Guides / Studio Haven
An Acuity alternative that knows what a tattoo is
Acuity is fine software. It treats a tattoo like a salon service anyway. If your books are flash, customs, and sleeves, you will spend more time working around it than in it.
Where Acuity starts to fight you
Acuity wants a service, a duration, and a stranger who picks a time. That is a fair model for a lot of work. It is a poor model for a flash sheet with three swallows left, a custom that should not be on the calendar until you say yes, or a sleeve that is the same person three Saturdays in a row.
Artists who stay on it usually grow a second system around it. DMs for the quote. E-transfer for the deposit. A spreadsheet for who still owes a session. Acuity keeps the time. You keep the actual job. That split is what burns the evening.
It also wants to be paid every month before the month has earned anything. If you are building a book, that bill lands whether you tattooed or not.
What changes on a tattoo-first page
Studio Haven is not "Acuity with a skull font." Flash is inventory, not a generic service. Deposits go through Stripe or Square into your account. A custom can sit as an inquiry until you approve it. Aftercare sends when you mark the session done, not as a separate automation you have to design.
- Money. Flat Pro at CA$15 / US$15, not a stack of Acuity add-ons to take a deposit.
- Flash. Pieces on a sheet with a count, not "30-minute appointment."
- Projects. Multi-session work that stays on the same client card.
- Aftercare. Built in, tied to the session you just finished.
Leaving without a dramatic cutover
Pull a client list if you want it. Recreate your services once, or skip that and just put flash up. Point the Instagram bio at the new page. Let whatever is already on Acuity run out. You do not need a migration consultant and you do not need to import ten years of no-shows.
Walk through the live demo studio as a client first. Pay a test deposit. See the artist side. When it feels less stupid than your current split, make an account and move at the speed of your next booking, not a launch date. The pricing page is the full fee picture, including the trial.
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Questions people ask before they switch
Is Acuity bad software?
No. It is good at intake forms, classes, and time zones. Tattoo work is just a different job: flash with a count, customs that need a yes, deposits that hold a chair, and aftercare after the session.
Do I have to move every booking on day one?
No. Leave the appointments already on Acuity. Point new work at the new page. When the old ones run out, you are done.
What does Studio Haven cost next to Acuity?
Pro is CA$15/month in Canada and US$15/month in the US and Europe. A 14-day free trial starts when you sign up, no card needed. You are not stacking add-ons to take a deposit.
$15 a month. No cut of your deposits.
14-day free trial starts when you sign up. No card needed. Flash, customs, deposits, calendar, aftercare.