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Hairdressers.io

Comparing pricing models

StyleSeat alternative for independent stylists and booth renters

If you are comparing because a percentage comes off the clients the marketplace sends you, the number worth working out is not the monthly fee. It is what that percentage will have cost by the time a new client has become a regular.

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This week

Thursday, chair 2

9:00am 10:30am 12:00pm 1:30pm 3:00pm 4:30pm 6:00pm 7:30pm

Thursday 7:30pm · Balayage · 2h 30m

Sold this week
78%
Rebooked
61%
No-shows
2

Sample data, shown to illustrate the interface.

Short answer

Hairdressers.io is a StyleSeat alternative for independent stylists, booth renters and small salons who want to be discovered by new clients without paying a share of what those clients spend. You get your own booking page, a listing on the city directory for your area, and a client list you can export whenever you want, for a flat monthly fee from $39. Every booking is 0% commission, including the ones the directory introduces.

The model you are comparing

A subscription for the booking tools, with new-client discovery monetized as a share of the booking value

Our model

One flat monthly price per chair or per salon, with the city directory listing included and 0% commission on everything

We deliberately do not publish StyleSeat's prices, plan names or commission rates on this page. They change, and a stale number would be a false statement about a real company. Check their own pricing page for the current detail, then compare the two models below.

What actually changes when you switch

The introduction is charged once, not forever

A share of the booking is charged on the appointment, so the same client can be billable more than once and the platform earns most on the clients you have already won over. A flat fee charges for the software and stops there.

Your rate stops being a negotiation with the platform

When a percentage comes off the top, raising your prices raises the platform's cut with them. Flat pricing means a price rise is yours.

The client list is portable by design

Contacts, appointment history, color formulas and notes export to a spreadsheet on demand, including on the day you decide to leave.

01

Work out the real cost before you compare monthly fees

A subscription is a number you can put in a budget. A percentage of new-client bookings is not, because what it costs depends on how well the marketplace works and on how much those clients spend once they stay with you.

Do the arithmetic with your own numbers rather than anyone's marketing. Take the number of new clients the marketplace introduced you to last year. Multiply by your average ticket, then by the platform's published rate on those bookings, applying whatever cap they publish. That figure is the part of the bill that grows when your business does.

Count introductions, not bookings
The number that matters is how many people you would never have met otherwise. Regulars who found you on Instagram and booked through the app are not marketplace clients.
Use your real average ticket
A color correction and a fringe trim carry very different percentages in dollars. Use the service mix you actually run.
Leave card processing out of it
Processing is a separate line on every platform including this one, so compare software cost against software cost and keep the payment rails out of the sum.
Then look at the flat number
Ours is $39 a month for a single chair and $89 for a salon of up to eight stylists, published in full on the pricing page below, with nothing variable underneath it.

02

What actually moves with you when you switch

Migrating is the part that stops most stylists, and it is worth being specific about what is portable and what is not. Three things move cleanly, one does not move at all, and knowing which is which before you cancel anything is most of the work.

Your client list moves
Names, phone numbers, email addresses and appointment history import from a spreadsheet. Export yours while your current account is still open and keep the file.
Your service menu moves
Services, durations, buffers and prices are set up with you during onboarding rather than typed in one at a time.
Upcoming appointments move
Import what is already on the books so nobody is asked to rebook something they have already booked.
Reviews and ratings do not move
Reviews belong to the platform that collected them. That is true everywhere, and it is the best argument for asking regulars to review you somewhere you control, like your map listing.

03

How new clients find you here instead

The reason stylists pay a marketplace is discovery, so an alternative has to answer that or it is just a cheaper calendar. Here it is the city directory: every plan includes a listing on the directory page for your city, showing your services, your price band and your genuine open times, with booking straight from the listing.

The listing is included rather than sold as a growth tier, and a client it introduces costs the same in year two as on the day they found you. Charging for those introductions would undo the entire argument of the product.

It is worth being honest about scale. A marketplace with a national consumer app has more people walking past it than a directory being built city by city. What we can say is what the listing does not do, which is take a cut, and what it does do, which is put someone in front of a live calendar with Thursday at 7pm visible and clickable.

04

Who should switch, and who should probably stay

We would rather you stayed than moved and regretted it, so here is the honest split.

Switch if most of your book is repeat business
When regulars carry the month, a percentage tied to discovery buys you very little and costs the most.
Switch if you are putting your prices up
A percentage model takes a bigger number out of a bigger ticket. A flat fee does not move.
Stay if you are building a book from zero
With almost no clients and no local following, raw marketplace reach may still be the fastest way to fill a week, even at a percentage.
Stay if you need retail stock and payroll
We do not do point of sale hardware, shelf inventory or payroll runs, and we are not planning to.

