You shouldn't need a sales call to learn the price.
Kitomba is one of NZ's longest-standing salon suites — deep, account-managed, and priced by quote. Suddenly Sorted is the other philosophy: pricing published on the website, live in minutes from any browser, cancel anytime, and Sally — an AI front desk that answers and books your clients 24/7. Here's the honest side-by-side.
Fair-play note: Kitomba has served NZ salons for over two decades and many rely on it daily. This page is an honest comparison — including where Kitomba may be the better fit for you.
Old-school depth vs new-school simplicity
Kitomba's strength is depth and service. Ours is transparency, self-serve speed, and an AI front desk. Here's how the two philosophies line up.
| What matters | Suddenly SortedFlat-priced, NZ-built | Kitomba |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | Published. Free, $29, $69 or $129/mo NZD (+GST), right on the pricing page. What you see is what you pay. | Quote-based — pricing isn't published; you book a call with sales for a price, and it's positioned as a premium all-in-one.As of July 2026; see kitomba.com. |
| Getting started | Self-serve, minutes. Sign up free, no card, no sales call, live the same day. | Guided onboarding with the Kitomba team — thorough, but a process. |
| Contract | None. Month to month, cancel anytime, your data stays yours. | Check current terms for contract length and exit conditions before you sign.See kitomba.com. |
| Client-facing AI | Sally, an AI front desk on your website: answers questions, books, reschedules, group bookings, waitlists, reminders, review requests — 24/7, included. | No client-facing AI receptionist at the time of writing; Kitomba's AI work focuses on outbound marketing rather than a chat assistant that answers and books for clients.As of July 2026; see kitomba.com. |
| Runs on | Any browser, any device. Fully cloud-native — Mac, PC, phone, tablet — plus an installable owner app. | Kitomba 1 is web-based; the classic core product has a Windows-installed heritage, so which you get depends on the product tier.See kitomba.com. |
| Website included | Yes. Sally builds you a bookable one-page website — even on the Free plan. | Online booking exists; a full website is your own to bring. |
| Social inbox | Instagram, Messenger & web chat, one inbox. Sally answers DMs with your real prices and genuinely open times, and books right in the thread — you can take over any conversation anytime. | No client-facing social inbox at the time of writing; Kitomba’s messaging focuses on outbound marketing rather than answering DMs.As of July 2026; see kitomba.com. |
| POS, stock, payroll-ish depth | Not our lane for tills, stock and staff targets. Deposits via Stripe, yes — optional, owner-controlled. | Yes — deep business-management features and benchmarking built over two decades. |
| Support | Founder-direct, NZ-based. Email [email protected] and the person who built it replies. | Established NZ-based support and account management. |
Competitor details reflect publicly available information at the time of writing and may change — always check kitomba.com for current pricing, products and terms. We've deliberately avoided quoting Kitomba prices because they aren't published — which is rather the point.
See the price. Keep your data. Leave anytime.
Quote-based pricing and longer contracts made sense when software came with an install visit. Today they mostly add friction: you can't budget without a sales call, and you can't leave without reading the fine print. We publish everything — Free, $29, $69 or $129 a month NZD (+GST), no commission, no per-booking fees, no lock-in, cancel from your dashboard.
Start on the Free plan without a card. If it doesn't earn its keep, stop paying. That's the whole contract.
If the price is fair, you can print it on the website.
A self-filling client book, not just reports about one.
Kitomba is excellent at telling you what happened — reporting and benchmarking are its heartland. Sally works the other end of the funnel: she's a salon-specific booking brain on your website that understands services and durations, staff capabilities, processing gaps, group bookings, deposits and waitlists — so when someone asks "anything Saturday?", she answers like a receptionist and books it correctly.
Then she keeps the book full: friendly reminders that cut no-shows, review requests after the appointment, and a nudge for regulars who are due back. Cloud-native, from any device, with an owner app on your phone — no Windows machine required.
Two NZ companies, two generations.
Both products are proudly local — Kitomba has served NZ and Australian salons since the early 2000s, and that longevity is worth respecting. Suddenly Sorted is what the same local focus looks like built today: cloud-first, AI-first, priced in NZD with GST handled properly, and light enough that a one-chair studio can run it from a phone.
Support stays personal at our size. Email [email protected] and the founder reads it. You're not a licence number in an account-management system — you're a salon we can name.
Where Kitomba may suit you better
Two decades of salon focus earns real strengths. If these describe you, Kitomba might genuinely be the better pick:
You want deep business management
Targets, benchmarking against other salons, stock, staff performance, marketing campaigns — Kitomba's management depth is the product of a long head start. We deliberately stay at the front desk.
You value hands-on service
Guided onboarding, training and account management suit salons that want a vendor walking beside them rather than self-serve software.
You're a larger, established salon
Multi-staff, multi-location businesses with complex reporting needs are Kitomba's heartland clientele.
Our lane is different: independent NZ salons, barbers and studios who want a front desk that answers and books for them — at a published flat price, live today, cancel anytime. If that's you, come see Sally work.