# Fresha

> Fresha is an appointment booking and point of sale platform for salons, spas, barbershops, and wellness businesses, combining staff calendars, online booking, client records, inventory, payment processing, and marketing with a consumer-facing marketplace app that sends new clients to participating businesses in exchange for a 20 percent commission on their first visit; it moved from a free subscription model to paid plans in 2025, and is now priced at $19.95 a month for a single calendar or $14.95 per bookable team member.

- Category: Scheduling & Booking (https://saastracker.org/categories/scheduling)
- Website: https://www.fresha.com
- Starting price: $19.95 per month (Independent, one bookable calendar)
- Free plan: None. Fresha retired its long-running free subscription model in 2025 and now requires a paid plan.
- Free trial: 7 days
- Founded: 2015, HQ: London, United Kingdom, Ownership: Venture-backed and private-equity-backed
- Profile last reviewed: 2026-08-22
- Canonical profile: https://saastracker.org/products/fresha

## Overview

Fresha does the job of running a service business: staff calendars, a service menu, client files, stock, till, and marketing. What separates it from Square Appointments or Vagaro is the second half of the business, a consumer marketplace at fresha.com where people search for a facial or a haircut near them and book with whichever partner salon has a slot. Fresha is simultaneously the software you run your shop on and the app your future clients discover you in.

That dual identity produces the pricing structure a buyer has to understand before signing anything. Subscription is modest: the Independent plan at $19.95 a month for one bookable calendar, the Team plan at $14.95 per bookable team member per month, and a quoted Enterprise tier above 20 members. On top of that sits a 20 percent commission with a $6 minimum, charged once, when a genuinely new client discovers you through the Fresha marketplace and books. Clients you brought yourself, and every repeat visit from a marketplace client, cost nothing.

Fresha spent years marketing itself as free salon software, monetising purely through the marketplace commission and card processing. That changed in 2025 when paid subscriptions were introduced, which annoyed a chunk of the installed base and reset the comparison against paid competitors. The company is not short of resources: founded in London in 2015, it raised a Series C led by General Atlantic, and in May 2026 took $80M from KKR at a valuation of $1B, with headcount around 740.

For a small business, the decision comes down to whether you want a marketplace in your acquisition funnel. If you have a waiting list and a full book, the commission is a cost with no return and the subscription is priced against tools that do not intermediate you. If you are a new location with empty chairs on a Tuesday, paying 20 percent once for a stranger who may become a regular is one of the cheapest customer acquisition mechanisms in local services.

## How it works

1. You set up the business: locations, team members, a service menu with durations and prices, and each staff member's working hours. A bookable team member is the billing unit on the Team plan, so the subscription scales with the number of people who occupy a calendar column, not with the number of appointments.

2. Clients book through your own Fresha booking link, an embed or button on your website, a Google or Instagram profile, or the Fresha consumer marketplace. The marketplace is where the commercial model turns: a first-time client arriving through it triggers the one-off new client fee, while returning clients and clients you sent yourself do not.

3. At booking you can require a card, take a deposit, or set a cancellation policy so a no-show is charged automatically. Automated confirmations and reminders go out by email and text, with a message allowance included per team member and additional volume charged.

4. In the shop, Fresha behaves as a point of sale: the appointment closes into a sale with tips, retail products, memberships, packages, and gift cards, processed through Fresha's own payments at published rates. Reporting, stock, payroll-adjacent commission tracking, and marketing campaigns all read from the same client and sales record.

## Best for

Salons, spas, barbershops, nail bars, and wellness clinics that want a full operating system for the business and are actively trying to fill empty appointment slots with new clients from a consumer marketplace.

