Hair salon booking software in the UK: the honest comparison for 2026

Search "hair salon booking software UK" on Google and almost every result is written by a software company ranking itself first. Prices are converted from dollars, commissions are glossed over, and nobody tells you what happens when you want to leave. This comparison is published on the blog of ViteUneCoupe, a free booking software for hair salons with no commission, so we are not neutral either. The difference: we checked every price on each provider's own site in October 2026, we cite the pages, and we start by saying honestly what ViteUneCoupe does not do for a UK salon, beginning with the fact that our subscription is billed in euros and that we do not send SMS reminders.

This guide covers the systems a UK hair salon is most likely to shortlist: Fresha, Treatwell, Booksy, Phorest, Square Appointments, SalonIQ, Timely and Shortcuts, alongside ViteUneCoupe. Whether your salon is in London, Manchester, Glasgow or Cardiff, the providers are the same; what changes is which pricing model suits your mix of regulars and walk-ins.

How we compared the software

Seven criteria, applied identically to everyone:

• the subscription price, in pounds where the provider publishes one, with the date we checked;
• commission taken on bookings;
• new-client acquisition fees charged when a marketplace sends you a client;
• payment processing fees when clients pay online or in the salon;
• 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?

One point of method before the table. Never confuse four different types of cost: the monthly subscription, a commission taken on every booking, a new-client fee charged only when a marketplace brings you someone new, and payment processing fees on money you take through the platform. A tool advertised as "commission-free" can still earn plenty from the last two. Each profile below states who charges what. If you are weighing a marketplace against your own booking page, our guide to direct bookings versus marketplaces goes deeper on that trade-off.

All prices below were checked in October 2026 on each provider's official site. They can change, and several providers show different figures by region: always confirm on the pricing page before you sign.

Comparison table: what UK hair salons actually pay

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

ViteUneCoupe: free and commission-free, but billed in euros

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. UK mobile numbers in +44 format work normally in the client database, and appointments follow your salon's local time.

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. 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. If empty chairs are your biggest problem today, reminders and a clear cancellation policy are what work right now.

And here are the limits that matter for a UK salon, stated plainly:

• The subscription is billed in euros, not pounds. At 29 € a month the exchange difference is small and UK debit and credit cards pay euro invoices without fuss, but if you want a GBP invoice from a UK supplier, Booksy, SalonIQ or Square fit that requirement better.
• No SMS reminders, on any plan: reminders go by email. Several UK competitors include SMS allowances, and that is a genuine advantage of theirs.
• No payments: no till, no card terminal, no online deposits. ViteUneCoupe manages appointments, not money.
• Interface in English and French: fine for UK salons, worth knowing if you expected more languages.

Who is it for? The independent stylist or salon that wants 24/7 online booking with zero commission, zero fixed cost to start, and no contract, and that is happy with email rather than SMS reminders.

Fresha: no booking fees, but watch the currency and the messaging meter

Fresha is probably the name UK salon owners hear most often. Its model changed over the years, so check the current one rather than relying on what a colleague told you in 2023. When we checked Fresha's pricing page in October 2026, it displayed a subscription of 14.95 € per month for an independent professional and 9.95 € per month per team member, with the page stating there are no booking fees per appointment and no minimum commitment. Payment processing was shown at 1.29 % + 0.15 € per online transaction, and messaging at 20 free SMS or WhatsApp messages a month, then about 0.10 € per text.

Two honest observations. First, the pricing page showed euro amounts when we checked; we could not verify pound figures on it, so confirm your actual GBP billing before signing. Second, those per-message and per-transaction costs are small individually but they scale with exactly the things a busy salon does a lot of: reminders and payments. A salon sending a confirmation plus a reminder for 300 appointments a month is far beyond the free allowance.

Fresha's genuine strengths: polished software, a large consumer marketplace, and a real free entry point in its history that made online booking normal for thousands of salons. We dissect the costs and the best options for leaving in our dedicated guide to Fresha alternatives for UK hair salons.

Who is it for? The salon that wants an all-in-one with payments and marketplace visibility, and accepts metered costs on messages and transactions.

