Salon Payroll Software: A Complete Guide For Modern Salons

Running salon payroll software shouldn't feel like solving a math problem every two weeks. Between tips, commissions, different pay rates for colorists versus assistants, and schedules that change by the hour, you need a system built for how salons actually work—not generic payroll that forces you to adapt.

The right salon payroll software handles complexity automatically. It tracks time, calculates tips and commissions, manages multiple pay rates, and gets your team paid accurately without turning payroll day into an all-night spreadsheet session.

This guide covers what matters when choosing salon payroll software, how it differs from basic payroll tools, and what to look for so you can run payroll confidently.

TL;DR: The best salon payroll software 

The best salon payroll software connects time tracking, scheduling, and payroll in one system built for hourly teams with complex pay.

What matters most:

• Tip and commission tracking that calculates automatically instead of manual entry each pay period
• Multiple pay rates per person so stylists can cover the front desk without payroll chaos
• Time tracking feeding payroll directly to eliminate data entry errors
• Human support when needed because payroll mistakes affect real rent money
• All-in-one beats bolt-on by keeping scheduling, time cards, and paychecks connected

Homebase works well for salons with hourly teams and variable schedules.

Why payroll is harder for salons than other businesses

Salon payroll isn't straightforward. Your team structure alone creates complexity most businesses don't face.

Multiple roles, multiple pay structures

You've got senior stylists on commission. Junior stylists earning hourly plus tips. Front desk staff who sometimes assist with shampooing. Booth renters who aren't employees at all. Everyone works different hours each week based on client bookings, and those hours determine both base pay and commission calculations.

Tips and commissions add layers of complexity

The money comes from everywhere. Tips arrive in cash and card. Commissions depend on service pricing and product sales. Some team members earn different rates for different services—$20 per hour for cutting, $15 for front desk coverage. Track all that manually and you're spending Sunday nights with a calculator, hoping you didn't miss anything.

High turnover multiplies the administrative burden

The salon industry sees higher employee movement than most sectors. Each new hire means:

• New paperwork and tax forms
• Payroll system setup
• Role and rate configuration

Each departure requires final paychecks with prorated commissions and unused PTO calculations. Do this with basic accounting and payroll software salon owners often start with, and you're constantly catching up.

Compliance requirements vary by role and location

Break rules differ by state. Overtime calculations get complex when someone's working both hourly and commission. Tip reporting has specific IRS requirements. Miss any of this and you're facing fines that cut into already thin margins.

Generic payroll tools treat everyone like they're working the same job at the same rate. That's not your reality. You need salon software with payroll built for the way beauty businesses actually operate—variable schedules, multiple pay structures, and money that comes from more places than just the register.

What the best salon payroll software includes

The best salon payroll software handles the complexity that makes beauty business payroll different from standard hourly work.

Essential features:

• Automated tip and commission calculations – Card tips import from your POS, cash tips enter easily, and commissions calculate based on services and products without manual math each pay period.
• Multiple pay rates per person – Your lead stylist earns different amounts for color correction versus front desk coverage, and the system tracks both automatically without manual adjustments.
• Time tracking that feeds payroll directly – Team members clock in from their phones, hours flow to timesheets automatically, and you're not transferring data between systems or fixing entry errors.
• Compliance support by state – Break rules, overtime calculations, and tip reporting requirements vary by location. The software should handle your specific state and local regulations without you becoming a labor law expert.
• Human support when payroll goes sideways – Tax law changes, employees question calculations, and emergencies happen outside business hours. Access to actual payroll specialists beats searching help articles at 11 PM before payday.
• Connected scheduling and payroll – The schedule you build populates the timesheet your team clocks into. Changes sync in real time. You're not cross-referencing two systems to verify hours.
• Role-based wage tracking – When someone works multiple positions in one day, the system applies the correct rate to each task without you manually splitting their hours.

Software that includes these features handles salon payroll the way your business actually operates, not the way generic tools think hourly work should function.

The best salon payroll software options today

Choosing salon payroll software means matching your team structure and pay complexity to what different tools do well. Here's what works for different salon situations.

Best overall for salon teams: Homebase

Homebase combines scheduling, time tracking, and payroll in one app built specifically for hourly teams with variable schedules and complex pay.

What makes it work for salons:

• Your stylists clock in from their phones with photo verification
• Tips and commissions calculate automatically based on rules you set
• Multiple pay rates per person mean your senior stylist earns one amount for cutting and another for front desk coverage without manual adjustments
• The scheduling and payroll connection eliminates double entry

Build your schedule once, your team clocks into those shifts, hours flow to payroll automatically. Changes sync in real time. Your team sees their schedules and pay information in the same app, which cuts down the constant questions about hours and earnings.

Payroll-first option: Gusto

If you need powerful payroll with benefits administration and your scheduling is simple, Gusto handles complex tax situations well.

Strengths:

• Clean interface
• Deep HR features
• Strong benefits management
• Excellent tax compliance

Trade-offs: You'll need separate tools for scheduling and time tracking, then export that data into Gusto for payroll processing.