## Not the right fit for

- Any business booking meetings rather than treatments; Fresha is a retail and services operating system with a consumer app attached, and using it for sales calls is category error.
- Established salons with a full book and a waiting list, where the marketplace commission is pure cost and a flat-fee competitor like Square Appointments or Vagaro is cheaper.
- Operators who object on principle to a platform owning the client relationship, since the marketplace lists your competitors next to you and trains clients to search the app rather than your brand.
- Businesses that were on Fresha for its old free plan and want it back; that model ended in 2025 and is not coming back.
- Anyone who needs the flexibility to use their own payment processor, since the economics and much of the automation assume Fresha Payments.

## Features

### Calendar and appointment management

The core booking engine for a multi-staff service business.

- **Multi-column staff calendar**: Each bookable team member gets a column, with drag and drop rescheduling, colour-coded service types, and a day, week, or team view. The number of columns is what you are billed on.
- **Service menu with durations and pricing**: Services carry duration, price, processing time, and staff eligibility, so a colour with a developing gap can be modelled properly rather than as one uninterrupted block.
- **Multiple locations**: A group can run several sites under one account with shared client records, per-location menus, staff, and reporting.
- **Resources and rooms**: Treatment rooms, chairs, and equipment can be modelled so a booking cannot be taken when the physical asset is occupied.
- **Blocked time and shift patterns**: Per-staff shifts, breaks, holidays, and one-off blocks feed availability directly, so the public booking page never offers a slot nobody can work.
- **Waitlist and cancellation recovery**: Clients can register interest in a fully booked service and be notified when a slot opens, which is how a salon recovers the revenue lost to late cancellations.

### Getting booked and the marketplace

The part of Fresha that no flat-fee competitor offers, and the part that costs 20 percent.

- **Fresha consumer marketplace**: A public app and website where consumers search for treatments near them and book with partner businesses. This is a genuine demand channel, not just a directory listing.
- **New client fee**: 20 percent of the first visit, with a $6 minimum, charged once per genuinely new marketplace client. Returning visits from that client, and any client you brought yourself, carry no commission.
- **Own booking link and website embed**: A hosted booking page plus embeddable widgets and buttons for your own site, which carry no commission at all.
- **Google and social booking**: Reserve with Google, Instagram, and Facebook booking entry points route into the same availability.
- **Client profiles and history**: Visit history, formulas and notes, photos, spend, preferences, and card on file build a proper client record rather than a list of past bookings.

### Payments and commerce

The till, and the rates attached to it.

- **Integrated point of sale**: The appointment closes into a sale with retail products, tips, discounts, and split tender, with stock decremented automatically.
- **Published processing rates**: Fresha publishes its own card rates, quoted in the US region at roughly 2.19 percent plus 20 cents in person and 2.79 percent plus 20 cents online, with keyed transactions higher. Rates are published per market rather than universal.
- **Deposits and no-show protection**: Take a deposit or store a card at booking and charge a cancellation or no-show fee automatically when a policy is breached.
- **Memberships, packages, and gift cards**: Recurring memberships, prepaid service packages, and gift card sales are native, which is a real advantage over the thinner commerce layers in general-purpose schedulers.
- **Inventory and stock control**: Retail and professional product stock, suppliers, purchase orders, and stock takes tracked against sales.
- **Buy now pay later**: Klarna is offered at checkout in supported markets at a higher published rate, which suits higher-ticket aesthetic and medi-spa treatments.

### Marketing and retention

Filling the diary without paying the marketplace toll every time.

- **Automated reminders**: Email and text confirmations, reminders, and follow-ups. Each plan includes a message allowance per team member, with additional volume charged.
- **Email marketing campaigns**: Campaign sends to your own client list, with an included allowance per team member and paid volume beyond it.
- **Automations and blasts**: Rebooking prompts, win-back campaigns for lapsed clients, and birthday offers triggered from the client record.
- **Reviews and ratings**: Post-visit review requests feed the marketplace profile, which in turn drives marketplace ranking and therefore new client volume.
- **Loyalty and discounts**: Loyalty programmes and promotional discounting are available, with some marketing capabilities sold as priced add-ons rather than included.

