Fresha charges 14.95 USD a month for every bookable team member and takes 20% of a new marketplace client's first booking, at least 6 USD each time. Reserving is a Fresha alternative that charges one price per location: 149 USD a month, or 74 USD billed yearly, for up to 10 staff, with deposits by service, two-way SMS reminders and a booking page on your own domain. For a solo artist or a team of three, Fresha stays the cheaper tool.
North Street Salon
Open 9 am to 7 pm
Chair board
Chair fitted
Deposit rule
No-show risk
Reminders
01
Fresha costs 19.95 USD a month for an independent professional and 14.95 USD a month per bookable team member on the Team plan, with custom pricing above 20 team members. There is no contract and you can cancel any month. On top of the plan come card processing and the one-time fee on every brand new client who finds you through the Fresha marketplace. Our Fresha pricing guide lists every add-on.
The plan price is rarely the biggest line. For a busy salon, the marketplace fee often is. The bars below split one month for a six-stylist salon with an 85 USD average ticket and ten new clients from the marketplace.
Fresha, six stylists
89.70 USD plan plus 170 USD in new client fees
Reserving Growth, billed monthly
Reserving Growth, billed yearly
| Line on the bill | Fresha | Reserving |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | 19.95 USD solo, 14.95 USD per team member | 49 USD Core, 149 USD Growth per location |
| New marketplace client | 20% of the first booking, 6 USD minimum | no marketplace, no fee |
| Card in person | 2.19% + 0.20 USD | your provider's normal rate |
| Card online | 2.79% + 0.20 USD | your provider's normal rate |
| Texts | small free allowance, then paid per message | two-way SMS reminders on Growth |
| Contract | monthly, cancel anytime | monthly or yearly, cancel anytime |
Fresha's plan structure, the one-time new client fee, the monthly text allowance and the no-contract terms are from its pricing page. The US dollar amounts are those reported by 2026 pricing reviews, because Fresha shows prices in the visitor's local currency. Reserving prices are list prices per location; yearly billing halves them.
02
Fresha's Team plan grows by 14.95 USD with each bookable person, so the question is where a flat price catches up. Billed monthly, Growth matches Fresha at ten people. Billed yearly, Growth at 74 USD matches Fresha at five, and every hire after that widens the gap. Marketplace fees are left out of this table because they depend on your month.
| Team | Fresha plan | Reserving monthly | Reserving yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 artist | 19.95 USD | 49 USD, Core | 24 USD, Core |
| 3 stylists | 44.85 USD | 49 USD, Core | 24 USD, Core |
| 5 stylists | 74.75 USD | 149 USD, Growth | 74 USD, Growth |
| 8 stylists | 119.60 USD | 149 USD, Growth | 74 USD, Growth |
| 10 stylists | 149.50 USD | 149 USD, Growth | 74 USD, Growth |
| 3 locations, 8 each | 358.80 USD | 499 USD, Multi-Venue | 249 USD, Multi-Venue |
03
A booking engine that reads a service as a stylist, a chair or room and a real block of time, with the booking page on your own domain and the client list kept by you.
04
For a solo nail tech or a small team that wins most new clients in the Fresha app, probably not. The plan is cheap, in-person card rates are low and the marketplace brings people in. For a salon of six or more, a spa that loses money on no-shows for long treatments, or a group with several locations whose clients already book from Google and Instagram, a flat per-location system is the better buy.
Then 20 to 45 USD a month plus the odd new client fee is fair.
Here the price stays flat and nobody takes a cut of your new clients.
05
The tools most often weighed against Fresha in the US are Booksy, Vagaro, GlossGenius and Square Appointments. Each charges in a different way, so the cheapest depends on team size and on where your new clients come from.
| Tool | How it charges | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Fresha | 19.95 USD solo or 14.95 USD per team member, 20% of a new marketplace client's first booking | small teams that want marketplace demand |
| Booksy | 29.99 USD plus 20 USD per extra staff member, 30% of a first visit via Boost | barbers and solo stylists |
| Vagaro | 30 USD for 1 calendar plus 10 USD per calendar up to 90 USD, paid add-ons | small salons that want POS and payroll |
| GlossGenius | 28, 56 or 168 USD a month, 2.6% flat processing | solo stylists and teams up to about nine |
| Square Appointments | a free tier, then 49 or 149 USD per location, Square processing | shops already on Square POS |
| Reserving | 49 or 149 USD per location, 499 USD for 5 locations, half that yearly | teams of 6 or more and multi-location groups that want deposits |
06
Export clients and future appointments, set up staff, rooms and services, import, then move every booking link before you close bookings on Fresha. Run both for a week so nobody who booked in the app is lost.
Download clients with phone numbers, emails and notes, plus the appointments already booked. That file is your client base, and it stays with you.
Add stylists or therapists, chairs and rooms, each service with its real length, and the deposit rule for long or high-value services.
Import clients by CSV, paste the booking widget on your site, and point your Google Business Profile and Instagram bio at your booking page.
Close new bookings on Fresha, serve the appointments already booked there, then cancel the subscription before the next month starts.
No. Fresha dropped its free plan and now charges 19.95 USD a month for an independent professional or 14.95 USD per bookable team member, after a 7-day trial. Card processing and the fee on new marketplace clients are charged on top. Bookings from clients who find you on your own website, Instagram or Facebook carry no fee.
Nothing on returning clients or on clients from your own channels. On a brand new client who found you through the Fresha marketplace, Fresha takes a one-time 20% of that first booking, with a 6 USD minimum. On a 120 USD color service that is 24 USD, once per client.
Up to about five people, the plans cost about the same: Fresha at 14.95 USD per member, Vagaro at 30 USD plus 10 USD per extra calendar. From six people up Vagaro is cheaper on the plan, because it caps at about 90 USD, but it sells texts, forms and a website as add-ons. Our Vagaro pricing guide has the full add-on list.
On price, Fresha is cheaper per person: 14.95 USD against Booksy's 20 USD per extra staff member, and its marketplace fee is 20% against 30% on Booksy Boost. Booksy includes 2,000 marketing texts a month. Both suit small teams that want app demand more than large salons.
The best Fresha alternatives for a US salon are Vagaro for small teams that want POS and payroll, GlossGenius for solo stylists and teams up to about nine, Booksy for barbers who want app bookings, Square Appointments for shops already on Square, and Reserving for salons of six or more that want one flat price per location with deposits and two-way SMS.
Yes. Vagaro, GlossGenius, Square Appointments and Reserving charge no commission on new clients; you pay a monthly plan and normal card processing. Fresha and Booksy are the two that take a share of a first booking from their marketplace, 20% on Fresha and 30% on Booksy Boost.
Yes. On Reserving Growth you set deposit and card-hold rules per service, so a long color or extension appointment can require a deposit while a quick cut does not. We take no percentage of the deposit; your payment provider charges its normal processing fee.
The same day. Create an account, pay by card, add stylists, chairs, rooms and services, and paste the booking widget on your site. There is no sales call, and the live demo at the top of this page runs the same engine on a sample salon.
Create your account, add your stylists, chairs, rooms and services, and take bookings with deposits on your own site.
Enter the email address that runs your venue and we take it from there. One field, no card, no sales call.
By creating an account you agree to the terms and the privacy policy.