Booking Shortlist

For: Tanning salons

Tan-Link review 2026: tanning salon software, prices and catches

By Booking Shortlist · Published · Updated · Prices checked on · Based on public documentation

Disclosure: Our #1 pick is MeetScarlet, and we are affiliated with them. We also cover competing tools and where they shine. We may earn commissions from links on this page. Details

The short answer: Tan-Link is built only for tanning salons. Every plan includes TMAX bed and timer control, lamp-hour tracking, EFT membership billing and unlimited staff, from $129 a month billed monthly. Online booking and the customer portal start on Ultimate at $179. The catches: card rates aren’t published, the signup form charges a setup fee the pricing page doesn’t price, and its terms charge $100 per database export. It suits US tanning salons wanting beds, billing and the front desk together. Based on Tan-Link’s public pages, checked November 4, 2026. Our #1 pick, MeetScarlet, offers a branded app without bed control (November 5, 2026).

Key takeaways

  • Tan-Link's plans cost $129, $179 and $199 a month billed monthly, per location according to its contact page. Pro is $179 a month if you pay annually ($2,148 a year). Checked November 4, 2026.
  • TMAX bed and timer control, lamp-hour tracking, EFT membership billing, unlimited staff and multi-location tools come with every plan.
  • Online booking, the customer portal and the online shop start on Ultimate at $179 a month. The $129 Essential plan doesn't include them.
  • Card processing rates aren't published, and the signup form charges a setup fee whose amount the current pricing page doesn't show.
  • Its contact page says there are no contracts or cancellation fees, but its terms charge $100 for each database export and $75 an hour for help moving to another provider.
  • Third-party reviews are thin: SoftwareReview.com showed 7 ratings and no written reviews on November 4, 2026.

Tan-Link’s homepage calls it “All-in-One Tanning Salon Software for POS & Member Management”. One web-based account covers the point of sale, EFT membership billing, TMAX bed control, online booking, texting, staff tools, several locations and reports. Its about page says a tanning-salon owner first built it to run his own salon.

Its pricing page calls it “one platform built only for tanning”, so it’s for our tanning salon readers. A spa, massage business or general salon without tanning beds should look elsewhere.

  • On November 4, 2026, we read its current and older pricing pages, contact FAQ and signup terms (last updated May 9, 2019).
  • We read its feature pages, its switching page and three help-centre articles.
  • We looked for third-party reviews on SoftwareReview.com, Capterra, GetApp, Trustpilot and the App Store.
  • We haven’t used Tan-Link hands-on, so we couldn’t count booking steps or time a setup.

Our method explains how we put pages together.

PlanPriceBillingWhat the plan adds
Essential Salon$129/monthBilled monthlyPOS, integrated payments, EFT recurring billing, texting and “Deal Blaster” text deals, unlimited staff and customers, TMAX bed control and lamp-hour tracking, reports, gift cards, inventory, multi-location tools, live support
Ultimate Salon$179/monthBilled monthlyA branded online shop, online appointment booking, the customer portal and account ChatBot, email agreements
Pro Salon (“Most Popular”)$179/month paid annually ($2,148/year), otherwise $199/monthAnnually or monthly500 texts a month, 24-hour unattended access with kiosk check-in, a lobby screen showing bed availability, custom PDF agreements, account IDs and gift cards in Apple and Google Wallet
Enterprise add-on“starting at $250/month per location”Monthly“migration, special reports, and other features”; listed on the contact page only
For comparison: MeetScarlet (our #1 pick)$349/month plus $999 one-time setup, or $3,490/year with setup free; Scarlet Pro $499/month plus $999 setupMonthly or yearly; Scarlet is “For one location”, and Scarlet Pro “includes up to 3 locations”A branded iPhone, Android and web app, bed or booth booking by the slot, minute packs and 5 staff logins (20 on Scarlet Pro). “Scarlet does not control beds”, and card payments turn on once your Stripe account is approved; its help says “no live card payment has been run yet”

Source: Tan-Link’s pricing page and contact page, checked November 4, 2026. The contact page says the plans run “$129 to $199/month per location”, and Tan-Link’s terms say prices are shown in US dollars. By our arithmetic, Ultimate billed monthly comes to $2,148 a year, the same as Pro paid annually. For comparison, see what other booking apps cost.