Before you move

Five things worth checking first

This applies whichever platform you are on, including ours. Migrating a salon is disruptive, so it is worth being sure the answer is better and not just different.

  1. 01

    Can you export your client list?

    Contacts, appointment history and notes, to a file you keep. Ask before you commit, not on the way out.

  2. 02

    What happens to bookings already made?

    You want to import upcoming appointments so no client is asked to rebook something they already booked.

  3. 03

    What is the real monthly total?

    Add every module you actually use, plus any per-staff element, plus anything variable. Compare that number, not the headline.

  4. 04

    Who holds the relationship?

    Whether reminders and confirmations go out under your salon name or the platform's changes what happens if you leave.

  5. 05

    Is there a contract term?

    A month-to-month arrangement and an annual commitment are very different decisions.

Our pricing, in full

Flat per salon, published, with nothing variable underneath

Chair

Start here

Solo stylist or booth renter

$39 /mo

$390 billed yearly

  • 1 stylist
  • Salon page on your own link: services, prices, open hours
  • Directory listing in 1 city
  • Booking requests inside your hours, by email
  • Private panel to edit your page and see requests
  • Pay by card, cancel any time
List your salon

Card payment, live right after

Salon

Independent salon, up to 8 stylists

$89 /mo

$890 billed yearly

  • Up to 8 stylists
  • Everything in Chair
  • Priority placement in your city listing
  • Per-stylist links and hours
  • Revenue and rebooking reporting
  • Import your existing bookings
Choose Salon

Card payment, live right after

Studio

Multi-location, up to 25 stylists

$199 /mo

$1,990 billed yearly

  • Up to 25 stylists
  • Everything in Salon
  • Listings for every location
  • Consolidated multi-location reporting
  • Roles and permissions per location
  • One invoice for all sites
Choose Studio

Card payment, live right after

Group

Chains and franchise groups

Talk to sales

Custom terms

  • Unlimited stylists and locations
  • Everything in Studio
  • SSO with SAML
  • Invoicing and PO billing
  • A named onboarding contact
  • Uptime SLA and a DPA

0% commission on bookings, on every plan

Including the clients your city directory listing sends you. There is no per-booking fee anywhere in this product.

0%

These are our plans. Pricing is flat per salon, so it does not change when you get busier. Chair, Salon and Studio are paid by card and your page goes live right after payment. Group starts with a conversation, because chains price on locations and terms. There is no free tier because the live demo is the free taste.

Questions

Switching from StyleSeat

The rest are on the salon booking system FAQ.

What is a good alternative to StyleSeat?

The right alternative depends on why you are leaving. If it is the share taken on new clients, look for a platform with flat pricing and its own discovery layer, which is what Hairdressers.io is: a booking page plus a city directory listing on one flat monthly fee with 0% commission. If it is missing features, Vagaro, Booksy and Fresha are the other names people compare, and there is a page here on each of their pricing models.

Are there apps like StyleSeat that do not charge a commission?

Yes. Commission on new-client bookings is a pricing decision, not a technical requirement, and several platforms charge a flat subscription instead. The trade you are usually making is marketplace size for cost predictability, so the question to ask is how many clients the marketplace genuinely introduced last year, and what the percentage on those bookings added up to.

How much does StyleSeat charge for new clients?

StyleSeat charges for new-client discovery as a share of the booking rather than as a flat listing fee, and both the rate and any cap are published on its own pricing page. We deliberately do not quote a competitor's numbers here, because they change and a stale figure would be a false statement about a real company. Read it at the source, then run it against your own client numbers.

Can I take my clients with me if I leave StyleSeat?

Your client contact details are yours, and any platform worth using will let you export them. Do it before you cancel rather than after, take appointment history along with the contacts if the export offers it, and check what happens to your public profile once the account closes, so clients are not still booking a listing you no longer watch.

Is StyleSeat worth it for a booth renter?

It can be, and the deciding factor is the shape of your book. If you are new in a city and need volume quickly, marketplace reach is worth paying a percentage for. If most of your week is repeat clients who already know your name, that percentage is buying discovery you no longer need, and a flat fee gets cheaper every month you grow.

More salon software pages

StyleSeat is a trademark of its owner. Hairdressers.io is not affiliated with, endorsed by or partnered with StyleSeat. This page compares pricing models only.

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