Rosy has been serving salons and spas for a long time, with particular strength in nail salons and beauty-specific operations. It covers the fundamentals well — appointment book, client records, retail, packages, and memberships. Mako is a broader business platform with financial intelligence at its centre. The most important thing to understand before comparing them is how Rosy's pricing is structured.
Rosy: Advertised at $29/month — but that rate is tied to using RosyPay, their in-house payment processing. The standard rate without RosyPay is not published on the pricing page. In practice this means your software cost and your processing relationship are bundled, and you cannot evaluate one without the other. Confirm both the software rate and the processing rate directly with Rosy before you compare.
Mako: Pulse is free. Paid plans are Mako Basic at $139/month, Mako Team at $249/month, and Enterprise at $999/month — roughly 20% less on annual billing at $1,334, $2,390, and $9,588 per year. Payment processing runs through Stripe and is not a condition of the price. Basic includes 3 team members, Team includes 15, Enterprise is unlimited.
Processing-linked pricing is common and not automatically a bad deal — if the rate is competitive, bundling can genuinely save money. The risk is that a low software price can mask an uncompetitive processing rate, and processing is usually the larger number. On real card volume, a point of difference in processing can dwarf the gap between $29 and $139. Work out your blended monthly cost, not the sticker.
When your software discount depends on your processor, switching either one becomes harder. Leaving the processor raises your software bill; leaving the software means renegotiating payments. This is a deliberate design and every vendor that does it knows exactly what it achieves.
It is worth being clear-eyed about, particularly if you are the kind of operator who reviews costs and margins annually. Independent software and independent processing cost more on paper and leave you free.
Rosy: $29/month with RosyPay — the lowest number in this comparison.
Mako: $139/month at Basic, no conditions; Pulse free for retention benchmarking.
Edge: Rosy on sticker price.
Rosy: The non-RosyPay rate is not published, and total cost depends on processing.
Mako: One published number, processor-independent.
Edge: Mako.
Rosy: Strong. Built around the service patterns of nail salons and day spas.
Mako: General service-business scheduling with client records and packages.
Edge: Rosy for nail-specific operations.
Rosy: Standard sales and appointment reporting.
Mako: Native P&L, cash flow, service profitability, LTV, and forecasting.
Edge: Mako, significantly.
Rosy: Commission tracking present and workable.
Mako: Tiered commissions, tips, timesheets, and payouts as a core feature, 15 members included at Team.
Edge: Mako for complex splits.
Rosy: Salon and spa focused.
Mako: One platform across salons, studios, gyms, wellness, and trades.
Edge: Mako for mixed operations.
Pick Rosy if:
Pick Mako if:
Your salon is a business. Not a hobby, not a side project, not a calendar with a cash register. It deserves software that treats it accordingly. If your platform cannot tell you whether you are financially healthy, it is not doing its job. And in 2026, you have better options.
See Mako in action — no sales call required
Mako is built for independent salon and spa owners who would rather spend their time on clients than on demo calls. Open the live demo, poke around, and see exactly how scheduling, billing, and financial intelligence come together in one place.
Try the demo: https://app.makocrm.so/demo
Self-serve. Instant access. No forms, no calendars, no "talk to sales."
