DaySmart Pet Alternative · Honest Comparison
One flat price — no seats, no text meter.
DaySmart meters seats, caps texts by plan, and sells daycare and boarding as $25/month add-ons. ThePetsMonk is one flat $41/month — grooming, daycare, boarding, unlimited staff, SMS included. Free for solo groomers.
Free plan for solo groomers, plus a 14-day free trial of paid plans. Free migration on annual Pro and Scale.
One price, however big your team gets
Solo to 5 groomers — without the bill going up per chair.
Started solo on the free plan — no card, no countdown. Two years in, I've got 5 groomers and we run 300+ appointments a month. Same software the whole way — and the price never moved when I added a chair.
Logan
Love Your Doggo · Ohio
The honest truth about DaySmart Pet.
DaySmart Pet has earned its place. It grew out of 123Pet, it has been serving grooming and pet-care businesses for decades, and that maturity shows: over 50 built-in reports, real payroll and commission depth, QuickBooks Online sync, a website builder and reputation tools, and optional boarding and daycare calendars. Plenty of salons run their whole business on it and are happy.
The friction is the shape of the pricing rather than the product. Seats are metered — Basic includes 1 user, Deluxe 3, Premium 6, and each person after that is $9/month. Texts are capped by tier (500 to 5,000 a month), and two-way texting isn't included until Deluxe Growth at $149/month (it's an add-on below that). Daycare and boarding calendars are $25/month each, the website builder is $15, reputation management is $49, and every plan costs about $20/month more if you don't use DaySmart's payment processing. The sticker price and the real bill drift apart.
We built ThePetsMonk grooming-first and flat-rate. $41/month annual, unlimited staff, SMS included, free for solo groomers — one line on the invoice, whatever your team looks like.
Below, the honest comparison.
Services covered.
Before the feature-by-feature detail, the bigger question: which sides of your business can each system actually run?
| Service | ThePetsMonk | DaySmart Pet |
|---|---|---|
Grooming Salon appointments, groomer calendars, pet records | Included | All plans |
Daycare Day bookings, capacity, check-in and check-out | Included | Add-on · $25/mo |
Boarding Overnight stays, lodging calendar, invoicing | Included | Add-on · $25/mo |
Mobile grooming Van routes, service areas, on-the-road booking | Included | All plans · map view, no auto route optimization |
DaySmart sells daycare and boarding as separate $25/month calendars on top of your plan, and neither can be booked online. ThePetsMonk includes grooming, daycare and boarding on every paid plan — $41/month annual with unlimited staff, and free for solo groomers.
Why grooming salons look past DaySmart Pet.
We talk to switchers. Four patterns come up over and over.
Every new groomer raises the bill.
DaySmart caps users by tier — 1 on Basic, 3 on Deluxe, 6 on Premium — and charges $9/month per person beyond that. ThePetsMonk includes unlimited staff on Pro and Scale, so hiring never changes what you pay for software.
Two-way texting starts at $149/month.
Two-way texting is included from Deluxe Growth — a five-fold step up from Basic's $29 — and is a paid add-on below that. ThePetsMonk includes SMS automations and two-way texting (500 messages a month) on Pro, and Scale makes two-way texting unlimited at no extra charge.
Text caps, and add-ons on top.
Plans include 500–5,000 texts a month. Daycare and boarding calendars are $25 each, the website builder $15, reputation management $49 — and every tier costs roughly $20/month more if you process payments elsewhere.
A trial clock, not a free plan.
DaySmart gives you 14 days on Deluxe, then it's a paid tier. ThePetsMonk is free forever for solo groomers — no card, no countdown — so you can build the business before you pay anything. Paid plans come with a 14-day free trial too.
ThePetsMonk vs DaySmart Pet, feature by feature.
Where we win, where DaySmart wins, where we're tied. Honest read — focused on the grooming workflows.
Foundations
Booking & scheduling
Communication
Get paid & grow
Reporting
Staff & operations
Run a team
Support
Daycare & boarding
Where DaySmart wins
ThePetsMonk column reflects features available across our paid plans (from $41/month). DaySmart column reflects DaySmart Pet's published tiers (Basic, Deluxe, Deluxe Growth, Premium, Premium Growth); “$9/user” means additional seats beyond the tier allowance, and “$149+ tier” means the capability is included on Deluxe Growth or above; “N/A” means DaySmart's site doesn't say. Features verified from each vendor's public pricing and help pages, checked 7 October 2026.
What DaySmart Pet actually costs a grooming salon.
