Seglo vs Square: Square books a person. A groom uses the whole floor.

Full disclosure: we build Seglo. Everything about Square below is read off their own pricing, help centre and community, August 2026. Where they are ahead of us, it says so.

At a glance

Three hours in the shop. Seventy-five minutes of groomer.

What you earn is not decided by the calendar. It is decided by how many minutes of your groomer a dog actually costs you, and how many it only looks like it costs you.

Three hours of dog. Seventy-five minutes of groomer. The rest is an assistant, a dryer, or nobody at all.

Pet time is not groomer time, groomer time is not assistant time, and assistant time is not the dryer. Software that treats the four as one block sells you a day you did not have to give away.

Square can build this. Your client has to.

Square has more of the pieces than it gets credit for. Processing time frees the middle of a service, in their words so that “you can book a customer for a blow dry while another customer’s colour treatment is developing.” Rooms and stations are bookable on Premium, and one appointment can carry several services on several people.

So it can be assembled. Bath on the assistant, drying hung off it as processing time, clip on the groomer: three services instead of one, and your client picks all three, and the three staff, while holding a lead in one hand.

Even when they get it right, it books the named assistant they chose rather than whoever is rostered, and it books the same three services whether the dog is a shih tzu or a matted double coat. In Seglo the client picks one thing. Who does each step, and how long it runs for that dog, are ours.

Square agrees it is missing. A salon owner asked their community in February 2024 for “two distinct parts of the service that can be moved independently” on different staff, and Square still had it marked Open in September 2025.

Square was designed around appointments. Seglo was designed around how grooming actually happens.

Where Square beats us

It starts at nothing. One location runs on Square’s free plan. We start at $49 a month. If the day is not full yet, take the free plan and come back when it is.

They publish a card rate. 1.6% in person, 2.2% online, on every plan. We run payments through your own Stripe account, which is not automatically cheaper. Check Stripe’s Australian rates against 1.6% before you switch for that reason.

They are a shop till. If shampoo, coats and treats over the counter are a real part of your week, Square has stock, terminals and hardware behind it. We take payment for the groom.

The dog is not the customer

Square books a person, and the pet lives in a note or a custom field. That holds until Bella and Coco arrive together and one of them needs the senior groomer.

Seglo books the pet. Two dogs in one visit are two bookings under one owner, each with its own service, staff and start time, staggered so nobody is in two places at once. The coat, the temperament and the standing note sit on the pet.

And then the phone rings

Square Messages is their two-way texting, and their own Australian moderator wrote in June 2025 that it “isn’t available to Australian sellers just yet.” Here you get confirmations and reminders, which is not a conversation.

Seglo answers on the number already painted on your shopfront, with the client, the dog and the standing note on screen while it is still ringing, and texts back from that same number. The finished groom goes home as a photograph rather than a link. Why that is rare in Australia. On the days nobody can pick up, the AI receptionist takes the call and books it.

What each one costs

Square is free for one location, $40 a month per location on Plus, $90 on Premium. The two things a grooming floor needs sit at the top: tubs and dryers as resources is Premium, cancellation fees with a card on file is Plus. Call it $90 a month per location, plus 1.6% in person.

Seglo is $49 a month for up to three people, $99 for six, $199 for fifteen with unlimited locations, $349 for thirty. Australian dollars, GST included. Resources, the pay calculator and tap to pay are in from $49; Xero is on the $199 plan. Seglo Phone is $149 once, then $79 a month with two devices and $29 for each one after, up to five. The AI receptionist is $149 a month plus 40 cents a minute.

Where Square is cheaper for you: one groomer, no assistant, no tub to fight over, and a phone you always answer. Stay.

Moving off Square

We built this part first, because it is the part everyone is afraid of. Connect your Square account and your locations, services, products, team, customers and bookings come across, matched on Square’s own identifiers rather than on names.

Then both run at once for as long as you want. Clients keep booking in Square, your staff see the whole day here, and anything that came from Square stays read-only, so Square is still the boss until you say otherwise. Your clients hear nothing from us until you press go-live. There is no weekend where the shop is between systems.

Which should you pick?

Read from Square’s own Australian pricing page, help centre and community in August 2026. Products change. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it. Square and Square Appointments are trademarks of their owner; Seglo is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Square.