waivers.tattoo vs Vagaro: no Vagaro account for your tattoo clients, and $50 a year for your shop

A 3-artist tattoo shop taking deposits on Vagaro pays $53.99 a month for 6 months and $60.00 after, and every client signs in to a Vagaro account. Ours, waivers.tattoo, is $50 a year for the whole shop, and nobody makes an account to book. I make it, so read the pages rather than me. Every claim below about Vagaro links to Vagaro's own page as it read on 2026-10-29.

What does Vagaro do well?

Vagaro is a whole front desk for a salon, a spa or a shop. Its pricing page lists the POS, the calendar, a waitlist, memberships and gift cards, a free listing on the Vagaro Marketplace and "Unlimited notifications & appointment reminders" with every plan. Its reminders article is specific: "Vagaro can automatically send appointment notifications and reminders to your customers and clients one time via email, text, and push." If your shop runs every payment and every client through one system, Vagaro is built for that.

What does a tattoo shop pay on Vagaro, and what does it pay here?

The base plan is $23.99 a month, which the pricing page marks "Exclusive rate for the first 6 months", over a struck-through $30.00. It carries one calendar. Vagaro's plans article adds the rest: "One calendar license is included in your base subscription. Each additional employee calendar is $10 per month for up to seven licenses." A deposit at online booking needs the Online Shopping Cart, $10 a month, and Forms, where a consent form lives, is $10 a month more.

So a 3-artist shop taking deposits pays $53.99 a month for 6 months, then $60.00, which is $720 a year, and $10 more a month for Forms. On each card, Vagaro's rates article charges a small shop "3.5%+ $0.19 per keyed-in transaction", and it says keyed-in "includes online payments", so a deposit paid at booking is one. "Additional monthly FANF and Mastercard location fees apply."

Here, your booking page comes with your waivers.tattoo account: $50 a year for the whole shop, or $5 a month, with unlimited waivers and unlimited artists, your link page at yourshop.L.tattoo and 1,000 emails a month to your clients. Your first 10 waivers are free, and adding an artist costs nothing.

How does a tattoo client book?

On Vagaro, through Vagaro. Its booking article tells your client: "To book an appointment, you'll need to sign in to your Vagaro customer account". Once signed in, its log-in article says "you'll be required to enter a new code every 30 days".

On your booking page, nobody makes an account. Your client picks the artist, or any artist, then the session, a day and a time from the hours you set, says in one line what they want, and leaves a name, a phone number and an email. You pick "Ask first", where each request waits for your yes, or "Book straight in". They get an email with Add to calendar and a link to cancel, and you get one for every booking.

How does the deposit hold the time?

On Vagaro, the deposit can be a percentage or a fixed amount, aimed at new clients, old ones or the ones who missed before, and "This feature requires Credit Card Processing and the Online Shopping Cart". Vagaro charges your shop for the card, and its rates article says "Vagaro does not allow passing on credit card processing fees to the customer".

Here, a session can carry a fixed deposit, and the time is held while your client pays it on your deposit page. It lands in your shop's own Stripe balance the moment they pay, and Stripe sends it to your bank every week once you add one. Your client pays our $3.99 fee by default and your share carries Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ and 50¢ toward payouts, so on a $100 deposit your client pays $103.99 and $96.18 is yours. If you would rather your client pay exactly the deposit, you can pay the $3.99 yourself. If a no-show disputes a deposit we collected for you, we answer the dispute with the policy they ticked.

Who keeps the client?

You do, from the waiver. Every tattoo and piercing client who signs your waiver form is on your client list with their visit history, gets your thank-you with your aftercare sheet, and, if they tick the box to hear from your shop, gets the review ask and the emails you write. The list exports as a spreadsheet any day.

The waiver form asks your state's questions for you, so there is no consent form to build from a template in Vagaro's Forms. We read the tattoo and piercing rules of all 50 states and DC, and each state's page has the rule's words beside what the form asks. This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. Your local health department has the final word. Ask them, and bring your records.

What do you keep, and what do you give up?

You keep every client on your list, an artist's Google Calendar blocking their times, and a feed for the artist on Apple Calendar or Outlook, where Vagaro syncs "only with Google Calendar."

You give up Vagaro's reminders by email, text and push before the appointment, and its marketplace listing. You give up a card captured at booking with a cancellation fee charged to it, and a deposit for new clients alone: ours is one fixed amount per session, for everyone. And if your POS is Vagaro, the deposit is no longer on the client's ticket there.

How do you switch your booking link in one sitting?

1. Set up your shop, or sign in if it is already here.
2. Open "Links", then "Bookings", and turn on your booking page with "Ask first" or "Book straight in".
3. Set your hours, your sessions and each session's "Deposit", and switch on the artists clients can book.
4. Press "Start taking deposits" under "Deposits": your legal name and a tick of the terms, and your bank when you want the money sent.
5. Each artist presses "Link your Google Calendar" from their own sign-in.
6. Swap your Vagaro link in your bio for yourshop.bookings.tattoo, or for your L.tattoo page, whose "Book now" opens it.

Keep Vagaro open for the appointments already on its calendar; every new one lands on yours.

On Vagaro a shop pays by the month, the artist and the add-on, and a client signs in to book. Here your clients book without an account, and the shop pays $50 a year.