Pet Manager vs Gingr: A Deep Dive into Pet Care Software for 2025

Choosing the right software for your pet care business is a bit like picking the perfect chew toy for a discerning dog—it needs to be robust, engaging, and fit for purpose. Get it wrong, and it’ll be ignored in a corner, gathering dust. Get it right, and it becomes the backbone of your daily operations. In the world of pet care software, two prominent names you’ll often hear are Gingr and Pet Manager. Both offer a suite of tools designed to streamline your business, but they do so with different approaches and strengths.

Today, we’re putting on our comparison hats and taking a deep dive into what makes each of these platforms tick. We’ll explore their core features, from booking and scheduling to client management and reporting, to help you make a more informed decision for your facility.

The Core Philosophy: All-in-One Powerhouses

Both Gingr and Pet Manager aim to be the central hub for your pet business, whether you’re running a doggy daycare, a boarding kennel, a grooming salon, or a combination of services. The goal is to eliminate the need for a patchwork of spreadsheets, paper calendars, and separate payment systems.

Gingr is a well-established player in the market, particularly in the US, known for its comprehensive feature set that covers reservations, customer communication, and staff management. It’s a powerful system that caters to large facilities with complex needs.

Pet Manager, with its strong roots in Australia, was built from the ground up to offer a seamless, integrated experience. It’s designed not just to manage your bookings but to be a true partner in your business growth, covering everything from boarding and daycare to specialised services like hydrotherapy and dog training. One of its core design principles is flexibility, allowing businesses to tailor the software to their specific, and often unique, operational rules.

Feature Face-Off: Where Do They Shine?

Let’s break down some key areas:

1. Booking and Scheduling:

Gingr offers a robust online booking system for clients, with features for managing reservations, daycare schedules, and appointments. It provides a visual calendar and tools to manage facility capacity.

Pet Manager also provides a powerful scheduling system with separate, highly visual schedulers for every area of your business, including boarding, daycare, and grooming. Where it adds a distinct flavour is with its drag-and-drop functionality for pen changes and its ability to handle complex “split bookings” (when a pet moves pens during their stay) with ease. It also offers AM/PM or specific time modes for check-ins, giving you precise control over your scheduling.

2. Customer Management (CRM) & Communication:

Both platforms have strong CRM capabilities. You can store detailed information about clients and their pets, track history, and manage communications.

Gingr’s portal allows for effective communication with pet owners. You can send updates, report cards, and manage marketing campaigns.

Pet Manager’s CRM is incredibly detailed, allowing you to track everything from a pet’s behavioural traits and vaccination records to their Instagram handle. It places a huge emphasis on automation and customisation in its communication. You can create fully customisable email and SMS templates for virtually any event—from booking confirmations to “welcome home” emails. A fun, standout feature is the “Pet Postcards,” which lets you send charming email updates with photos to owners, a touch that clients absolutely love.

3. Invoicing and Payments:

This is where the differences can become quite apparent. Both systems integrate with payment processors like Stripe for online payments.

Gingr provides a solid point-of-sale (POS) system and handles billing for services rendered.

Pet Manager, however, boasts an exceptionally powerful and rules-based pricing calculator. This is a game-changer for facilities with variable pricing. You can set up complex rules based on seasons, public holidays, length of stay, pet size, breed, customer type, and more. The system automates these calculations, drastically reducing administrative time and errors. For Australian businesses, the direct integration with Tyro EFTPOS terminals is a massive advantage for in-store payments, while the deep, two-way sync with Xero accounting software is a bookkeeper’s dream.

A Moment for a Laugh: The Software Shuffle

Ever had that moment where a client is at the counter, their three energetic Labradors are re-enacting a scene from Braveheart in your reception, and you’re frantically clicking through five different spreadsheets to confirm their booking? You’re not alone. It’s a dance many of us have done—the “Software Shuffle.” One screen for bookings, another for payments, a physical folder for vaccination records, and a sticky note for the feeding schedule. The goal of any good software is to turn that frantic shuffle into a smooth, confident waltz.

The User Experience and Customisation

Gingr is known for being feature-rich, which can be fantastic for power users. However, for some, a large number of features can sometimes lead to a steeper learning curve.

Pet Manager users often comment on how intuitive the system feels, while still being deeply customisable. From changing the wording throughout the customer portal to match your brand’s voice to setting up custom daily notes for staff, the system is designed to adapt to you. A unique aspect is the built-in feature request system, where users can suggest and vote on new features. This means the platform is constantly evolving based on the direct feedback of the people who use it every day.

Choosing between Pet Manager and Gingr depends on your specific needs. If you’re looking for a highly customisable, all-in-one system with incredibly powerful pricing automation and deep integrations with Australian payment and accounting systems, Pet Manager presents a compelling case.

Ready to see how a truly integrated system can transform your daily operations and end the “Software Shuffle” for good? Take the next step and explore Pet Manager with a completely free, no-obligation 30-day trial. Sign up today!