Free for Solo Groomers
Free pet grooming software, free forever.
Online booking, client + pet records, calendar, email reminders, and payments. No credit card. No 30-day trial. No feature-thin freemium trick.
No credit card · Set up in under 2 minutes
Yes, there's truly free pet grooming software for solo groomers.
Most software labelled "free" in the pet grooming category is either a 30-day trial that expires, a feature-thin freemium tier you can't actually run a salon on, or a generic appointment app missing every grooming-specific workflow. ThePetsMonk's free plan is genuinely free — forever — for solo groomers. One staff member, one location, no credit card, no expiry date.
You get the online booking page, client and pet records with breed and coat notes, calendar, automated email reminders, and payment acceptance. It's the same product the salons on the Pro tier use — just scoped to the solo workflow.
What "free" actually means on ThePetsMonk.
Three things we mean when we say free, and three things we don't:
✓ What we mean
- • $0 forever — not after 30 days, not after Year 1.
- • No credit card required to sign up or use the product.
- • Unlimited bookings, customers, and pets. No record caps.
✗ What we don't mean
- • Free for 2+ groomers — that tier is Pro.
- • SMS reminders for free — texts have real per-message cost.
- • Free forever for everyone — we're honest about the scope.
We can be honest about this because we can afford to be. We aren't venture-funded burning cash to acquire users we'll later squeeze. We're lean, engineering-led, and built with working groomers — so the economics of giving solo groomers free, capable software actually work.
Who the free plan is built for.
If you're running a one-chair shop, a mobile rig, or a side-hustle out of your garage, the free plan is for you. Specifically:
- •Solo salon groomers — one chair, one location, just you behind it.
- •Mobile groomers — single van or in-home, booking on the move.
- •Side-hustle / part-time groomers — building a book while keeping your day job.
- •New groomers in year 1–2 — when paying $129/month for MoeGo is the difference between profitable and not.
If you're already managing a 2-groomer salon, juggling multi-staff schedules, or your clients ignore email and only respond to SMS — you'll outgrow the free plan fast. That's when Pro is the right call. We'd rather you start free, prove the workflow, and upgrade when the math is obvious.
What you get on the free plan.
24/7 online booking page
Branded link clients book from. Embed on your site or share directly.
Client & pet records
Breed, coat type, allergies, grooming history. Built for grooming, not generic.
Appointment calendar
Day, week, month views. Drag to reschedule. Recurring booking support.
Automated email reminders
24-hour, day-of, post-appointment. Customizable templates.
Payment acceptance
In-salon and online. Stripe-powered. No platform fee on payments.
Unlimited bookings & clients
No record caps. Run as many appointments as your day fits.
Full feature breakdown on the features page.
What's not free, and why we're upfront about it.
Most "free" software companies hide their paywalls behind vague tier comparisons or upgrade prompts that surface only after you've invested 6 weeks of setup. We'd rather just tell you now.
Four things sit behind the Pro tier:
- SMS reminders.Every text we send has a real per-message cost (carriers charge us). We could spread that cost into a bigger Pro price, but we'd rather let solo groomers stay free if they don't need SMS yet.
- Multi-staff access (unlimited groomers).Staff access, permissions, and individual calendars are real engineering surface area. The moment you hire your second groomer, you're in Pro territory — and Pro never charges per seat.
- Advanced reporting & recurring rules.Revenue dashboards, per-groomer commission reports, recurring booking automation. Useful at scale; overkill for a solo groomer.
- Team permissions & roles.Front desk vs. groomer vs. owner access. Doesn't apply when it's just you.
That's it. No 14 hidden upgrade nags. No "contact sales for pricing." Pro tier pricing and the full breakdown live on our pricing page.
When solo groomers outgrow free, and what Pro covers.
Most solo groomers hit one of three triggers before they upgrade:
- You hire your second groomer. The free plan supports one staff member. The day you onboard a second pair of hands, you need Pro's multi-staff scheduling.
