Best Free and Affordable Grooming Software That Works With Square (2026 Guide)

You built your grooming business on Square. You invested in the Terminal. You trained your staff on the checkout flow. Your clients’ cards are stored there. Now your scheduling software is telling you to switch payment processors or lose features you depend on.

This isn’t hypothetical. The pet grooming software market is shifting. Some vendors are building proprietary payment systems and steering users away from Square. For groomers who’ve invested in Square’s ecosystem—hardware, stored payment methods, connected services—that shift creates a real problem: find software that treats Square as a first-class citizen, or start over with a new payment stack.

This guide cuts through the marketing claims. You’ll learn which grooming software genuinely integrates with Square, what “integration” actually means (hint: there are tiers), and how to evaluate any option before committing your business to it.

What “Works With Square” Actually Means

Most groomers assume “Square integration” means the same thing everywhere. It doesn’t.

There are three tiers of integration, and the differences affect your daily operations significantly:

Tier 1: Export/Import

Manual CSV transfers between systems. You’re running reports in your scheduling software, exporting data, and importing it into Square (or vice versa). Better than nothing, but you’re still maintaining two databases and reconciling discrepancies manually.

Red flags: “Export to Square,” “Download reports for Square,” “Connect via Zapier”

Tier 2: Webhook/Sync

Systems communicate on a delay—typically syncing every 15-60 minutes. This creates race conditions. Your booking system shows one thing, Square shows another. Refunds processed in one system may take hours to reflect in the other. End-of-day reconciliation reveals discrepancies you can’t immediately explain.

Red flags: “Syncs every 15 minutes,” “Updates automatically throughout the day”

Tier 3: Native OAuth

Real-time, single source of truth. You connect your own Square account directly—the software never touches your credentials. When an appointment completes, it becomes a Square order automatically. Payment posts to both systems simultaneously. Tips, refunds, and adjustments flow without manual intervention.

This is the gold standard. Your existing Square Terminal works. Your stored payment methods work. Your reporting stays consolidated.

If you want to understand integration tiers in depth, we’ve written a detailed breakdown on why native Square integration matters for grooming software.

Free Grooming Software Options for Square Users

Let’s be honest: truly free, fully-featured grooming software is rare. Most “free” plans are heavily limited trial versions designed to convert you to paid. Here’s what’s actually available at no cost:

Packyard Solo (Free)

Square Integration: Native OAuth (Tier 3)

Packyard’s free Solo plan includes full scheduling, unlimited clients and pets, online booking, email reminders, and the grooming-specific Kanban workflow (scheduled → checked-in → in-progress → pickup → complete). Square integration is native—connect your account in under 5 minutes, use your existing Terminal, process payments through Square’s infrastructure.

Limitations: Single staff seat, email reminders only (SMS requires paid plan)

Best for: Solo groomers who want professional scheduling with real Square integration at no cost.

Square Appointments (Free Tier)

Square Integration: Native (obviously—it’s Square’s product)

Square’s own scheduling tool handles basic appointments with native payment processing. Online booking works, reminders are included, and it’s genuinely free.

Limitations: Generic scheduling, not built for grooming workflows. No breed-specific pricing, no grooming notes or coat condition tracking, no vaccination record management, no Kanban-style day view. It’s an appointment tool, not grooming software.

Best for: Groomers who need the absolute simplest setup and don’t care about grooming-specific features.

Google Calendar + Square (DIY Approach)

Square Integration: None—these are completely separate systems.

Many solo groomers start here. Google Calendar handles scheduling, Square handles payments, text messages handle reminders. It’s free and familiar.

Limitations: Zero integration. You’re manually reconciling everything. No client database, no pet profiles, no automated reminders, no deposits, no card-on-file capability. Every checkout requires manual entry into Square.

Best for: Hobby groomers or those just starting with fewer than 10 clients per week.

Reality check: This approach breaks down quickly. Once you have 20+ regular clients, manual reconciliation consumes 15-30 minutes daily. That’s 8-15 hours monthly of unpaid admin work—time that could be spent grooming dogs or going home.

Free Options Comparison

Affordable Paid Options ($79-$149/month)

If you need more than a single staff seat, SMS reminders, or advanced features like digital agreements and vaccination tracking, here’s what the market offers for Square-committed groomers:

Packyard Shop ($79/month)

Square Integration: Native OAuth with Square Terminal support

Packyard Shop includes everything in Solo plus unlimited staff seats, SMS reminders, digital service agreements with e-signature, vaccination tracking with public upload links, and multi-location support.

Key differentiator: No competing payment processor. Packyard isn’t in the payments business—there’s no “Packyard Pay” steering you away from Square. Your transactions flow through Square’s infrastructure exactly as they do today. Deposits, card-on-file, and no-show fees all work through Square’s APIs.

The platform is built with grooming industry experience—the founder’s wife operates a grooming salon with 40+ years of combined staff expertise. This isn’t venture capital building software for an industry they researched in a pitch deck.

Best for: Growing salons (2-5 staff), operations that need SMS reminders or digital agreements, anyone frustrated with disconnected systems.