Inventory-heavy option: Vagaro

Salons doing significant retail sales and product inventory management alongside services might prefer Vagaro.

What it handles well:

• Appointment booking
• Inventory tracking
• Point-of-sale features
• Retail sales management

What to know: Payroll is included but less sophisticated than dedicated tools. The learning curve is steeper and the system does more than many salons actually need.

Accounting-led option: Square Payroll

If you're already using Square for payments and want to keep everything in one ecosystem, Square Payroll integrates naturally.

Advantages:

• Seamless Square ecosystem integration
• Predictable costs
• Handles basic payroll well
• Familiar interface if you use Square POS

Limitations: The time tracking is simpler than salon-specific tools and commission calculations require manual work.

What matters more than the brand name

Choose based on your actual complexity, not what seems most popular. A three-chair salon where everyone works hourly with occasional tips needs different tools than a twenty-station salon with a mix of employees, booth renters, commission structures, and retail sales.

Start with your biggest pain point—usually scheduling chaos or payroll errors—and pick the tool that solves that specific problem.

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How to choose the right salon payroll software for your team

Match the software to your reality, not your aspirations. Here's what actually matters:

• Pay complexity drives your requirements. Count how many different ways people get paid. Hourly only? Hourly plus tips? Commission? Multiple rates for different services? The more variation, the more you need automation. Calculate what you're spending in time fixing payroll errors and fielding team questions. If that's more than a few hours monthly, better software pays for itself.
• Support expectations matter more than you think. Some owners want to figure things out themselves. Others need to know they can call someone when tax questions arise. Match your comfort level with complexity to the support the software provides. Chatbots and help centers work fine until you're dealing with a payroll emergency at 8 PM before payday.
• Growth plans change requirements. Opening a second location? Your payroll software should handle multiple locations without buying a second subscription. Planning to add services or expand your team significantly? Make sure the software scales without forcing you to migrate everything to a new system in a year.
• Ease of switching isn't about the software. It's about your data. Can you export historical payroll records? Will time tracking history transfer? How long until you're actually running payroll in the new system? Factor in at least two pay cycles for any transition, even if the software promises faster setup.

Salon payroll best practices that save headaches later

Good software helps, but your habits determine whether payroll stays manageable or spirals into constant problems.

Run payroll audits quarterly, not when something breaks. 

Pick one paycheck every quarter and verify everything manually. Check that tip totals match your POS reports. Confirm overtime calculations are correct. Make sure commission percentages match what you promised during hiring. Catching calculation errors during an audit beats discovering them when an employee challenges their pay.

Make tip transparency standard

Your team should see how their tips are calculated before payday, not after. Whether you're pooling tips or distributing them individually, the math should be visible to everyone involved. Secret calculations breed resentment. Clear processes build trust, even when the tips are smaller than expected.

Document pay policies before you need them

Write down how you handle commission splits on services performed by multiple people. Define what counts as overtime when someone's working both hourly and commission. Explain how tips are distributed. Put this in writing during hiring, not during a dispute. Your payroll software can calculate anything, but it can't resolve arguments about rules that were never clearly defined.

Keep scheduling data consistent

If someone's scheduled as a stylist but clocks in under a front desk shift, your payroll might use the wrong rate. Make sure role assignments in your schedule match what you need for payroll calculations. Small inconsistencies create big problems when multiplied across dozens of shifts.

Salon payroll software FAQs 

Can salon software handle tips and commissions?

Yes, quality salon software handles both tips and commissions automatically. Card tips import from your POS system, cash tips can be entered easily, and commission percentages calculate based on services performed or products sold. The software should track totals for tax reporting, handle tip pooling if you use it, and make calculations transparent so your team can verify their earnings.

Do I need inventory and payroll together?

It depends on your retail sales volume. Salons doing significant product sales benefit from integrated inventory tracking that connects product costs to labor costs for complete profitability reporting. If you're primarily service-based with minimal retail, you don't need the complexity. Many successful salons run payroll and inventory in separate systems without issues.

Is payroll software worth it for small salons?

Yes, especially if you're currently spending hours manually calculating tips, tracking different pay rates, or fixing payroll errors. Even a three-chair salon with variable schedules and tip splitting saves time with automated calculations. The cost is usually less than the value of time you get back, and avoiding a single payroll error that damages employee trust often justifies the investment.

Run salon payroll with less stress

Salon payroll doesn't have to be the thing you dread every two weeks. The right software handles the calculations, tracks the complexity, and gives your team visibility into their earnings without you playing telephone about every paycheck.

Choose tools built for how salons actually operate. Variable schedules, multiple pay rates, tips, and commissions should be features the software handles automatically, not workarounds you have to configure.

Your team deserves accurate paychecks. You deserve your Sunday nights back. Salon payroll software makes both possible.

Ready to run payroll without the stress? Homebase handles scheduling, time tracking, and payroll for salon teams in one app. Try it free.

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