Salon booking software: comparing commissions, subscriptions, and who owns your clients

To choose online booking software, compare the total cost of a real month at your salon, not the headline price: subscription, per-staff fees, commission on new clients from the marketplace, card processing, and texts. Then check who owns your client list and whether you can take it with you if you leave. Below are the points to check, and the public US prices of Vagaro, Booksy, Fresha, GlossGenius, and Square Appointments, verified on October 22, 2026.

Which costs should you add up?

The big number on a vendor's page is only part of the bill. To compare two tools, add up everything you will pay in a normal month.

• The monthly subscription, and whether sales tax is added on top.
• Fees per additional staff member or calendar.
• The commission on new clients brought by the vendor's marketplace, meaning the website or app where consumers search for a salon.
• Card processing: online payments, deposits, card reader, Tap to Pay.
• Texts: reminders included, marketing texts included or billed per message.
• Add-ons: website, Google reviews module, payroll, loyalty program.
• Commitment: month to month or annual billing, and the cancellation terms.

How do you calculate a new-client commission?

Some vendors charge a commission on the first appointment of a client who found you on their marketplace. The math is simple: service price × commission rate. Example with Booksy Boost (30%, capped at $100): an $80 color costs you $24 in commission on the first visit. With Fresha (20%, minimum $6 per client), the same color costs you $16, and a $25 haircut costs you the $6 minimum.

Two questions to ask before signing. Are that client's later visits commissioned? And what counts as a "new client"? At Fresha, for example, it is someone who has never booked with your business on Fresha: a regular booking through the marketplace for the first time may therefore fall into that category. At Booksy, the fee only applies while Boost is turned on, and Booksy advises sharing your own profile link so your existing clients do not trigger it. Ask for the definition in writing.

Who owns the client list?

This is the question that matters most over time. Names, cell phone numbers, and visit history are what let you bring clients back. Before signing, ask: who owns this data, can I export it, in what format, and what happens to it if I cancel? Here is what the pages checked on October 22, 2026 say.

• Fresha: once a client books with you, they're yours, and you can market to them without paying the marketplace commission again.
• GlossGenius: the pricing page offers a free data transfer to bring your clients in, but does not cover exporting them out.
• Vagaro, Booksy, and Square Appointments: the pricing pages do not cover this point.

None of these pages specifies the export format: ask, and test an export during the free trial. Owning the data does not mean you can use it freely: under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the FCC requires written consent before you send commercial texts, and clients can opt out at any time, for example by replying STOP. Some states add their own rules.

What should you check for no-shows and Google bookings?

• Deposits or online prepayment, and the processing fee per transaction.
• Cancellation or no-show fees, and who sets them.
• Automatic text or email reminders, and how many are included each month.
• Booking from your Google Business Profile, Instagram, and Facebook: included or not, commissioned or not.

What are the public US prices of Vagaro, Booksy, Fresha, GlossGenius, and Square?

The figures below come only from the vendors' official US pages, checked on October 22, 2026. When a price is not published, we say so. Prices change and introductory offers come and go: check them again before signing.

Vagaro

• Subscription: $30 per month for one bookable calendar, shown at an exclusive rate of $23.99 per month for the first 6 months. Each additional calendar costs $10 per month, up to seven licenses; beyond seven, extra employees are included.
• Commitment: cancel anytime with no cancellation fees. 30-day free trial.
• Marketplace: free listing on the Vagaro Marketplace. The optional Fill My Books feature, which promotes you to Vagaro customers, is marked "fees apply" with no rate published.
• Texts: unlimited notifications and appointment reminders included; Text Marketing add-on starting at $20 per month. 1,000 free marketing emails per month.
• Card processing: rates not shown on the pricing page; a free card reader is offered when you sign up for Vagaro Merchant Services.
• Other add-ons: website (MySite) $20 per month, forms $10 per month, payroll $34 per month + $5 per employee.

