Beauty schools & programs
salonMonster is free for beauty schools.
Hairstyling, esthetics, nails or barbering: every feature, every student, no time limit. Teach the business side of beauty on the same software your students will run their careers on, then send them out the door with six free months of their own.
No credit card · no contract · no per-student fee · we set it up with you
- Since 2010
- built in Canada
- 40+
- schools
- 1,000+
- students
- 600+
- salons
- 1,500+
- stylists
- 8.5M+
- bookings
The gap
You teach the craft. Who teaches the business?
Your graduates leave knowing how to cut, colour, and read a face shape. Then they rent their first chair and hit the part nobody covered: taking a deposit, keeping a client record that isn't a shoebox, writing a formula down somewhere other than memory, and working out what to do about the client who didn't show up.
That's not a failing on your students' part, and it isn't yours either. It's a gap in the way this industry hands people a licence and wishes them luck. A talented professional shouldn't have to choose between doing great work and running a business that works, but for a lot of new stylists, the first year is exactly that choice.
You're already closing that gap. We'd like to hand you the tools for it, for nothing.
Every feature. Every student.
No time limit.
What your school gets
The whole thing. Not a demo, not a sandbox, not a cut-down classroom version.
The product
Every feature we ship.
Booking, payments, reminders, client records and reporting. Not a stripped-down "education edition".
Seats
Unlimited students and instructors.
Add a whole intake, or add three.
Cost
Free for as long as you’re teaching.
No trial clock, no renewal invoice and no credit card on file.
Practice
A real training environment.
Students take bookings, run payments and keep client records the way they will behind the chair.
Setup
A real person sets it up with you.
We build out your account alongside you and walk your instructors through it.
Want a look around first? Take the tour.
How it works
How your school gets started.
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01
Tell us about your program
Send us a note with your school and roughly how many students you teach. That’s the whole application.
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02
We set it up with you
A real human on our team gets on a call, builds out your account alongside you, and shows your instructors around. No pitch.
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03
Teach on it
Your students learn the business side on the same software they’ll run their careers on, while they’re still learning the craft.
No procurement process · nothing to sign
For your students
And six months of their own, on us.
While they're with you, your students learn on your school's account. As graduation gets close, each one can start their own free salonMonster account, six months and separate from yours, so they build the habit of taking bookings properly while they've still got you to ask. They walk into their first salon job already doing it, instead of working it out alone.
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01
They sign up.
Your student creates their own salonMonster account, separate from your school’s. No credit card.
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02
They enter your school’s name.
During signup there’s a “Referral code” field. They type your school’s name, and that’s the whole activation. Nothing to print, scan or prove.
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03
Six months, free.
Their account runs free for six months, carrying them out of your classroom and into their first chair.
Students can start at salonmonster.com/register. Point your class at it whenever it suits your program. All they need is your school's name.
Who we are
We've been behind the chair.
Our team has spent more than 75 years in this industry as stylists, booth renters, managers, owners and mentors. salonMonster wasn't dreamed up in a boardroom by people who'd never held a pair of shears. It was built in Canada by salon people who lived the same chaos your students are about to walk into.
What’s the catch?
There isn’t one. We don’t take a cut of anything your school does, we don’t sell your students’ information, and we won’t put a salesperson on your class. You get the full product, free, for as long as you’re teaching.
Why would you give it away?
Two honest reasons. The first is that we’re salon people. Our team has spent 75+ years in this industry, and we think the next generation deserves to graduate knowing how the business side actually works. The second is that we’d be glad if some of your graduates stayed with us once they’re running their own chair. We’d rather say that out loud than pretend it isn’t true.
Is it free for a while, or actually free?
Actually free. There’s no trial period that quietly ends, no per-student fee, and no invoice waiting at the end of the year.
How many students can we add?
As many as you teach. There’s no cap and no per-seat charge.
When should our students start their own account?
Whenever it fits your program, though most of the value lands if they start in their final stretch. The six months then carry them through graduation and well into their first job. Worth knowing: the clock starts the day they sign up, not the day they graduate.
Do our students have to pay after their six months?
Only if they want to keep going. At the end of six months they can move onto a regular plan or walk away. Either way, the client list, formulas and history they’ve built are theirs to take with them. We don’t hold data hostage.
We already teach on another system. Is switching a nightmare?
It’s the part we handle. We’ll bring your existing setup across ourselves, free, and your instructors get walked through the new one before you teach a single class on it.
What about our students’ privacy?
Student and client information stays yours. We don’t sell it, rent it, or hand it to advertisers. Our full policy is in our privacy policy.
Is this for Canadian schools, or US cosmetology schools?
Both. We’re a Canadian company based in British Columbia, and most of the salons on salonMonster are in Canada, so we know how beauty schools, career colleges and academies here run. We work with cosmetology schools in the US too.
Does this include high school hairstyling and trades programs?
Yes. Any program that teaches beauty qualifies: private schools and colleges, and high school programs like Youth Train in Trades in BC, OYAP or Hairstyling and Aesthetics in Ontario, Cosmetology Studies in Alberta, and career and technical education programs in the US. Same deal for all of them: every feature, every student, free.
Do you work with schools outside Canada and the US?
Get in touch and let’s talk. Tell us where you are and what you teach, and we’ll tell you straight whether we can support you properly.
Let's get your students set up.
Tell us about your program and we'll take it from there. There's no form to fight, no procurement process, and nothing to sign.
Or reach a human directly: [email protected] · 1-800-901-1001