Hair salon booking software in Ireland: the 2026 comparison

Ireland is the one country where the question "which booking software for my hair salon?" has a hometown answer. Phorest was founded in Dublin and grew from an Irish salon reception desk into one of the most respected salon platforms in the world. So an Irish salon owner is not choosing between anonymous foreign tools: she is choosing between a world-class local incumbent, the global marketplaces, and a handful of cheaper or simpler options, and most of what ranks for "salon software Ireland" is directory listicles that have checked none of their prices.

This comparison is written for a hair salon in the Republic of Ireland, whether your chairs are in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford or a regional town. It is published on the blog of ViteUneCoupe, a free booking system for hair salons that takes no commission, so we are not neutral either. The difference: we checked every claim on each vendor's own website in October 2026, we state which currency each page actually displayed to us, and we open the detailed reviews with the honest limits of our own product for an Irish salon, starting with the fact that our reminders go by email, not text.

What changes when you buy salon software in Ireland

Four corrections to apply before trusting any comparison written for the UK or the US.

The currency, and the geo-localised pricing page. Most vendors' pricing pages show a different currency depending on where the visitor appears to be. Checking from continental Europe in October 2026, Fresha showed us euros but with a 20 % sales-tax line that is not Ireland's VAT rate, and Timely showed us no retrievable price grid at all. The euro figures in this article are what each page displayed to us; open every pricing page from your salon and get your exact Irish price in writing before you sign. The good news for Irish salons: euro pricing means no exchange-rate margin on the invoice, an advantage readers of our UK edition of this comparison do not have.

VAT at 23 %. Ireland's standard VAT rate is 23 %, per the Revenue Commissioners' current VAT rates, and business software subscriptions are normally advertised excluding VAT at that standard rate. If your salon is VAT-registered you can generally reclaim it; if you trade under the registration thresholds and are not registered, compare prices with 23 % added, because that is what leaves your account.

Your client records and GDPR. The GDPR applies to businesses of every size, sole traders included, and in Ireland the regulator is the Data Protection Commission. Your client database, contact details, colour formulas and visit history are personal data, and your salon is the controller of them whichever platform stores them. "Where is the data hosted, can I export everything, who can access it" are compliance questions, not just hygiene, and a vendor that cannot answer them plainly is telling you something.

The home-market effect. Because Phorest lives here, Irish salons get something rare: a market leader with a Dublin head office and an +353 support line. Several internationals also treat Ireland as a real market rather than an afterthought: Booksy runs a dedicated Irish pricing page, Square publishes Irish euro pricing, and Treatwell operates treatwell.ie. Others, like Shortcuts, have no Irish edition at all. This article says which is which.

How we compared the software

Seven criteria, applied identically to everyone:

• the subscription price, in the currency the vendor actually showed us, with the date we checked;
• commission taken on bookings;
• new-client acquisition fees charged when a marketplace sends you a client;
• payment processing fees, where payments are part of the product;
• the contract: can you leave next month, and with how much notice?
• appointment reminders: email, SMS, and how many are included;
• your data: can you export your client list when you leave?

Never confuse the four kinds of cost: the monthly subscription, a commission on every booking, a new-client fee charged when a marketplace brings someone new, and payment processing fees on money taken through the platform. A tool advertised with "no hidden fees" can still earn plenty from the last two. We break the full maths down, with worked examples in euros, in our guide to the real cost of salon software in Ireland.

All figures below were checked in October 2026 on each vendor's official website. Prices change, and pages geo-localise: always confirm on the pricing page, from Ireland, before you sign.

Comparison table: what Irish hair salons actually pay

Now the detail, starting with our own product so you know exactly where we stand.

ViteUneCoupe: free, commission-free and billed in euros, with email-only reminders

The free plan of ViteUneCoupe includes unlimited online bookings with 0 % commission, permanently: a personalised booking page for your hair salon, your service catalogue with photos, staff schedules, your client database, your calendar and opening hours. It is a real free plan, not a trial: no card details, no countdown. Irish mobile numbers in +353 format work normally in the client database, and the interface exists in English and French.

