Short answer
Fresha's main competitors for hair salons are Booksy, Vagaro and StyleSeat, which also run consumer marketplaces, and GlossGenius, Square Appointments, Setmore and Acuity Scheduling, which are booking tools without one. Fresha now sells paid plans only, with the Team plan charged per bookable team member. For a salon of two to eight stylists that wants one fixed number, Hairdressers.io is $89 a month flat with a city directory listing at 0% commission.
For years the reason to pick Fresha was simple: the software cost nothing, and Fresha earned on card processing and on a fee for brand new clients from its marketplace. That model is gone. Fresha's pricing page now shows a flat Independent plan for one bookable person, a Team plan billed for every bookable team member, and custom Enterprise terms past 20 members, with a 7-day trial. Texts and marketing emails come with a monthly allowance and a charge per message after it, and loyalty, a website and several other extras are add-ons.
There is a real upside in the change. The same pricing page lists new clients from the Fresha marketplace as free on both plans, which removes the fee that used to land on a new client's first visit. But a salon that joined because it was free now has a subscription that grows with headcount, and that is why owners are comparing again. This article keeps to the competitors a US hair salon or independent stylist would actually move to, and compares pricing models rather than prices, because every company here changes its numbers. Read each pricing page on the day you decide.
What are Fresha's competitors?
For hair salons, Fresha competes with two groups. Booksy, Vagaro and StyleSeat pair booking software with a consumer marketplace that sends new clients, each with its own way of charging for them. GlossGenius, Square Appointments, Setmore and Acuity Scheduling are booking tools with no marketplace of their own, and compete on the booking and payments side. The table shows how each one is billed.
| Platform | What the bill scales on | What a brand new client costs | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fresha | Flat for one bookable person, then per bookable team member; messaging past an allowance and add-ons extra | Listed as free on current plans | A salon that wants a marketplace and a register together |
| Booksy | One subscription with every feature, plus a monthly fee per added team member with no cap | Boost: a one-time commission on the first visit, only while Boost is on | A salon that expects the Booksy app to fill chairs |
| Vagaro | Bookable calendars up to a cap, plus a la carte features per location | Has used a one-time fee on new marketplace clients, check current terms | A large floor, where the calendar cap starts to pay off |
| StyleSeat | One monthly subscription | A capped one-time share of the first appointment from each brand new marketplace client | A solo stylist who wants marketplace exposure first |
| GlossGenius | Tiers by team size, with each added location billed as another plan | Nothing, there is no marketplace | A salon with a full book of regulars and a polished checkout in mind |
| Square Appointments | A no-fee entry tier, then paid tiers per location | Nothing per booking; listed in the Square Go consumer app | A salon already taking cards on Square |
| Setmore | A no-cost tier capped at four users, then paid per user | Nothing, there is no marketplace | A small team that only needs a scheduler |
| Acuity Scheduling | Tiers by number of calendars | Nothing, there is no marketplace | A salon already on Squarespace |
| Hairdressers.io | Flat by band: $49 for one chair, $89 for up to 8 stylists, $199 for up to 25 | Nothing, including clients from the city directory | A salon of regulars that wants one number and a way to be found |
Is Fresha free for business?
No, not anymore. Fresha for business is now a paid subscription: a flat plan for a one-person business and a Team plan charged per bookable team member, after a 7-day trial with no card. What is free on the current plans is the marketplace itself, since new and returning clients from Fresha are both listed at no fee. Card processing, messaging past the monthly allowance and add-ons still cost extra.
Because the pricing page changed recently, and its fine print still describes the old one-time new-client fee, ask Fresha to confirm the new-client terms for your market in writing. It is a two minute email and it settles the one line that used to decide the whole comparison.
Is Fresha a good booking system?
Fresha is a capable booking system for a salon that wants online booking, a register, client records and a consumer marketplace in one place, and for a one-person business its flat plan is simple to budget. It fits less well for a growing team, because every bookable stylist adds to the bill, and for a salon that already has a full book and does not need a marketplace at all.
That second point matters more than it looks. A salon whose week is mostly rebooked regulars is paying for the consumer app in every member's fee, whether the app sends anyone or not. If that is your salon, the choice is less about which marketplace and more about whether you need one.
Which Fresha competitor fits your salon?
Sort by the reason you are looking, not by the longest feature list. Almost every salon that leaves Fresha is leaving for one of three reasons.
The bill grows every time you hire
Moving to another per-member platform changes the rate, not the shape. Booksy adds a monthly fee for each team member with no ceiling, so a salon of six pays for five extra members. Vagaro scales on bookable calendars but stops charging past its cap, which helps a large floor more than a four chair salon. GlossGenius prices by team size tiers, so the bill steps up at a tier line rather than every hire. A flat band removes the question inside its range: on our Salon plan, up to eight stylists cost $89 a month whether you have three or eight, and a Saturday stylist adds nothing. The full model comparison sits on the Fresha alternative page, and salon software for small business walks through what changes when a two to six chair salon hires.
You want new clients and the marketplace is not sending them
Here the answer is another source of new clients, and each one charges for it differently. Booksy's Boost costs nothing until it brings someone, then takes a one-time commission on that first visit. StyleSeat takes a capped share of the first appointment from each brand new marketplace client. Neither is wrong, but on a four hour color the fee lands on the most expensive visit. Every Hairdressers.io plan includes a listing on the directory page for your city with your services, prices and hours, and clients book from it at 0% commission. The directory covers New York, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta and Austin, and if you are weighing it as a paid channel, hair salon advertising compares it with Google, Meta and print.
You only need clean booking and payments
If the marketplace never mattered, a booking tool without one is the simplest move. Square Appointments fits a salon already on Square readers. GlossGenius fits a salon that wants a polished checkout and flat card processing. Setmore suits a very small team that needs a scheduler and little else, and Acuity is the default for salons whose website already runs on Squarespace. The Fresha vs Booksy comparison goes deeper on the two most common marketplace switches.
What Hairdressers.io does, and what it does not
Hairdressers.io gives each stylist a booking link with their own services, lengths, prices and hours. Clients request a service and a time inside those hours, and every request lands in your inbox with the client as the reply address, so confirming or moving it is one message. The client list downloads as a spreadsheet on any day. Chair is $49 a month, Salon is $89 for up to eight stylists and Studio is $199 for up to 25 across locations, and yearly billing halves each of them. Every plan is 0% commission on every booking.
It does not replace a register. There is no card reader, checkout or in-app payment, no inventory, no payroll and no text campaign tool, and every booking is a request you approve rather than an instant charge. If you want Fresha's register without Fresha's per-member bill, Square or GlossGenius is the closer swap. If you want one flat number and a way to be found in your city, start from the pricing page.
Before you switch from Fresha
- Export first. Download clients, appointment history and notes while your account is active, and keep the file yourself.
- Count the next twelve months, not this one. Price each option at the headcount you expect next year, including part-timers.
- Add the lines outside the subscription. Messaging overages, add-ons, card processing and any fee on new clients, in writing.
- Run both for a few weeks. Keep existing bookings where they are and send new ones to the new link until the old calendar empties.
- Total what you actually paid. Your bank statement is the honest record of last year's software cost; if the salon now pays for booking, a website, a register and messaging separately, tracking every software subscription in one place shows which one grew.
The short version
A one-person business that wants a marketplace and a register: Fresha's flat plan still makes sense. A salon that wants a bigger consumer app and control over when it pays for new clients: Booksy, with Boost priced in. A salon of regulars that is tired of the bill rising with every hire: a flat band with a directory, which is what we built. Whichever you choose, run the export before you need it.