- You're booked solid and no-shows start costing real money. SMS reminders cut no-shows 30–50%. Once you're losing one $75 no-show per month, Pro pays for itself ~2x over.
- You're ready to take card payments and automate. Pro's Stripe card payments, SMS automations, and recurring booking rules eliminate the manual ledger. (Per-groomer commissions and advanced reporting live on Scale.)
Pro covers unlimited staff. Card payments, SMS automations, the branded pet parent portal, recurring rules, team permissions — everything you outgrew the free plan for, at one flat price. No per-seat fees.
See the full pricing page for tier-by-tier feature breakdown, including Scale ($99/mo — adds team commissions, shift scheduling and advanced reporting).
Honest comparison: ThePetsMonk vs MoeGo, Pawfinity, Groomsoft, DaySmart Pet.
No US incumbent in this category has a real free-forever plan. Most have trials. Some have demo-only access. The table below is a feature-by-feature, dollar-by-dollar comparison — written as honestly as we can.
| Feature | ThePetsMonk Free | ThePetsMonk Pro | MoeGo | Pawfinity | Groomsoft | DaySmart Pet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free-forever plan (no card) | — | |||||
| Solo groomer / 1 staff supported | ||||||
| Multi-staff (2–5) | ||||||
| Online booking page | ~ | |||||
| Pet + client records | ||||||
| Email reminders | ||||||
| SMS reminders | ||||||
| Built specifically for grooming | ||||||
| Modern interface (post-2020 UI) | ~ | |||||
| Transparent pricing on website | ~ | ~ | ||||
| Starting monthly price (USD) | $0 | $41 | $129 | $20 | $25 | $99 |
Competitor pricing and feature availability accurate as of 2026; check their official sites for current tiers. We do not pay for or receive payment from any of the named competitors. We'd rather tell you the truth and lose some prospects than hide pricing and feel embarrassed about it later.
Why we can offer a real free tier when MoeGo can't.
MoeGo charges $129+/month because they need to. Venture-funded SaaS companies have growth targets, sales teams, paid acquisition budgets, and investor expectations baked into every plan. A real free-forever tier would torch the unit economics.
We're built differently:
- •Lean, engineering-led team. No outbound sales reps to commission. No 12-person growth team to fund.
- •Working groomers as advisors and beta partners. We don't pay agencies to tell us what to build — actual groomers do.
- •Honest paid tier instead of hidden upsells. One Pro tier covers everything multi-staff salons need. No 4-tier ladder. No "contact sales" for features that should be standard.
- •Compounding from Pro and Scale customers. Solo groomers run free; salons with 2+ staff pay for Pro and fund the engineering. The math works because we've scoped it carefully.
The wedge isn't that we're cheaper. The wedge is that we're structurally able to offer a real free tier — and we don't want solo groomers paying $1,548/year (MoeGo annualized) for software that takes a chunk out of their grooming income.
The no-show math: when free is enough, when SMS pays for itself.
Industry data consistently shows SMS reminders cut no-shows by 30–50% compared to email-only. Solo groomers using only email reminders typically see a 5–10% no-show rate; with SMS, that drops to 2–5%. Translate that into dollars:
Quick math for a $75 average groom:
- • 20 appointments/week × $75 = $1,500/week revenue potential
- • 8% no-show rate (email only) = $120/week lost = ~$520/month
- • 4% no-show rate (with SMS) = $60/week lost = ~$260/month
- → ~$260/month recovered >> $41/month Pro tier cost.
Translation: if you're doing <15 appointments a week, email reminders on the free plan are fine — you're not losing enough to a few no-shows to justify Pro. Once you're consistently booked at 20+ a week, the SMS math becomes obvious and Pro pays for itself ~6x over.
We'd rather you stay free until the upgrade is a no-brainer. No surprise pricing pressure when you're not ready.
Built with working groomers, not just for them.
Most pet-software companies are either coders guessing at grooming workflows or ex-groomers learning to code on the side. We're engineering-led — and we work shoulder-to-shoulder with active groomers as advisors and beta partners. Every release is shaped by people who'd use it tomorrow morning.
