GrooMore vs Time To Pet (2026): Text Tiers vs Headcount

Updated: November 2, 2026 · 10 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

Most comparisons on this site come down to what each vendor multiplies by — vans, locations or people. This one has a twist: GrooMore mostly doesn't multiply at all. It sells a fixed bundle — one van or one location, and a text allowance — and you move up a tier when you run out of texts. Time To Pet sells headcount: $50 for a one-person business, or $40 plus $16 for every active staff member, plus $10 a month to turn texting on.

So the question is not "vans or people?" It is "how many texts does my business actually send and receive?" — and that is where the fine print decides things.

Time To Pet's help center says plainly that its texting allowance counts messages sent and received. Every "Yes, see you Tuesday!" from a client uses up a message. GrooMore's pricing page lists 400 and 800 SMS but does not say whether replies count. We give GrooMore the benefit of the doubt in the math below and flag it where it matters, but it is the first question to ask their sales team.

The other half of the decision is simpler. Time To Pet's mobile grooming software is a live product with a free trial. Shop grooming sits inside its $79 Facility plan, a boarding and daycare product. GrooMore has sold both for years at the same price. If you only groom in a shop, this comparison leans heavily GrooMore's way before the math starts.

At a Glance

Side-by-Side Comparison

Rows three to five are the whole comparison. GrooMore gives you a text bundle and a tier to move up to. Time To Pet gives you a smaller bundle per person, counts both directions of every conversation against it, and bills the rest at a low rate. Which is cheaper depends almost entirely on your appointment volume.

The Appointment-Volume Math

Here are both price lists in full before the comparison.

GrooMore charges the same for mobile and salon. Standard is $49 a month for one van or one location, 400 SMS, and — in a salon — up to three staff. Premium is $79 for one van or location, 800 SMS, and unlimited salon staff. Business Elite covers multiple vans or locations and is labeled custom, but the calculator on the same page totals $79 per van or location, so two vans show $158. Confirm that with GrooMore. Every tier includes unlimited clients and appointments, online booking, mass texting, Review Booster, a loyalty program and two-way Google Calendar sync. The pricing page does not give an overage rate or say whether replies count toward the SMS total.

Time To Pet is $25 a month on Lite, $50 on Solo, or $40 plus $16 per active staff member on Team, with Large Team priced on request above 25 staff. Shops, boarding and daycare use a separate flat $79 Facility plan. On Solo and Team, texting is a separate $10 a month, listed in the help center, not on the pricing page. It reserves a local number and includes 250 messages per active staff member, shared across the team. Overage is 2.5 cents. Three details matter:

• Replies count. The help center describes the allowance as messages "sent and received."
• Rollover is short. Unused texts carry into the next month and expire there, so you can't save up across a slow season.
• Lite can't text at all, and texting is not available during the free trial. For any groomer who sends reminders, the real floor is Solo at $50 plus $10.

An active staff member is anyone with at least one scheduled service in the billing period, and office managers and administrators always count.

For the table we assume three texts sent plus one client reply per appointment — a reminder, a confirmation and a ready-for-pickup message, plus one answer back. On Time To Pet that is four billable messages per appointment. On GrooMore we count only the three sent, which gives it the benefit of the doubt:

Three findings come out of that table.

One: for a solo van, the crossover is GrooMore's 400-text ceiling — about 130 appointments a month. Below it, GrooMore's $49 Standard beats Time To Pet's $60 floor, and the gap grows as Time To Pet's overage adds up: $11 at 60 appointments, $18 at 130. Above it, GrooMore jumps $30 to Premium while Time To Pet's overage grows only 10 cents per appointment, so Time To Pet takes over by about $10. That lead shrinks again as volume rises, and the two meet at around 260 appointments, where Premium's 800 texts run out. A solo groomer doing six or seven dogs a day, five days a week, sits right on the line — so count last month's appointments before choosing.

Two: if GrooMore counts replies, its ceiling comes sooner. Counting four messages per appointment instead of three, Standard's 400 texts cover about 100 appointments, not 133. The solo crossover would then move down to about 100 appointments. We could not confirm either way from GrooMore's published pages, so ask before you sign — it is the most important question in this comparison.

Three: for fleets, Time To Pet is clearly cheaper. GrooMore labels Business Elite custom, but the calculator on its pricing page totals $79 per van. That puts two vans at about $158 against about $92 on Time To Pet, and three vans with an office manager at about $237 against about $122. Get GrooMore's figure in writing, but expect Time To Pet to be cheaper for fleets. For how these line items add up across the market, see what grooming software really costs.

The Salon Question Answers Itself

For a grooming-only shop, the choice is fairly clear, because Time To Pet's shop grooming is part of a boarding and daycare plan rather than a salon product.

Time To Pet started in pet sitting and dog walking and is moving into grooming from there. Its mobile grooming software is real. It has a "Try for Free" button, a 14-day trial, a staff app with client records and driving directions, and before-and-after photo report cards with grooming notes, video and custom questions. A separate salon grooming page that showed a waitlist in August and September now returns a 404, and its site lists Mobile Grooming, not salon grooming, among its solutions.

