Phorest is one of the better known salon systems in the UK and Ireland, and it does not put a price on its website. Four plans are named Starter, Grow, Ultimate and Elite. Every button asks you to request a quote. There is no free trial either, and Phorest is unusually straight about why. It says it does not expect a busy owner to work the product out alone, so it offers a full demo instead. That is a real position rather than an evasion. It does change how you have to buy, and it means you cannot shortlist Phorest on price the way you can shortlist a supplier that publishes one.
What quote only pricing actually does to a buyer
A published price is a promise you can check on a Tuesday afternoon without speaking to anybody. A quote is a number produced for you, on a call, with your staff count and your plan mix sitting in front of a salesperson. Both can be perfectly fair. They simply put the work in different places. With a published price the supplier has already decided what you pay. With a quote, the outcome depends on how well you prepared for the conversation.
The practical effect is sequencing. If you are comparing four systems and three of them publish, the Phorest figure arrives last and it arrives only after you have spent an hour of your working day. Budget for that. It also means the first time you can do a like for like sum is after the demo, so go into the demo with the sum already built and only the Phorest column empty.
The absence of a trial has the same shape to it. Phorest puts it plainly: it does not offer a free trial and does not expect a busy owner to work it all out unaided, but it will take you through a full demo at a time that suits you. If you learn best by being shown, that is genuinely better than being dropped into an empty account. If you learn by poking at something at eleven at night with your own services and your own awkward double booking loaded in, it is worse, and only you know which of those you are.
Twelve things to get in writing before you leave the demo
- The monthly figure for your exact staff count, and whether it is charged per business or per user
- Whether that figure is quoted including VAT or before VAT
- Which of the four plans the figure covers, and what moving up a plan would add
- Whether the price is fixed for the contract term or reviewed annually
- The contract length, the notice period and whether the term renews automatically
- Any setup, onboarding, data import or training charge, and whether it is a one off
- The PhorestPay card rate as a percentage and a pence figure, because it is not published anywhere
- Whether that card rate differs for consumer, business and international cards
- SMS cost in pence per message for UK numbers, since the plans describe rates as affordable rather than stating them
- What happens to your client records and booking history if you leave, and in which file format
- Which features sit behind the Ultimate and Elite tiers, especially the branded client app and Ads Manager
- Whether the quote expires, and what you would pay if you signed next month instead
What each side publishes before you speak to anyone
| Phorest | Youzse | |
|---|---|---|
| Headline price | Not published. Four plans named Starter, Grow, Ultimate and Elite, each with a request a quote button. No basis or VAT treatment is stated because no figure is given | From £19 a month, published. VAT treatment is set out on the Youzse pricing page rather than restated here |
| Free trial | None. Phorest states this directly and offers a full demo at a time that suits you instead | 30 days, with no card required |
| Card processing | PhorestPay exists and is powered by Stripe. The rate is not published, so it has to be asked for | 2.5% plus 35p per transaction, with the platform fee inside that rate. This is higher than most rivals publish and we would rather you saw it now than later |
| Commission on new clients | Phorest does not run a consumer marketplace, so it does not sell you leads | 0% commission on new clients who find your business through Youzse |
| Included on every plan | Unlimited devices, unlimited staff and rates described as affordable SMS | Booking, deposits, payments, quotes, invoices, CRM, marketing, loyalty, gift cards, memberships, forms and VAT returns |
| Who it is built for | Growing salons and aesthetic clinics, described as perfect for three or more staff, so explicitly not solo | Solo professionals through to businesses running several sites, with Garage Pro for automotive |
| How you reach a number | Request a quote, then take a demo | Read the price, start the trial, no call needed |
Phorest details read from phorest.com on 7 August 2026. Suppliers change their pricing and their terms, so confirm anything here with Phorest directly before you sign.
How to compare a quote against a published price
When the quote lands, do not hold it against a headline. Hold total year one cost against total year one cost. Take the monthly figure, multiply by twelve, add VAT if the quote was given before VAT, add any onboarding or training charge, then add twelve months of card fees at the rate you were quoted. Build the same column for us. That is the only comparison that survives contact with your bank statement.
Our number is the one that looks worse in the card fee row, and we would rather say so than let you find out. Youzse charges 2.5% plus 35p per transaction and the platform fee sits inside that rate rather than appearing as a separate line. Most rivals publish a lower card rate. If a large share of your takings arrives on cards, put your real monthly volume and your real average transaction value into that row, because the gap is money and it compounds over twelve months.
On our side of the sum sits a software price you can read today starting at £19 a month, a 30 day trial that costs nothing and asks for no card, and 0% commission on new clients who find you through Youzse. Whether that beats a Phorest quote depends entirely on the quote, which is the honest answer and rather the point of this page.
Where Phorest is the stronger choice
- You want a branded client booking app in the App Store under your own salon name. Phorest offers this from the Ultimate tier and it is a genuinely hard thing to arrange yourself.
- You want your Facebook and Instagram advertising run from inside the same system. Phorest Ads Manager, together with lead management, sits on the Elite tier.
- You have three or more staff and you want a named person to call. Phorest includes a dedicated success manager from Grow upwards and aims squarely at growing salons and clinics.
- You want onboarding handled for you. Setup, data import and full staff training are part of what Phorest includes rather than something you price up separately.
- You want mature retail and loyalty. TreatCard, the online store, gift vouchers, the Shopify integration and Reserve with Google are all long established parts of the product.
- You are comfortable buying from a demo. If a guided walkthrough suits your decision making better than an empty trial account, the lack of a trial costs you nothing at all.
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 Phorest, and what your export actually holds
Phorest publishes no prices and offers no free trial. What comes out of it, what the Youzse importer can and cannot read, and how to plan the move.
- Salons and beauty
Treatwell or Youzse: the marketplace fee against owning the client
Treatwell takes 35% of a new client's first booking and publishes no monthly software price. Youzse is from £19 a month with 0% commission on new clients.
- 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.
- 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 Phorest: a published price against a demo
Fresha publishes its pricing and takes 20% on new clients. Phorest publishes nothing and runs a demo instead of a trial. Compared on both.