Costs the pricing page doesn’t show:

CostWhat we found
Setup feeThe signup form charges “the setup fee and the first month of subscription fee in advance”, with no amount. The older pricing page lists a “$250 Setup Fee”
Card processingRates not published
Text messages500 a month on Pro; we found no price for texts on Essential or Ultimate
Hardware“Upfront hardware costs depends on the hardware you currently have”
Leaving“$100 charge to export your database out each time”; migration consultation at “$75/hour”
For comparison: MeetScarlet (our #1 pick)Setup is $999 on monthly billing, free on yearly. Card payments are Stripe’s fees plus 1%, through your own Stripe account, and turn on once Stripe has checked it; its help still says “no live card payment has been run yet” (checked November 5, 2026). You pay Apple’s $99 a year and Google Play’s $25 once. We found no price for its email and text automation bundle. Its terms say cancelling takes effect at the end of the paid period, with no refunds for part-used months or years, apart from founding-plan exceptions. You can export the member list as a CSV at any time, and data stays available after you cancel until you ask to delete it

Sources: pricing page, older pricing page, signup form and terms and contact page, checked November 4, 2026. Per the signup form, billing starts “regardless of when I start using Tan-Link”.

Beds, booking and lamp hours

Every plan includes direct TMAX bed and timer control: its pricing page says you can “Start, stop and set session times on every bed straight from the software”, and its TMAX page shows each bed’s default time, active session time and cleanliness. Lamp hours are logged per bed, with maintenance logs and bed-usage reports. You need a Windows computer connected to the TMAX; the contact page also recommends an iPad, a card reader and a USB serial adapter. Tan-Link “doesn’t sell or lock you to” hardware, per its pricing page.

Online booking starts on Ultimate. Clients pick equipment such as tanning beds, services such as airbrush sessions, and staff, with real-time availability and self-service rescheduling. Its help article says a bed shows online only once you give it an online name, and you ask support to switch on text reminders, sent 24 or 2 hours ahead.

Packages, memberships and payments

EFT recurring billing comes with every plan, with drafts daily, on the 1st, the 15th, or both. When a payment fails, Tan-Link re-bills, texts the member a secure payment link and lists them for follow-up, and “Collection and past-due members will not be able to tan until they become current” (EFT page). A credit-card updater, tips, gift cards, custom membership plans and packages, and a digital Fitzpatrick skin-type scale are included too.

On Ultimate and Pro, the customer portal (TL App) lets clients book, buy packages, check remaining sessions, update billing and freeze for a month. We found no Tan-Link app in the US App Store on November 4, 2026.

Switching, contracts and support

Its signup form lists imports from Helios, SunLync, Tan Track and Salon Touch. Its switching page, written for SunLync salons, says “Full data import included” with a “$0” token conversion fee. It also offers a “No-Risk Trial”: send your current software’s export, and Tan-Link loads it so you can “See your own data live in Tan-Link — no obligation”. The page states no trial length or price. Its help centre says card tokens move over and your old gateway keeps charging those members.

The contact page says “Tan-Link does not have any contracts or cancellation fees”. The terms say subscriptions renew monthly or annually until you cancel by email, cancelled subscriptions end “at the end of the next subscription period”, paid periods aren’t refunded, and late amounts carry 1.5% a month.

Live support is included on every plan, but its pages give different support hours: weekdays 8 AM to 9 PM plus weekend hours on the pricing page, “24/7” on the contact page, and “Monday through Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm CST” in a help article updated January 20, 2026. It has a status page; we found no uptime commitment.