### Reporting and administration

What the owner looks at on Sunday night.

- **Sales, service, and staff reporting**: Revenue by service, by team member, and by location, with retail versus service split and commission calculation inputs.
- **Occupancy and rebooking rates**: Chair utilisation and rebooking percentages, which are the two numbers that actually predict a salon's health.
- **Staff permissions**: Role-based access so a stylist sees their own book while the owner sees the money.
- **Mobile apps for staff and clients**: A partner app for running the book from the floor, plus the consumer Fresha app that clients use to rebook.

## Use cases

- **New salon with empty midweek slots**: Two months open, the weekends are filling but Tuesday and Wednesday chairs are idle, and there is no marketing budget. Outcome: Marketplace listing puts the business in front of local searchers, and 20 percent of a first visit buys a client who may rebook for years at no further commission.
- **Three-therapist spa selling packages and memberships**: Prepaid course of six treatments is tracked on paper, memberships are collected by standing order, and nothing reconciles with the appointment book. Outcome: Native memberships and packages redeem against appointments automatically, and the same system holds stock, sales, and client history.
- **Barbershop owner tired of no-shows**: Walk-in culture means clients book and vanish, and asking for a deposit over the phone feels confrontational. Outcome: A card is stored at booking, a written cancellation policy is attached to the service, and the fee charges itself without an awkward conversation.
- **Two-site aesthetics clinic**: Clients move between locations, staff cover both, and reporting has to be consolidated for the owner while staying separate per site. Outcome: Multi-location support shares one client record across sites with per-location menus and staffing, and consolidated reporting rolls both up.

## Pricing

Per bookable calendar or per bookable team member subscription, plus a one-off percentage commission on new clients acquired through the Fresha consumer marketplace, plus published card processing rates. Priced per market, so local currency figures vary.

- **Independent**: $19.95 per month. One bookable calendar; Full booking, POS, and client management; 50 free messages included; 100 free marketing emails included; Marketplace listing available. Premium phone and chat support is a paid add-on on this plan rather than included.
- **Team**: $14.95 per bookable team member per month. Multiple calendar columns; 50 free messages per team member; 100 free marketing emails per team member; Premium support included; Multi-location support. Cheaper per head than Independent, so a two-person business pays less per calendar than a solo one.
- **Enterprise**: Custom quoted. For businesses with more than 20 team members; Group and multi-site management; Custom commercial terms; Dedicated support. The only tier that requires a sales conversation.

Add-ons:

- New client marketplace fee (20 percent of the first visit, $6 minimum): Charged once per new marketplace client, never on repeat visits or on clients you brought yourself.
- Card processing (Around 2.19 percent plus 20 cents in person, 2.79 percent plus 20 cents online in the US): Published per market; keyed and buy-now-pay-later transactions are higher.
- Premium support (Independent plan) ($14.95 per month): Included on Team.
- Additional messages and marketing emails (Charged beyond the included allowance): Allowance scales per team member.

Billing notes:

- The headline subscription is only part of the cost. Model the commission on expected new marketplace clients and the processing spread on total card volume before comparing against a flat-fee competitor.
- The Team rate of $14.95 per bookable member is lower than the $19.95 Independent rate, so the second calendar is cheaper than the first, which is unusual and worth checking against your headcount.
- The 20 percent new client fee has a $6 floor, so a cheap first service (a $15 fringe trim) is charged proportionally much harder than an expensive one.
- Message and marketing email allowances are per team member, so a larger team gets a larger pooled allowance; heavy SMS users should price the overage explicitly.
- Fresha ended its free plan in 2025. Older reviews describing it as free salon software are out of date and should not be used to build a budget.
- Add-ons are numerous and range from small monthly fees to substantial ones, so the quoted plan price rarely matches the invoice at a mature site.

