Most salon software comparisons are written by one of the platforms and conclude that the platform is best. This one is written by Youzse, so read it with that in mind. What we can promise is that every number about another company came from their own pricing page, and that we have said plainly where they beat us.
The direct answer
The best salon booking software depends on the job you need it to do. Choose Youzse if you want a newer UK platform with published pricing, 0% commission on new clients, online booking, deposits, payments, quotes, invoices, memberships, gift cards, loyalty, marketing, forms, imports and exportable client data in one place.
Choose Fresha if marketplace reach matters more than new client fees. Choose Booksy if you are an established barber or salon with a full book and Boost switched off. Choose Vagaro if you need deep configuration across salon, spa, fitness, retail and classes. Choose Treatwell if your main need is marketplace demand and you accept a high first booking fee.
Youzse is not the cheapest card processor. It is strongest when client ownership, breadth of tools, switching support and avoiding new client commission matter more than the lowest headline payment rate.
The short answer
If you have a steady book of regulars, take a lot of card payments and do not need a marketplace to find you new clients, Booksy with Boost switched off is hard to beat on cost.
If you are a solo stylist who wants the cheapest possible subscription and does not mind paying for new clients when they arrive, Fresha is the cheapest place to start.
If growing your client list matters and you expect the platform to send you people, the one-time fees on new clients are the number that decides it. That is where Youzse is different: 0% commission on new clients, with the platform fee folded into the card rate instead.
Published UK pricing, side by side
| Youzse | Fresha | Booksy | Vagaro | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription from | £19 a month | £14.95 a month | £40 a month plus VAT | £20 a month |
| How it scales | Flat per business, by plan | £9.95 per team member | Plus £5 per extra user | Per bookable calendar |
| New client fee | 0% | 20% one-time, £4 minimum | 30% one-time on Boost clients, £5 minimum | 20% one-time |
| Card rate | 2.5% plus 35p | 1.19% plus 20p in person | 1.29% plus 20p plus VAT | 1.15% plus 20p tap, dip and swipe. 1.40% plus 25p keyed in |
| Free trial | 30 days, no card | 7 days | 7 days | Varies |
Figures taken from each provider's own UK pricing or support pages. Booksy publishes its prices plus VAT. Vagaro publishes UK card processing in its support centre.
A worked example
Take a three-chair salon turning over £6,000 a month on card across roughly 150 transactions, winning 20 new clients a month whose first visit averages £45.
On Fresha Team that is about £29.85 of subscription, about £101 in card fees at the in-person rate and £180 in new client fees at 20% of £900. Around £311 a month.
On Youzse Growth that is £59 of subscription, about £203 in card fees at 2.5% plus 35p and nothing in new client fees. Around £262 a month.
On Booksy with Boost switched off it is £50 of subscription plus VAT, about £107 in card fees and £0 ordinary marketplace fee. Around £157 a month plus VAT, which is the cheapest of the three in this scenario, because those 20 new clients are being found by the salon rather than by the platform.
Change the assumptions and the answer changes. That is the point: work out your own numbers rather than trusting anyone's headline price, including ours.
The wider shortlist
| Platform | Published price signal | New client fee signal | Best known for | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Youzse | From £19 a month | 0% commission on new clients | Fresh UK tool set with flat business pricing, deposits, quotes, invoicing, memberships, gift cards, loyalty and data import included | Growing salons, barbers, clinics and trades that want to own the client relationship |
| Fresha | From £14.95 a month | 20% one time fee on marketplace new clients, £4 minimum in the UK | Large consumer marketplace, polished calendar and strong discovery for empty columns | Salons that want marketplace reach and accept new client acquisition cost |
| Booksy | £40 a month plus VAT | No marketplace commission when Boost is off. Boost is 30% one time with a £5 minimum | Strong barber adoption, quick rebooking and a well known client app | Established barbers and salons with a full book |
| Vagaro | £20 a month in the UK, then the bill rises with bookable calendars | 20% one time fee on marketplace new clients | Deep configuration across salon, spa, wellness, fitness, retail, classes and memberships | Mixed service businesses that want a configurable system |
| GlossGenius | From $24 a month billed annually, US focused | No published marketplace new client fee found on its pricing page | Beautiful booking sites, forms, payments and simple brand led client experience | US beauty professionals who care heavily about presentation |
| Treatwell | UK monthly price not shown on its pricing page | 35% new client commission via the marketplace plus VAT | High marketplace visibility and a familiar consumer booking brand in Europe | Salons that want marketplace demand more than software ownership |
| Setora | £39 a month per location | No new client commission published | UK salon booking with flat pricing, deposits, reminders, walk ins, exports and no per staff fee | Salons that want predictable direct booking software without a marketplace |
| Schedulista | From $19 a month | No marketplace new client fee published | Simple general scheduling with flat pricing | Small teams that need scheduling rather than salon depth |
| Solo | £20 a month website only or £30 with booking | No published commission schedule found for the booking app. Secret Spa marketplace access is separate and selective | Built for self employed beauty, hair and wellness professionals with mobile and at home workflows | Freelancers who want a lightweight app first setup |
| Bookaro | From ₹99 a month | No current public commission schedule found | Ultra low cost booking link with WhatsApp and social sharing | Very small teams comparing lightweight booking tools outside a UK salon stack |
| Barbr | £20 a month on the PRO plan, 50% off each extra barber | No new client commission published | UK barber only app with bookings, SMS reminders, no-show protection, reviews, referrals and analytics | Barbers who want a cheap barber first app and do not need quotes, invoices or other trades |
| Square Appointments | Free for a single location, then Plus and Premium plans per location | No marketplace new client commission | Booking, POS and payments from one payments company | Businesses already using Square at the till |
| Slick | From £20 a month plus VAT for one column | No new client commission published | UK salon and barber software with reminders, deposits, imports and support | Salons that want a UK salon first system without marketplace dependency |
| Book in Beautiful | Free plan where clients pay a booking charge, subscription is custom | No salon side new client commission published | Website first beauty booking with consultation forms, deposits and social booking | Beauty businesses that accept a client paid booking charge or custom subscription |
| SQUIRE | No official public price verified | No current public commission schedule found | Barber only operations, payments, staff and discovery positioning | Barbershops that want a specialist barber brand |
| SalonIQ | Quote led publicly | No marketplace new client fee found | UK and Ireland salon depth across bookings, SMS, skin tests, forms, stock and KPIs | Established salons wanting operational depth |
| Salonized | Published UK pricing varies by plan and region, check before buying | No marketplace new client fee found on its pricing page | Salon management, online booking, payments, marketing and client records | Salons wanting a European salon management suite |
| Phorest | Quote based | No public marketplace commission schedule found | Deep salon growth, marketing, reviews and reporting, with strong salon specific onboarding | Established salons that want a mature salon platform |
Only public pricing signals we could verify are shown. Where a provider does not publish a current UK number, the table says so instead of guessing.