The Standard plan, from 29 € excl. VAT per month with no commitment, adds automatic emails (booking confirmation, a reminder before the appointment, a thank-you afterwards) and calendar sync in ICS format with Apple, Google or Outlook calendars. Anti no-show protection by bank card hold is also announced, coming soon in a Standard + Anti No-Show plan at 49 € excl. VAT per month; until it ships, reminders and a clear cancellation policy are what cut no-shows in an Irish salon today.

For an Irish salon the billing is unusually clean: the subscription is charged in euros, your own currency, so there is no exchange-rate movement and no foreign-currency fee on your statement, unlike the sterling or dollar billing some internationals apply.

And the limits that matter, stated plainly:

• No SMS reminders, on any plan: reminders go by email. Irish clients are used to appointment texts, and Phorest, Booksy and Square all offer them, so that is a genuine advantage of theirs.
• No payments and no till: no card terminal integration, no online deposits, no point of sale, no stock control, no payroll. ViteUneCoupe manages appointments, not money.
• No multi-location features: one salon, one account.

Who is it for? The stylist or small salon that wants 24/7 online booking with zero commission, zero fixed cost and no contract, keeps its existing card terminal, and is happy with email rather than text reminders.

Phorest: the Dublin-born market leader, priced by quote

Phorest is the serious one, and it is Irish: founded in Dublin by Ronan Perceval, who built the first version while working as a salon receptionist, and still headquartered there. Its own site, checked in October 2026, says it serves over 155,000 hair, beauty and medi-aesthetic professionals across more than 11,000 businesses, in markets from Ireland and the UK to the US, Germany and Australia. The product depth is real: marketing automation, client retention scoring, online reputation tools, reporting, integrated payments, a branded app on the upper tiers, and unlimited staff members on every plan, with set-up, data import and training included rather than a self-serve trial.

The catch for a comparison like this one is transparency. Checked on phorest.com/pricing in October 2026: four plans, Starter, Grow, Ultimate and Elite, and not a single price published, only a quote request. SMS is billed per message at a "competitive rate" on most tiers, with 500 free messages a month on Elite, and contract terms are not disclosed online. None of that is a scandal, and for an established Dublin or Cork salon with a bigger team, Phorest is often exactly the right call. It does mean you cannot budget from the website: arrive at the demo with written questions on the total monthly cost for your headcount, the SMS rate, the notice period and what a full client-data export looks like. If the quote comes back heavier than your salon needs, our guide to Phorest alternatives for Irish hair salons maps the options honestly.

Who is it for? The established salon that wants the deepest salon-specific marketing and retention toolset on the Irish market, with local support, and accepts negotiating its price on a call.

Fresha: per-member pricing and a marketplace, confirm your Irish figures

Fresha runs the biggest international salon marketplace and lists Irish salons on it. The "free forever" era is over: every business starts a 7-day trial and moves to a subscription per bookable team member. When we checked fresha.com/pricing in October 2026, the page showed us an Independent plan at 14.95 € per month and a Team plan at 9.95 € per member per month, but with a 20 % sales-tax line that is not Irish VAT, meaning the page had localised to our location rather than to Ireland: open it from your salon and get the Irish figures in writing. The structure we can verify: no booking fees, 20 free SMS or WhatsApp messages a month then roughly 0.10 € per text, online payment processing shown at 1.29 % + 0.15 € per transaction, and no minimum commitment. The one-time fee on brand-new marketplace clients was shown as "Free" when we checked, a policy that has changed more than once over the years, so get the current terms in writing too.

Fresha's strengths are real: polished software, marketplace visibility, and per-member pricing that stays low for a solo stylist or a duo. The meters are where a busy salon's bill grows: a confirmation plus a reminder for 300 appointments a month is far past the free message allowance. Full detail in our guide to Fresha alternatives for Irish hair salons.