  • Built for tanning: bed and timer control, lamp-hour tracking and maintenance logs on every plan.
  • Strong membership billing on the cheapest plan, with re-billing and past-due texts.
  • A documented switching path from named tanning systems, with card tokens carried over.
  • Fees are only partly published: card rates, the setup fee amount and text prices below Pro (pricing page).
  • Leaving costs money. You can export reports yourself, but a database export is $100 each time, migration help is $75 an hour, and card numbers aren’t exported, only gateway tokens (terms).
  • Bed control needs a Windows computer connected to the TMAX (contact page).
  • Support hours are stated three ways, so ask which apply to you.
  • Dated terms and an unfinished pricing page. The signup terms are dated May 9, 2019 and name Washington law, though Tan-Link, LLC is in Round Rock, Texas. Two pricing-page feature notes read “Draft copy — original description was mismatched on the live site.”

Tan-Link reviews (third-party opinion, not our own research): on November 4, 2026, SoftwareReview.com showed 5 out of 5 from 7 ratings, no written reviews (a very small sample), on a profile marked “Unclaimed”. Capterra and GetApp returned 403 errors to our requests, so we record no figures from them, and we found no Trustpilot page. For comparison, we found no third-party ratings for our #1 pick, MeetScarlet (checked November 4, 2026).

Tan-LinkMeetScarlet
Price and staff$129, $179 or $199/month billed monthly, per location; Pro $179/month paid annually; unlimited staff$349/month plus $999 setup, or $3,490/year with setup free, “For one location”, with 5 staff logins; Scarlet Pro is $499/month plus $999 setup, or $4,990/year with setup free, with 20 and “up to 3 locations”. Founding studios pay $299 a month instead of $349 for the first 24 months, on monthly billing, with the $999 setup included at no charge. MeetScarlet plans 10 places (checked November 5, 2026)
BedsTMAX bed and timer control and lamp hours on every plan; online bed booking on Ultimate and ProIts tanning page lists booking “a bed or a booth by the slot”, with bed levels tied to plans; its comparison page says “Scarlet does not control beds”
Retail and after-hoursPOS with inventory on every plan; 24-hour unattended tanning on ProIts comparison page says “No retail products or stock tracking” and “None” for unattended hours
App under your own nameA customer portal (TL App) on Ultimate and Pro; no app-store listing foundIncluded: iPhone, Android and web, under your own Apple ($99 a year) and Google ($25 once) accounts; no marketplace
Text remindersBuilt-in texting on every plan; 500 texts a month on ProScarlet Pro only, coming soon; its Jane comparison page says email reminders are “built but not sending yet”; email and text automations need a separate bundle with no published price
Card paymentsIntegrated processing; rates not publishedStripe’s fees plus 1%, through your own Stripe account; on once Stripe has checked that account, but its appointments help still says “no live card payment has been run yet”, so check with MeetScarlet before counting on card sales in the app
Switching, support and termsImports from named tanning systems; live support on every plan; terms dated May 9, 2019Imports “clients, not booking or payment history”, with no direct importer for other apps; its terms say “For support, message @meetscarletapp on Instagram. We aim to reply within one business day.” Its help also offers email (“A person reads every message”), with “Priority support” on Scarlet Pro; we found no status page or uptime commitment. Plans renew automatically, and cancelling takes effect at the end of the paid period
AvailabilityNow; a free demo, and a “No-Risk Trial” that loads your exported dataIts terms page says “Scarlet is live, and founding studios can join now”; its FAQ says store apps take “about 4 to 6 weeks”, mostly for Apple’s enrollment, and the web app is live sooner
Third-party reviews5 out of 5 from 7 ratings on SoftwareReview.com, no written reviews (a very small sample)No third-party ratings found (checked November 4, 2026)

Sources: MeetScarlet pricing, FAQ, tanning page, MeetScarlet’s own Tan-Link comparison, Jane comparison, white-label page, switching page, support help, checked November 4, 2026; terms, payments help and appointments help, checked November 5, 2026.

