Written by Youzse, with every competitor figure taken from that company's own UK pricing page on the date at the bottom of this page. Booksy is the hardest platform on our site to argue against on cost, and this page says so more than once.
The short answer
If you are leaving Booksy over the subscription, the cheaper published options are Slick from £20 a month for one column, Barbr at £20 a month on PRO with half price extra barbers, and Fresha at £14.95 a month on Independent. All three are less than Booksy's £40 plus VAT.
If you are leaving over the £5 per extra team member, look at Setora, which is £39 a month per location with unlimited staff, or Youzse, which is flat per business by plan. Both stop the bill rising as you add chairs.
If you are leaving over Boost specifically, switch Boost off rather than switching platform. With Boost off Booksy charges no ordinary marketplace commission, which is a better commission structure than Fresha, Vagaro or Treatwell offer at any price. Moving to escape a fee you can turn off would be a mistake.
The realistic alternatives to Booksy
| 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, plus a UK consumer marketplace listing at 0% commission | Growing salons, barbers, clinics and trades that want to own the client relationship |
| Slick | From £20 a month for one column. Slick states that prices are exclusive of VAT which is applied at the standard rates | 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 |
| 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 |
| Setora | £39 a month per location with unlimited staff. Setora states that prices shown exclude VAT where applicable | 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 |
| Fresha | £14.95 a month on Independent, or £9.95 a month per bookable team member on Team. Fresha does not state whether those prices include VAT | 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Every figure is the provider's own published number. Booksy states that all services are subject to VAT, which is added to the final price, so its £40 is not directly comparable to a figure quoted without that note. Slick and Setora both state that their prices exclude VAT. Barbr and SQUIRE publish no card rate, which at a low ticket is the number that matters most.
Sources: Slick, Setora, Fresha, Square Appointments
Which one suits which shop
Barbr is the cheapest way to run a small barbershop on this list, at £20 a month with each extra barber at half price. It publishes no card rate, though, and on a £15 cut the card rate matters more than the subscription. Ask for it in writing before you compare totals.
Slick is the closest like-for-like swap for a UK salon or barbershop that wants software without a marketplace attached. From £20 a month for one column, with reminders, deposits and imports, and it states plainly that prices exclude VAT.
Setora is the one to model if you have a big team on a single site, because £39 a month per location covers unlimited staff. Against Booksy's £40 plus £5 per extra member, the gap widens with every chair.
Fresha is the cheapest subscription here but reintroduces the fee you may have left Booksy to avoid: 20% one-time on marketplace new clients with a £4 minimum. It is only the cheaper option if you never use the marketplace.
SQUIRE is barber only and demo led, with no published price, so it cannot be compared on this page. Worth a call if you want a specialist barber brand rather than a general platform.
Youzse is the fit if you are adding chairs and want the subscription to stay flat, and if you want deposits, prepaid cut packages, quotes, invoicing and marketing in the same bill. It is not the fit if your book is full and your tickets are small, and the worked example on our barber comparison shows exactly why.
Why people search this comparison
Most people do not search for a Booksy alternative when everything is calm. They search because they are checking pricing, commission, cancellation, reviews, complaints, support, data export or whether the platform still fits the way they work.
That is the right moment to compare Youzse honestly: not as the cheapest card processor, but as a newer UK platform with published pricing, 0% commission on new clients, direct client ownership, imports and a wider operating tool set.
What Booksy genuinely does well
Booksy charges £0 ordinary marketplace fee when Boost is switched off. For an established shop with a full book, that is the best commission structure among the large marketplaces and better than most alternatives, including on this point.
The client app is good, rebooking is fast and it is deeply embedded in UK barbering. Card rates are competitive at 1.29% plus 20p for mobile payments and 0.99% plus 20p for contactless on a phone, both plus VAT.
If you have three chairs, a full book and no need to be found, Booksy is genuinely hard to beat on running cost.
What people tell us pushes them to look elsewhere
- The highest fixed subscription in this category at £40 a month plus VAT, before any staff are added.
- An extra £5 a month plus VAT for every additional team member, which adds up quickly across a growing shop.
- Boost carries a 30% one-time fee with a £5 minimum on a boosted client's first visit, the steepest new client charge of the platforms we compare.
- Public reviews repeatedly question Boost attribution, especially whether a client was genuinely generated by Boost or was already moving towards the business.
- Review themes also include support delays, booking discrepancies and app reliability after updates. Those are not universal experiences, but they are worth testing during trial.
- A 7 day trial, which is short for testing a real switch.
- Quotes, invoicing and job tracking are limited if you do work beyond simple appointments.
Youzse and Booksy, side by side
| Youzse | Booksy | |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription from | £19 a month | £40 a month plus VAT |
| Extra team members | Included up to your plan limit | £5 a month plus VAT each |
| Marketplace commission | 0% on new clients | None when Boost is off |
| Paid promotion fee | No paid promotion product | Boost: 30% one-time, £5 minimum |
| Card rate | 2.5% plus 35p, platform fee included | 1.29% plus 20p plus VAT, 0.99% plus 20p plus VAT on a phone |
| Free trial | 30 days, no card | 7 days |
| Quotes and invoicing | Included | Limited |
Booksy figures from biz.booksy.com/en-gb/pricing, which publishes prices plus VAT. Youzse figures from youzse.app/pricing.
Where the money actually goes
A three-chair shop on Booksy pays £40 plus £10 for two extra users, so £50 a month plus VAT, which is £60 all in. On Youzse Growth that is £59 a month covering the team.
The subscriptions are close. The difference shows up in card fees and in what happens when you want new clients. On £6,000 of monthly card takings Booksy costs roughly £107 plus VAT and Youzse roughly £203, so Booksy is meaningfully cheaper there.
Turn on Boost to win new clients and the picture flips: 30% of a boosted client's first visit is the largest per-client charge in this comparison. Youzse charges nothing for a new client, ever.
The plain reading: if you do not need new clients, Booksy is cheaper. If you do, Youzse is.
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.
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.
Keep reading
- Switching
Switching from Booksy, step by step
A running order for moving off Booksy: what to export, what the Youzse importer maps, what your bill looks like after and which links you must change.
- Salons and beauty
The Setora alternative for shops that outgrow the calendar
Setora is £39 a month per location for the whole platform with unlimited staff. Youzse is tiered from £19. Which is cheaper depends on your team size.
- Salons and beauty
The Solo alternative for when solo stops being solo
Solo by Secret Spa prices per professional and quotes VAT inclusive. Youzse starts at £19 a month and grows with staff, so compare before your team grows.
- Salons and beauty
The Slick alternative that prices the business, not the chair
Slick prices per column and beats Youzse on card rates. Youzse is one flat price from £19 a month with 0% commission on new clients. Compare the maths.
- Report
The State of UK Salon and Barber Software Pricing, 2026
An independent, dated comparison of published UK pricing and new client commission across 18 salon and barber booking platforms. Free to cite, with sources.
- Compared
Fresha or Booksy: the cheapest subscription against the cheapest commission
Fresha has the lower subscription but charges 20% on new clients. Booksy costs more a month but drops to 0% ordinary commission with Boost off.