Are you looking for a free online booking system?
Then you’ve landed in the right place.
This is where I’m breaking down all the appointment booking apps for salons that offer a free plan.
None of the systems listed here are from nonprofit organizations.
They do make money.
However, I’ve included them here as these are the ones that have some type of “freemium” offer.
But to be clear, you should expect that you will pay in one way or another.
I am not a big fan of “free” stuff as it often gets more expensive than the tools you know what you are paying for.
To explore all salon booking systems (free and paid), check out my list of the best salon software 2024.
But now, let’s go over the salon booking systems with a free plan.
Quick Overview of The Best Free Salon Booking Systems 2024
These are the leading booking systems who offer a free plan. Some are dedicated to salon businesses but there are also a few alternatives for any type of business. A couple of the sytems below has also made it to my list of the best salon sofware 2024.
User Reviews Compared
The systems I’ve picked for this list all get fairly high scores on user review sites. You can view all of the highest-rated software alternatives in 2024 here.
Pricing Compared
Although we are focusing on free appointment software here, they do still make money on their paid plans. Let’s dive into the details of their pricing.
Fresha
Average Price
$80 per month
Trial Options
Free subscription
Minimum contract
Cancel any time
- No fixed monthly charge
- Marketplace new client fee: 20% (min $6 per new client). This only applies to new clients who book via the Fresha marketplace.
- Automated notifications: $0.01 per text (50 included for free)
- Email blast campaigns: $0.02 per email
- Text blast campaigns: $0.02 per email
- Insights (enhanced reporting): $9.95 per team member
- Card: 2.19% + $0.20 per transaction
- Tap to Pay: $0.10 per authorization
Square Appointments
Average Price
$45 per month
Trial Options
Free base tier plan
Minimum contract
Cancel any time
- Free: $0/month (only very essential features)
- Plus: $29 per location (includes core features like client notifications and cancellation policy)
- Premium: $69 per location (includes more sophisticated features like resource management).
- Unlimited calendars on all plans
- Email marketing: $15/month
- SMS marketing: $10/month
- Square loyalty: $45/month
- Square Payroll: $35 + $6 per user/month
- In-person: 2.6% + 10 cents (2.5% + 10 cents on paid plans)
- Online (card): 2.9% + 30 cents
- Manually Keyed-In: 3.5% + 15 cents
Goldie
Average Price
$50 per month
Trial Options
Free base tier plan
Minimum contract
Monthly or yearly
- Starter Plan: This is a free plan that allows for 20 appointments per month, and caters for a single user/calendar, with unlimited clients and manual reminders among other features.
- Pro Plan: Costs $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year, expanding on the Starter Plan features with unlimited appointments, automated reminders, and additional services like payment processing, marketing, and priority support.
- Team Plan: Priced at $39.99 a month or $399.99 per year, the Team Plan offers further benefits over and above the Pro Plan including unlimited users/calendars and team management features.
- Goldie partners with Stripe for payment processing
- Stripe’s fees vary by country but are typically around 1.6-2.6% per transaction plus a fixed fee.
- Users in the US and Canada are charged 2.6% + $0.30 per transaction
- Users in the UK are charged 1.6% + £0.20 per transaction
Calendly
Average Price
$16 per month
Trial Options
Free base tier plan
Minimum contract
Monthly or yearly
- Free Plan: Provides basic scheduling features for individuals with one event type and one connected calendar.
- Standard Plan: Priced at $10 per user/month, it offers unlimited event types, multiple calendar connections, and many integrations for users with more extensive scheduling needs.
- Teams Plan: For $16 per user/month, Calendly’s Teams plan includes advanced features like reporting, round-robin events, and Salesforce integration for team collaboration.
Calendly integrates with payment processors like PayPal and Stripe to enable users to collect payments when events are booked. The fees charged would be from those processors, not Calendly itself.
- PayPal charges percentage fees per transaction that vary based on the user’s country/plan
- Stripe typically charges 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction
SimplyBook.me
Average Price
$25 per month
Trial Options
Free base tier plan
Minimum contract
Monthly or yearly
- Basic Plan: Priced at $9.9 per month, it includes 100 bookings per month, 1 provider, and a selection of 3 custom features.
- Standard Plan: Costs $29.9 per month, offering 500 bookings per month, up to 15 providers, and 8 custom features.
- Premium Plan: At $59.9 per month, the plan covers 2,000 bookings per month, as many as 30 providers, and unlimited custom features.
Simplybook.me integrates with payment processors like PayPal and Stripe to enable users to collect payments when events are booked. The fees charged would be from those processors, not Simplybook.me itself.
- PayPal charges percentage fees per transaction that vary based on the user’s country/plan
- Stripe typically charges 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction
Setmore
Average Price
$20 per month
Trial Options
Free base tier plan
Minimum contract
Monthly or yearly
- Free Plan: Supports up to 4 users and offers features such as unlimited appointments, a custom booking page, and integrations with favorite apps, all at no cost.
- Pro Plan: Priced at $12.5/user/month (annual billing), it offers all Free Plan features along with 2-way calendar sync, SMS, and email reminders, and access to Pro integrations.
- Team Plan: For $9.5/user/month (annual billing), it provides all features of the Pro plan but accommodates unlimited users and custom branding.
- Setmore integrates with payment processors like Square and Stripe to enable accepting payments
- The fees charged are from those processors.
- Square charges 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction for contactless/chip payments, or 2.9% + 30¢ for keyed in payments
- Stripe charges a small percentage fee per transaction, but exact rates are not provided. Their standard rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per online transaction
- There are no extra charges by Setmore on top of the fees applied by the payment partners
Picktime
Average Price
$12 per month
Trial Options
Free base tier plan
Minimum contract
No contract, cancel any time
- FREE – basic features at no cost for 3 users
- STARTER – more features for 3 users, $ 3.00 per user per month
- PRO – advanced features. 10 users. $ 2.25 per user per month
- Picktime integrates with payment processors like Square and Stripe to enable accepting payments
- The fees charged are from those processors.
- Square charges 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction for contactless/chip payments, or 2.9% + 30¢ for keyed in payments
- Stripe charges a small percentage fee per transaction, but exact rates are not provided. Their standard rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per online transaction
- There are no extra charges by Picktime on top of the fees applied by the payment partners
Features Compared
To know which free booking software is best for your business, we must ensure the features your business requires are available and work how you want them to work. The below table gives you an overview of how strong features each system offer across the core booking software feature categories.
Calendar
Online Booking
POS
Team Management
Team
Marketing
4
2
3
2
4
4
3
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
4
2
3
4
3
5
4
3
4
4
3
3
3
4
3
3
4
3
4
3
The Best Paid Alternatives 2024
Offering a free plan is not the same as free. And you may even save money by going with a paid subscription from start. Below are my top pad alternatives in 2024.
Let’s Double Click on Our Top 2 Recommended Free Booking Systems
To learn more about each these systems, please read the individual reviews linked to below.
Salon Software Video Reviews & Tutorials
I’ve also recorded video reviews of these two lead alternatives.
Conclusion
As you’ve seen today, there are some pretty sophisticated free salon booking systems available. If you’re a solo business owner on a tight budget, I definitely see several of the alternatives here as viable alternatives.
However, if you run a serious business with a team, I really don’t think the software you use to manage the core of your business is where you should save money. And I’d recommend you consider all alternatives and pick what fits your business best.
You can access my complete list of the best salon software alternatives in 2024 here.