The way in for a shop is the $79 Facility plan, a flat rate with no per-staff charge. Its pricing page now lists "boarding, daycare & grooming services," and the help center says grooming services are available on Facility accounts only. It handles standalone appointments, walk-ins and Front Desk mode, but grooming can't be the primary service in a recurring template, each grooming service holds one pet, and no texting price is published for Facility. If you board or run daycare and groom, it is worth a call. If you only groom, it is a workaround.

GrooMore, by contrast, has been a grooming product from the start, and its salon plans are built for a shop floor. Standard includes intake forms and staff management for up to three groomers. Premium removes the staff cap. Inventory, product and supplier tracking, commission reports and a loyalty program are included on every tier. That combination is harder to find than it should be. For a salon selling shampoo and bows over the counter while paying groomers on commission, it is exactly what's needed.

One caveat from the other direction: GrooMore's salon Standard plan stops at three staff. A fourth groomer, or a receptionist who needs a login, moves you to $79. That matches Time To Pet's $79 Facility plan, and GrooMore's price includes 800 texts, but a "$49 salon plan" is really a $79 plan for most growing shops.

Where GrooMore Pulls Ahead

• A salon-first product: Same price, same features, whether you groom in a van or a storefront. Time To Pet's shop grooming sits inside a boarding plan.
• Lower price for the typical solo groomer: $49 with 400 texts included beats $60 before overage for anyone under about 130 appointments a month.
• Retail and payroll tools groomers use: Inventory with products and suppliers, commission tracking, a loyalty program and Review Booster, on every tier. Time To Pet doesn't advertise any of them for grooming.
• Payment choice: Square and Stripe, with saved cards. Time To Pet's Solo plan requires its own payment processor.
• Booking with no client account: 24/7 online booking and a waitlist that fills canceled slots, without making a new client create a login first.
• Mass texting included: Promotions and "we have an opening Thursday" blasts are built into every plan. Just watch how they eat into the 400.

Where Time To Pet Pulls Ahead

• A lower fleet price: $16 per groomer, vans free. GrooMore's pricing calculator adds $79 for every van.
• No sudden price jumps at high volume: Past the allowance, each extra text is 2.5 cents. A busy month costs a few dollars more, not a $30 tier jump.
• More than grooming from one vendor: Boarding, daycare, dog walking and pet sitting are all available. GrooMore does none of them. Combining in-home and Facility plans takes a custom quote.
• Report cards clients keep: Before-and-after photos, video, grooming notes and custom questions after every visit. It is the most polished report card at this price.
• A real self-serve trial: 14 days, no card, cancel any time. Texting is switched off during the trial, so you can't test reminders, but everything else is testable.
• Staff tools for growing teams: Time off, permissions, pay reports and GPS-verified visits on Team. These matter once you are managing groomers rather than grooming.

The Question That Settles It

Answer two things before opening either pricing page: where do you groom, and how many appointments did you do last month?

If you only groom in a shop, choose GrooMore. The price is the same or lower at any team size its plans cover, it includes texts, and the inventory and commission tools are what salons need. If you mainly board or run daycare and groom on the side, look at Time To Pet's Facility plan, because GrooMore doesn't offer those services.

If you groom from a single van, check your appointment count against about 130. Under it, GrooMore's Standard plan is cheaper by $11 to $18 a month and includes more retail and marketing tools. Over it, Time To Pet's per-text overage beats GrooMore's $30 jump to Premium. If GrooMore confirms that replies count toward its allowance, move that line down to about 100.

If you run two or more vans, start with Time To Pet. About $92 for two vans and $122 for three with an office manager beats the $158 and $237 shown by GrooMore's calculator, and Time To Pet's mobile product is real and testable in fourteen days.

Whichever way you go, export your client and pet data before you cancel anything. Both platforms will import clients and pets, but photos and older appointment history are what tend to get lost.

Which One Is Right for You?

Bottom Line

This is a grooming specialist that sells text bundles against a pet care generalist that sells headcount. The winner depends on how busy you are more than on who you are.

GrooMore is the better buy for salons, and for the typical solo van: cheaper under its 400-text ceiling, built for grooming on both sides, and stronger on retail, commissions and marketing. Time To Pet is the better buy once volume or vehicles grow: small, predictable overage for a busy single van, and a $16-per-groomer fleet price well under the $79 per van shown by GrooMore's calculator.

Before you commit, ask GrooMore one question — "do client replies count toward my SMS total?" — and remember that Time To Pet's $10 texting fee won't appear on the pricing page you are reading.

Still comparing? See Groomsoft vs GrooMore and Groomer.io vs GrooMore for GrooMore against the budget pick and the unlimited-texting pick, MoeGo vs GrooMore for the market leader, or Groomer.io vs Time To Pet, MoeGo vs Time To Pet and Pawfinity vs Time To Pet for Time To Pet against the rest of the field. Our best mobile grooming software roundup covers van-based operations specifically, and the best pet grooming software guide ranks the whole field. For GrooMore's bundled texts against Pawfinity's metered flat rate, see Pawfinity vs GrooMore. DaySmart Pet vs Time To Pet tests Time To Pet against a long-running grooming platform.

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