DaySmart Pet vs Pawfinity (2026): Cheap Reminders vs Cheap Conversations

Updated: October 5, 2026 · 11 min read · By Grooming Software HQ

Grooming Software HQ Editorial Team

Independent research on pet grooming software — we compare features, pricing, and real user feedback so groomers can choose with confidence.

The Short Version

DaySmart Pet and Pawfinity are the two platforms we cover that were built for a salon that does more than groom. Both can run boarding and daycare alongside the grooming calendar, both have been around for more than a decade, and both are aimed at storefront businesses more than vans. DaySmart, formerly 123Pet, dates to 2005. Pawfinity launched in 2010.

They price that same job in opposite ways. DaySmart charges for people and features and gives you the texts. Pawfinity gives you the people and features and charges for the texts.

DaySmart's $29 Basic plan includes 500 texts a month but only one user, one-way reminders and no boarding. Each step up the ladder adds users, tools and texts, and boarding and daycare are $25 a month each on top. Pawfinity's plans include unlimited logins, a point of sale, payroll, QuickBooks Connect and two-way texting from the first tier, but every text you send costs 3.5¢ to 5¢ on top of a $60 or $110 subscription.

So the cheaper option is not decided by business size alone. It comes down to two questions: do you need to hold text conversations with clients, and how many people need to log in? If the answer is "no" and "only a few," DaySmart is cheaper almost everywhere. If either answer changes, Pawfinity usually is.

At a Glance

Side-by-Side Comparison

Three rows decide most cases: users included, texts included and two-way texting. DaySmart wins the middle one. Pawfinity wins the other two.

What You Actually Pay

Start with each price list in full.

DaySmart Pet publishes five plans, each with two prices. With DaySmart's payment processing: Basic $29, Deluxe $69, Deluxe Growth $149 and Premium $199 a month. Without it: $39, $89, $169 and $219. Premium Growth is quote-only. Basic includes one user and 500 texts. Deluxe and Deluxe Growth include three users and 1,000 texts. Premium includes six users and 2,500 texts. Additional users are $9 a month each on Deluxe and above. Two-way texting is included from Deluxe Growth and is a "contact for pricing" add-on on Deluxe. Daycare and boarding calendars are $25 a month each. DaySmart does not publish what texts cost once you pass your allowance.

Pawfinity has three plans, and they are split by what you sell, not by how big you are. Groom & Train is $60 a month for grooming, training, nail or dental work. Stay & Play is $60 for boarding, daycare or pet sitting. Royal is $110 and covers everything. Billed annually they are $55, $55 and $100. All three include unlimited employee logins, clients, pets and appointments. Texts are billed at a rate set by your monthly sending volume: 5¢ each under 500, 4.5¢ from 501 to 1,000, 4¢ from 1,001 to 1,500 and 3.5¢ above that. Royal includes up to 250 free texts a month. Pawfinity's pricing page says "inbound replies are free."

The figures below assume three texts sent per appointment or stay (reminder, confirmation and ready-for-pickup) plus one client reply. Pawfinity does not charge for the reply. DaySmart does not say whether replies count against its allowance, so the table gives it the benefit of the doubt and counts three. Pawfinity is priced at the rate for the month's total volume, and the figures leave out its US carrier surcharge, which it does not publish. DaySmart prices assume you use its payment processing, and one user per person on staff.

Four conclusions come out of that table.

One: on reminders alone, DaySmart is cheaper for nearly every small business. Its $29 Basic plan costs less than half of Pawfinity's $60 base before a single text is sent, and its 500 bundled texts cover about 166 appointments. Pawfinity charges about 15¢ for every appointment on top. The gap runs from about $46 to $55 a month for a solo groomer, which is $550 to $660 a year.

Two: two-way texting reverses the result. Every Pawfinity plan sends free-form texts and receives replies at no charge. DaySmart bundles two-way texting only from Deluxe Growth at $149, which is $80 above Deluxe. A solo groomer who wants it pays about $74 a month less on Pawfinity, and a three-person salon about $57 less. The Deluxe add-on might cost less than the jump to $149, but DaySmart lists it as "contact for pricing," so you need a written quote to know. If you regularly text clients about a late arrival, a matted coat or an extra charge, this is the row that decides it.

