Loading
Loading
Vagaro is horizontal salon-and-spa software — same playbook as Booksy. Their model is a promo-priced monthly ($23.99 introductory, regularly $30) plus 2.2–2.6% on every transaction plus $0.10–$0.19 per-transaction fees plus $10/mo for each additional calendar. Coil is flat-monthly with zero cut on the money flowing between your clients and your bank account. For a working tattooer at modest card volume, Vagaro costs more than coil and gives you a salon-spa product instead of a tattoo product.
The honest read
Coil is flat. Vagaro is monthly plus a cut.
Vagaro keeps 2.2–2.6% of every deposit, tip, and balance. Coil keeps zero. At $5,000/mo in volume, that's about $120/mo on top of subscription — four times coil's whole bill.
Coil is for tattooers. Vagaro is for salons.
Vagaro's inquiry, intake, and aftercare flows were built for hair and aesthetics. Tattoo deposit logic, consent forms, body-location intake, and ink-specific aftercare cadence are coil-only.
Vagaro's POS hardware suite is broader.
If you also sell retail product (hair products, skincare, etc.), Vagaro has more integrated POS hardware. Tattoo shops with a meaningful merch component might value that.
Public artist site + URL
Tattoo-specific inquiry form
Vagaro's form is salon-generic.
Stripe-Connect deposits direct to your account
Aftercare SMS drip (tattoo-cadenced)
Digital consent + signed waivers
AI healing watch (vision-model photo reads)
AI style-fit + AI pricing coach
Cancellation waitlist auto-fill
Vagaro has a waitlist; coil's auto-blasts and self-claims via Stripe race.
Healed-photo bounty + touch-up credit ledger
Two-stage drawing deposit
Apprentice mode (mentor approval queue)
Portability moat — URL follows the artist
60-second IG sync (OAuth)
Per-artist Twilio number for client SMS
Retail POS for hair/skin product sales
Roster + commission splits
If your shop has a meaningful retail-product side (selling lotions, jewelry, merch through the same POS), Vagaro's hardware + inventory + retail-product integration was built for it and coil's wasn't. Same goes for combined operations — if you run a salon + tattoo combo and want one tool for everything, Vagaro is the cross-discipline play.
When coil is the right call
If you're a tattoo-first shop where most revenue is sessions + deposits + tips, coil's flat-monthly + no-cut math saves four-figures a year vs Vagaro's percentage take. The tattoo-native flows (drawing deposit, healing watch, healed-photo bounty, apprentice mode) are coil-only. And the portability moat means your artists' URLs travel with them when they move — Vagaro can't offer that.
Sign in with Instagram, watch coil build your site in 60 seconds, decide for yourself. No card up front, no trial-clock theater.
We grab your portfolio from Instagram and build your site. You pick which pieces show, you write the bio. New IG posts show up on your site every day.
Free preview. Card at checkout.
No IG? Upload directly →