for competitors.
Starta.one Pro — from €6.29/mo for one specialist or €10.79/mo for up to 5 staff (annual billing), +€1.26/mo per additional, all features included. Lite — free.
Vagaro: $30/mo for 1 calendar + essential add-ons (forms, text marketing, website, payroll) — real-world costs are typically $100–150/mo.
Switching is free. Note that Vagaro has limited data export — appointment exports require contacting support, and billing data cannot be exported. Import your client database and describe your business to the AI — it recreates the rest in minutes.