Treatwell asks for 35% of the first booking every new client makes when the marketplace introduces them. That is the largest new client fee of any platform compared on this site, and it lands on the appointment where you are trying to make an impression rather than a margin. The second number is the one that is missing. Treatwell refers to a monthly software fee but publishes no amount for either plan, so the only way to learn what the software costs is to ask their sales team. Youzse publishes £19 a month, charges 0% commission on new clients and puts its platform fee inside a card rate of 2.5% plus 35p, which is higher than most. Both halves of that are on this page.
What Treatwell publishes, and what it leaves blank
| Treatwell | Youzse | |
|---|---|---|
| Software subscription | A monthly fee is referred to but no amount is published for either plan. Freelancer and Advanced both show a Start for free button with no figure beside it and no VAT treatment stated | From £19 a month for the business, with VAT treatment set out on the Youzse pricing page |
| Team members | Advanced states unlimited team members at no extra cost. The plan fee itself is not published, so a cost per person cannot be worked out | The whole team is included in the business subscription from £19 a month |
| New clients | 35% of the first booking made by a new client the marketplace brings you. Treatwell states that commissions and fees are subject to VAT | 0% commission on new clients who find you through Youzse |
| Repeat visits | 0% commission on repeat bookings once the client is yours | Repeat visits sit inside the subscription you already pay |
| Bookings you win yourself | Treatwell states it charges nothing on bookings made directly with the salon, including calls, texts, WhatsApp, your own website and social Book Now buttons | Your own Youzse booking page, links and QR codes are covered by the subscription |
| Paying online in advance | A processing fee of 2.5% plus VAT, applied only when a client pays you online in advance | 2.5% plus 35p per card transaction with the platform fee inside the rate, charged however the client pays |
| Free trial | No trial length is stated anywhere. Start for free is a registration button rather than a stated period | 30 days free with no card required |
| Your existing system | Treatwell states it does not sync with any other existing management systems | Import brings client records and appointment history across, and export is available at any time |
| If you leave | Treatwell states that even if you cancel your plan, you still own your data | Client, booking and financial records export on request and the account is yours to close |
Treatwell figures read from treatwell.co.uk on 10 August 2026. The monthly software fee is genuinely absent from that page for both plans, so no figure is quoted or estimated here. The 2.5% processing fee is published as plus VAT and applies only to online prepayments, which on that single line is cheaper per transaction than the Youzse card rate.
Thirty five percent is an acquisition cost, so price it like one
Work it on a real ticket rather than a percentage. A £60 colour introduced by the marketplace returns £39 to the salon, because £21 of it is the introduction fee. On a £150 balayage the fee is £52.50. Whether that is expensive depends entirely on what happens next, because Treatwell charges nothing on the visits that follow.
So the real question is retention, not price. If four in ten of those introductions come back and keep coming back, a one time 35% on the first visit is a rational piece of marketing spend and cheaper than plenty of advertising. If they book once, chase the next offer elsewhere and never return, you have handed a third of your busiest chair to a listing.
The quieter cost is habit. A salon that fills its diary from the marketplace for two years has a client list living inside somebody else's app, and the booking habit that comes with it is hard to reverse. Ask how many of your regulars could name your own booking page. If the answer is none, the fee is not the whole of what you are paying.
Where Treatwell genuinely earns its money
- Real consumer demand at scale across the UK and Europe, from people already searching for an appointment rather than for software
- A consumer brand customers recognise and already trust with their card details
- 0% commission on repeat bookings, so a client the marketplace introduces costs you once rather than every time
- Nothing charged on bookings you win yourself, including calls, texts, WhatsApp, your own website and social Book Now buttons
- Advanced includes unlimited team members at no extra cost, which suits a large floor
- They state plainly that you still own your data even if you cancel your plan
The number they do not print, and how to get yours
Treatwell publishes two plans, Freelancer and Advanced, and both carry a Start for free button with no monthly amount next to it. A monthly fee is referred to. The amount is not on the page. We are not going to guess it, and you should be wary of any comparison that does.
That leaves you doing the work by phone. Ask for the monthly figure in writing, ask whether it is quoted with VAT or without, ask what it becomes once any introductory period ends and ask what happens to it when you add staff or a second site. Put that answer next to the 35% and the 2.5% before you compare Treatwell with anything.
It also means Start for free is not a trial length. No fixed duration is stated anywhere on that page, so treat it as a registration step rather than a countdown you can plan a switch around. Youzse states 30 days with no card required, which is a promise you can hold us to.
Put these to Treatwell in writing before you sign
- What is the monthly software fee on the plan you are recommending, and is that figure quoted including VAT or excluding it?
- How is a new client defined, and for how long after the first appointment does an introduction still count as one?
- If a client I already had books through the marketplace by accident, is that charged at 35%?
- Does the 35% apply to the whole ticket, including retail and add ons, or to the service value only?
- Treatwell states it does not sync with any other existing management systems, so what happens to the system I run today?
- What comes out when I leave, in what format and how long does the export take to arrive?
The case for staying exactly where you are
If your columns are empty on a Tuesday, no software fixes that. Demand does. Treatwell has demand, more of it in the UK and Europe than anything else compared on this site, and a new salon with capacity to fill and no reputation yet is exactly the business a marketplace was built for.
Nothing stops you running both either. Treatwell charges nothing on bookings made directly with the salon, so you can keep taking marketplace introductions while your own booking page, deposits, reminders and client records sit underneath in your own system. The point of moving the software is not to abandon a source of new clients. It is to stop that source being the only place your clients exist.
The moment to reconsider is when the diary is full and the introductions keep arriving. At that point the 35% is buying bookings your own name was already good enough to win.
Where Youzse is the more expensive choice
Card processing, and there is no polite way to dress it up. Youzse charges 2.5% plus 35p on every card payment with the platform fee sitting inside that single rate. Treatwell charges 2.5% plus VAT and only when a client pays online in advance. On that narrow line, for a salon that takes most of its money in the chair, they are cheaper per transaction and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
The wider bill is the part nobody can settle for you, because half of it is unpublished. What we can put on the table is our own side: £19 a month to start, extra locations from £15 a month, 30 days free with no card required and 0% commission on new clients who find you through Youzse, across more than 60 trades. Set that against whatever monthly figure Treatwell quotes you plus 35% of every first booking they introduce.
If your business runs on marketplace introductions and takes very little card money in the chair, that arithmetic can land in their favour. Do it on your own takings before you move anything.
Third-party pricing and features on this page were last checked on 10 August 2026. Rival platforms change their plans, so check their own site before you decide.
Keep reading
- Switching
Leaving Treatwell and taking your data with you
Treatwell says you still own your data if you cancel and that it does not sync with other systems. What both mean in practice when you move to Youzse.
- 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 Treatwell Connect: 20% against 35%
Fresha charges 20% on new clients from its marketplace. Treatwell Connect charges 35% and publishes no monthly software price.