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.
If you run a real business, I recommend you sign up for proper software, like Mangomint (the highest-rated platform right now).
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.
Fresha
The Fully Subscription Free Salon Scheduling Software (Worldwide)
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$80 per month
Available in 22 languages in over 120 countries worldwide
Square Appointments
The Scheduling Software with a Free Plan for Individuals
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$45 per month
U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, the UK.
Goldie
The Salon Specific Scheduling App with 20 Free Appointments per Month
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$50 per month
U.S., the UK, CA, AU, NZ, SG, DE
Calendly
The Popular Booking App for any Business with a Free Plan for Individuals
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$16 per month
Available worldwide
SimplyBook.me
The Booking App with 50 Free Appointments per Month
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$25 per month
Available in over 200 countries worldwide
Setmore
The Appointment App for Any Business with a Free Plan for up to 4 Users
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$20 per month
Available almost worldwide
Picktime
A Good Booking System Alternative with Free Plan for up to 3 Users
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$12 per month
Available worldwide
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.
Fresha 
Square Appointments 
Goldie 
Calendly 
SimplyBook.me 
Setmore 
Picktime 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
Fresha 4
2
3
2
4
Square Appointments 4
3
5
5
4
Goldie 4
4
3
3
3
SimplyBook.me 4
2
3
4
3
Calendly 5
4
3
4
4
Setmore 3
3
3
4
3
Picktime 3
4
3
4
3
My Recommendation
I don’t think pricing should be the main factor when deciding on the software to run your business. It’s more important to consider how well the platform helps you grow. Thus, here’s my recommendation for paid and subscription-free options.
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 paid alternatives in 2024.
Mangomint
Mangomint
The Highest-Rated, Most Well-Designed Salon Booking Software
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$245 per month
U.S. and Canada
GlossGenius
GlossGenius
The Easy-to-Use Alternative for Independent Professionals
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$48 per month
U.S.
Vagaro
Vagaro
The Feature Rich and Affordable Salon Software
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$120 per month
U.S., Canada, Australia, and the UK
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.
Fresha
The Subscription-Free Salon Booking Software
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$80 per month
Available in 22 languages in over 120 countries worldwide
Fresha, previously called Shedul, is a complete system for salons with an easy to use appointment calendar. It’s the only 100% subscription-free salon booking system, so for individual stylists or new salons that need to keep fixed costs low, this is the perfect option.
Apart from the robust salon appointment scheduling, Fresha features a point-of-sale system, staff scheduling, product, and stock management, payment processing, financial reporting and analytics, and a range of marketing tools.
Fresha makes it easy for you to attract clients online through your own website, the Fresha marketplace, or by connecting to their Instagram and Facebook business pages.
You’ll be surprised how much you get with your free Fresha subscription. It’s no wonder it’s the fastest-growing salon appointment system with 250’000 stylists and therapists in more than 120 countries.
It gives you a lot of the advanced features you’d normally need to pay for – like free SMS, built-in no-show protection, and marketing automation (e.g. like client birthday emails).
An important difference with Fresha is that they offer a salon client marketplace. This allows you to promote your business and get discovered by new clients. Note that this is also where they earn their money back.
When you market your salon or spa on the platform and you get a new client, they’ll charge you 20% of the appointment. Also, as you’ll be using their credit card payment gateway, you’ll also be charged transaction fees when clients pay online (2.19% + $0.2).
This means you only pay when the platform is generating business for you which I think makes a lot of sense.
The main reason I like Fresha is that it’s so easy to use and despite being subscription-free, you get many of the features that other companies charge for.
One thing to keep in mind with Fresha is that it works best as a complete system on their platform. If you already have an established website and other marketing solutions, other options might give you more control and flexibility.
Pros and Cons
- Free-subscription for unlimited staff. Only usage-based pricing.
- User-friendly and easy to learn
- Available in many countries and languages
- Fresha marketplace where more clients can discover your barbershop
- Limited options to customize the appearance (default designs look good, though)
- Clients are required to create a Fresha account to book
- Online booking cannot be integrated with your website (need to link out to your Fresha page)
- Limited support for integration with other platforms. You’re locked into using the Fresha tools.
Square Appointments
The Popular POS & Appointment Software with a Subscription-Free Plan for Individuals
Note
The overall score considers ease of use, customer service, features, user ratings, and cost. Scores are determined solely by our editorial team.
Note
Assumes you run a business with a mid-size team and have activated the more common add-ons. What you will pay will be lower or higher than this. See the separate section about pricing for full details.
$45 per month
U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, the UK.
Square Appointments is beautifully designed and super easy to use. This is the go-to solution for many local businesses as it is rich in functionality, integrates with the full range of Square tools, and is free for individuals to start using.
When joining Square, you get access to so much more than “just” Square Appointments. You can easily integrate their credit card payment tools, POS system, marketing features, online store, payroll & team management, and more when you need it.
Square is set up to grow with you as your business grows and is a complete business partner for small and bigger businesses.
What I found most impressive is how well it supports client/staff notifications and online bookings. While you work in the simple calendar view and arrange appointments, your clients and employees are kept up-to-date with simple, customizable notifications.
You also have several options when integrating the booking feature on your website. You can embed it or link out to your booking page. This makes it very powerful vs. some of the competitors.
On top of that, Square Appointments is very strong at the business fundamentals (like inventory management and client data management).
Pros and Cons
- Free for one-person businesses
- Well-designed, easy to use, interface
- Integration with the full suite of Square applications for endless possibilities
- Robust core business management (inventory, reports, and client data)
- Limited flexibility when designing online booking page, booking widget, e-mails and other aspects that you may want to adapt
- It gets a bit expensive for the growing team that expands with more locations
The Online Booking Best Alternatives in 2024
Check out the video below where we talk through the top software options for salons and spas in 2024. We discuss the options mentioned here and how business owners should consider paid vs. free 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 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.