DaySmart Pet

Square Integration: Available, but not the primary focus

DaySmart (formerly Groomer.io) is an established player with scheduling, client management, and reporting capabilities. Square integration exists, but DaySmart’s platform supports multiple payment processors—Square isn’t treated as a first-class citizen.

Pricing: Tiered, starting around $59/month. Key features may require higher tiers.

Best for: Groomers who want an established name with a long track record and don’t mind Square being one integration option among several.

Gingr

Square Integration: Varies by plan and region

Gingr serves grooming, daycare, and boarding operations. It’s a comprehensive platform with robust features—perhaps too comprehensive for pure grooming operations. Square integration is available but implementation varies.

Pricing: Starts around $109/month for grooming

Best for: Multi-service facilities planning to add daycare or boarding. Pure grooming operations may find it feature-bloated.

Watch out for: Complexity that exceeds what simple grooming workflows require.

PetExec

Square Integration: Available

PetExec focuses primarily on daycare and boarding facilities. Groomers can use it, but the platform wasn’t designed grooming-first. You’ll navigate features built for kennel management and daily check-ins that aren’t relevant to appointment-based grooming.

Pricing: Starts around $149/month

Best for: Facilities offering grooming alongside significant daycare or boarding operations.

Watch out for: Paying for daycare/boarding infrastructure you don’t use.

A Note on MoeGo

MoeGo remains strong scheduling software with excellent mobile grooming features. However, premium capabilities that groomers rely on daily—deposits, card-on-file for no-show protection, pre-authorization holds—are now exclusive to MoeGo Pay users.

If Square is non-negotiable for your business, evaluate whether the features you need are available without switching payment processors. MoeGo Pay runs on Stripe infrastructure and requires MoeGo-branded hardware—your existing Square Terminal won’t work.

Paid Options Comparison

The Real Cost of Switching Payment Processors

If you’re considering software that pushes you toward a different payment processor, understand what you’re signing up for:

What you’ve already invested in Square:

• Hardware: Square Terminal ($299), Square Register ($799), or readers ($49-59)
• Customer payment methods: Cards on file that took months to collect
• Financial history: Years of transaction data, tax records, reporting
• Connected services: Payroll, team management, loyalty programs, gift cards
• Staff training: Muscle memory on Square’s checkout flow

Conservative switching cost estimate for a salon processing $15,000/month with 200 active clients:

This doesn’t include the intangible cost: friction when asking loyal customers to re-enter payment information, and the no-show revenue you’ll lose during the 60-90 days it takes to rebuild card-on-file coverage.

How to Choose: Decision Framework by Business Type

Solo Groomer, Under 30 Clients/Month

Start with Packyard Solo (free) or Square Appointments. Both provide real Square integration at no cost. Packyard offers grooming-specific workflows; Square Appointments offers simplicity.

Graduate to paid when you need SMS reminders, deposits, or digital service agreements.

Solo Groomer, 50+ Clients/Month

At this volume, manual systems cost you real money. Packyard Solo handles the scheduling and client management; consider Packyard Shop ($79) if you need SMS reminders, vaccination tracking, or are losing revenue to no-shows without card-on-file protection.

Small Team (2-5 Staff)

You need role-based access, staff scheduling, and centralized client records. Packyard Shop or DaySmart are realistic options. Key requirement: verify Square Terminal support before committing.

Multi-Service (Grooming + Daycare/Boarding)

If you’re adding daycare or boarding services, Gingr or PetExec make sense—they’re built for facility management. Packyard is grooming-first, though the roadmap includes daycare and boarding phases.

Five Questions to Ask Before Committing

Before you sign up for any grooming software, ask these questions:

1. “Can I use my existing Square Terminal with your software?” Clear yes or no. Anything vague is a red flag.

2. “Are there any features I lose by not using your payment processor?” If deposits, card-on-file, or no-show fees require switching processors, that’s your answer.

3. “How do deposits and card-on-file work with Square integration?” They should work through Square’s APIs, not a proprietary system.

4. “Is your Square integration OAuth-based?” OAuth means you connect your own Square account directly. The software never holds your credentials.

5. “What does migration look like?” Can you import existing client data? Can you run both systems in parallel during transition?

If any answer is vague or qualified, that tells you something about where Square fits in their priorities.

Next Steps

If you’re currently running disconnected systems—Google Calendar plus Square, or software that doesn’t truly integrate—you’re spending hours weekly on manual reconciliation. That’s time you could spend grooming dogs, following up on rebookings, or leaving work before dark.

If your current software is pushing you toward a payment processor switch, calculate the real cost before committing. $1,880-$3,480 in switching costs is real money—plus the client friction and no-show exposure during the transition period.

Try Packyard free. Connect your Square account in under 5 minutes. No credit card required, no payment processor switch, no hardware replacement. Run a real day of grooming before you decide anything.

See how Packyard’s Square integration works with your existing hardware, or start your free trial today.

Packyard is all-in-one pet grooming software with native Square integration. Built by a team with direct grooming industry experience, Packyard handles scheduling, client management, payments, and communications—without forcing you off your existing payment infrastructure.