Three: headcount moves the line. Every person past three adds $9 a month on DaySmart. On Pawfinity, more people cost nothing. On reminders alone, Pawfinity becomes the cheaper option at about 4 people for a salon doing 100 appointments a month, about 6 at 200 appointments and about 7 at 300. Busier shops need more people before the switch, because Pawfinity's text bill grows with every booking.

Four: boarding narrows DaySmart's lead but does not erase it. Pawfinity's $60 Groom & Train plan does not include boarding or daycare. To run grooming and boarding together you need Royal at $110. DaySmart adds a $25 calendar to whatever plan you are on. A solo groomer who boards pays $54 on DaySmart and about $117 on Pawfinity. A three-person facility running grooming, boarding and daycare on reminders pays $119 against about $139. Add two-way texting to that facility and Pawfinity is about $60 cheaper.

Three caveats. First, without DaySmart's card processing every DaySmart figure rises by $10 on Basic or $20 on the other plans, which turns the three-person salon and the facility on reminders into ties. DaySmart says it will match or lower your current processing fees, so get that quote first. Second, Pawfinity's annual billing takes $5 off the $60 plans and $10 off Royal, and its pricing page does not say whether a month's volume sets the rate for every message or only for the ones above each threshold; we used the cheaper reading. Third, DaySmart does not define a "user." Ask whether a groomer who appears on the calendar but never logs in needs one. For how these line items compare across the whole market, see what grooming software really costs.

What Each One Gives You Beyond the Price

Pawfinity gives you a business platform on every plan. Each tier includes client and pet profiles, Booking Genius™ scheduling, advanced online booking, automated notifications, a full retail point of sale with inventory and stored payments, a time clock feeding payroll, QuickBooks Connect and Review Booster. The plans differ only in which reservation types they include. Groom & Train adds grooming appointments and mapping and routes. Stay & Play adds boarding and daycare reservations with food and medication tracking. Royal includes all of it. Three things cost extra: texts, Precision Location traffic forecasting ($5 a month) and secure document storage ($5 a month for up to 5 GB; pet photos are free). Pawfinity runs in the browser and can be saved to a phone's home screen. It is not in the App Store or Google Play.

DaySmart Pet gives you more as you pay more. Basic covers scheduling, reminders, online and Facebook booking, integrated payments, online deposits, gift cards and reporting. Deluxe adds digital forms, payroll, a client loyalty program, employee reminders, email marketing, packages and pre-paid services, and multi-ticket checkout. Deluxe Growth adds two-way texting, text marketing and reputation management. Premium adds QuickBooks Online. Daycare and boarding calendars, at $25 a month each, let you manage occupancy and stay lengths in the same system. Every plan includes native iOS and Android apps and email, chat and phone support with training and onboarding.

So the feature comparison depends on the tier. Against DaySmart Basic, Pawfinity has the much longer list: two-way texting, unlimited logins, POS with inventory, payroll, QuickBooks and review requests. Against DaySmart Premium, the lists are close, and DaySmart adds native apps, a loyalty program and fuller phone support while Pawfinity adds broader service coverage and unlimited users.

Where DaySmart Pet Pulls Ahead

• A much lower floor: $29 with 500 texts against $60 with none. For a small shop on reminders, that is $45 to $55 a month.
• A predictable bill: Inside your allowance the price does not move. Pawfinity's changes every month with your text volume.
• Boarding without a plan change: A $25 calendar on top of any plan, instead of a $50 jump from Groom & Train to Royal.
• Native iOS and Android apps: DaySmart's iPhone app is rated 4.8 stars from more than 1,000 ratings. Pawfinity runs in a browser.
• Phone support on every plan: Plus training and onboarding. Pawfinity's support runs through the dashboard, with phone help for emergencies.
• A loyalty program and a longer trial: Loyalty from Deluxe, and 14 days to test against Pawfinity's 7.

