A salon website costs one of four ways in 2026. A DIY builder runs $16 to $49 a month and you build it yourself. A booking app like GlossGenius bundles a template site in plans from $24 a month. A salon design agency charges $1,000 to $3,500 or more, once. A done for you service like Mirin is $199 a month with the build, hosting, and every edit included.
That is the whole answer. Everything below is why those four numbers describe four completely different purchases.
The spread is not about pages or polish. It is about who does the work, who keeps doing it when your price list changes, and what happens to your site when your software contract ends.
Before you spend a dollar, find out if your current site is the problem. Run it through the free Mirin scorecard. Sixty seconds, no signup.
Four ways to get a salon website
What a salon website should actually cost
Here are the four real options, with 2026 market rates, in one table.
Every number links to a source you can check, not a sales figure.
| Option | Price | Who builds it | Who keeps it updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace) | $16 to $49 per month | You | You, between clients |
| Booking app site (GlossGenius, Square) | Included with $24 to $168 per month software | The app, from a template | You, inside the app |
| Salon design agency | $1,000 to $3,500+ one time | A hired agency | You, or pay again |
| Done for you (Mirin) | $199 per month | Mirin | Mirin, included |
Squarespace starts at $16 a month. That is the cheapest sticker in the table. It is also the option where you are the web designer now, on your day off, nudging photos around a template instead of resting your hands.
At the agency end, DreamCo Design, a shop that builds salon sites specifically, prices its salon and spa website work at $1,000 to $3,500 depending on scope, and custom builds with booking and ecommerce climb well past that. Salon quotes run lower than medical ones. We covered that end of the market in the med spa website cost breakdown, where retainers reach $1,999 a month. Same playbook, different revenue to price against.
The free website inside your booking app
The most common salon website in 2026 is not really a website. It is a booking page that came free with the software.
GlossGenius includes a custom booking website in its Standard plan at $24 a month billed annually. Square gives you one with a free account. For a solo stylist renting a booth, that page might honestly be enough. It takes appointments, it shows your hours, it exists.
But be clear about what it is. It is a template shared with thousands of other salons, living inside your software vendor's world. You cannot build a balayage page that ranks on Google. You cannot shape it around your work. And if you ever leave the app, the site leaves with it. The free website is an exit fee you have not paid yet.
Clients book while your salon is closed
Nearly half of salon bookings happen while your doors are locked.
Phorest Salon Software analyzed booking data from more than 5,000 salons and spas and found that 46 percent of appointments are booked while the salon is closed. 28 percent come in the evening after close. 18 percent arrive before you open. The same research found that 43 percent of Gen Z clients expect to book online.
"This is really important information for salon and spa owners, particularly those whose clients are in this younger demographic," said Ronan Perceval, Phorest's CEO, in the report.
Where salon bookings actually happen
This is the real job every option on the price table is competing for. Not looking pretty. Taking the 10pm booking from someone scrolling on the couch, and answering her two questions before she commits: what does it cost, and can I get in this week.
Across the salon and studio homepages Mirin has built this year, the change that moved bookings was never a bigger gallery. It was putting the price list and the booking button on the first screen, because a visitor comparing three salons at 10pm assumes a hidden price is the highest one.
See what your site says to a client comparing three salons at 10pm.
Send Mirin your site. We grade the things that actually fill a chair, price clarity, the booking step, proof of your work, and tell you what to fix first.
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The hidden cost: a salon website is never finished
The build price is the part every vendor quotes. The upkeep is the part that decides what you actually pay.
A salon website changes constantly. A stylist joins and needs her chair filled by next month. A stylist leaves and her booking link needs to die today. You raise your color prices. You add a new service, change your Saturday hours, run a December gift card push.
Every one of those is an edit. On a DIY builder, the edit is your Sunday. On a one time agency build, the edit is a new invoice, or a site that quietly goes stale, still listing a stylist who left in March at prices you stopped charging in January. A stale price list is worse than no price list. It books the wrong expectation and hands the awkward conversation to your front desk.
So price the second year, not launch day. A $3,500 agency site plus a year of edit invoices and hosting can quietly pass $5,000. The cheap builder is only cheap if your day off is worthless. It is not. Your hour is worth more behind the chair than inside a page editor.
What you get for $199 a month
Done for you is the fourth option, and it folds the build, the hosting, and the endless salon edits into one predictable line.
For $199 a month, Mirin builds the site, hosts it, and makes the changes for you. You say what changed in plain language. New stylist, new prices, new hours. Mirin makes the edit, shows you a preview, and publishes it. No request queue, no invoice per change, no Sunday in a template editor.
Two years of Mirin is about $4,800. That is more than a template and less than an agency relationship that actually keeps up with your salon. It is not the cheapest sticker. It is usually the cheapest real cost, because upkeep is where the other three quietly bill you in money or in evenings. See the full breakdown on Mirin pricing, or how the handled model works on the Mirin platform page.
How to pick the right number for you
Match the option to your honest capacity, not to the lowest price.
If you rent a booth and your Instagram already fills your chair, the booking page inside your app is real money saved. If you genuinely enjoy tinkering with templates, a DIY builder can work. If you run a multi location salon group with a brand book, an agency earns its quote.
But if you run a salon and want a site that takes the 10pm booking, states current prices, and stays current without becoming a second job, the done for you line is usually the honest pick. Whichever you choose, hold it to the Phorest test: can a new client find your price and book you at midnight without calling.
See your salon site rebuilt before you pay.
Send Mirin your current site. We will shape a preview around what fills chairs, your work, your prices, and the booking step, so you can compare the real thing to any quote.
Get my preview- Send your current site
- We shape a preview
- You compare it to quotes
- You decide, live in days
The repeatable rule: price the second year, not just launch day. The right salon website cost is the one that keeps taking bookings at midnight without borrowing your Sundays to do it.