Who is it for? The small team that wants marketplace visibility and low per-member pricing, has confirmed its Irish prices, and will watch its message and payment meters.

Treatwell: Irish marketplace reach, paid through first-booking commission

Treatwell operates a dedicated Irish marketplace at treatwell.ie, and its partner pricing works differently from a software subscription. Checked on treatwell.ie's partner pricing in October 2026: 35 % commission on the first booking a new marketplace client makes with you, then 0 % on that client's repeat bookings, plus a 2.5 % + VAT processing fee on bookings prepaid online. Bookings that come to you directly, by phone or through your own links, are commission-free, and email reminders are unlimited. The monthly subscription itself is not published; it comes out of a sales conversation.

A deliberately hypothetical example to make the model concrete: a new client booking a €60 cut and colour through the marketplace would cost €21 in first-booking commission. If she becomes a loyal regular, that is cheap client acquisition; if she was chasing a one-off discount, it is expensive. The Treatwell question is your repeat rate, not the software.

Who is it for? The salon with spare capacity, especially in Dublin or Cork, that wants new faces and treats first-booking commission as a measurable marketing budget.

Booksy: published Irish pricing with SMS included

Booksy treats Ireland as a real market, with a dedicated Irish pricing page, which we respect. Checked on booksy.com's Irish pricing page in October 2026: 44 € per month plus VAT, with extra team members at 5 € per month each, 500 free SMS marketing messages a month then 5c each, no commission on bookings or new clients stated, mobile payments at 2.6 % + VAT per transaction if you use them, and no commitment, cancel anytime.

The structure is easy to budget: a salon with four bookable staff pays 44 € + 3 × 5 € = 59 € plus VAT per month before payments, with texts included up to the allowance. The flip side of the marketplace is the same as everywhere: your salon appears next to competitors in the app, and the booking relationship runs partly through Booksy's brand rather than purely your own.

Who is it for? The salon that wants a euro-priced all-in-one with SMS included, published Irish prices and no contract.

Square Appointments: transparent euro pricing from a payments company

Unlike several markets we have covered, Ireland is squarely on Square's map, with a dedicated Irish site and published euro prices. Checked on Square's Irish Appointments pricing page in October 2026: a genuinely free plan for a single location, then Plus at 19 € and Premium at 49 € plus VAT per month per location, with automated text and email reminders included on every plan, including the free one, and no long-term commitment. Square earns on processing: 1.75 % for in-person card payments, 1.4 % + 25c for online payments on EEA cards, more for non-EEA cards, fees that include VAT as displayed.

The free plan is a real option for a solo stylist who wants card payments and simple online booking from one supplier. The limit is the flip side of the breadth: Square is generalist appointment software serving every kind of business, so salon-specific depth, colour history, rebooking prompts, salon-style reporting, is thinner than with Phorest or the salon specialists.

Who is it for? The solo stylist or small salon that wants payments and booking together, with published Irish prices and texts included at no monthly software cost.

Timely and Shortcuts: get the Irish terms in writing

Two further names appear in shortlists Irish owners read. Timely, the New Zealand-born hair specialist, prices per bookable staff member across three tiers, Build, Elevate and Innovate, each with a monthly SMS credit allowance; when we checked gettimely.com/pricing in October 2026 the page rendered no retrievable price grid for us and we could not confirm euro pricing for Ireland, while third-party sites quote conflicting dollar and sterling figures. Treat any number you read as unverified until Timely confirms your Irish price in writing. Shortcuts, the Australian front-desk veteran, has no Irish edition at all: its site's region selector, checked on shortcutssoftware.com in October 2026, offers Global, AUS/NZ, North America and United Kingdom, with the nearest office in Manchester, and publishes no prices anywhere. Neither practice is a red flag by itself, but neither can be compared from your sofa: ask for the full monthly figure, the SMS rates, the currency of billing, the contract length and the exit terms in an email before any demo charm takes effect.

