Fresha alternatives for Irish hair salons: the real fees in 2026

Fresha has a serious presence in Ireland: hair salons from Dublin and Cork to Galway and Limerick take bookings through its marketplace, and for years its pitch was irresistible, completely free salon software. That era is over. Fresha is now subscription software with usage fees on top, and its marketplace charges a new-client fee with fine print that is far better understood before you list your salon than after. Meanwhile, plenty of comparison pages were never updated and still call Fresha 100% free, so the first job is to get the real numbers straight.

Full disclosure: this article lives on the blog of ViteUneCoupe, a free online booking system for hair salons with zero commission. We are an interested party, so we compensate with method: every claim below was checked on the vendor's own pages with the date of the check, we state the currency each page displayed to us, and we openly credit what Fresha does better than we do. For the wider local picture, our guide to hair salon booking software in Ireland compares every major option side by side.

Is Fresha still free in 2026?

No. Checked in October 2026, Fresha's official pricing page lists two subscription plans, each after a 7-day trial:

• Independent, for a one-person business with a single calendar column;
• Team, priced per bookable team member per month;
• above that, a custom-priced Enterprise tier for larger businesses.

The version of the page served to us displayed euros: 14.95 € per month for Independent and 9.95 € per bookable team member per month for Team. One careful caveat, though: Fresha's pricing page localises by country, and the copy we saw stated that "rates are exclusive of 20.0% sales tax", which is not Ireland's rate. The standard VAT rate in Ireland is 23%, so the figures we were shown were almost certainly another eurozone country's grid. The amounts should be close, but open fresha.com/pricing from your salon in Ireland, note the euro figure on every line, and budget VAT at 23% on top.

If an article tells you "Fresha is completely free", it was written under the old model. That is not an accusation, comparison content simply ages fast, and it is exactly why every figure in this one carries a source and a date.

The usage fees on top of the subscription

The subscription is only the first line of the bill. From the same pricing page, checked in October 2026 (euro amounts as displayed to us; confirm your Irish grid on your own screen):

• online payments: 1.29% plus 0.15 € per transaction when a client prepays through Fresha;
• in-person payments: 0.59% plus 0.15 € per transaction through Fresha's card solution, an extra 0.10 € per tap-to-pay authorisation, and card terminals sold from 119 € per device;
• buy now, pay later: 4.99% plus 0.50 € per transaction for Klarna instalments;
• texts and WhatsApp: 20 free messages per month, then roughly 0.10 € per text and 0.09 € to 0.23 € per WhatsApp message, with marketing texts at about 0.14 €;
• marketing emails: 50 free per month, then about 0.02 € per email.

None of these lines is scandalous on its own. The point is the shape of the bill: it grows with your activity. A salon sending a confirmation plus a reminder for 250 appointments a month burns through a 20-message allowance on the first morning, and every prepayment, terminal tap and marketing send adds its own line. More stylists, more bookings, and the gap between the headline subscription and what leaves your bank account widens every month. Our breakdown of the real cost of salon software in Ireland runs that arithmetic across vendors.

The marketplace new-client fee, explained properly

This is the part most blogs get wrong, usually by quoting a percentage with no source. The rules below come from Fresha's official help centre article on marketplace new-client fees, checked in October 2026.

The reassuring part first: the fee does not apply to every appointment. It is a one-time charge per brand-new client who first discovers your salon on the Fresha marketplace and books online. Returning clients, clients already in your list, and clients you imported before their first booking never trigger it.

But the fine print matters, from the same official article:

• the fee is calculated on the value of the client's first completed appointment, with a minimum fee for free or low-value services and a maximum cap for expensive ones;
• it applies even if you or your team cancel the appointment on the client's behalf, or leave it unmanaged or rescheduled;
• it is deferred, not cancelled, if the client cancels online through their own account or you mark a no-show the same day: it is then charged on the value of their next booking;
• it can apply to a booking made from your own website or social media pages if the client first viewed your profile on the Fresha marketplace;
• it is non-refundable, and the only way out of the exposure is to unlist your marketplace profile, which, per the same article, disables all your online booking channels on Fresha, including the booking buttons on your own site and social pages;
• the exact rate, minimum and cap are not stated in the help article: Fresha points to its pricing page, which localises by country. Curiously, the copy of the pricing page served to us in October 2026 showed the marketplace new-client line as free, which may be a promotion or a display specific to the country we browsed from, while the help centre documented the full fee mechanics the same day. Before listing your salon, check fresha.com/pricing from Ireland and ask Fresha in writing for the current euro rate, minimum and cap, and keep the answer.