Treatwell: the biggest UK marketplace, paid for through new-client commission

Treatwell is the marketplace with the widest consumer reach for hair appointments in the UK. Its partner pricing works differently from a pure software subscription: when we checked treatwell.co.uk/partners/pricing in October 2026, Treatwell charged around 35 % commission on the first booking a marketplace client makes with you (the page notes it is location-dependent), then 0 % on that client's repeat bookings. A processing fee of 2.5 % + VAT applies to pre-paid online bookings. Email notifications and reminders are unlimited; the monthly subscription price itself is not published, you get it through a sales conversation.

A clearly hypothetical example to make the model concrete: if a new client books a £45 cut and finish through the marketplace, a 35 % first-booking commission would be £15.75 before VAT. If she becomes a loyal regular, that one-off cost may be excellent value; if she was only ever chasing a discount, it is expensive. That is the whole Treatwell question, and it depends on your repeat rate, not on the software.

Treatwell's real strength is demand: it can fill a quiet Tuesday with people you have never met, especially in big cities. Our guide to Treatwell alternatives for UK hair salons looks at when the commission maths works and when a direct booking page serves you better.

Who is it for? The salon with spare capacity that wants new faces and treats the first-booking commission as a marketing budget.

Booksy: clear UK pricing, SMS included, optional paid promotion

Booksy publishes its UK prices plainly, which we respect: £40 per month plus VAT, with extra team members at £5 per month each, checked in October 2026 on Booksy's UK pricing page. Plans include 500 SMS marketing messages a month (then 5p each), there is no commission on ordinary bookings, and you can cancel anytime. Payments, if you use them, cost from 0.99 % + 20p + VAT per transaction depending on the method. Booksy's marketplace promotion tool, Boost, is optional: when switched on, it charges a one-time 30 % fee (minimum £5) on a new Boost client's first visit.

That structure is coherent: a subscription for the software, an explicit opt-in price for client acquisition. The thing to watch is simply the total for a team: a salon with five bookable staff pays £40 + 4 × £5 = £60 + VAT per month before payments, which is still mid-market. More detail in our dedicated Booksy alternative guide for hair salons.

Who is it for? The salon that wants a UK-priced all-in-one with SMS included and a marketplace it can switch on and off.

Phorest: salon-specialist heavyweight, prices on request

Phorest is one of the most established salon-specific platforms in the UK and Ireland, strong on client retention tools, marketing and reporting, with unlimited staff on its plans. Its weakness for a comparison like this one is transparency: when we checked phorest.com/pricing in October 2026, the UK page showed four plans (Starter, Grow, Ultimate, Elite) with no prices, only a quote request, and SMS billed per message. Setup and training are included, but the actual monthly cost, contract length and payment fees all come out of a sales conversation.

That is not a reason to dismiss Phorest: established salons with bigger teams often choose it precisely for the retention and marketing depth. It is a reason to arrive at the demo with questions written down: total monthly cost for your exact team size, SMS price per message, notice period, and what a full client-data export looks like on the way out. If the quote-only process is itself what puts you off, our guide to Phorest alternatives for UK hair salons compares the options that publish their prices.

Who is it for? The established salon with several staff that wants deep marketing and retention features and accepts negotiating its price.

Square Appointments: transparent pricing from a payments company

Square comes at salons from the payments side. Its Appointments product, checked in October 2026 on Square's UK pricing page, has a genuinely free plan for a single location, then Plus at £29 and Premium at £69 per month per location. Card processing is where Square earns: 1.75 % in person on the free plan (1.6 % on paid plans), 1.4 % + 25p online for UK cards. Email and SMS reminders are included, and there is no long-term commitment.

The free plan is a real option for a solo stylist who already wants card payments and simple online booking in one place. The limits are the flip side of the breadth: Square is generalist scheduling software serving every appointment business, so salon-specific depth (colour formulas, salon-style client histories, chair-rental setups) is thinner than with salon specialists. If that generalist feel is your sticking point, our guide to Square Appointments alternatives for UK hair salons weighs the free plan against the salon specialists.

Who is it for? The salon or solo stylist that wants payments and booking from one supplier with published UK prices.

SalonIQ: UK-based specialist with published entry pricing

SalonIQ is a British salon software company, and its pricing page was among the more open we checked in October 2026: from £47 per month for a solo stylist, scaling with bookable staff, plus a one-time setup fee from £175 + VAT that includes training and data migration. There are no long-term contracts, with cancellation on 60 days' notice. Two-way SMS, online booking deposits, a branded app and integrated card payments exist as paid add-ons, with prices not published per add-on.

