Many "best medspa software" lists earn a referral fee from the vendors they rank, which the FTC expects them to disclose. Use them to build a shortlist, then judge each product against your own workflow.
Vagaro is software for beauty, wellness and fitness businesses, and it sells a med spa version alongside its salon, barber and studio ones. Its own med spa guide says it provides a BAA for medical spa customers. We won't grade Vagaro's feature list for it: plans change, and Vagaro is the right source for its own current answers. What we can lay out are the questions that separate a broad booking platform from a CRM built only for medical spas, and how Lumè answers each one.
Is your menu salon-spa first, or injectable-driven?
Facials, waxing, hair, nails and some light aesthetic work is a real business, and a broad platform built for it can be exactly the right size. A wax doesn't need a lot number. Don't pay for clinical depth you won't use.
An injectable-driven practice is a different buyer. Its record has to show what was injected, where, how much and from which lot, and it has to prove which consent form the client signed.
What should you ask before you sign?
Is the BAA part of every plan? The HIPAA rules expect a business associate agreement with any vendor that holds your clients' health information. Ask which plan it comes with and which features it covers. Lumè signs a BAA with every customer, on every plan.
Does the chart hold the treatment, or just a note? In Lumè, each treatment record carries units, areas, product and lot number, beside provider notes and before-and-after photos on the same client record. A signed note is corrected with an addendum, not rewritten. See charts.
Can you prove which consent the client signed? Lumè sends the right forms with the booking, the client signs on any device, and each form is kept exactly as the client saw it, with the timestamp, IP address, device and signature. See forms.
Do memberships bill themselves? Lumè memberships bill automatically, bank credits, and apply member pricing, redeemed at checkout.
What does the AI texting actually do? Lumè's AI SMS agent reads live availability, which providers do the service, and the client's packages, memberships and balances through logged tool calls, and books when the client replies. It never sees chart notes, treatment records or payment details. Every message it writes is scanned for Social Security, birth-date and card numbers before it goes out, and a match blocks the send and alerts your team. Staff can pause it on any conversation, there's a daily send cap, and clinical questions and payment disputes go to a person. It's off until you turn it on.
What does it cost with everything turned on?
Compare total cost, not the sticker. Ask each vendor, us included, for the monthly number once charting, consent forms, photo storage and texting are on. Lumè publishes its prices: Pro is $349 a month and includes the AI SMS agent. See pricing.
Which one fits your practice?
A salon-spa menu is well served by a platform built for breadth. An injectable-driven practice that needs lot numbers, provable consent and a BAA from the first day is the buyer Lumè is built for, from a solo nurse injector to a small group with a few locations. We're not built for large enterprise chains, and we'd rather say that plainly.
What does moving off Vagaro involve?
The data that has to move as structure, not retyped contact cards: client records, appointment history, treatment notes, before-and-after photos, signed consent, and package or membership balances. Ask any vendor, us included, exactly how each one moves before you sign. "We import your client list" is not the same claim as "we import your consent history."
Lumè's migration is free on every plan and done for you. Your team still has to learn a provider-column calendar and a new booking flow, and how long that takes depends on your client list and how many providers you have, not on a timeline anyone can promise on a sales call.