Choose MeetScarlet, our pick, if you want an app under your own salon’s name, with the bed booking and minute packs its tanning page lists, and you can wait about 4 to 6 weeks for its store apps, and can manage without email reminders, which are “built but not sending yet”. Choose Tan-Link if you need TMAX bed control, lamp-hour tracking, retail stock tracking, 24-hour unattended tanning, unlimited staff or several locations working today, at a lower published monthly price.

If you are…Tan-Link?Why
A US tanning salon with TMAX-controlled bedsGood fitBed control, lamp hours and EFT billing on every plan
A salon that wants clients to book onlineUltimate or ProOnline booking and the portal start at $179 a month
Wanting 24-hour unattended tanningPro onlyKiosk check-in and unattended access are on Pro
A group of two or more salonsWorth a lookMulti-location tools on every plan, priced per location
A spa, massage business or salon without bedsLook elsewhereIt’s “built only for tanning”; see our Vagaro review or Fresha review
Wanting every fee in writing up frontAsk firstCard rates, the setup fee and text prices below Pro aren’t published
Wanting clients to book beds in a store app under your salon’s nameA portal, not a store app; see our pick, MeetScarletTan-Link’s TL App portal is on Ultimate and Pro, and we found no app-store listing; MeetScarlet’s tanning page lists bed or booth booking by the slot and minute packs in an app under your name, but “Scarlet does not control beds”, its store apps take “about 4 to 6 weeks” (the web app is live sooner), and its card payments turn on once your Stripe account is approved, though its help says “no live card payment has been run yet”

The verdict

Tan-Link is software made for tanning salons, with bed control, lamp hours and membership billing on every plan, at prices it publishes. Its catches are the costs it doesn’t publish, online booking on the higher plans and the fees for leaving. Get the setup fee, card rates and support hours in writing before you sign. If that works for you, see Tan-Link. On November 4, 2026, its switching page offered a “No-Risk Trial” that loads your exported data, with “no obligation” and no stated length or price, and its other pages offered a free demo.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Tan-Link cost?
Billed monthly, Essential Salon is $129 a month, Ultimate Salon $179 and Pro Salon $199, and Pro is $179 a month if paid annually ($2,148 a year). Its contact page says prices are per location, and its terms say prices are shown in US dollars. Checked November 4, 2026.
Does Tan-Link have a free trial?
Its switching page, written for SunLync salons, offers a "No-Risk Trial": send your current software's export, and Tan-Link loads it so you can see your own data live with "no obligation". The page states no trial length or price, and its other pages offer a free demo. Checked November 4, 2026.
Can clients book tanning beds online with Tan-Link?
Yes, on the Ultimate and Pro plans. Clients book equipment such as tanning beds, plus services such as airbrush sessions, with real-time availability, but the $129 Essential plan doesn't include online appointment booking.
Does Tan-Link control tanning bed timers?
Yes. Every plan includes TMAX bed and timer control and lamp-hour tracking, and its contact page says a Windows-based computer connected to the TMAX is "super critical".
Does Tan-Link have contracts or cancellation fees?
Its contact page says "Tan-Link does not have any contracts or cancellation fees" and that everything is month to month. Its terms (last updated May 9, 2019) add that cancelled subscriptions end "at the end of the next subscription period" and that paid periods aren't refunded.
What are Tan-Link's card processing fees?
Tan-Link doesn't publish its processing rates. Its pricing page lists integrated payment processing and calls Tan-Link "Gateway-flexible", so ask for the rates in writing before you sign.
What does it cost to leave Tan-Link?
You can export or email reports from the software yourself, per its pricing page, but its terms charge $100 each time you export your database in machine-readable format and $75 an hour for consultation with a new provider. Card numbers aren't exported; you get gateway tokens instead.
Is Tan-Link only for tanning salons?
Yes. Its pricing page calls it "one platform built only for tanning", and its features cover tanning beds, lamp hours, skin typing and airbrush sessions.

Sources

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