Gingr Review (2026): Pricing, Features & Verdict for Groomers

Updated: November 9, 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.

What Is Gingr?

Gingr is cloud-based business software for boarding kennels, doggy daycares, grooming salons and trainers. Its own story starts with a busy boarding and daycare facility in Boulder, Colorado, whose owner teamed up with a developer to build a better system. That origin still shapes the product. Gingr now describes itself as serving 5,000+ pet-care facilities, and it markets itself as the industry standard for boarding and daycare.

Gingr is based in Atlanta, and its App Store listings are published by Togetherwork Operations, LLC. Gingr says Revelation Pets is a sister company, though it doesn't own it. For groomers, the key point is that grooming is one service inside a facility platform. That gives Gingr real strengths, such as check-in, vaccine tracking and memberships, and real gaps, like mobile routing.

Who Gingr Is Built For

Gingr is best suited for:

• Salons attached to a daycare or boarding facility, where grooming is booked as an add-on to stays and day visits
• Multi-service pet resorts that want boarding, daycare, training, grooming and retail in one system
• Busy front desks that benefit from self-service digital check-in (Gingr PreCheck), vaccine records and waivers
• Owners who want phone support. Gingr says agents take calls 24/7 for customers in the US, Canada and the UK

It's a poor fit for mobile groomers, since Gingr has no GPS or route management. It's also hard to justify for solo or small grooming-only salons, which can get two-way texting included for a fraction of the price elsewhere.

Key Features

Facility Calendar & Groomer Assignment

Gingr's facility calendar shows every groomer's schedule and open slots in one view. You can assign appointments by groomer expertise or availability, and the Spa plan adds groomer-to-breed assignment, so pets are matched to the right groomer by breed and size. Appointments can be booked in time slots or drop-off windows, which suits salons that take dogs in the morning and work through the day. Recurring reservations store the price and visit length, so rebooking a regular takes one click. The calendar can push to Google Calendar, but it doesn't sync back, so every booking has to be made in Gingr.

Online Booking, Customer Portal & Pet Parent App

Clients can register, upload vet records, pay invoices and request bookings through Gingr's online portal or its pet parent app. The app is included on every plan and carries your branding. Clients join with an invite code unique to your business. Gingr reports that 60% of bookings on its platform are made online. One caution: the "Gingr for Pet Parents" iPhone app is rated 2.1 out of 5 from about 310 ratings on the App Store. That's the app your clients would use, so it's worth reading those reviews before you push clients toward it.

Gingr PreCheck

PreCheck is Gingr's digital check-in. Like checking in for a flight, clients confirm details from their phone before drop-off, which cuts lobby time. It's more valuable for a daycare with dozens of morning drop-offs than for a salon with a few appointments an hour, but it's a genuine differentiator. Most grooming-first platforms don't offer anything like it.

Reminders & Texting

This is where to read the fine print. Every plan includes automated notifications, such as appointment reminders, confirmations and ready-for-pickup texts, sent from a toll-free number assigned to each location. Holding a conversation with clients is a separate purchase:

• 2-Way SMS: $165 per year (about $13.75/month). Gingr's help center says the first 500 incoming texts a month are free, then 4¢ per incoming text.
• All-in-One Multimedia Messaging Bundle: $225 per year (about $18.75/month). It adds picture, video and file messages, text marketing campaigns, canned replies and auto-replies. The first 1,000 texts sent or received each month are free, then 2–4¢ each depending on volume.

Gingr bills both add-ons per "subdomain," which means per Gingr account. That matters because Gingr's grooming page promises that "before-and-after photos text themselves." Texting photos needs the Messaging Bundle, so budget for it if photo updates are part of your service.

Report Cards & Photos

You can attach photos to a pet's profile or reservation and share them with the owner by email or text, and Gingr says it has sent more than 50 million pet report cards. Pet notes can hold grooming details, behavior and owner preferences, such as products for sensitive skin.

Payments, Tips & Commissions

Gingr integrates with two processors: its own Gingr Payments and CardConnect. You can use another processor, but you lose online payments and cards on file. Processing rates are quoted based on your volume rather than published. Checkout prompts for tips and calculates groomer commissions automatically. Gingr also supports convenience fees that pass card costs on to clients, along with deposits, prepayments, packages and memberships.

Retail, Memberships & Marketing

Retail management with barcode scanning, memberships with automatic renewals, email and SMS marketing with client segments, reputation management for Google and Facebook reviews, and business analytics are all part of the platform. Gingr also offers grooming-specific reports. Note that sending text marketing campaigns needs the paid Messaging Bundle (or Gingr's standalone marketing SMS subscription).

Daycare, Boarding & Training

This is Gingr's core. The higher plans add day reservations, capacity tracking for staff-to-pet ratios, training sessions, overnight stays, a live kennel occupancy grid with auto-assignment, and feeding and medication tracking. Kennel run assignment, waitlists and vaccine enforcement are built in, as is support for webcams that pet parents can watch. If your salon sits inside a boarding facility, this depth is the main reason to choose Gingr over a grooming-first tool.

Mobile Grooming

Gingr's own FAQ is clear: "Gingr does not currently offer GPS or route management services." The best it offers mobile businesses is a report listing all appointments for a day. Staff can use Gingr in a phone browser, but Gingr says approving appointments and managing schedules works better on a tablet or computer. For a van-based business, MoeGo, Groomer.io and Groomsoft are all built around the route.

Gingr Pricing

Gingr publishes three plans, priced by the services your facility offers rather than by number of staff, plus a custom Enterprise tier. Every plan includes the pet parent app, integrated payments, marketing tools, automated notifications, retail and staff management, live support, business analytics, multi-location reporting, the customer portal and PreCheck.

