Fresha pricing UK: what's free and what you pay for

Fresha is two things in one. It's booking software for salons, barbers, spas and other beauty and wellness businesses: your calendar, client list, payments and reminders. It's also a marketplace, an app and website where the public search for treatments near them and book. Fresha calls itself "the world's largest booking platform for beauty and wellness".

Most of the questions about cost come down to the difference between those two.

No. Fresha has no free plan on its UK pricing page. There's a 7-day free trial, then a monthly subscription. Some parts are free to use once you subscribe, including direct booking links, bookings from Facebook and Instagram, and returning clients who first came through the marketplace.

Fresha says its "rates are exclusive of 20.0% sales tax", so add VAT. The Team plan is charged on the number of bookable team members, on the first day of each month (Fresha help). A salon with four stylists on the Team plan would pay 4 × £9.95, which is £39.80 a month before VAT.

This is the fee most owners ask about. Fresha charges a "20% one-time commission" on a new client's first completed appointment, with a minimum of £4 per client. It applies to clients who "first discover your business through the Fresha marketplace and go on to make an online booking" (Fresha help).

What you need to know:

• Returning clients are free. The fee is charged once per client, not every visit.
• It's on the service value. Tips, gift cards, memberships and products aren't included.
• It's non-refundable.
• Clients you already have shouldn't trigger it. The fee doesn't apply to someone already in your client list.
• It can still apply when someone books on your website. Fresha's help page explains that if a client finds you on the marketplace first, then books through your website or social media, the fee can still be charged.

On a £60 cut and colour, the fee would be £12 plus VAT. On a £15 fringe trim, it would be the £4 minimum.

You can also set deposits, late cancellation fees and no-show fees in Fresha (Fresha help). Saving a client's card for these has its own small fee, which Fresha charges plus VAT.

Fresha's pricing page says there's "no minimum commitment or long-term contract" and you can cancel at any time. If you cancel, your marketplace profile is unlisted. Fresha's partner terms let it change its subscription fees with 30 days' written notice, so check your emails from Fresha.

If you already use Fresha, the first three come from its own help pages:

1. Import your existing clients before you go live, so regulars are already on your list.
2. Share your own booking link. Use the link builder or QR code in Fresha for your website, Instagram, WhatsApp and the counter, so regulars don't search the marketplace to find you.
3. Tell regulars which link to use. A short message after their next visit does it.
4. Treat the fee as a marketing cost. A new client who comes back every six weeks is worth far more than one first visit. If marketplace clients don't return, look at why before you pay to attract more.

Fresha also connects to Reserve with Google, which puts a Book button on your Google listing. This needs a listed marketplace profile, and it's an add-on: Fresha's help page says to check its price on the add-on's summary page before you switch it on (Fresha help). Fresha's pages don't say whether a new client who books from Google counts as a marketplace client, so ask Fresha before you rely on it.

• Solo stylists, barbers and therapists who want a booking app, reminders and card payments for a low monthly fee.
• Salons that want new clients from the marketplace and are happy to pay a one-off fee per new client, rather than spend on ads.
• Businesses that want to switch without a contract. You can try it and leave.

It suits you less if most of your new clients come from your own Instagram or referrals but find the marketplace on the way. Compare it with Booksy's UK pricing, which charges a flat monthly price and a fee only on new clients from its Boost feature.

We set up online booking for small businesses, including the booking rules, confirmations and reminders. If you already use Fresha or another system, we start with that and set it up around how you work.

• Online booking systems