PetLinx Review

PetLinx is a long-established, value-oriented management package for pet grooming salons, boarding kennels and dog daycares, and it is one of the very few products in this category that still offers a desktop edition alongside its cloud versions. Reviewers reach for the same three words repeatedly — easy to use, responsive support, and cheaper than the competition. Its modular pricing (pay per module: grooming, boarding, daycare) and a low-cost desktop option make it a natural pick for a small salon or kennel that does not want a heavy per-staff SaaS bill.

If you run dog walking or pet sitting, look elsewhere — PetLinx is built around facility and salon work (grooming, boarding, daycare), not field routes.

What Is PetLinx #

PetLinx is management software for the three most common facility-based pet businesses: grooming, boarding and daycare. You buy it by module, so a grooming-only salon pays for the grooming module, while a kennel that also grooms and runs daycare can add the others. It ships in a cloud (web-based) edition and, unusually, a desktop edition — a real differentiator for owners in areas with unreliable internet or who simply prefer software that runs locally.

The buyer is a small-to-mid salon, kennel or daycare — often a single location, sometimes a few — that wants a proper booking, records and invoicing system without the recurring cost or complexity of the larger platforms. Multi-location operation is supported, with a per-location add-on fee.

Features #

Scheduling and online booking #

A drag-and-drop calendar handles day-to-day scheduling, with recurring-appointment automation for regular clients — the standing weekly bath, the monthly full groom. Every cloud tier includes online booking and a custom landing page, so a pet parent can self-book and land on a branded page rather than calling during business hours.

Client and pet records #

Client and pet record management sits at the core, with customizable forms and reports so a groomer or kennel manager can capture the details their business actually tracks rather than a fixed template.

SMS and email reminders and marketing #

Appointment reminders go out by SMS and email, and the same channels double as marketing — the single most-cited lever against no-shows in this niche. Reducing the empty-slot problem is exactly what owners buy this kind of tool for.

Invoicing, payments and prepaid packages #

Invoicing and payment processing are handled in-system, including prepaid credit packages — useful for daycares selling multi-day passes or salons selling grooming bundles. Note the status caveat below on online payments.

Multi-location and reporting #

Customized reporting and analytics, plus multi-location support, let an owner running more than one site see the book across locations rather than logging into separate systems.

Pricing #

PetLinx publishes cloud pricing openly and bills by tier, where each tier unlocks more users, more modules and more included locations. A lower-cost desktop edition also exists and is the cheapest entry point.

Additional locations are billed per month on top (roughly $42–$57/mo depending on tier). Per Capterra, a desktop edition starts at about $39/month billed annually — the lowest entry point of all and not shown on the cloud table; the cloud entry runs $59–$74/mo depending on source. There is a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, plus free data migration and unlimited email support. Two features are listed as upcoming on the current cloud page: online payments and deposits, and a QuickBooks integration on the Pro tier.

Who It's For (and Who It Isn't) #

PetLinx fits a small or mid-size grooming salon, boarding kennel or daycare that wants an easy, affordable, well-supported system and either prefers desktop software or wants cloud without a per-head price. Single-service businesses benefit most from the modular model — pay for grooming, skip boarding and daycare — and the desktop tier is genuinely cheap for a solo salon.

It is a weaker fit for a dog-walking or pet-sitting business (no route or field-visit focus), for a multi-service operation that would end up on the top tier to unlock all three modules anyway, and for anyone who needs online deposits live today, since payments and deposits are still shown as coming soon on the cloud tiers.

Is It Legit and Worth It? #

PetLinx is a mature product with a substantial review history — around 94 reviews on Capterra — and the recurring themes are consistent and positive: it is easy to use, support answers quickly, and it costs less than the better-known platforms. For a small salon or kennel, that combination is exactly the value proposition, and the free trial plus free data migration make it low-risk to test against your own book.

The honest caveats are about roadmap and scope. Online payments and deposits, and the QuickBooks integration on the Pro tier, are shown as "coming soon" on the current cloud pricing page even though some reviews imply QuickBooks already exists — so confirm the live status for your plan before you count on it. The lower tiers cap users and modules, which can force a multi-service business up to Pro. And pricing differs noticeably between the vendor's page and Capterra because of the cloud-versus-desktop split, so be clear about which edition you are quoting.

Alternatives #

• Gingr — a heavier facility platform for larger daycare and boarding operations.
• MoeGo — grooming-first, strong for salons and mobile groomers.
• Kennel Connection — another long-running boarding/kennel system with a desktop heritage.
• ProPet — cloud boarding and daycare software with online booking.

See the full pet care business software category for the complete comparison.

Login & Support #

Cloud customers log in through petlinx.com; desktop customers run the installed application. Support is by unlimited email, and reviewers single it out as fast and helpful. Onboarding is eased by free data migration, so moving records off a spreadsheet or another system is handled rather than left to you. The 14-day trial requires no credit card, which makes it straightforward to evaluate both the cloud and desktop editions before committing.