DaySmart's advertised prices assume one thing: that your team fits inside the tier's seat allowance. Below is the apples-to-apples cost once you add real groomers and two-way texting.
| Your business | ThePetsMonk | DaySmart Pet | Annual savings |
|---|---|---|---|
Solo groomer 1 staff | Free $0 forever | $29/mo Basic — 1 user, no two-way SMS | $348/yr |
Growing salon 4 groomers, email + SMS reminders | $41/mo Pro (annual), unlimited staff | $78/mo Deluxe $69 + 1 extra seat | $437/yr |
Salon with two-way texting 5 groomers, clients text back | $41/mo Pro (annual), 500 two-way texts/mo included | $167/mo Deluxe Growth $149 + 2 seats | $1,505/yr |
Salon + daycare / boarding Overnight & capacity needs | $41/mo Daycare & boarding included | $119/mo Deluxe $69 + daycare $25 + boarding $25 | $929/yr |
Pricing sourced from DaySmart Pet's public pricing page, checked 7 October 2026. DaySmart prices shown assume you use DaySmart's payment processing — plans cost roughly $20/month more if you process elsewhere. Seats beyond the tier allowance (1 on Basic, 3 on Deluxe and Deluxe Growth, 6 on Premium) are $9/month each; unlimited users require the custom-quoted Premium Growth plan. ThePetsMonk Pro includes unlimited staff with no per-seat fee and 500 two-way texts a month, and Scale includes unlimited two-way SMS with no extra texting charge.
When DaySmart Pet is the right choice.
We'd rather lose a prospect than overpromise. Three scenarios where DaySmart genuinely beats us:
- Your bookkeeping runs through QuickBooks Online.DaySmart's Premium tier syncs directly with QuickBooks Online. If your accountant lives in QBO and you want the sync native rather than exported, that's a real advantage.
- You need deep payroll and commission rules.Sliding-scale commission, commission exceptions, overtime rules and expense tracking on Premium Growth go further than our commission tooling. For a large team with complicated pay structures, that depth matters.
- You want one vendor for software, website and reviews.DaySmart bundles a website builder ($15/month) and reputation management ($49/month) alongside the booking system. If consolidating vendors is worth more to you than the line-item cost, that's a fair trade.
If none of those describe you — whether you groom, run daycare, board, or all three — keep reading.
When ThePetsMonk is the right choice.
- •You're hiring, and you don't want the bill to follow. Unlimited staff on Pro and Scale at one flat price — no $9-per-seat maths every time someone joins the team.
- •You text your clients, and you want it in the price. SMS automations and two-way texting (500 messages a month) are included in Pro, and Scale makes two-way texting unlimited — no $149 tier jump to reply to a client.
- •You run one location — grooming, daycare, boarding, or all three. Booking, pet records, payments and reminders across every service on one calendar, plus capacity booking, next-available-slot and breed/coat/size pricing built for the chair.
- •You want to start free, not on a 14-day clock. Our free plan is free forever for solo groomers. No card, no trial expiry, no quote call.
Other DaySmart Pet alternatives worth knowing.
If ThePetsMonk isn't the fit, here are the other names that come up in DaySmart-alternative searches. Honest one-liners on each.
MoeGo
Best for: Mobile & salon grooming, mid-sizeGrooming-first with strong mobile/van support and a polished modern app. No free tier; Growth runs $149/month per location.
Pawfinity
Best for: Cost-conscious grooming + boardingFlat-rate grooming and kennel software from $55/month billed annually with unlimited staff. A 7-day trial and pay-per-text SMS, but genuinely affordable.
Gingr
Best for: Boarding + daycare + grooming operatorsA boarding-and-daycare platform first. Powerful for lodging and kennels, but its grooming plan starts at $100/month billed annually.
Kennel Connection
Best for: Boarding & kennel-first operationsLong-standing boarding, daycare, and kennel software. Another legacy option if lodging rather than grooming is your core business.
Switching from DaySmart Pet to ThePetsMonk.
We handle migration for free on annual Pro and Scale plans. Typical timeline: 1–2 weeks end-to-end. Most salons run both systems in parallel for ~3 days before flipping over.
What we move for you:
- •Client list (names, emails, phone numbers, addresses)
- •Pet records (breed, coat, allergies, medical notes, vaccination expirations)
- •Appointment history and service notes
- •Recurring booking rules where applicable
- •Package and membership balances if exportable
What we can't move (and we'll be upfront about this):
- •Stored card-on-file tokens (processors don't allow cross-processor token migration). Clients re-enter their card on first visit.
- •Live daycare and boarding reservations mid-stay — we import the history, but any stay already in progress is re-entered on go-live.
- •Payroll history and QuickBooks sync mappings — those stay with DaySmart and your accounting system.
Book a 20-minute migration call and we'll walk you through the process, give you the DaySmart export steps, and set a go-live date.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best DaySmart Pet alternatives in 2026?
