Online booking for a salon: a ready-made app or your own system?
- Author:
- Nikita Levitskiy
- Published:
For most salons and barbershops with a small team, a ready-made booking app linked to your own website is the right start: it costs from nothing to about €40–60 a month for three people and works from day one. Your own booking system pays off later, when the app's fees and limits cost you more each year than building one, which for a focused system starts at around €1,000.
What ready-made booking apps cost
Reservio
- Monthly price
- free plan up to 40 bookings in 30 days and 100 clients; paid plans from 199 Kč (about €8) a month, billed yearly
- Commission
- none on bookings; card payment fees apply
- Good to know
- Czech app; the free plan is enough to test online booking
Fresha
- Monthly price
- $19.95 a month for one person; $14.95 per team member on the team plan
- Commission
- 20% one-off fee (at least $6) for each new client who finds you on the Fresha marketplace; returning clients are free
- Good to know
- the marketplace brings new clients, and that is what you pay for
Booksy
- Monthly price
- €44 a month, plus €5 for each extra team member (Irish price list)
- Commission
- none on new clients or bookings
- Good to know
- card payments cost 2.6% + VAT per mobile transaction
| App | Monthly price | Commission | Good to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reservio | free plan up to 40 bookings in 30 days and 100 clients; paid plans from 199 Kč (about €8) a month, billed yearly | none on bookings; card payment fees apply | Czech app; the free plan is enough to test online booking |
| Fresha | $19.95 a month for one person; $14.95 per team member on the team plan | 20% one-off fee (at least $6) for each new client who finds you on the Fresha marketplace; returning clients are free | the marketplace brings new clients, and that is what you pay for |
| Booksy | €44 a month, plus €5 for each extra team member (Irish price list) | none on new clients or bookings | card payments cost 2.6% + VAT per mobile transaction |
For a team of three, that is about €54 a month on Booksy and about $45 a month on Fresha before marketplace fees. Reservio's free plan covers a quiet one-person studio.
What you get and what you give up
What you get: a calendar, reminders, client cards, payments and, with Fresha and Booksy, a marketplace where new clients find you. It works from the first day, and nobody has to build anything.
What you give up: the booking page looks like every other salon's, your client list lives in someone else's system, prices can change, and leaving means moving your data. Marketplace fees grow with every new client the app sends you.
The middle way: your website, the app's calendar
Build your own website and put the app's booking button or widget on it. Clients and Google see your brand, prices and photos; the app keeps the calendar and sends reminders. A barbershop site I built in Prague works this way: three languages, bookings through Altegio. Connecting a ready-made app to a website is a small job: French market guides price it at €50–150.
When your own system makes sense
- You pay a lot of marketplace fees. Ten new marketplace clients a month at a €40 service already cost about €80 a month on Fresha.
- Your rules don't fit the app. Several locations, rooms or equipment, packages and passes, deposits for long appointments.
- Booking has to talk to your other tools. Your CRM, a loyalty programme, or a WhatsApp or Telegram bot that books clients.
- You want the client base fully yours, with no subscription that can change its prices.
A focused system can be simple. For a beauty studio in Prague I built booking that runs from the owner's Google Calendar: no admin panel, no monthly fee for the booking itself, and every booking is confirmed by email.
What your own system costs
Market estimates for a fully custom booking platform run from $8,000 to $30,000. A focused system for one salon or a small chain costs far less, because it does only what you need: slots, reminders, client history and your own rules. I build booking with a simple CRM from €1,000.
A rule of thumb
- 01Add up what the app costs you in a year: the subscription for every team member plus marketplace fees.
- 02Under €1,000 a year and nothing important missing: stay with the app and put the money into your website.
- 03Over that, or missing features you need every day: ask for a quote for your own system and compare the two over two to three years.
Questions
Can a salon take online bookings for free?
Yes. Reservio's free plan allows up to 40 bookings in 30 days and 100 clients, which is enough to start or to test whether clients use online booking.
Do I need a website if I use Fresha or Booksy?
The app works without one, but your own site lets clients and Google find your brand, prices and work, not only a profile next to competitors. Most apps give you a booking button or widget to put on it.
Can I move from an app to my own system later?
Yes. Before you start, check how the app lets you export your clients and bookings, so moving later is a matter of importing a file.
How much does it cost to add booking to my website?
Linking a ready-made app costs little; French guides quote €50–150. Your own booking system with a simple CRM starts at €1,000 with me.