*Stay's lower price requires Gingr's integrated payments. Gingr's pricing page attaches that condition only to Stay. Annual billing saves $108 a year on Spa, $324 on Play and $300 on Stay.

Add-ons and one-off costs:

• 2-Way SMS: $165/year per account, 500 incoming texts free each month, then 4¢ per incoming text
• Multimedia Messaging Bundle: $225/year per account (2-way texting, picture and video messages, text marketing, canned and auto-replies), 1,000 texts sent or received free each month, then 2–4¢ each
• Employee Scheduling: add-on, price not published
• Data import: free if you fill in Gingr's import template yourself, or $350 for Gingr to do it, with a four-business-day turnaround
• Hardware (optional): Gingr suggests about $200 for a USB receipt printer and about $50 for a cash drawer

Gingr's pricing page lists no per-user or per-groomer fee. It doesn't say what multiple locations cost outside Enterprise, though, so a business with two storefronts should get that in writing.

What You'll Actually Pay

Here is where common setups land on Gingr's published prices:

• Grooming-only salon, reminders only: Spa, $109/month, or $100/month billed annually.
• Grooming-only salon that texts back and forth with clients: Spa + 2-Way SMS, about $114–123/month depending on billing.
• Salon that texts before-and-after photos: Spa + Messaging Bundle, about $119–128/month.
• Salon inside a daycare: Play, $142–169/month, plus texting add-ons if you want them.
• Grooming, daycare and boarding: Stay, $154–179/month with Gingr's payments or $179–209 without, plus about $19/month for the Messaging Bundle.

For context, grooming-first tools cost far less for a salon that only grooms. Groomsoft starts at $29.95 with unlimited users, GrooMore is $49–79 with 400–800 texts and two-way texting bundled, and Groomer.io is $79–99 per storefront with unlimited two-way texting. Gingr's case is strongest for a groom-and-board facility, where its rivals are Pawfinity's $110 Royal plan, DaySmart Pet with $25/month boarding and daycare calendars, and Time To Pet's $79 Facility plan. For a vendor-by-vendor breakdown, see our grooming software cost guide.

Important note: Pricing can change. Always verify current rates directly with Gingr before signing up. These figures were checked against Gingr's pricing page and help center on November 9, 2026. Pricing on your signed order overrides what's published on the site.

No Free Trial, and Setup Takes Weeks

Gingr doesn't publish a free trial. Every plan on its pricing page leads to "Request Demo." Some software directories still list a free trial and a $95 starting price, but those listings are out of date. Plan for onboarding to take time. Gingr suggests allowing about 30 days for setup, testing, training and data import, and 10 to 40 hours of focused work. You get a dedicated implementation specialist, plus training through Gingr University.

Pros and Cons

What Users Say

On Capterra, Gingr holds a 4.5 out of 5 from about 210 reviews. Reviewers praise how much it organizes. Client and pet records, schedules, payments and inventory all live in one place, and several grooming users call its calendar and appointment setup flexible. The recurring complaints are about rigidity and reliability. Some operators say Gingr couldn't handle their pricing structure or reporting needs, others mention software glitches, and a minority report frustrating support experiences. The weakest number is the client-facing app's 2.1-star App Store rating. Business owners mostly like Gingr; their clients are less happy with the app.

Who Should Use Gingr?

Use Gingr if: Your grooming salon is part of a daycare, boarding or training facility, or soon will be, and you want one system that handles check-in, vaccines, kennels, memberships and grooming together, backed by 24/7 phone support. For that business, Gingr's prices are in line with the depth you get.

Skip Gingr if: You're a mobile groomer, since there's no routing, or a grooming-only salon on a budget. You'd pay $100 or more a month for facility tools you won't use, plus extra to text clients. GrooMore, Groomsoft or Groomer.io will cost less and are built around grooming.

Gingr Alternatives

If Gingr isn't the right fit, these are worth considering:

• Pawfinity — The closest grooming-plus-boarding alternative: the $110 Royal plan covers grooming, boarding and daycare with unlimited logins, a free 7-day trial and two-way texting on every plan, metered per message sent (see Gingr vs Pawfinity)
• DaySmart Pet — Formerly 123Pet; a long-running salon platform that adds daycare and boarding as $25/month calendars, with a 14-day free trial and highly rated native apps
• Time To Pet — Its $79/month Facility plan covers boarding, daycare and grooming at one flat price, with no per-staff charge
• MoeGo — Grooming-first and polished, with route optimization for mobile fleets; it now sells boarding and daycare plans too, though without published prices
• Groomer.io — $79–99 per storefront or van with unlimited two-way texting, unlimited staff and route optimization
• Groomsoft — The budget pick at $29.95/month for a shop, with unlimited users; texts are metered after the first 100

Not sure which way to go? Our best pet grooming software guide ranks the field by business type.

The Verdict

Gingr is a strong product aimed at a specific customer. For a pet resort that grooms, boards and runs daycare, it's one of the most complete systems available, with digital check-in, kennel management, memberships, a branded client app and phone support around the clock. Its published, service-based pricing is also more transparent than it used to be.

For most groomers, though, it's the wrong tool. A grooming-only salon pays $100–109 a month for Spa before adding two-way or photo texting, which grooming-first platforms include for less. Mobile groomers get no routing at all. And auto-renewing terms with 60 days' notice mean you should be sure before you sign. If grooming is your whole business, start with a grooming-first platform. If grooming is one service in a bigger facility, put Gingr on your shortlist.

Frequently Asked Questions