Gingr is one of the best known names in pet care software. It is mature, capable, and for large boarding, kennel and grooming facilities in the United States it has earned its reputation. This is an honest comparison, so we will say clearly where Gingr is strong before we explain why a UK dog daycare might be better served by Genera.
Where Gingr is genuinely strong
A deep feature set refined over many years, with a large US customer base and plenty of independent reviews to research.
Well suited to large multi service resorts combining boarding, grooming and daycare at scale.
Established onboarding and implementation support for facilities making a big migration.
If you run a large US boarding facility, Gingr is a serious option and worth a demo.
The structural difference: one system or three products
Gingr sells by business type. Spa is for groomers and trainers, Play is for daycare and day training, and Stay is for boarding. You choose the one that matches what you mostly do.
Most UK pet businesses are not one thing. A daycare takes a boarding stay over the summer, adds a grooming slot on a Thursday and runs a van. In Genera each of those is a service inside the same system, with its own price, its own timeslot type, its own daily capacity and its own closed days. A dog can be on daycare on Monday, a full groom on Thursday and a sleepover at the weekend, on one calendar and one invoice.
Pricing, side by side
Gingr publishes prices in US dollars: Spa at $109 a month, Play at $169, and Stay at $179 with integrated payments or $209 without, each cheaper on an annual commitment. Payment processing, employee scheduling, two way SMS and the messaging bundle are listed as separate add ons, so the real monthly cost climbs as you switch features on. The route in is a demo rather than a trial.
Genera is priced in pounds at £50, £75 and £99 a month. Every plan starts with 30 days free on the plan you pick, with no card. There is no setup fee, no contract, no charge per dog, per booking or per invoice, and no commission on what your customers pay you. The rota is in every plan rather than an add on, because a business with two people still has to roster itself.
UK payments, and whose account the money lands in
Gingr was built for the US market, where card payment is the default. In the UK a regular daycare or boarding customer is usually collected by Direct Debit, which is cheaper than card and does not expire.
With Genera you connect your own GoCardless and Stripe accounts. Your customers' payments go directly to you. Genera never sits between you and your money, so there are no platform payouts to wait for. Invoices are raised from the bookings you actually took, sent in one run, and reconciled to Xero if that is where your books live.
Built where the rules are
Genera is built in England, and the parts of it that deal with the way UK licensing works are there because an inspector asked for them. Each service carries a maximum number of bookings per day, so you can set it to the number on your licence and the day shows as full once you reach it, with further requests arriving as waitlist requests rather than being confirmed automatically. Every dog's vet and vaccination dates sit on its profile with a report of what is due.
Genera does not hold your star rating or your inspection reports. Those live with your council. What it does is keep you inside the daily number you were licensed for, and keep the records an inspector asks to see in one place. If you want the rules themselves, we have written them up with the sources attached in our guide to the dog daycare licence in England.
Made by people who run a daycare
Genera is built by Duncan, who has run Duncan's Dog Co in Surrey since 2011. Every feature exists because a real dog business needed it, which is a different starting point from a software company building for a market it has never worked in. When you get in touch you reach a small UK team who know what a wet Tuesday in November looks like.
At a glance
Priced in. Gingr in US dollars. Genera in pounds.
Plans. Gingr $109 Spa, $169 Play, $179 to $209 Stay, chosen by business type. Genera £50, £75 and £99, with every service in one system.
Try before you buy. Gingr runs a demo. Genera gives you 30 days free on the plan you pick, with no card.
Staff scheduling. Listed as an add on by Gingr. In every Genera plan.
Messaging. Gingr lists two way SMS and a messaging bundle as add ons. Genera has a two way inbox and broadcasts inside the owner's app on Thrive, with no quota and no cost per message.
UK Direct Debit. Not the market Gingr was built for. Genera collects through your own GoCardless account.
Accounting. Gingr integrates with US tools. Genera reconciles to Xero.
Daily capacity per service. Both do it. Genera turns a full day into a waitlist request.
Built by. Gingr by a software company. Genera by a licensed daycare in Surrey.
Gingr's prices and add ons above are taken from their public pricing page, checked in September 2026. Check them yourself before you decide, because both of us can change them.
Honest summary
If you run a large US boarding facility, look hard at Gingr. If you run a UK dog daycare, walking round, grooming service or boarding kennels and you want software priced in pounds, that collects by Direct Debit into your own account, that runs every service you offer on one calendar, and that was built by someone who has actually done the job, Genera will feel like it was made for you. Because it was.
You can try Genera with your own data for 30 days before you commit, with no card and nothing to cancel.