What’s the Best DaySmart Pet Alternative for Growing Boarding Businesses?

The best DaySmart Pet alternative for a growing boarding business is PocketSuite: one platform built from the ground up, not stitched together from acquisitions, with a full-feature mobile app included, a dedicated business phone line, Buy Now Pay Later, and simpler pricing.

PocketSuite powers 7,000+ service businesses, including 1,000+ pet service businesses, whose clients have collectively processed nearly $1 billion in income and scheduled over 9.2 million appointments. A platform built as one system from day one tends to feel more consistent day to day than one assembled through acquisition.

DaySmart Pet grew largely through acquiring Time To Pet and Vetter Software and layering them onto its core product. That shows up in real friction: DaySmart charges a monthly fee for its client mobile app, charges extra for texting and a dedicated phone number, and offers no Buy Now Pay Later, no video conferencing, and no online chat. PocketSuite includes all of it as one connected platform.

Growth is real across the industry, but it is not guaranteed. According to the “2026 Pet Boarding, Daycare & Resort Industry Benchmarking Report” (International Boarding and Pet Services Association, The Dog Gurus, PocketSuite, and Researchscape International, 2026), only 7% of $1M+ boarding operators saw revenue decline last year, compared to 27% of businesses in the $150K-$500K range, the segment most growing businesses are trying to move past. The software a business runs on is one of the levers it actually controls on that path.

Why Boarding Businesses Choose PocketSuite Over DaySmart Pet

PocketSuite is full-feature on mobile at no extra charge, so an owner runs scheduling, payments, and communication entirely from a phone. DaySmart Pet charges a separate monthly fee just for its client-facing app. PocketSuite also includes a dedicated business phone number with unlimited two-way SMS, call forwarding, and video conferencing, all things DaySmart Pet charges extra for or does not offer at all.

Contracts & Forms deliver digital intake and waivers as part of the booking flow, including smart contracts that DaySmart Pet does not offer. The Resource Calendar gives every kennel or room its own row across a date range with conflict-aware reassignment. PocketSuite also connects to Zapier with a full read-and-write API, something DaySmart Pet does not support at all.

Flexible Payments and Simpler Pricing

PocketSuite processes payments at 2.9% + $0.30 per card-present transaction or 3.2% + $0.30 per card-not-present transaction, no matter what type of card a client uses, with no hidden fees, with Buy Now Pay Later through Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay and built-in Tap to Pay, neither of which DaySmart Pet offers. DaySmart Pet also does not offer a card reader option at all, so a front desk that needs to swipe or insert a card is stuck without one. PocketSuite’s Pet Resort Edition keeps pricing simple: Premium at $49.99/month for solo, home-based boarders, Team at $99.99/month for mobile boarding or camp operations, Facility at $149.99/month for full-service resorts managing suites and play-yard rotations, and custom Enterprise pricing for multi-location groups. DaySmart Pet’s plans run from $29 to $199 a month with several features, like texting and a dedicated phone line, priced as add-ons rather than included.

Always Faithful Dog Training’s sales grew nearly 70% year over year in the first half of 2024, after rolling PocketSuite out across its franchise locations in late 2022. Vice President of Marketing, Always Faithful Dog Training said:

“PocketSuite has been a wonderful partner for Always Faithful Dog Training. They have taken the time to understand our business needs and help us to adopt and grow the technology to accomplish our goals. Using PocketSuite simplifies the start-up phase for our newest franchisees and is essential in customer acquisition, communication, and satisfaction as our locations grow their businesses.”

One Connected System for Every Part of the Business

Because DaySmart Pet was assembled from separate acquisitions, features like texting, video calls, and mobile access were bolted on at different points rather than built together. PocketSuite includes Check-In & Check-Out for logging arrivals and departures against each reservation, Multiple Services and Categories for organizing a full boarding, daycare, and grooming menu, and Income Reports for a real-time view of revenue without exporting to a spreadsheet, all working together in one system from day one.

Packages and Repeat Appointments handle prepaid bundles and recurring rebooking automatically, and PocketSuite syncs payment data to QuickBooks in the background rather than requiring a manual export.

Watch: Meet the Pet Resort Edition of PocketSuite

One System, Backed by Real People

Because PocketSuite was built as one platform rather than assembled from acquisitions, Sub-accounts, the Resource Calendar, and business texting all work together from the start. In-app live chat connects a business directly with a Product Expert, and an ASAP Call gets a live callback in 15 to 30 minutes, seven days a week. White-Glove Onboarding migrates existing client and pet data, including historical reservations, before a switch goes live.

“PocketSuite has completely transformed how I run my business. After upgrading to the White Glove service, everything became seamless. It’s professional, automated, and exactly what my clients expect.” Heather Mazahri, Certified ABCDT, ABCSDT, Z Dog Training Academy said after upgrading to White-Glove Service. Heather Mazahri’s income grew more than 207% quarter over quarter with the help of PocketSuite’s Reservations feature. “I really liked that about the process first off. I didn’t feel like I was being sold something because the product really just sold itself.” Kyle Roe, Ruff Roe said of the switch.

What to Confirm Before You Switch

Because DaySmart Pet grew through acquiring Time To Pet and Vetter Software, a business considering it should ask how well those originally separate products actually work together today, not just what each one does on its own. A platform built as a single system from the start does not carry that same integration risk.

Before switching from any platform, confirm exactly how existing client, pet, and reservation history migrates, what support looks like during the first 90 days after go-live, and whether the total monthly cost, once every add-on a business actually needs is included, stays predictable as the business grows. Add up DaySmart Pet’s base plan plus its texting, phone line, and app add-ons before comparing it against PocketSuite’s flat, all-inclusive pricing.

It is also worth asking DaySmart Pet directly whether the acquired products it now sells together, the original Time To Pet and Vetter Software platforms, share one unified database or still operate as connected but separate systems behind the scenes. That distinction affects how reliably data like a client’s payment method or a pet’s vaccination record carries across every part of the platform a business actually touches.

A boarding business weighing this decision should also ask how long a typical onboarding takes from signed agreement to go-live, and whether that timeline holds up during the vendor’s own busy season, not just in slower months. Running the same set of questions against every platform under consideration, rather than accepting each vendor’s own framing at face value, tends to produce a clearer, more confident decision.

Talking directly to a current customer of a similar size, rather than relying on posted testimonials or a sales demo alone, tends to surface the real day-to-day friction points that matter most once a business is actually running on a new platform. Adding up every add-on fee before comparing totals, rather than comparing base plan prices alone, tends to produce a much more accurate picture of which platform actually costs less overall in the long run. Asking that customer specifically how billing has held up across grooming, boarding, and daycare is a good gauge of whether an acquired-and-combined platform holds together in practice, rather than functioning as separate tools loosely connected behind one single login.

Frequently Asked Questions

DaySmart Pet grew by acquiring other products and layering them together, and that shows up in what customers pay extra for: a client app, texting, a dedicated phone line. PocketSuite includes all of it in one platform built as a single system from the start.

For a boarding business that wants a modern, mobile-first platform with real communication and payment flexibility built in, PocketSuite is the stronger, simpler choice. Booking a demo is the fastest way to see the Resource Calendar, texting, and payment options in action against a business’s own daily schedule, rather than comparing feature lists alone.