Two options artists often weigh are Inky and Square Appointments. Both can help you run the business side of tattooing, but they're built from very different starting points - and the one that fits depends on whether you want a general-purpose booking tool or one purpose-built for a freelance tattoo artist.
Square Appointments is the scheduling arm of Square - reliable, free to start, and tightly integrated with Square's payment processing. For a solo artist who already uses Square to take cards, it's an obvious first look. It's a general-purpose scheduler, though, not a tattoo tool.
What are the advantages of Square Appointments?
- Free for a single location, with no monthly fee - you only pay card processing (around 2.6% + $0.15 in-person on the free plan).
- Tight integration with Square payments and POS - deposits and card payments just work.
- Rock-solid infrastructure and a trusted brand.
How does Inky compare?
Inky is built around the tattoo workflow Square doesn't model:
- Booking captures placement, size, design references and a deposit - not just "a 2-hour slot."
- Client records hold past work, notes and aftercare, not just a name and email.
- Your portfolio lives in the same tool that books the next piece.
- Digital consent and intake forms, attached to the client and the appointment.
Square is excellent at "time and money." Inky is built for everything around it that makes a tattoo business a tattoo business.
What are the disadvantages of Square Appointments for tattoo artists?
It's a calendar with payments. There's no tattoo-native booking, no portfolio, no consent forms, and client records are thin - closer to a contact book than a client 360. If you want the business side to remember your clients the way you do, a scheduler alone won't.
Potential downsides of Inky
Inky is newer and tattoo-first, which is also its main limitation: it does not try to be a POS, a retail inventory system, or a multi-staff salon suite. If you run a large shop with a front desk, retail stock, and a dozen chairs, a broader platform may cover more ground. Inky is built for the artist who wants the boring stuff handled so they can get back to tattooing. Inky takes payments too, but if you're deeply invested in the Square ecosystem (POS, cards, inventory), switching has a cost.
Which is better for freelance tattoo artists?
There's no universal winner - it depends on what you'd rather not deal with.
Square Appointments may suit artists who want:
- Free to start for one user
- Best-in-class card payments and POS
- Reliable, trusted infrastructure
Inky may suit artists who want:
- Tattoo-native booking with deposits and references
- Client 360, portfolio and consent forms in one place
- A tool that models tattooing, not just time slots
For a freelance artist who'd rather tattoo than tend to software, Inky takes more of the business off your plate - booking, clients, deposits, portfolio and consent forms in one place, built around how tattooing actually works.
