Switching from Fresha? Here's What to Know
Thinking about leaving Fresha? Here's an honest look at what's changed with Fresha's pricing, what to consider when switching, and how to make the move.
Jack Cruden
Founder
For years, Fresha's pitch was three words: free, forever, full-stop. Plenty of salons built their whole booking workflow on that promise.
Then the emails went out about monthly fees. The forums lit up. And a lot of owners started doing the maths on whether "free" had ever really been free.
What Fresha actually costs now
The headline number is $9.95 per team member, per month. That's the part everyone's angry about. But the headline was never the full cost.
Fresha makes most of its money on the layers underneath:
- 20% commission on the first booking from anyone the platform classifies as a "new client", with a $6 minimum.
- Card processing at 2.29% + $0.20 per in-person transaction.
- $14.95/month for phone and live chat support. Email is the default.
- Withdrawal fees when you move your own takings to your own bank account.
Run the numbers on a salon that brings in eight new clients a week through the booking link. At a $6 minimum that's $192 a month before you've touched the monthly fees or the card processing. For a busy place doing colour work, the commission can easily clear $500.
The "new client" problem
This is the bit that's caused the most heat in reviews.
Salon owners keep finding marketplace fees charged on people Fresha didn't bring them. A client who Googled the salon. A friend of an existing client. A regular from two years ago who'd dropped out of the system. Someone who saw the place on Instagram and tapped the booking link in the bio.
If the booking comes through the Fresha link, Fresha treats them as "new" and takes the cut. Disputing it means a support ticket, evidence, and a wait. Several owners I've spoken to gave up after the second round of back-and-forth.
That's the real switching trigger for most people. Not the $9.95. The slow drip of commission on clients they brought in themselves.
Before you pull the trigger
Switching takes about an hour if you've prepared. Less if you're solo.
Export your client list
Do this first, before you cancel anything. Names, phone numbers, email addresses, and ideally a copy of the booking history. Fresha allows export but you may need to ask their support team to enable it. Don't assume the data will follow you out the door.
Honour the bookings you've already got
You'll have appointments on the calendar past the switch date. Easiest play is to keep Fresha live for a couple of weeks, take new bookings through the new link, and let the existing ones run out naturally. Nobody gets a confused text the day before their cut.
Update the link in every place it lives
Website. Instagram bio. Facebook page. Google Business Profile. The QR code on the reception desk if you've got one. This is the most boring part of the switch and the most important — if a regular taps an old link, you want it to redirect, not 404.
Tell your regulars once
A single text to the client list does it: "We've moved online booking to [new URL]. Same team, same services." Don't overthink the message. People will figure it out.
How TimeToBook stacks up
We built this because the numbers on most salon software didn't make sense to us. Here's the side-by-side.
| TimeToBook | Fresha | |
|---|---|---|
| Solo monthly fee | Free | $9.95/month |
| Per staff fee | $15/month per additional | $9.95/month per staff |
| Booking commissions | None, ever | 20% on new clients (min $6) |
| Your branding | Your logo, your colours, your URL | Fresha-branded marketplace |
| Client relationship | Direct — clients book with you | Through Fresha's marketplace |
| Support | Included at every level | Email only (phone costs $14.95/mo extra) |
| Payment processing | Not required | 2.29% + $0.20 per transaction |
What we're good at
Calendar, online booking page, SMS reminders. We've put almost all the effort into making those three things fast and obvious. The booking page sits at your own URL, with your logo and your colours, and the client never sees the word "TimeToBook" unless they go looking for it.
Your client list is yours. We're not running a marketplace beside it.
Where Fresha actually wins
Fair's fair. Fresha runs a consumer marketplace. People do browse it looking for somewhere new to get their hair cut, particularly in big cities. If a real chunk of your new business comes from people finding you on Fresha's homepage — not from Google, not from Instagram, not from your existing clients telling their mates — then losing that channel matters.
Most salons we've talked to don't get a meaningful number of bookings that way. They pay marketplace commission on people Fresha didn't introduce them to. That's the conversation worth having with yourself before you switch.
The actual steps
- Export your client list from Fresha.
- Sign up at timetobook.com. Solo is free, takes about five minutes.
- Add your services, durations, and prices.
- Share the new booking link everywhere the old one lives.
- Send the one text to your regulars.
Run both platforms in parallel for two to three weeks while existing bookings clear, then close the Fresha account.
If you're still on the fence, send me an email with what you're paying and how many staff you've got. I'll tell you straight whether the move makes sense for you, even if the answer is "stay where you are."
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