Booksy

• Subscription: $29.99 per month plus tax, all features included, plus $20 per month for each additional team member. 14-day trial with no credit card and no commitment.
• New-client commission: none on clients who find you through your own marketing, or on Booksy when Boost is off. With Boost turned on: one-time 30% fee on a Boost client's first visit, up to $100.
• Card processing: 2.69% + $0.30 for mobile payments and keyed-in entry; 2.49% + $0.10 with the Booksy Card Reader; 2.49% + $0.20 with Tap to Pay.
• Texts: confirmations and reminders always free; 2,000 free marketing texts per month.
• Reserve with Google and no-show protection: listed among the included features.
• Client list: not covered on the pricing page.

Fresha

• Subscription: Independent at $19.95 per month (single calendar); Team at $14.95 per month per bookable team member. 7-day trial, no contract, cancel anytime. Rates exclude local sales taxes.
• Marketplace commission: one-time 20% on brand-new clients who discover you on the Fresha marketplace, minimum $6 per client. Returning clients: free. No fee on new clients who find you through your own website, Instagram, or Facebook.
• Card processing: 2.79% + $0.20 online; 2.29% + $0.20 in person (+ $0.10 per Tap to Pay authorization); 3.30% + $0.20 for manual card entry.
• Texts: 100 free automated notifications per month (per team member on Team), then $0.02 per text; marketing texts at $0.08 each.
• Paid add-ons, for example Google Rating Boost at $14.95 per location per month or Client Loyalty at $59.95 per location per month.

GlossGenius

• Subscription (beauty and wellness): Standard $28 per month ($24 billed annually), Gold $56 ($48 annually) for teams up to 9 staff, Platinum $168 ($148 annually) for teams of 10 or more. 14-day trial with no credit card.
• Marketplace commission: none mentioned on the pricing page.
• Card processing: 2.4% + $0.15 in person according to the FAQ; 2.9% + $0.30 for online invoicing.
• Texts: unlimited free emails; 500 or 2,500 marketing text credits depending on the plan (2,500 on Platinum).
• Multi-location: each additional location is charged the plan price at a 15% discount. No contracts.

Square Appointments

• Subscription per location: Free at $0, Plus at $49 per month, Premium at $149 per month. Unlimited staff calendars. 30-day free trial on Plus and Premium, cancel or switch anytime.
• Commission: none mentioned on the pricing page; on the Free plan you only pay card processing.
• Card processing in person: 2.6% + 15¢ (Free), 2.5% + 15¢ (Plus), 2.4% + 15¢ (Premium). Online: 3.3% + 30¢ (Free), 2.9% + 30¢ (Plus and Premium).
• Texts: appointment reminders included; text message marketing not available on Free, 500 texts included on Plus (then 3¢ each), 2,500 on Premium (then 1.5¢ each).
• Booking from Google, Instagram, and Facebook: listed among the integrations.

How to run the numbers for your salon

1. Take a typical month: number of staff, number of appointments, average ticket.
2. Estimate how many new clients will come from the marketplace, and apply any commission.
3. Add card processing on what you take by card, in person and online.
4. Add texts beyond the included volume, and sales tax if your state charges it.
5. Compare the totals, then what you keep if you leave: client list, history, export.

Ooklo is not part of this comparison: we only included data verified on the booking vendors' own pages. Ooklo now offers online booking too, and its main job is to bring the clients on your list back: AI drafts your posts, emails, and texts (and soon your Google Business Profile updates), and you approve everything before it goes out, with no commission on what you send. The Solo plan costs $16.90 per month with no contract, and every plan has a 14-day free trial.

Sources

• Vagaro, Vagaro US Pricing, https://www.vagaro.com/pro/pricing (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Booksy, Booksy Pricing: All features included, https://biz.booksy.com/en-us/pricing (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Fresha, Pricing, https://www.fresha.com/pricing (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Fresha, Attract New Clients with Fresha Marketplace, https://www.fresha.com/for-business/features/marketplace (accessed October 22, 2026)
• GlossGenius, Pricing, https://glossgenius.com/pricing (accessed October 22, 2026)
• Square, Square Appointments pricing, https://squareup.com/us/en/appointments/pricing (accessed October 22, 2026)
• FCC, Stop Unwanted Robocalls and Texts, https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/stop-unwanted-robocalls-and-texts (accessed October 22, 2026)
• eCFR, 47 CFR 64.1200 Delivery restrictions, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-64/subpart-L/section-64.1200 (accessed October 22, 2026)