Salon booking software cost UK: Fresha, Booksy, Timely

Booking software is priced in ways that are hard to compare: per person, per location, plus VAT, plus commission on some clients. The monthly figure on the pricing page is rarely what a salon pays.

So we worked it out. Below is what five systems cost a salon of one, three and six people, using each company's prices as listed or reported when we checked in September 2026. We're Setout, one of the five, so we've been careful to say where the others come out ahead.

The monthly cost, side by side

Booking system	One person	Team of three	Team of six
Fresha	£14.95	£29.85	£59.70
Booksy	£48 (£40 + VAT)	about £60 (£50 + VAT)	about £78 (£65 + VAT)
Timely	£22 to £39	£66 to £117	£132 to £234
Square Appointments	Free	£29 or £69 per location	£29 or £69 per location
Setout	£39	£39	£39

How we worked it out:

Fresha: £14.95 a month for one person, or £9.95 for each team member.
Booksy: £40 + VAT a month, plus about £5 for each extra team member.
Timely: £22, £34 or £39 per team member a month, depending on the plan.
Square Appointments: free for one person; £29 or £69 a month per location for its paid plans.
Setout: £39 a month including VAT, for the whole team.

We've shown VAT where the company quotes without it and we know the amount. Check each company's own site for whether VAT is added to the others.

The costs on top

Commission on new clients. Marketplaces charge for the clients they send you. Fresha takes 20% on new clients from its marketplace. Booksy's optional Boost feature takes 30%. Treatwell takes 35% plus VAT on new clients. On a £60 colour, 20% is £12, every time a new marketplace client books.

A website of your own. Most booking apps give you a booking page on their own site rather than a website. Fresha sells a website add-on, but doesn't publish the price. Square's website is a separate product.

Text messages. Some plans include texts and some charge for them. Timely includes 100 to 300 texts per team member, depending on the plan, and Booksy includes 500 marketing texts a month.

Where each one comes out ahead

Square Appointments is the cheapest choice for one person: it's free, and it has its own card readers if you take payment on the day.
Fresha is the one to stay with if its marketplace brings you new clients you wouldn't otherwise meet, and it takes card deposits today.
Timely has more salon features than Setout and includes texts, and it costs more per person.
Booksy has a marketplace and includes 500 marketing texts a month.
Setout costs the same however big the team, takes no commission and gives you your own website with online booking built in. It's cheaper than per-person pricing from four people on Fresha and from two on Timely.

Setout's gaps, said plainly: it has no marketplace, so it won't send you new clients, and it doesn't take card deposits yet. Clients pay in person, by bank transfer, PayPal or a payment link.

How to choose

Count the people who take bookings. Per-person pricing is cheap for one and expensive for six.
Look at where your new clients come from. If a marketplace sends you a steady stream, its commission may be worth paying. If most of your bookings are regulars, you're paying commission or fees for clients you already had.
Decide whether you need card deposits on day one. If you do, choose a system that takes them today.
Ask whether you want your own website. Your own address, your own design and your own client list are worth something when you're building a business.

If the numbers point to Setout

Setout gives your salon its own website with online booking for the whole team, email reminders and a cancellation cut-off, for £39 a month including VAT, with no commission. We'll build it for you, and you see it on your phone before you pay. See websites for hair salons, barbers and beauty salons, read our comparison with Fresha, or ask us to build yours.

Sources

Prices as each company listed them, or as reported, when we checked on 28 September 2026. Prices change, so check before you decide, and tell us if anything here is out of date.