The most-cited alternatives are ThePetsMonk, MoeGo, Pawfinity, and Gingr. ThePetsMonk is the grooming-first pick — free forever for solo groomers and $41/month flat (annual Pro) with unlimited staff and no per-seat fees — versus DaySmart Pet's tiered plans that cap users at 1, 3 or 6 and charge $9/month per extra person. MoeGo is strong for mobile grooming; Pawfinity is a flat-rate all-in-one with kennel; Gingr is boarding-and-daycare-first.
Is there a free alternative to DaySmart Pet?
Yes. ThePetsMonk's free plan is free forever for solo groomers (1 staff) — no card, no countdown — and there's a 14-day free trial of the paid plans if you want to test Pro or Scale. DaySmart Pet has no free-forever plan; it offers a 14-day free trial of the Deluxe tier, after which its cheapest plan is Basic at $29/month for a single user.
How much does DaySmart Pet cost per month?
DaySmart Pet publishes five tiers, priced on the assumption you use DaySmart's own payment processing: Basic $29/month (1 user), Deluxe $69/month (3 users), Deluxe Growth $149/month (3 users, adds two-way texting and text marketing), Premium $199/month (6 users), and Premium Growth at custom pricing (unlimited users). Each plan costs about $20/month more if you process payments elsewhere. Extra users are $9/month each, and daycare or boarding calendars are $25/month each.
Does DaySmart Pet charge per staff member?
Yes, beyond the seats included in your tier. Basic includes 1 user, Deluxe and Deluxe Growth include 3, and Premium includes 6 — additional users are $9/month each. Only the custom-quoted Premium Growth tier includes unlimited users. ThePetsMonk Pro and Scale both include unlimited staff at one flat price with no per-seat fee.
What's a cheaper DaySmart Pet alternative for a grooming salon?
For a five-groomer salon that wants two-way texting, DaySmart lands on Deluxe Growth at $149/month plus $9/month for each user past three — about $167/month, or $2,004/year. ThePetsMonk Pro is $41/month annual ($499/year) with unlimited staff and SMS included, including two-way texting (500 messages a month on Pro, unlimited on Scale). Solo groomers use ThePetsMonk free.
Can I switch from DaySmart Pet without losing data?
Yes. ThePetsMonk offers free migration on annual Pro and Scale plans — we import your client list, pet records, vaccination history, and appointment history before you go live. Stored card-on-file tokens can't transfer between processors, so clients re-enter their card on first visit.
Is DaySmart Pet good for a grooming salon?
DaySmart Pet is a long-established, capable system — it's been around since the 123Pet days and has real depth in reporting, payroll and commissions, plus optional boarding and daycare calendars. The friction for grooming salons is the pricing shape: seats are metered, texts are capped by tier, and two-way texting isn't included below the $149/month plan (it's an add-on on cheaper tiers). If you only groom and want one flat price, a grooming-native tool usually fits better.
Does ThePetsMonk do everything DaySmart Pet does for grooming?
For grooming, daycare and boarding workflows — online booking, capacity, check-in/check-out, pet records, reminders, payments, packages, intake forms, commissions (on Scale) and reporting — yes, plus booking tools built for grooming (capacity/block booking, next-available-slot, breed/coat/size pricing). Daycare and boarding are included in our flat price where DaySmart charges $25/month for each calendar. DaySmart still goes deeper on QuickBooks sync, its 50+ report library, and sliding-scale commission rules.
Does DaySmart Pet have a free trial?
Yes — a 14-day free trial with Deluxe features and no credit card required. There's no free-forever plan, so after 14 days you pick a paid tier. ThePetsMonk's free plan lets solo groomers run free indefinitely, with no card and no trial clock, and our paid plans also come with a 14-day free trial.
Is DaySmart Pet or Gingr better for a salon with boarding or daycare?
It depends on which side is bigger. Gingr is built for daycare and boarding first, with packages, memberships and plans from $100 a month annual. DaySmart Pet is grooming-first: daycare and boarding are $25-a-month add-on calendars, they can't be booked online, and each location needs its own account. For a grooming salon adding some daycare, DaySmart is cheaper; for a facility where boarding leads, Gingr fits better.
How does MoeGo compare with DaySmart Pet?
Both are grooming-first, but they price differently. DaySmart Pet starts lower, at $29 a month for one user, then adds $9 per extra user and $25 each for daycare and boarding calendars, and every location needs its own account. MoeGo starts at $79 for a salon of up to two, then $149 per location with unlimited staff and built-in multi-location tools. A small shop pays less on DaySmart; a multi-location business is better served by MoeGo.
Still comparing? Let's walk through your salon.
Book a 20-minute demo. We'll show you the grooming workflows you use today, side by side. No sales pressure.