Two practical consequences. First, import your full client list before your profile goes live, otherwise a regular from down the road who happens to find you on Fresha counts as a new client. Second, notice the structural point: on Fresha, online booking and the marketplace come as a package. If your chairs already fill through your own booking link and Google, you cannot keep the calendar and simply switch the acquisition machine off. That trade-off between direct bookings and marketplace acquisition for an Irish salon deserves a deliberate decision before any signature.

What Fresha genuinely does well

Fresha did not become one of the biggest names in salon software by accident, and pretending otherwise would be silly.

• A very polished product. Calendar, client records, point of sale, stock, marketing, consultation forms: the interface is modern, fast and pleasant on a phone. Few competitors match the finish.
• A real marketplace presence in Ireland. Checked in October 2026, Fresha lists hair salons across Dublin and other Irish cities, and a client hunting for a last-minute opening can genuinely find you there. A one-time fee for real acquisition is a healthier model than a commission on every visit.
• No-show protection, available today. Fresha supports upfront payments and cancellation fees at booking time. That is an honest concession from us: ViteUneCoupe's bank-card no-show protection is still in preparation.
• A low entry price for the scope. At the euro figures we saw, per-member pricing sits at the affordable end of the market for software this complete.

One Irish question to settle before signing: your client data

Your client records, colour formulas and contact details are personal data under the GDPR, and in Ireland the regulator is the Data Protection Commission, whatever software holds the records and however small the salon. Fresha is an international company headquartered in London, which is no obstacle in itself, but before signing with any vendor in this article, confirm in writing where the data is stored, how you export your client list and appointment history, and what happens to the data when you leave. A booking system you cannot cleanly leave is not a tool, it is a lease.

Fresha alternatives for Irish hair salons, compared

Everything below was checked in October 2026 on each vendor's own site. Ireland is interesting ground for this comparison: the biggest salon-specialist name in the country, Phorest, was built in Dublin, and because Ireland is in the eurozone, euro-priced software carries no exchange-rate surprise. Where a vendor publishes no Irish price list, we say "not published" rather than guess: not documented is not the same thing as not available.

ViteUneCoupe: the free plan that actually stays free

Since Fresha vacated the free ground, we may as well say it plainly: ViteUneCoupe occupies it. The free plan includes unlimited online bookings with 0% commission forever, a personalised booking page for your salon, your service catalogue, staff schedules, your client database and your calendar. No trial countdown, no card at sign-up, no marketplace between you and your clients: the booking link is yours, on your Google Business Profile, your Instagram and your voicemail.

The Standard plan, from 29 € excluding VAT per month with no commitment, adds automatic emails (confirmation, reminder, thank-you) and calendar sync in ICS format with Apple, Google or Outlook. Bank-card no-show protection is coming soon in a Standard + Anti No-Show plan at 49 € excluding VAT per month. And a detail that matters more in Dublin than in London or Auckland: the subscription is billed in euros, your own currency, so there is no exchange rate and no foreign-transaction fee on your statement.

The honest limits for an Irish salon: reminders go by email, not text; there is no point of sale, no card capture, no stock management, no payroll and no marketplace exposure; and the interface is available in English and French. If what you want is a reliable online calendar with a bill of exactly zero and no cut of your work, that is precisely what it is built for.

Phorest: the Dublin-built incumbent, priced by quote

Phorest is the local heavyweight: salon-specialist software built in Dublin, with a feature set generalists lack, stock, rostering, marketing automation, loyalty, reporting, and unlimited staff and devices on every tier. The honest reserve is transparency: checked in October 2026 on phorest.com's pricing page, Phorest publishes no prices. Four tiers (Starter, Grow, Ultimate and Elite), all on quote after a demo, no free trial, with SMS billed at per-message rates and 500 free texts per month reserved for the Elite tier. If unpredictable bills are what drives you away from Fresha, ask Phorest for the full written quote, including SMS rates, before you commit. Our dedicated guide to Phorest alternatives for Irish hair salons looks at it from the other direction.

Treatwell: the big marketplace, at a marketplace price

Treatwell's Irish partner site is upfront about the model: checked in October 2026 on treatwell.ie's partner pricing page, it charges 0% on repeat and direct bookings but 35% commission on a new marketplace client's first booking, described as a finder's fee, plus a 2.5% plus VAT processing fee on online prepayments. The monthly subscription price is not published on that page. The logic is the same as Fresha's marketplace fee with a bigger number attached: real acquisition, paid once per client, worth it only if marketplace footfall is genuinely what your salon lacks.