Value assessment: As pure software, Fresha at $14.95 to $19.95 a calendar is fair, roughly in line with Vagaro and cheaper than Booksy per head, and the commerce layer (memberships, packages, gift cards, stock) is deeper than Square's. The real question is the marketplace. If you take 20 new marketplace clients a month at an average $70 first visit, you are paying about $280 in commission, which is a lot next to a $49 flat fee at Square, and a bargain if those clients rebook. The commission is a customer acquisition cost, not a software cost, and it should be judged against what you would otherwise spend on local ads. A full book makes Fresha expensive; an empty Tuesday makes it cheap.

## Strengths

- The consumer marketplace is a genuine demand channel rather than a directory, and no flat-fee competitor offers an equivalent.
- The commission is charged once per new client rather than on every booking, so a marketplace client who becomes a regular is acquired very cheaply.
- Commerce depth is strong for the price: memberships, prepaid packages, gift cards, inventory, and stock control are native rather than add-ons.
- Team pricing at $14.95 per bookable member is competitive, and cheaper per head than the solo plan.
- Published card processing rates in the US are lower than Square's headline in-person rate, which matters more than the subscription at volume.
- Well capitalised and stable: London-based, founded 2015, roughly $286M raised, and an $80M investment from KKR in May 2026 at a $1B valuation.
- Multi-location support, shared client records, and consolidated reporting are included rather than reserved for an enterprise tier.

## Limitations

- The marketplace lists your competitors alongside you and encourages clients to think of Fresha as the brand they book with, which is a strategic cost as well as a financial one.
- The 20 percent new client fee with a $6 minimum bites hardest on low-priced services, where the commission can be a large share of the ticket.
- The free plan is gone, so the reason many businesses originally chose Fresha no longer exists, and the 2025 change damaged trust with part of the installed base.
- The economics assume Fresha Payments; using an outside processor undercuts deposits, no-show fees, and much of the automation.
- Add-on pricing is extensive, and the true monthly cost at a mature multi-service site is materially above the plan price.
- The trial is only 7 days, which is short for a system that requires a service menu, staff schedules, and a client import before you can judge it.
- It does not do meeting scheduling, round-robin, or lead routing at all, so it has no application outside appointment-based service businesses.

## Comparisons

- **Fresha vs Square Appointments**: Square is free for unlimited staff calendars and takes no commission ever, financed instead by a 2.6 percent in-person card rate. Fresha charges a modest subscription, a lower card rate, and 20 percent on new marketplace clients. If you generate your own demand, Square is cheaper end to end. If you need a channel that brings strangers through the door, Square has nothing comparable and Fresha wins on that single axis.
- **Fresha vs Booksy**: The closest direct comparison: both are salon software with a consumer marketplace. Booksy is $29.99 a month plus $20 per extra staff member with Boost taking 30 percent of a new client's first visit, capped at $100. Fresha is $14.95 per member with a 20 percent fee and a $6 minimum but no cap. Booksy's app has stronger mindshare in barbering; Fresha's commerce and inventory layer is deeper and its per-head cost is lower for larger teams.
- **Fresha vs Vagaro**: Vagaro is a flat subscription (roughly $30 for one calendar up to about $90 at seven or more) with a large catalogue of paid add-ons and its own marketplace, and it goes deeper on fitness classes, memberships, and payroll. Fresha bundles more into the base plan and leans harder on marketplace acquisition. Pick Vagaro if you run classes and want a branded app; pick Fresha if new client acquisition is the binding constraint.
- **Fresha vs SimplyBook.me**: SimplyBook.me is a highly configurable booking system sold on a booking-count basis with a modular feature catalogue, and it works across far more industries than beauty and wellness. It has no consumer marketplace and no real POS depth. Fresha is narrower but far more complete inside its vertical. Choose SimplyBook.me for an unusual booking workflow; choose Fresha for a salon or spa that also needs a till.
- **Fresha vs Trafft**: Trafft is a neutral subscription booking platform from $29 a month that plugs into your existing processor and never takes a commission, with strong multi-location and custom-domain support. It has no POS, no inventory, and no marketplace. Trafft suits an operator who wants control and no intermediary; Fresha suits one who will trade a percentage for demand.

