Dog Grooming Software: How to Choose When You Work Alone

Dog grooming software is any tool that keeps your client and dog records, your appointment book, and usually your reminders and payments in one place. For a groomer who works alone, the right choice depends less on features and more on how you book: do clients book themselves online, or do they call and text you? Answer that first, and the field gets much smaller.

You will also see it called pet grooming software or simply grooming software. They are the same kind of tool. Most are built around dogs and also allow cats.

This guide splits the market into three kinds of tools, compares them, lists named options with prices we checked on November 7, 2026, says which is the best fit for which groomer, explains what "free" means on each product, and ends with a checklist for one-person businesses.

What dog grooming software does

Almost every product in this category covers the same core jobs:

• Client and pet records. Owner, phone, address, and for each dog: breed, coat, temperament, medical notes, and what you did last time.
• Appointment book. A calendar of who is booked when, with service lengths and prices.
• Reminders. A text or email the day before, so dogs are ready and fewer appointments get missed.
• Payments and records of payment. Taking a card, or at least writing down what was paid and the tip.
• Reports. What you earned this week or month, and which clients are due back.

Bigger products add online booking pages, two-way texting inboxes, staff calendars, payroll and commissions, inventory, marketing campaigns, and route planning for vans. Those extras are where most of the price goes.

Dog grooming scheduling software: what the calendar should handle

Many groomers search for scheduling software first, because the appointment book is the part that hurts most. A plain calendar app can hold appointments, but grooming has a few needs of its own. Check that the scheduler:

• Knows service lengths. A bath-and-tidy on a terrier and a full groom on a doodle are not the same block of time.
• Keeps your working hours and days off, so it only offers times you will really work.
• Leaves travel time between stops if you work from a van.
• Books multi-dog households back to back, not as separate scattered visits.
• Rebooks a regular in a few taps, with the same service and price as last time.
• Shows the dog's notes on the appointment, so you see "nervous of the dryer" before you start.

Online booking pages and automatic reminder texts are extra features. Some schedulers include them, some charge more for them, and some leave them out.

The three kinds of grooming software

1. Salon suites (MoeGo, DaySmart Pet and similar)

These are full business systems. They run in the cloud, so you sign in on a phone, tablet or computer and see the same data. They usually include online booking, automated reminder texts, card processing, and staff features. Many also sell a cheaper tier aimed at solo groomers.

Good for: groomers who want clients to book online, want to take cards in the same app, plan to hire, or run a van fleet.

Trade-offs: monthly prices are higher; text messages often come in a fixed allowance per month; and there is a lot of setup and menu depth that a one-person business may never use. Because the data lives on the vendor's servers, you need a connection for most tasks, and an outage on their side affects your day.

2. Solo-focused apps

These are smaller products built for one groomer. Some are still cloud services with online booking and payments at a lower price. Others are phone-first apps that keep the book on the device and send texts from your own number.

Good for: groomers who book by phone and text, want a fast dog-first record, and do not want to pay for staff features.

Trade-offs: fewer features, smaller companies, and in some cases no online booking or card payments. Phone-only apps may not have a web or desktop version.

3. Paper, Google Calendar and phone notes

Plenty of solo groomers run a full book this way: a paper card per dog, a calendar on the phone, and texts sent by hand.

Good for: someone starting out, or a small, stable book of regulars.

Trade-offs: no single place to see a dog's history. Before-and-after photos end up mixed into your camera roll. Reminders are typed one by one. Working out what you earned means adding it up by hand. None of this costs money; all of it costs time.

Comparison of the three kinds

	Salon suite	Solo-focused app	Paper / calendar / notes
Typical monthly cost	Highest (see named prices below)	Lower; some free tiers	Free
Online booking for clients	Yes, usually	Some do, some do not	No
Reminder texts	Automated, often with a monthly allowance	Automated or tap-to-send, depends on the app	Typed by hand
Card payments	Built in	Some	Separate (Square, Venmo, cash)
Staff and multiple calendars	Yes	Rarely	No
Dog history (blade, length, photos)	Yes, depth varies	Often the main focus	Only what you write down
Works with no signal	Usually needs a connection; data is in the cloud	Depends on the app	Yes
Setup time	Hours, sometimes onboarding calls	Short	None
Main risk	Paying for features you do not use	Missing a feature you later need	Time lost and records scattered

Named options, checked November 2026

These prices are as listed on each company's own pricing page or store listing on November 7, 2026. Prices change; check before you buy.

Product	Kind	Starting price	Notes
MoeGo	Salon suite	$49/month (Basic, mobile grooming); $79/month (Basic, salon)	As listed on moego.pet. Mobile Basic includes online booking, two-way messages, integrated payments, automated reminders, 200 SMS, and 1 team member. The higher mobile tiers are $99 and $159 a month per van.
DaySmart Pet	Salon suite	$29/month with their payments, $39 without (Basic)	As listed on daysmart.com. Basic is 1 user with 500 texts a month, online booking, automated reminders, card processing and a mobile app. Two-way texting starts at the Deluxe Growth tier.
GrooMore	Salon suite	$49/month (Standard), $79/month (Premium)	As listed on groomore.com. Mobile plans are for 1 van with 400 or 800 SMS; salon Standard allows 3 staff. Unlimited clients, pets and appointments.
Schedule My Groom	Solo-focused, cloud	$29.99/month	As listed on schedulemygroom.com. One plan with online scheduling, unlimited client messages, card payments, vaccine tracking and a mobile app.
Clipped	Solo-focused, phone app	$9.99/month, $19.99 for 6 months, or $39.99/year (Pro)	As listed on the App Store. Free to start; Pro removes the client limit and adds text templates, navigation and calling from the app.

