Gingr Alternative · Honest Comparison
Grooming, daycare and boarding — on one flat plan.
Gingr sells grooming, daycare and boarding as three separate plans, from $100/month per location, with no free tier. ThePetsMonk covers all three on one flat $41/month plan with unlimited staff and SMS included. Free for solo groomers.
Free migration on every plan. No card required to start.
Built for grooming, every step
Solo to 5 groomers — on one plan that grew with the business.
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 — and I never paid for kennel features I don't use.
Logan
Love Your Doggo · Ohio
The honest truth about Gingr.
Gingr is genuinely excellent — one of the most capable platforms in pet care. Real depth in boarding, daycare, and kennel management, a polished pet-parent app with report cards, and multi-facility tooling. For a large lodging operation running multiple sites, Gingr is often the right call.
But that depth is the point — and the price. Gingr splits pet care across separate plans and bills each facility on its own: Spa (grooming) from around $100/month per location, Play (daycare) from $142, Stay (boarding) from $154 — with no free tier and SMS as a paid add-on. ThePetsMonk gives you grooming, daycare and boarding in one system at one flat price.
We built ThePetsMonk grooming-first. Flat $41/month annual, unlimited staff, free for solo groomers — the grooming workflows you actually use, at a fraction of Gingr's price.
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 | Gingr |
|---|---|---|
Grooming Salon appointments, groomer calendars, pet records | Included | Spa · ~$100/mo |
Daycare Day bookings, capacity, check-in and check-out | Included | Play · $142/mo |
Boarding Overnight stays, lodging calendar, invoicing | Included | Stay · $154/mo |
Gingr prices each service as its own plan, billed per location annually. ThePetsMonk includes grooming, daycare and boarding on every paid plan — $41/month annual with unlimited staff, and free for solo groomers.
Why grooming-first salons look past Gingr.
We talk to switchers. Four patterns come up over and over.
No free tier — $100+/mo just to start.
Gingr's grooming plan (Spa) is about $100/month per location billed annually. There's no free plan to test on your own clients first — ThePetsMonk is free forever for solo groomers.
More than double the price.
Spa runs ~$100/month per location; ThePetsMonk Pro is $41/month flat with unlimited staff. The same grooming workflows for less than half the cost — and solo groomers pay nothing.
Per-location pricing, and texts cost extra.
Gingr bills per facility, and SMS is a paid add-on (2-Way SMS / Messaging Bundle) on top of the plan. ThePetsMonk includes SMS automations in Pro at one flat price.
One service per plan.
Gingr separates grooming (Spa), daycare (Play) and boarding (Stay) into different plans at different prices. ThePetsMonk runs all three on one calendar, on one flat plan.
ThePetsMonk vs Gingr, feature by feature.
Where we win, where Gingr wins, where we're tied. Honest read — across grooming, daycare and boarding.
Foundations
Booking & scheduling
Communication
Get paid & grow
Reporting
Staff & operations
Run a team
Support
Daycare & boarding
Where Gingr wins
ThePetsMonk column reflects features available across our paid plans (from $41/month). Gingr column reflects Gingr's published Spa/Play/Stay plans; “Add-on” means a paid extra. Features verified from each vendor's public product pages as of 2026.
What Gingr actually costs a grooming salon.
Gingr's grooming plan is Spa, priced per location. Below is the apples-to-apples cost for a salon that grooms (annual billing).
| Your business | ThePetsMonk | Gingr | Annual savings |
|---|---|---|---|
Solo groomer 1 staff, 1 location | Free $0 forever | ~$100/mo Spa (annual), per location | $1,200/yr |
Multi-groomer salon Single location, grooming | $41/mo Pro (annual), unlimited staff | ~$100/mo Spa (annual), per location | $708/yr |
Salon + daycare / boarding Overnight & capacity needs | $41/mo All three included, unlimited staff | $142–154/mo Play / Stay (annual) | $1,212–1,356/yr |
Pricing sourced from Gingr's public pricing page, accurate as of 2026. Gingr bills per location, billed annually; Spa is the grooming plan, Play and Stay add daycare and boarding. SMS is a paid add-on on Gingr — including its 2-Way SMS / messaging bundle. ThePetsMonk Pro includes unlimited staff with no per-seat fee, and Scale includes unlimited two-way SMS with no extra texting charge.
When Gingr is the right choice.
We'd rather lose a prospect than overpromise. Three scenarios where Gingr genuinely beats us:
- You want a mature pet-parent app with report cards.Gingr's pet-parent app and daily report cards (photos and updates of pets playing) are a real daycare strength and very polished. If that experience is central to your offer, Gingr is deeper here.
- You run several facilities.Gingr's Enterprise tooling is built for multi-site operators who need cross-facility reporting and central administration. We're built for a single location.