Square Appointments: the free calendar-and-card-machine combo

Square Appointments is the closest thing to old Fresha available in Ireland today. Checked in October 2026 on Square's Irish pricing page, the free plan covers a single location with online booking, free text and email reminders, Reserve with Google and contactless payments; you pay only card processing, 1.75% plus VAT in person and 1.4% plus 25c plus VAT for online payments on European cards (2.9% plus 25c for non-EEA cards). Plus at 19 € plus VAT per month per location and Premium at 49 € add team and no-show tools. The trade-off: it is generalist booking software, not built around hair salon workflows like colour formulas or processing-time gaps.

Booksy: flat Irish pricing, marketplace included

Booksy publishes real Irish numbers, which deserves credit: 44 € per month plus 5 € per additional staff member, plus VAT, with a 7-day trial, no commitment and every feature in the one plan (checked in October 2026 on Booksy's Irish pricing page). The page states there are no commissions on bookings, includes 500 marketing texts per month (then 5c each), and lists mobile payment processing at 2.6% plus VAT. In other markets Booksy also sells a paid acquisition programme called Boost, charged on a Boost client's first visit; the Irish pricing page we checked did not state Boost terms, so if client acquisition through Booksy interests you, ask for the Irish Boost conditions in writing before enabling anything.

What about Timely and the other international names?

You will also meet Timely, Vagaro, GlossGenius and others in the generic "Fresha alternatives" listicles. Most are built for other markets: when we checked in October 2026, we could not view a published euro price list for Ireland from any of them (Timely's pricing page, for instance, would not display figures from our location). That does not necessarily mean they will not take your money, but a vendor with no published Irish pricing, euro billing or Irish support hours deserves extra written questions before it runs your appointment book.

Leaving Fresha without losing your client list

If the maths points to a move, do not cancel anything until your data is out and the new booking link is live. Export your client list and appointment history first (Fresha's help centre documents client import and export), open your new booking page, then update the link on your Google Business Profile, Instagram and website before closing the old account. Send clients one clear message with the new link, and keep both systems running through one full colour cycle so nobody falls between calendars. Remember the structural detail verified above: unlisting your Fresha marketplace profile disables all Fresha online booking channels at once, so have the replacement link ready the same day. The full step-by-step, including timing the move around a quiet week rather than the pre-Christmas rush, lives in our guide to switching salon booking software in Ireland.

Frequently asked questions

Is Fresha free or paid in Ireland?

Paid. Fresha runs on subscriptions: an Independent plan for one person and a Team plan priced per bookable team member, each after a 7-day trial, plus usage fees for payments and messages (checked in October 2026 on fresha.com, which displayed 14.95 € and 9.95 € per member to us). The page localises by country and the tax note we saw was not Ireland's 23% VAT rate, so confirm the Irish grid from your own screen before budgeting.

Does Fresha charge commission on my existing clients?

No. Returning clients, clients already in your list and clients you imported before their first booking never trigger the marketplace fee. It applies once, to the first completed booking of a brand-new client who found you on the Fresha marketplace, with a minimum and a cap. Mind the fine print from the official help centre (checked in October 2026): the fee also applies if you cancel the appointment yourself, and can apply to a booking made from your own website if the client first viewed your marketplace profile.

How much is Fresha's new-client fee in Ireland?

Fresha's help centre does not state the rate, minimum or cap; it points to the pricing page, which shows each country its own figures, and the version served to us in October 2026 even displayed the new-client line as free, which we could not confirm applies to Ireland. Check fresha.com/pricing from your salon, or ask Fresha in writing for the current euro rate, minimum and cap before listing your salon on the marketplace.

What is the best free alternative to Fresha for an Irish hair salon?

ViteUneCoupe's free plan is the most direct one: unlimited online bookings, 0% commission always, a personalised booking page, client database and calendar, billed in euros with no trial clock and no marketplace between you and your clients. The honest trade-offs are email rather than text reminders and no payments or point of sale. Square Appointments is also free for a single location if integrated card payments matter more to you than salon-specific features.

Does Fresha protect against no-shows?

Yes, and it is a real strength: Fresha supports upfront payments and cancellation fees when clients book. ViteUneCoupe's equivalent, bank-card no-show protection, is coming soon in the Standard + Anti No-Show plan at 49 € excluding VAT per month. Until then, automatic reminders and a clear written cancellation policy already remove a large share of missed appointments.

Can I use Fresha's online booking without the marketplace?

Not according to Fresha's own help centre (checked in October 2026): the only way to escape the marketplace new-client fee is to unlist your marketplace profile, and unlisting disables all your Fresha online booking channels, including the booking buttons on your own website and social pages. If you want a booking link with no marketplace attached, that is a structural reason to choose one of the alternatives above rather than a setting you can toggle.