The 60-day notice period and the setup fee are worth having in writing before you commit, and ask for the add-on prices for anything you actually plan to use: a quote built only on the base price will understate your real monthly cost.

Who is it for? The salon that wants a UK-based specialist supplier with training included and is happy to pay a setup fee.

Timely and Shortcuts: ask for the UK price in writing

Two further names you will meet in UK shortlists. Timely prices per bookable staff member across three tiers; its pricing page did not render retrievable UK figures when we checked in October 2026, and third-party sites quote conflicting amounts, so treat any number you read (including converted dollar prices) as unverified until Timely confirms it in writing. Our guide to Timely alternatives for UK hair salons compares it with providers whose prices you can actually check. Shortcuts, long established in UK hairdressing, publishes no UK prices at all on its site; pricing is quote-only. Neither practice is a red flag by itself, but it means you cannot compare them from your sofa: get the full monthly figure, SMS costs, contract length and exit terms in an email before any demo charm takes effect.

Two more UK names readers ask us about. Slick prices per column, meaning each bookable diary: £22 per month for the first column plus £14 per additional column on its entry plan, excluding VAT, as checked in October 2026 on its pricing page, with unlimited SMS appointment reminders included on every plan and a monthly rolling contract. Our Slick alternative guide for hair salons looks at where the per-column maths works and where it does not. Beu is a UK-built app with a 0 % booking commission position; it offers a long trial rather than a free plan, so compare its end price, not its first month.

How to choose for your salon

A shortcut through the table, by situation:

• Solo stylist, cost above all: ViteUneCoupe's free plan (no payments handled) or Square's free plan (payments included, salon depth thinner).
• Team salon that wants SMS included and UK billing: Booksy or SalonIQ, with the per-staff and add-on maths done for your exact headcount.
• Quiet diary, need new faces fast: Treatwell or Booksy's Boost, treating new-client commission as a marketing spend you measure.
• Established salon buying marketing and retention depth: Phorest, price negotiated with your questions ready.
• Allergic to commissions and contracts: ViteUneCoupe, 0 % forever and no commitment, with euro billing and email-only reminders as the trade-offs you accept.

And if your real hesitation is between a free plan and a paid subscription rather than between brands, our free versus paid salon booking software comparison for the UK does that decision line by line.

Whatever you pick, check the exit before the entrance: your client list must leave with you. Our guide to switching salon booking software explains what a clean export looks like and how to time a migration.

Frequently asked questions

What does hair salon booking software cost in the UK?

Published UK prices in October 2026 ranged from genuinely free plans (ViteUneCoupe, Square Appointments) to roughly £29 to £69 per month for transparent mid-market plans (Square Plus and Premium, Booksy at £40 + VAT, SalonIQ from £47), with specialist platforms like Phorest and Shortcuts quoting individually. Add payment processing, SMS and add-ons to compare real totals.

Which booking systems charge commission on appointments?

Of the providers compared, none charges a commission on every appointment. Treatwell charges around 35 % on a marketplace client's first booking only, and Booksy's optional Boost charges 30 % (minimum £5) on a promoted new client's first visit. ViteUneCoupe charges 0 % on everything, permanently.

Is there genuinely free salon booking software in the UK?

Yes. ViteUneCoupe's free plan includes unlimited online bookings, a booking page, staff schedules and a client database with no commission; Square Appointments has a free single-location plan funded by card processing fees. Check what each free plan leaves out (payments on one side, SMS on the other) rather than assuming "free" hides a trap.

Do these prices include VAT?

Mostly not. Booksy and SalonIQ quote prices plus VAT, Treatwell's commissions and fees are subject to VAT, and ViteUneCoupe's Standard plan is 29 € excluding VAT. If your salon is VAT-registered you can usually reclaim it; if not, compare prices with VAT added.

Can I move my client list if I change software?

You should be able to, and you must check it before signing: ask every provider what a full export includes (contact details, appointment history, notes) and in what format. Under UK GDPR your client records are your responsibility, whichever platform stores them, so a provider that cannot show you a clean export route is telling you something.