Fresha
Fresha is the biggest marketplace in this category and its consumer app genuinely sends salons new bookings. The software is polished, the calendar is quick and at £14.95 a month for an independent it is the cheapest subscription here. Card processing is competitive too, at 1.19% plus 20p in person.
The cost that catches people out is the 20% one-time commission on marketplace new clients, with a £4 minimum. On a £45 first visit that is £9. On a £200 colour correction it is £40. It applies once per client rather than forever, but on a busy month of new business it dwarfs the subscription.
Fresha suits you if you want the lowest fixed cost and treat the new client fee as an acquisition cost you are happy to pay.
Booksy
Booksy is strong on the things barbers and stylists actually use daily: fast rebooking, a good client-facing app and £0 ordinary marketplace fee when Boost is turned off. That last point is genuinely the best commission structure of the four on this page for an established business.
The trade-off is the highest subscription here at £40 a month plus VAT, plus £5 for each extra team member plus VAT. For a solo operator that is a lot of fixed cost. Boost, the paid promotion tool, carries a 30% one-time fee with a £5 minimum on a boosted client's first visit, which is the steepest new client fee in this comparison, though it is optional.
Booksy suits an established multi-chair shop with a full book that does not need the marketplace to fill it.
Vagaro
Vagaro is the most configurable of the four and reaches furthest beyond hair and beauty into fitness, wellness and spa. If you run classes, memberships and retail alongside appointments, it has the deepest feature set here.
Pricing starts at £20 a month for one bookable calendar and rises per calendar, which makes it hard to predict for a growing team. A one-time 20% fee applies when a new client finds you through the Vagaro marketplace. Vagaro does not publish a UK card processing rate on its pricing page, so budget for that separately.
Vagaro suits a business with mixed revenue lines that wants one system for all of them and is willing to spend time configuring it.
Youzse
Youzse is a UK platform built around one decision: never charge a business for a client. There is 0% commission on new clients who find you through the Youzse marketplace, no per-client fee and no per-booking fee. The platform fee sits inside the card rate of 2.5% plus 35p instead.
Plans are flat per business rather than per staff member, starting at £19 a month, so adding your third stylist does not change your bill. Every feature is on every plan: bookings, deposits, card payments, quotes, invoicing, customer records, gift cards, loyalty, memberships, marketing, forms and UK GDPR tooling. The trial is 30 days with no card.
The honest limitation is reach. Fresha and Booksy have far more consumers on their apps today. If your entire plan is "list on a marketplace and wait", they will send you more people right now. Youzse is the better economics on every client you win, and the better fit if you want to own the client relationship rather than rent it.
Where Youzse costs more
Youzse charges 2.5% plus 35p on card payments. That is higher than the headline card rates on Fresha, Booksy and Vagaro, and it is higher on purpose: the Youzse platform fee lives inside that rate rather than being charged separately. There is one number to understand instead of three.
If you take a lot of card payments and win very few clients through a marketplace, a platform with a lower card rate and no marketplace listing will cost you less. That is a real scenario and we would rather you worked it out on a calculator than found out in month three.
Youzse works out cheaper when new clients matter to you. A 20% one-time fee on a new client, or 30% on a boosted one, is a much larger number than a few tenths of a percent on card takings, and it repeats every time you win someone new.
Questions worth asking any platform before you sign
- What do I pay when a new client books me?
- Does my bill change when I add a staff member?
- What is the card rate, and is the platform fee inside or outside it?
- Can I export my clients, appointment history and invoices?
- Do I keep my client list if I leave?
- Are prices quoted with or without VAT?
- What happens to my deposits and no-show charges?
- How long is the trial and does it need a card?
How we worked this out
Every figure quoted for another platform was taken from that company's own UK pricing page on the date shown at the bottom of this page. Where a platform does not publish a number, we have left it out rather than estimating it.
Watch the VAT treatment when you compare. Booksy publishes its subscription and card fees plus VAT. Fresha and Vagaro publish theirs without that note. Check what each provider will actually invoice you before you decide.
These platforms change their plans. If you spot something out of date here, tell us and we will correct it.
Third-party pricing and features on this page were last checked on 3 August 2026. Rival platforms change their plans, so check their own site before you decide.
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