How to choose: four Irish salon situations

You work alone, or you rent a chair. Your priorities are zero fixed cost, your own client list and no contract. ViteUneCoupe's free plan and Square's free plan are the two real zero-euro starting points: the first with zero commission and email reminders, the second with texts and payments but processing fees. The trade-offs between a free plan and a paid one are the subject of our guide to free versus paid salon booking software in Ireland. Chair renters should make sure the calendar and the client records belong to them, not to the salon's account.

You run a small team, two to five chairs. Per-person pricing decides your bill: Fresha and Timely charge per bookable staff member, Booksy per extra team member on a flat base. Do the arithmetic for your exact headcount, with VAT at 23 % added if you are not registered, and decide whether you want marketplace exposure (Fresha, Treatwell, Booksy) or your own independent booking page (ViteUneCoupe, Square, Timely).

You run a busy salon with premium tickets. Phorest is the obvious local shortlist, and often the right answer, with Timely's upper tiers the polished alternative. Both will involve a sales conversation: demand every price in euros excluding and including VAT, the SMS rate per message, the payment processing costs and the notice period in writing, and weigh how much of the quote buys features your front desk will really use.

You are leaving another system. Whatever you choose, confirm in writing that you can export your complete client list, contact details, history and notes included, do a test export early, and plan the move between appointment cycles. Under GDPR those records are your responsibility as controller, and our guide to switching salon booking software in Ireland gives you the step-by-step, including what to do about future appointments already sitting in the old diary.

Frequently asked questions

How much does hair salon booking software cost per month in Ireland?

As checked in October 2026: from 0 € (ViteUneCoupe's free plan and Square Appointments' free plan) through Square Plus at 19 € + VAT and Booksy at 44 € + VAT per month, with Fresha priced per team member (14.95 € solo as shown to us), and Phorest, Treatwell and Shortcuts quote-only. Add VAT at 23 % to advertised prices, then SMS metering and payment processing where they apply.

Is Phorest the best choice because it is Irish?

Phorest is a genuinely excellent, Dublin-built platform and the natural shortlist leader for established Irish salons that want deep marketing and retention tools with local support. Whether it is right for you depends on the quote: prices are not published, so a solo stylist or a two-chair salon may find the cost hard to justify against free or cheap alternatives. Being Irish earns it the demo, not a blank cheque.

Is there genuinely free salon booking software in Ireland?

Yes, two different kinds. ViteUneCoupe's free plan offers unlimited online bookings with 0 % commission, a booking page, client database and staff schedules, with no trial clock, and earns money only when salons upgrade to the paid email-reminder plan. Square's free plan includes booking and reminders and earns on card processing fees. Fresha no longer has a free plan, only a 7-day trial.

Do the advertised prices include VAT?

Mostly not. Booksy and Square quote plus VAT, Treatwell's processing fee is plus VAT, and ViteUneCoupe's Standard plan is 29 € excluding VAT. Ireland's standard VAT rate is 23 % per the Revenue Commissioners, so a non-VAT-registered salon should add 23 % to every advertised figure; a registered salon can generally reclaim it.

Can I move my client list if I change software?

You should be able to, and you must check before signing: ask what a full export includes (contacts, appointment history, notes, formulas) and in what format. Under GDPR, enforced in Ireland by the Data Protection Commission, your salon is the controller of client records whichever platform stores them, so a vendor without a clean export route is a risk you are choosing.

Does ViteUneCoupe work for a hair salon in Ireland?

Yes. The free plan works for Irish salons: unlimited online bookings, 0 % commission, a personalised booking page, client database and staff schedules, with +353 mobile numbers handled normally and billing in euros, your own currency. The limits to know: reminders are sent by email, not SMS, there is no payments or till handling, and the paid Standard plan is 29 € excluding VAT per month with no commitment.