Where Pawfinity Pulls Ahead

• Two-way texting on every plan: DaySmart bundles it from $149. Nothing else in this comparison moves the price as much.
• Free client replies: You pay only for what you send, so a chatty client base does not raise the bill.
• Unlimited logins: Hiring a groomer or a front-desk person costs nothing. On DaySmart each person past the plan limit is $9 a month, and Basic allows only one.
• The full toolset from the first tier: POS with inventory, payroll, QuickBooks Connect and review requests are on the $60 plan. DaySmart spreads them from Deluxe to Premium.
• More kinds of pet business: Training, pet sitting, nail, dental and therapy services, plus food and medication tracking for boarders.
• Any card processor at the same price: Pawfinity's processing is optional. DaySmart adds $10 to $20 a month if you keep your own.

If You Also Board or Run Daycare

This is the reason most people compare these two, so it is worth looking at on its own.

DaySmart treats boarding and daycare as extensions of a grooming system. You buy each calendar for $25 a month, and it adds occupancy and stay-length management to the same client records. Your plan, user count and texting limits stay the same. That keeps a groomer who boards a few dogs on a cheap plan, but it also means a facility needing two-way texting and more than three people is looking at Deluxe Growth plus both calendars, $199 a month before extra users.

Pawfinity treats boarding and daycare as businesses in their own right. Its Stay & Play plan is built for them, with boarding and daycare reservations, guest-specific features and food and medication tracking, and its Royal plan runs them alongside grooming. The entry cost is higher, but it does not grow with headcount or features.

The practical rule: if grooming is the business and boarding is a sideline, DaySmart is usually cheaper. If boarding and daycare are a large share of the work, or you need several staff texting clients about drop-offs and pickups, Pawfinity usually is. One exception: a boarding or daycare business that does no grooming at all can run on Pawfinity's $60 Stay & Play plan, which DaySmart has no equivalent for.

Testing Them

Both vendors offer a free trial without a credit card. DaySmart's lasts 14 days and includes everything in Deluxe. You can set up reminders and text marketing, but DaySmart says those tools need verification that its team completes once you activate, card processing stays off until you pay, and your trial data is deleted if you do not activate. Pawfinity's trial lasts 7 days, and it says most new accounts can book a test appointment within 10 minutes of signing up.

Seven days is short, so plan the Pawfinity trial before you start it: book a few real appointments, check the online booking page from your phone and save the app to your home screen to see how it feels without a native app. Pawfinity says it will import client and pet data from most CSV exports for free; ask DaySmart what migration help comes with your plan. Whichever way you go, export your client and pet data before you cancel anything.

The Questions That Settle It

Answer these in order and stop at the first one that decides it.

First: do you need to text back and forth with clients inside the software? If yes, choose Pawfinity, or get DaySmart's Deluxe add-on price in writing before you go further. If automated reminders that clients confirm by reply are enough, keep going.

Second: how many people need to log in? If it is one to three, DaySmart is cheaper at almost any volume its plans cover. Past that, Pawfinity tends to win on reminders alone at about 4 people for 100 appointments a month, 6 for 200 and 7 for 300.

Third: how much of the business is boarding and daycare? A sideline favors DaySmart's $25 calendars. A main line, especially with no grooming, favors Pawfinity.

Fourth: do you need a native app or phone support? If you run the day from your phone and want an app-store app, or you want to be able to call support on a normal business day, DaySmart is the safer choice. If no-shows are the problem you are really trying to solve, both send reminders clients can confirm. See our guide to reducing grooming no-shows.

Which One Is Right for You?

Bottom Line

DaySmart Pet and Pawfinity both run grooming, boarding and daycare in one system, and they charge for opposite things. DaySmart bundles texts and charges for users, features and two-way texting. Pawfinity includes users, features and two-way texting and charges for every text you send.

For a small salon on reminders only, including one that boards, DaySmart is cheaper by about $20 to $63 a month. For anyone who texts with clients, runs a large team or depends on boarding and daycare, Pawfinity is cheaper, often by $55 to $90 a month. Confirm current rates with both vendors before signing, and ask DaySmart for the three figures it does not publish: the two-way texting add-on, the price of overage texts and what counts as a user.

Still comparing? DaySmart Pet vs Groomsoft tests DaySmart's $29 plan against the other low-cost option. For Pawfinity against other metered and bundled plans, see Pawfinity vs GrooMore, Groomsoft vs Pawfinity, Pawfinity vs Groomer.io and Pawfinity vs Time To Pet, which is the other multi-service matchup. Our best pet grooming software guide ranks the wider field.

Frequently Asked Questions