We have not listed ratings or reviews for any of these. Read recent store reviews yourself, and look for comments from groomers who work the way you do.

The best dog grooming software for each kind of groomer

"Best" depends on how you work. This table matches common situations to the kind of tool that fits, using the features and prices above.

Your situation	Best fit	Why
Salon with staff, or a team of vans	Salon suite (MoeGo, DaySmart Pet, GrooMore)	Staff calendars, online booking, card payments and automated texts in one place
Solo, clients want to book online at night	Salon suite entry plan or Schedule My Groom	Online booking and card payments at the lowest tier
Solo, you want automated texts and no tiers	Schedule My Groom	One plan with unlimited client messages, as listed
Solo in a van, book by phone and text, tight budget	A phone-first app such as Clipped, or paper	Low cost, fast on the phone, no features you will not use
Just starting, under 20 regulars	Paper cards and your phone's calendar	Free, and enough until the book grows
You plan to hire in the next year	Salon suite from day one	Moving your book twice can cost more than a higher plan

Is there free dog grooming software?

Not much, if you mean a full grooming system with no time limit. Most "free" offers are a trial, a demo, or a free start with a limit. Here is what each named product offers, as listed on its own site on November 7, 2026:

• MoeGo: no free plan or free trial on the pricing page. It offers a demo.
• DaySmart Pet: a 14-day free trial with no card, with the Deluxe features. If you do not pay before the trial ends, access is locked and the data is lost.
• GrooMore: the homepage says "Start Free" with no credit card needed, but the pricing page lists only paid plans. Ask what happens to your data after the free start.
• Schedule My Groom: a "sign up for free" button, but the pricing page does not say how long the free period lasts.
• Clipped: free to start on the App Store, with a client limit. The listing does not say how many clients the free version allows.
• General booking tools: SchedulingKit lists a free plan at "$0 forever" for 1 team member and 50 bookings a month. It has online booking pages, but no text messages on the free plan, and it is not built for grooming, so it has no dog-specific records as listed.
• Your phone: the calendar, contacts and notes apps are free. Paper cards are close to free.

Free tools are fine when your book is small. The cost shows up later as time: typing reminders by hand and looking for last visit's notes.

How to choose if you work alone

Go through this list before you start any free trial. Write your answers down; they will rule out most products fast.

1. How do clients book today? If almost everyone books by phone, text, or at the end of a groom, you may not need a booking page. If you lose jobs because you cannot pick up between dogs, online booking is worth paying for.
2. Do you want reminders to send by themselves? Automated texts save the most time, but in most suites they draw on a monthly text allowance and come from a number the vendor provides. Tap-to-send from your own phone is free and keeps replies in your normal messages, but you tap send for each one.
3. Where do you take payment? If you already use Square, Venmo, Zelle or cash and are happy, you only need a place to record it. If you want card-on-file or deposits, you need software with payments built in.
4. How many regulars do you have? A book of 20 dogs fits on paper. A book of 80 dogs on a 4 to 8 week rotation is where records and rebooking start to eat your evenings.
5. Do you lose signal at work? Mobile groomers in rural roads or gated estates should test the app with the phone in airplane mode before committing.
6. Will you hire in the next year? If yes, pick a tool that handles staff now. Moving your book twice is worse than paying a bit more.
7. Can you get your data out? Ask how to export clients and pets before you put 200 records in.
8. What is the true monthly cost? Add the base plan, extra text credits, card processing fees, and any add-ons you will turn on.
9. How fast is it in the van? Time how long it takes to open a dog, see last visit's notes, and rebook. That screen is the one you will use ten times a day.

If your answers are mostly "clients book online, I want cards and automated texts, I might hire", a salon suite is the right tool. If they are mostly "phone and text, I need the dog's history and a fuller day, I work alone", a smaller app or even paper will serve you better.

Where Solo Groomer fits, and where it does not

Solo Groomer is a phone app we are building for one-person grooming businesses. It is not released yet. It sits in the phone-first part of the solo category.

What it is built to do:

• Keep the client book keyed to the dog. Each dog card shows breed, coat, temperament and medical notes, and the last groom: blade or length, face, feet, price, time, and before-and-after photos.
• Rebook a regular with one tap: Same as last time uses the last service, duration and price.
• Show free time over the next two weeks, using your working hours, time off and a travel buffer between appointments.
• Run tomorrow's reminders as a batch: the app opens your Messages app with each text written, and you tap send for each one. Texts go from your own number, so the app adds no per-message fee.
• Record payment and tips, and show what you earned this week and month.
• Work with no signal. There is no account and no server; the data is on your phone, and a backup file you create with one tap and save to Files or Google Drive.

What it does not do: no online booking page, no automatic texts, no card payments, no team or staff features, no cloud sync between devices, and no route optimization. If you need any of those, a salon suite or a cloud solo app is the better choice, and we would rather you pick it.

Planned pricing is free for up to 15 dogs, then $19.99 a month or $99.99 a year. That may change before launch.

For a closer look at phone apps specifically, read what a dog grooming app should do for a solo groomer. If you are weighing MoeGo, see our fair MoeGo alternative comparison. Starting out? Read how to start a dog grooming business and how much to charge for dog grooming.

Frequently asked questions