Switching
From Square Appointments to goldenhour.
Square Appointments is a free-to-$69/mo add-on to the Square POS suite. It's generic: built to handle haircuts, oil changes, and dental cleanings on the same engine. If you want a beauty-PMS surface (intake forms, photo workflow, vertical-specific automations), the dedicated tooling on goldenhour is going to feel like coming home.
Why artists make the switch
What you'll get here.
Beauty-specific surface, not generic appointments
Intake form per service with medical/contraindication flags, photo consent + watermark + face-blur, spray-tan rinse-window automations, DHA exposure tracking, bridal package locks, in-home setup checklist. Square is appointment-shaped, not beauty-shaped.
Custom domain (book.yourbrand.com) included
Square's online booking page lives at squareup.com/your-business: not under your brand. We provision a CNAME-based custom domain with TLS in the base subscription.
Mobile-first wedges
Travel zones with per-zone fees, GPS check-in, masked-number SMS chat, drive-buffer minutes added to slot availability. Square treats appointments as office-located by default; mobile is a workaround there.
AI features included
Growth analyst Q&A, intake-form TL;DR, voice-note transcription, tag suggestions. Square has no AI surface today.
Where they win today
What you'd give up.
Honest list. If any of these are deal-breakers, stay on Square Appointments: we'd rather you be on the right tool for you than churn from us in 30 days.
Square Hardware + POS integration
If you also do retail/POS sales through Square hardware (terminals, registers), Square Appointments shares the same back-office. You'd lose that integration on a switch. We integrate with Stripe Terminal instead for tap-to-pay, but the retail / inventory side of Square POS is its own ecosystem.
Square ecosystem (Square Online, Square Loyalty)
If you're already on Square Online for a retail website or Square Loyalty for a rewards program, Square Appointments slots into those for free. We have our own loyalty + photo + booking-page systems, but the Square ecosystem is a real lock-in.
How to export from Square Appointments
Pull your data out.
- Sign into Square's web dashboard (squareup.com). The Square iOS app doesn't expose the customer/appointment export surface.
- Customers menu → Directory → top-right "Export" → all customers → CSV. Email arrives in a minute or two.
- Appointments menu → Reports → "Appointment list" → filter to last 12 months → "Export" → CSV.
- Items menu (this is where Square stores Service catalog) → "Export library" → CSV. Filter to your service-line items only after we ingest.
- Settings → Appointments → Intake Forms. Square's intake forms don't have a clean export; screenshot each form's question list. We recreate from screenshots.
- Email all files to support@goldenhourhq.com with subject "Square Appointments migration": typical 1–2 business day ingest with a 30-min setup call.
Stuck on any step? Email support@goldenhourhq.com. We've done Square Appointmentsexports before: happy to screen-share through the part that's blocking you.
What we import
Clean ingest.
- Customer ("client") list: name, phone, email, birthday, notes
- Appointment history: date, service, status, price, no-shows
- Service catalog (filtered from items export)
- Intake form questions (recreated from screenshots)
- Booking notes
- Cancellation + no-show history
What needs reconfiguring
Five-minute jobs.
Stuff that can't come over via CSV: usually because each platform structures it differently. We walk through each on the setup call (or via email).
- Stripe Connect: Square uses Square Pay; we use Stripe. Customers re-enter cards on first booking. If you're keeping a Square POS for retail, your card-on-file customers will have a token in Square and a separate one in Stripe.
- Booking page slug: claim a new handle on goldenhourhq.com or point a custom domain at us.
- Square hardware: if you have a Square Reader or Stand, you can keep using it for retail/POS through Square's own app. Our tap-to-pay runs through Stripe Terminal (BBPOS or iPhone NFC). Some artists end up with Square for POS + goldenhour for appointments: works fine, two separate dashboards.
- Square Loyalty cards: if you used Square Loyalty, the punch history doesn't export. We can grandfather customers in by manually counting their visits + creating a starting loyalty balance on import.
The money side
What you'll save.
- Subscription: Square Appointments runs $0/free for solo, $29/mo for 2–5 staff, $69/mo for 6+. goldenhour is $19.99/mo (founding) or $39.99/mo (standard). At the higher Square tier the savings are real; at the free tier you're paying for capability.
- Stripe processing on goldenhour: 2.9% + 30¢ online (Stripe's published rate). Square Pay charges 2.6% + 10¢: slightly lower per-charge, but Square also takes a 3.3% + 30¢ on online card-not-present, which is higher than Stripe. Check your invoices.
- Add-on packs avoided: Square SMS marketing ($15/mo), Square Online add-ons, etc.
See full pricing detail at /pricing.
Ready to start?
Sign up takes a minute. Send the export and we'll handle the import within a business day. Most artists are running their first live booking on goldenhour within 2–3 days.