## Implementation

- Setup time: One to three days for a small salon: service menu, staff, hours, and client import are the bulk of it. Payments onboarding adds identity and bank verification, and a marketplace profile worth publishing needs photos and copy, which takes an afternoon on its own.
- Learning curve: Low to moderate. The calendar and checkout are approachable for staff with no software background. Owners need time on the reporting, memberships, and marketing automation, which are where the value beyond a basic diary sits.
- Onboarding: Self-serve signup with a 7-day trial. Premium phone and chat support is included on Team and a paid add-on on Independent. Enterprise, above 20 team members, is the only tier with a sales conversation.
- Migration: Client lists and often appointment history can be imported, and Fresha runs a migration assistance process because it wins most of its customers from competitors. Moving card processing means re-collecting cards on file for clients with stored payment details and standing memberships, which is the risky part of any salon software migration and should be scheduled deliberately rather than in a busy week.

## Platform, API & security

- Platforms: Web dashboard, iOS and Android partner app, iOS and Android consumer marketplace app, Hosted booking page and website embeds
- API: Fresha exposes integrations and an API programme for partners, but it is not positioned as a developer platform in the way Cronofy or Cal.com are; most extension happens through built-in integrations rather than custom code.
- Compliance: PCI DSS for payments, GDPR, UK and EU data protection obligations as a London-headquartered operator
- Data residency: Operated from the United Kingdom with regional payment and marketplace availability that varies by market.
- SSO: Team member accounts with role-based permissions rather than enterprise SSO on self-serve tiers.
- Security notes: Card handling sits inside Fresha Payments' PCI environment rather than in the merchant's own systems. Role-based staff permissions control access to financial reporting and client data, which matters in a business with high staff turnover.

## Support

- Channels: Phone and chat on Team (paid add-on on Independent), Email support, In-product help, Dedicated support on Enterprise
- Documentation: Help centre covering setup, calendar, payments, marketplace, memberships, and reporting, plus onboarding and migration guides.
- Community: Large partner base across beauty and wellness, with an active presence in salon owner communities and an extensive published blog.

## Company

- Founded: 2015
- Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
- Ownership: Venture-backed and private-equity-backed
- Employees: Approximately 740 (2026)
- Funding: Roughly $286M raised in total, including a Series C led by General Atlantic in 2021 and an $80M investment from KKR in May 2026 at a valuation of about $1B.

Funding history:

- Series C (2021): Led by General Atlantic. Followed by a Series C extension at a reported $640M valuation.
- Growth investment (2026): $80M. Led by KKR at a valuation of approximately $1B, making Fresha a London unicorn.

Timeline:

- 2015: Founded in London as Shedul, offering free salon software in a market where competitors charged monthly subscriptions.
- 2019: Rebrands to Fresha and launches its consumer marketplace, adding a demand channel on top of the software.
- 2021: Raises a Series C led by General Atlantic, followed by an extension at a reported $640M valuation.
- 2025: Retires the free subscription model and introduces paid Independent, Team, and Enterprise plans, ending the pitch that had defined the brand.
- 2026: Raises $80M from KKR at a valuation of about $1B, with headcount around 740 and pricing settled at $19.95 (Independent) and $14.95 per bookable team member (Team).

## Integrations

Fresha consumer marketplace, Reserve with Google, Instagram and Facebook booking, Website embeds and booking buttons, Fresha Payments and card terminals, Klarna buy now pay later in supported markets, Google Calendar sync, Accounting exports for Xero and QuickBooks, Zapier for wider automation

## FAQ

### What is Fresha?

Fresha is an appointment booking and point of sale platform for salons, spas, barbershops, and wellness businesses. It handles staff calendars, online booking, client records, inventory, payments, memberships, and marketing, and it also runs a consumer marketplace app where people find and book local businesses.