- You run a large kennel where reservation logic is the business.Deep deposit rules, kennel-run assignment and elaborate add-on services for overnight stays — Gingr's reservation engine has years of depth behind it. We cover daycare and boarding well; at true kennel scale, Gingr goes further.
If none of those describe you — a single location doing grooming, daycare, boarding, or all three — keep reading.
When ThePetsMonk is the right choice.
- •You run one location — grooming, daycare, boarding, or all three. You want booking, pet records, payments, and reminders that cover every service on one calendar, without paying for a separate plan per service.
- •You're solo and don't want to pay $100/month per location to start. Our free plan is free forever. No card, no trial expiry, no quote call.
- •You want unlimited staff at a flat $41/month. No per-location pricing, no SMS add-on — automations and texting are included in Pro.
- •You want self-serve evaluation, not a quote. Sign up free, try the product on your own appointments, decide later. No sales call required.
Other Gingr alternatives worth knowing.
If ThePetsMonk isn't the fit, here are the other names that come up in Gingr-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.
DaySmart Pet
Best for: Owners wanting a long-established systemEstablished legacy all-rounder covering grooming, boarding, and daycare. Deep feature set, dated UI.
Pawfinity
Best for: Cost-conscious grooming salonsGrooming-focused at a lower price point. Decent workflows, less polish on mobile and reporting.
Kennel Connection
Best for: Boarding & kennel-first operationsLong-standing boarding, daycare, and kennel software. If lodging is your core and Gingr isn't the fit, it's a boarding-first alternative.
Switching from Gingr to ThePetsMonk.
We handle migration for free on every plan. 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 boarding and daycare reservations mid-stay — we import the history, but any stay already in progress is re-entered on go-live.
Book a 20-minute migration call and we'll walk you through the process, give you the Gingr export steps, and set a go-live date.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best Gingr alternatives in 2026?
The most-cited alternatives are ThePetsMonk, MoeGo, DaySmart Pet, and Pawfinity. ThePetsMonk is the grooming-first pick — free for solo groomers and $41/month flat (annual Pro, unlimited staff) — versus Gingr's $100+/month-per-location pricing with no free tier. MoeGo is strong for mobile grooming; DaySmart Pet is a legacy all-rounder; Pawfinity is a closer price match with thinner workflows.
Is there a free alternative to Gingr?
Yes. ThePetsMonk's free plan is free forever for solo groomers (1 staff). Gingr has no free plan — its lowest tier is the Spa plan at $100/month per location billed annually ($109 month-to-month).
How much does Gingr cost per month?
Gingr is priced per location. The Spa plan (for groomers) is $109/month, or $100/month billed annually. Play (daycare) is $169 / $142 annual, and Stay (boarding) is $209 / $154 annual. Enterprise (multi-facility) is custom-quoted. SMS texting is a paid add-on.
Does Gingr charge per staff or per location?
Per location. Each facility is its own subscription and team members are included — but there's no free tier, so even a solo groomer pays the full Spa-plan price for one location.
What's a cheaper Gingr alternative for a grooming salon?
ThePetsMonk Pro is $41/month annual ($492/year) with unlimited staff — versus Gingr's Spa plan at about $100/month per location ($1,200/year). Solo groomers use ThePetsMonk free. Daycare and boarding are included at the same flat price, where Gingr charges for Play and Stay separately.
Can I switch from Gingr without losing data?
Yes. ThePetsMonk offers free migration on every paid plan — 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 Gingr good for a grooming-only salon?
Gingr is excellent software, but it's built boarding- and daycare-first and priced for that market. Its grooming plan (Spa) still starts around $100/month per location with no free tier and SMS as a paid add-on. If you only groom, a grooming-native tool typically costs less and fits the daily workflow better.
Is there a Gingr alternative that does grooming, daycare and boarding?
Yes. ThePetsMonk covers grooming, daycare and boarding in one system — bookings, capacity, check-in and check-out, and invoicing across all three — on a single flat plan at $41/month annual with unlimited staff. Gingr splits the same ground across its Spa, Play and Stay plans, each priced per location.
Does ThePetsMonk do everything Gingr does?
For grooming, daycare and boarding workflows — online booking, capacity, check-in/check-out, pet records, reminders, payments, packages, intake forms, commissions and reporting — yes. Gingr still goes deeper on its pet-parent app with report cards and on multi-facility enterprise tooling. For a single-site business, ThePetsMonk covers what you use day-to-day at a fraction of the price.
Does Gingr have a free trial?
Gingr doesn't offer a free-forever plan; you choose a paid plan (Spa, Play, or Stay) or request an Enterprise quote. ThePetsMonk's free plan lets solo groomers start with no card and no sales call.
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.