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Coil vs Mind Your Ink.
Pay per booking. Or pay once.
Mind Your Ink is the booking request tool done carefully: a form that asks the right questions, a page that holds your Instagram feed and your reviews, consent forms, reminders, and a flash shop. It doesn't touch your money at all; you keep taking Venmo or Square or whatever you take. You pay $5 per appointment, or $100 a month for unlimited. Coil covers the same ground and then keeps going: deposits, a business phone number, aftercare texts, healing photo replies, the waitlist, and a shop's back office, for $29 a month. Neither takes a cut. The question is what you need past the booking.
The honest read
Mind Your Ink is $5 a booking or $100 a month.
Free for apprentices and part-timers. Pay-as-you-go at $5 per appointment, or $100 a month unlimited. No percentage, no processing; you keep your own payment apps.
Coil is $29 a month, however many you book.
Flat. At six bookings a month you're even. At twenty, Mind Your Ink is $100 and coil is still $29. Neither one takes a cut of your money.
Mind Your Ink stops at the booking. Coil keeps going.
Both do the form, the consent, the reminders and flash. Coil adds deposits by card, a business number, aftercare texts, healing photo replies, the waitlist, tips, touch-ups, and a shop's roster.
The price difference.
- Free planNone$0 for apprentices and part-timeCoil: see the whole site built before you pay. No card to start.
- Pay as you gon/a$5 per appointment
- Solo artist, unlimited$29/mo$100/mo
- Six bookings a month$29$30
- Twenty bookings a month$29$100Mind Your Ink caps at the $100 unlimited plan.
- Shop with several chairs$49/chair, 2-chair minimumPer artist, same plans
- Cut on deposits, tips, balances0%0%
- Card processingStripe standardNone. You keep your own apps.Coil also lets you list Venmo, Cash App, Zelle or PayPal instead of running cards.
What ships on each side.
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Public page at your own address
Both: a page at their domain or your own.
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Site built from your photos before you pay
- ◐ Partial✓ Ships
Instagram feed on the page
Coil syncs your Instagram into the portfolio; it doesn't embed the feed.
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Booking request form (placement, size, style, refs, dates)
- ◐ Partial✓ Ships
Separate booking windows (home, guest spot, convention, flash day)
Coil: per-date availability plus a guest-spot page. Mind Your Ink's windows are cleaner for a traveling artist.
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Deposits by card
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Deposits by Venmo, Cash App, Zelle or PayPal
Mind Your Ink leaves payment entirely to you.
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Digital consent forms
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
State consent rules (attestations, ID upload)
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Deposit and appointment reminders
- ✓ Ships◐ Partial
Aftercare texts on a schedule
Mind Your Ink lists aftercare in its automations; coil runs a full drip through week twelve.
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
A business phone number for client texts
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
AI reads healing photos
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Cancellation waitlist that texts itself
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Tip link on the day
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Touch-up credits
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Healed-photo reward
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Reviews on your page
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Flash shop
- ✓ Ships◐ Partial
Shop roster, commission splits, payout sheet
Mind Your Ink has shared calendars and booth management.
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Apprentice mode
- ✓ Ships◐ Partial
Your address and clients stay yours if you leave the shop
If you just want requests to stop coming in as DMs and you already have a way to take money you like, Mind Your Ink does the request part very well and stays out of your wallet. If you book a few pieces a month, $5 each is cheaper than $29. If you travel a lot and want separate booking windows for home, guest spots and conventions, theirs are cleaner than coil's. And it has 84 public reviews averaging 4.9; that's real.
When coil is the right call
If you book more than six a month, coil is cheaper and the bill never moves. If you want the deposit taken by card without leaving the page, a business number instead of your cell, aftercare texts sent for you, healing photos read for you, and a waitlist that fills a cancelled slot by itself, that's coil. A shop with a roster, splits and a payout sheet needs coil. And when you leave a shop, everything goes with you.
What people ask.
- Does Mind Your Ink take a cut?
- No. It charges $5 per appointment or $100 a month and never touches your money; you keep using Venmo, Square, PayPal or whatever you already use. Coil also takes no cut. The difference is the bill: $29 flat on coil versus per-appointment or $100 on Mind Your Ink.
- Does coil take deposits by card?
- Yes, through Stripe, and the client pays no coil fee. If you'd rather not run cards, coil shows the client your Venmo, Cash App, Zelle or PayPal instead, the same way Mind Your Ink leaves it to you.
- Which one is better for a traveling artist?
- Mind Your Ink's separate booking windows for home, guest spots and conventions are a clean fit for that. Coil has a guest-spot page that texts past clients in that city and a convention capture page, but availability is one calendar.
- Which one is better for a shop?
- Coil. Roster, commission splits, a monthly payout sheet, apprentice approvals and a shop page with every chair on it. Mind Your Ink has shared calendars and booth management but isn't a shop back office.
- Are these prices current?
- Checked September 2026 against Mind Your Ink's own site: a free plan for apprentices and part-time artists, $5 per appointment pay-as-you-go, or $100 a month unlimited with 10% off annual. Coil is $29 solo, $59 pro, $49 a chair for shops. Both can change; check before you decide.
Try coil free.
Drop in a few photos. Coil builds your site and shows it to you before you pay a dollar. No card up front.
Drop a few photos · no card needed · see it before you pay