Starter
Up to 75 bookings per month
Every feature and team access included, with SMS reminders (50 credits a month).
£19/mo
Barkway vs Tuft
Barkway vs Tuft. Two grooming platforms. Two quite different ways to price the working day.
Barkway and Tuft are both built specifically for groomers. The biggest differences are how you pay, what the free option includes, how teams scale and whether a consumer marketplace matters to your business.
Barkway keeps the working day, pet context and business admin in one groomer-led workspace.Comparison checked 1st October 2026
At a glance
Compare the things that actually change what you pay.
Tuft has a genuinely useful free tier and a pet-owner marketplace. Barkway instead uses paid booking-volume bands while keeping its core feature set and team access available across every plan.
Entry price
Barkway
£19/month for Starter
Tuft
£0/month Essential
Paid plans
Barkway
£19 / £29 / £39 per month
Tuft
Pro Premium £35/month; Pro Multi £49/month, excluding VAT. Lower annual rates are published.
Primary usage limit
Barkway
75 / 150 / 300 bookings per month
Tuft
Tuft’s pricing page doesn’t publish a booking cap on any plan.
Team access
Barkway
Included on every Barkway plan
Tuft
Essential is listed with 1 calendar; Pro Multi includes unlimited team members and calendars.
Online booking
Barkway
Included as part of the core product
Tuft
Client self-booking is part of Tuft; its published pricing also promotes a client app and web booking options.
SMS
Barkway
50 / 100 / 150 monthly credits
Tuft
Email and push on Essential; unlimited SMS is listed on Pro Premium.
Consumer marketplace
Barkway
No consumer marketplace
Tuft
Yes, with a Tuft pet-owner marketplace and client app.
Client booking fee
Barkway
None
Tuft
£1.25 Tuft Platform Fee on bookings made in the Tuft app, paid by the pet owner. Tuft says website-widget and manual bookings aren’t charged.
Payments and deposits
Barkway
Card payments and deposits via Stripe on every plan. Barkway takes no transaction fee.
Tuft
Payments and deposits listed on Essential; cards on file for no-show charges on Pro Premium.
Trial
Barkway
30-day free trial, no card required
Tuft
14-day free trial of Pro, no card required. Essential is free.
Pet and grooming records
Barkway
Dedicated client, pet, grooming-history and appointment context
Tuft
Dedicated client, pet and booking management
Pricing & limits
Compare the plan you would actually need, not just the cheapest number on the page.
Barkway
Pricing changes with monthly booking volume.
Growth
Most popularUp to 150 bookings per month
Every feature and team access included, with SMS reminders (100 credits a month).
£29/mo
Professional
Up to 300 bookings per month
Every feature and team access included, with SMS reminders (150 credits a month).
£39/mo
Tuft
Published pricing checked 1st October 2026.
Essential
Tuft’s free-forever entry plan.
£0/month
- 1 calendar
- No booking cap stated by Tuft
- Client, pet and booking management
- Email and push notifications
- Groomer mobile app (iOS and Android)
Pro Premium
Tuft also publishes £29/month when paid annually.
£35/month ex. VAT
- Unlimited SMS
- Recurring bookings
- Sales reports and mass messaging
Pro Multi
Tuft also publishes £41/month when paid annually.
£49/month ex. VAT
- Everything in Pro
- Unlimited team members
- Unlimited calendars
- Client groomer preference
Which one fits?
There should be a good reason to choose either.
Choose Barkway if…
- You want one paid product model where core features and team access don’t move behind higher feature tiers.
- You like Barkway’s Smart Scheduler™, connected pet history and groomer-led day-to-day workflow.
- You would rather price the software around booking volume than around marketplace or team tiers.
Choose Tuft if…
- A free-forever starting point is a major priority.
- A pet-owner marketplace and consumer booking app are valuable ways for you to be discovered.
- Unlimited SMS on a paid plan is more important than Barkway’s included credit allowance.
The trade-offs
The useful differences show up in the working day.
01 · Cost model
Free entry versus predictable booking bands.
Tuft’s Essential plan starts at £0 and is unusually capable for a free plan. Barkway starts at £19 and scales from 75 to 300 monthly bookings while keeping the same core feature access across its paid plans.
02 · Discovery
Tuft has a marketplace. Barkway doesn’t pretend to.
If being discovered inside a pet-owner marketplace is important, Tuft has a real advantage. Barkway gives groomers a public link to take requests from new and returning clients, while keeping approval and the diary with the business.
03 · Teams
The team pricing philosophy is different.
Barkway includes team access across its booking-volume plans. Tuft reserves unlimited team members and calendars for Pro Multi, which is specifically positioned for larger salons.
04 · Client fee
Tuft charges pet owners £1.25 to book in the app.
The Tuft Platform Fee is £1.25 per appointment booked through the Tuft app. Tuft says the pet owner pays it, not the groomer, and that website-widget and manual bookings aren’t charged. Barkway doesn’t add a client booking fee. Tuft says it is exploring letting groomers absorb the fee themselves. Tuft’s own explanation is linked below.
How we compare
Checked 1st October 2026
We build Barkway, so this isn’t an independent review. Competitor prices and limits are taken from the companies’ own published pages and we deliberately include reasons you might prefer them. If something changes, we want to correct it.
Questions
The bits worth checking twice.
Is Barkway cheaper than Tuft?+
It depends on the plan you actually need. Tuft Essential is free. Barkway starts at £19/month. Against Tuft’s paid plans, Barkway’s published plans are £19, £29 and £39 per month while Tuft publishes Pro Premium at £35 and Pro Multi at £49 per month excluding VAT.
Does Tuft have unlimited bookings?+
Tuft’s pricing page doesn’t list a booking cap for Essential. Barkway deliberately prices by monthly booking volume, with published bands up to 300 bookings per month and custom pricing above that.
Does Barkway have a marketplace like Tuft?+
No. Barkway doesn’t currently run a consumer pet-owner marketplace. If marketplace discovery is central to how you want to win new clients, that is a genuine reason to consider Tuft.
Which is better for a grooming team?+
Barkway includes team access on every paid plan. Tuft’s published Pro Multi plan includes unlimited team members and calendars. The better fit depends on whether you prefer booking-volume pricing or Tuft’s team-specific tier.
More comparisons
Still weighing it up?
Barkway vs Savvy PetCompare Barkway’s booking-volume pricing with Savvy Pet’s feature-based tiers.Barkway vs BookdSame £19 starting price. Barkway includes 75 bookings a month; Bookd’s Starter includes 20.Barkway vs ShakeYourTailA newer workflow-led Barkway approach versus a long-running grooming platform.Barkway vs BooksyGrooming-specific software versus a broad beauty marketplace and booking platform.Barkway vs Square AppointmentsA grooming-specific workspace versus a powerful general appointments and payments ecosystem.
Still deciding?
Put a real grooming week through Barkway.
Use your own diary, clients and dogs. The difference is much easier to judge when the software has to survive a real working day.