### Is Fresha still free?

No. Fresha built its reputation on free salon software but introduced paid subscriptions in 2025. Current pricing is $19.95 a month for the Independent plan with one bookable calendar and $14.95 per bookable team member on the Team plan, with a quoted Enterprise tier above 20 members. Any review describing Fresha as free is out of date.

### How much is the Fresha new client fee?

20 percent of the first visit with a $6 minimum, charged once when a genuinely new client discovers your business through the Fresha marketplace and books. Every subsequent visit from that client is commission free, and clients who come through your own booking link, website, or Google profile are never charged a commission at all.

### Can I use Fresha without the marketplace?

Yes. You can run the software purely on your own booking link and website embed and never take a marketplace booking, in which case you pay only the subscription and card processing. Whether that is good value depends on how you compare it to Square Appointments, which gives the calendar away free, or Trafft, which never intermediates you.

### What are Fresha's payment processing rates?

Rates are published per market. In the US, Fresha quotes roughly 2.19 percent plus 20 cents for in-person payments and 2.79 percent plus 20 cents online, with manually keyed cards higher and Klarna buy now pay later higher again. That in-person rate is lower than Square's headline 2.6 percent plus 15 cents, which matters more than the subscription at any real volume.

### Does Fresha handle rooms, equipment, and multiple locations?

Yes. Resources such as treatment rooms and equipment can be modelled so a booking cannot be taken when the physical asset is occupied, and multi-location support with shared client records and consolidated reporting is included rather than reserved for an enterprise tier.

### How does Fresha reduce no-shows?

Automated email and text reminders, a card stored at booking, deposits, and a written cancellation policy that charges a no-show fee automatically. Message allowances are included per team member (50 messages and 100 marketing emails each) with additional volume charged, so heavy SMS senders should price the overage.

### Is Fresha suitable for booking sales meetings?

No. There is no round-robin distribution, no routing forms, no lead qualification, and no CRM syncing. Fresha books treatments performed by staff at a place of business. For a sales team booking demos, Calendly, OnceHub, or Cal.com are the right category entirely.

### How does Fresha compare to Booksy?

They are the two marketplace-plus-software players. Booksy charges $29.99 a month plus $20 per extra staff member and takes 30 percent of a new Boost client's first visit, capped at $100 with a $10 floor. Fresha charges $14.95 per bookable member and takes 20 percent with a $6 floor and no cap. Booksy has stronger consumer mindshare in barbering; Fresha has a deeper commerce and inventory layer and lower per-head cost at scale.

### Who owns Fresha and is it financially stable?

Fresha is a private company founded in London in 2015, employing around 740 people. It has raised roughly $286M in total, including a Series C led by General Atlantic and an $80M investment from KKR in May 2026 at a valuation of about $1B. It is one of the better capitalised vendors in the category.

## Editorial verdict

Fresha is two purchases wearing one price tag: competent, commerce-heavy salon software, and a marketplace that will introduce you to strangers for 20 percent of their first visit. Judged as software it is good value, with memberships, packages, inventory, and multi-location included at $14.95 per bookable team member and card rates below Square's. Judged as an acquisition channel, the commission is either the cheapest local marketing you will ever buy or a pointless tax, and which one it is depends entirely on whether your Tuesdays are empty. Buy it if you are growing and need demand. Do not buy it if you are full, have a waiting list, and would resent a platform standing between you and your clients, in which case Square Appointments costs nothing and Trafft never takes a cut. The 2025 removal of the free plan is worth remembering as evidence of how the commercial terms can change under you.

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Source: SaaSTracker (https://saastracker.org), an independent editorial project. This profile is compiled from public information, carries no peer reviews or paid placement, and was last reviewed 2026-08-22. Awards are judged on published criteria: https://saastracker.org/methodology