Started solo on the free plan — every dollar mattered when I was building. Two years in, I've got 5 groomers and we run 300+ appointments a month. Same software the whole way.
Logan
Love Your Doggo · Ohio
Free or Pro? Take the 30-second quiz.
Three questions. We'll tell you which plan actually fits — no sales pitch, just the honest answer.
Question 1 of 3
How many groomers (including yourself)?
How to switch from MoeGo, Pawfinity, or Groomsoft.
If you're already on a paid grooming tool and you're solo (or planning to scope down), switching to ThePetsMonk's free plan takes about an evening:
- Export your client + pet list from your current software. Most platforms allow a CSV export from settings.
- Sign up for ThePetsMonk free and import the CSV. Pet records, breeds, and contact info map automatically.
- Forward your booking link to clients (or update it on your Google Business Profile, Instagram bio, and website). Old links can redirect for a week if needed.
- Run both in parallel for one week if you want to be safe. After that, cancel your old subscription.
On annual Pro and Scale plans, we'll handle the migration for you free of charge — including a 30-minute onboarding call. Book a 15-min demo and we'll walk you through it.
Frequently asked questions
Is there truly free pet grooming software?
Yes. ThePetsMonk's free plan is free forever for solo groomers — one staff member, one location. No credit card, no trial expiry. You only pay if you grow past 1 staff member or need SMS reminders.
What's the catch with "free" pet grooming software?
On most platforms, "free" means a 30-day trial or a tier so feature-thin you can't actually run a salon on it. On ThePetsMonk, free means free — but SMS reminders and multi-staff features sit behind Pro because they carry real per-message and infrastructure costs we can't absorb at $0.
Who is the free plan for?
Solo groomers running one chair, mobile rigs, or part-time side-hustles — typically under 20 appointments per week. If you have a second staff member or you've outgrown email-only reminders, you'll want Pro.
What features are included on the free plan?
A basic online booking page, client and pet records with breed/coat/allergy notes, appointment calendar, automated email reminders, and manual/cash payment recording. Everything a solo groomer needs to stop running the business on paper.
What's NOT included on the free plan?
Online card payments, SMS automations, multi-staff access, the branded pet parent portal, and e-sign/intake forms. Those start on the Pro tier (unlimited staff). Team commissions, shift scheduling and advanced reporting are on Scale. See the full breakdown on our pricing page.
Can I start free and upgrade later?
Yes. Your client data, pet records, calendar history, and booking flows all carry forward when you move to Pro. No data export, no re-entry, no migration friction.
How does ThePetsMonk compare to MoeGo for a solo groomer?
MoeGo starts at $129/month with no free tier. If you're solo, ThePetsMonk's free plan covers the same core scheduling, client management, and booking-page workflow at $0. When you grow to a team, our Pro is $41/month — unlimited staff, still well under MoeGo's entry price.
How does the free plan compare to Square Appointments?
Square's free tier works but it's not grooming-specific — no pet profiles, no breed or coat notes, no grooming-style history, no per-pet allergy fields. ThePetsMonk is built for grooming workflows from day one.
Is my client data safe on a free plan?
Yes. Same encryption, same daily backups, same data protection as the paid tiers. The free plan isn't a "lower security" tier — your data lives on the same infrastructure as every paid customer's.
Do I need a credit card to sign up?
No. You can create an account, set up your booking page, and start taking appointments without entering any payment information.
How much do no-shows actually cost a solo groomer?
A single $75 no-show per month wipes out roughly 2x the cost of a Pro plan. SMS reminders typically cut no-shows by 30–50%, which is why most groomers upgrade once they're booked solid. Until then, free email reminders cover the basics.
Does ThePetsMonk work in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand?
Yes. US is our primary market, and we support UK, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand groomers as well — same product, same plans, same booking workflows.
Start free in under 2 minutes.
Free forever for solo groomers. No credit card. No 30-day trial.