What is the cheapest salon booking software in the UK?
Covered Beauty costs £9 a month (Solo) or £19 (Salon), with no commission and no contract. We make it, so it’s in the table with everyone else. In our worked example, a solo tech taking 60 bookings a month at £40, all paid by card online, pays £57 a month with Covered Beauty, card fees included. Square Appointments’ Free plan (£48.60) comes to less, so a free plan is the cheapest way to take bookings if you can do without what it leaves out. Marketplaces cost the most once they find you new clients: with 15 of those bookings from new marketplace clients, Fresha comes to £210.54 and Treatwell to £324 plus its monthly fee.
Who wrote this
Dean Hodgson, founder of Covered Beauty. Every other provider’s figure comes from its own pricing page, linked in its row with the day we read it. There are no affiliate links on this page.
What does a month cost a solo tech?
We worked one example out the same way for every plan. It’s cheapest first, so different numbers can change the order.
- 60 bookings a month at £40 each, £2,400 in all.
- 15 of them are brand-new clients a marketplace found for you, where the provider has one that charges for them.
- Every booking is paid by card online through the system’s own payments, at its rate for standard UK cards. For Covered Beauty that’s Stripe, at 1.5% + 20p.
- You aren’t VAT registered, so VAT is a cost to you. Where a provider says its price excludes VAT or VAT is added, we’ve added 20%. Where its page doesn’t mention VAT, we haven’t.
- One person, one location, paying monthly.
Source: Stripe UK pricing, checked 24 October 2026.
| Plan | Monthly fee | 15 new marketplace clients | Card fees on £2,400 | Total a month | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square Appointments FreeSource: Square Appointments UK pricing and Square’s pricing help page, checked 26 October 2026 | £0£0 for one location | £0None listed | £48.601.4% + 25p, its online rate for UK cards | £48.60 | Prepayments on every plan. No-show and cancellation fees need Plus |
| Covered Beauty SoloOurs. See both plans | £9£9 a month | £0None. Find a salon lists you at no fee | £48Stripe’s 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards | £57 | Card deposits and no-show fees on both plans, paid into your own Stripe account |
| SumUp Bookings FreeSource: SumUp Bookings UK and SumUp UK online payments, checked 26 October 2026 | £0£0. No monthly subscription fees | £0No commission on bookings | £602.5% on online payments | £60 | No-show and cancellation fees aren’t included on the free plan |
| Square Appointments PlusSource: Square Appointments UK pricing and Square’s pricing help page, checked 26 October 2026 | £29£29 a month per location. VAT not stated | £0None listed | £48.601.4% + 25p, its online rate for UK cards | £77.60 | No-show and cancellation fees from the card on file |
| Booksy with Boost offSource: Booksy UK pricing, checked 26 October 2026 | £48£40 a month, VAT added | £0None. Marketplace bookings are free with Boost off | £51.551.29% + 20p + VAT on mobile payments | £99.55 | No-show protection included, at its mobile payment fees |
| SumUp Bookings with POS PlusSource: SumUp Bookings UK, SumUp UK pricing and SumUp UK online payments, checked 26 October 2026 | £46.80£39 a month, excluding VAT | £0No commission on bookings | £602.5% on online payments | £106.80 | Deposits and cancellation fees come with POS Plus |
| Fresha IndependentSource: Fresha UK pricing, checked 26 October 2026 | £17.94£14.95 a month, excluding VAT | £14420% once on a brand-new marketplace client, minimum £4, excluding VAT | £48.601.40% + 25p on online card payments | £210.54 | No fee on returning clients, or on bookings through your own link, Facebook or Instagram |
| Booksy with Boost onSource: Booksy UK pricing, checked 26 October 2026 | £48£40 a month, VAT added | £21630% once on a Boost client’s first visit, minimum £5, VAT added | £51.551.29% + 20p + VAT on mobile payments | £315.55 | Boost is optional. The fee is only on clients Boost brings you |
| Treatwell Freelancer or AdvancedSource: Treatwell UK pricing, checked 26 October 2026 | Not publishedAsk Treatwell for your plan’s price | £25235% on a new marketplace client’s first booking, subject to location, VAT added | £722.5% + VAT on online prepayments | £324 plus its monthly fee | 0% commission on repeat bookings and bookings made directly with you |
Each provider’s figures come from the pages in its row, read on 26 October 2026, in pounds as the page gave them. We’ve added VAT to card fees only where the provider says it’s added. Fresha’s page says its rates exclude 20% sales tax without saying which ones. We’ve added it to its plan and its new client fee, not to its card fees, which would add £9.72 if it applies. Extra team members and card readers aren’t in the sums.
When does a free plan win?
When your diary is quiet or no-shows rarely cost you. A free plan has no monthly fee, so you only pay card fees, but each one leaves something out.
Square Appointments
The Free plan is £0 for one location, with prepayments, and no booking fee or commission is listed. No-show and cancellation fees need Plus, at £29 a month per location. Its page doesn’t mention VAT. With Plus, the example comes to £77.60.
Square’s pages give 1.4% + 25p for online payments with UK cards, and 2.5% for a card on file or keyed in. They don’t name a rate for booking prepayments, so we’ve used the online rate. At 2.5%, the Free plan would come to £60 in the example, more than ours at £57. Check it with Square.
Source: Square Appointments UK pricing and Square’s pricing help page, checked 26 October 2026.
SumUp Bookings
No monthly subscription fees and no commission on bookings. When clients pay online, you pay SumUp’s online rate, 2.5%. Deposits and cancellation fees come with POS Plus, at £39 a month excluding VAT, which brings the example to £106.80.
Source: SumUp Bookings UK, SumUp UK pricing and SumUp UK online payments, checked 26 October 2026.
Two free plans that work differently
Book in Beautiful’s Free for You plan is £0 a month, with 0% commission on new clients, and its page lists online payments and deposits with zero transaction fees. So on your side it can cost nothing at all. Your clients pay instead: its pricing page’s example adds a £1.50 booking charge to a £20 booking. Setmore’s free plan covers up to four users, but its prices are in US dollars and card payments go through Square, Stripe or PayPal at their own rates.
Source: Book in Beautiful pricing and Setmore pricing, checked 26 October 2026.
Covered Beauty has no free plan. It has a free week with no card needed, then £9 a month with card deposits and no-show fees included, and no commission on any booking.
When does a marketplace cost more, and when is it worth it?
A marketplace charges for the clients it finds you, once each. On a £40 first booking, with VAT added, a new client costs £9.60 on Fresha, £14.40 on Booksy with Boost on and £16.80 on Treatwell. Those fees, times 15, make the big totals in the table.
With no marketplace clients at all, Fresha comes to £66.54 in the example, Booksy with Boost off to £99.55, and Treatwell to £72 in card fees plus a monthly fee it doesn’t publish.
Source: Fresha UK pricing, Booksy UK pricing and Treatwell UK pricing, checked 26 October 2026.
The fee can still be worth paying. Fresha charges nothing on returning clients, and Treatwell charges 0% on repeat bookings, so a new client who comes back for years costs you that fee once. Our guide to booking apps with no commission works out what a new client costs over their visits. Leaving Treatwell? Read Treatwell alternatives for UK salons.
What isn’t in the table?
Timely and Calendall, because we couldn’t confirm a UK monthly price in pounds from their own pages on 26 October 2026. Timely bills weekly, and our Covered Beauty vs Timely page has the prices we read on 10 October 2026. Check Timely pricing and Calendall prices before you compare. For systems priced by quote, and for features rather than cost, read the best salon booking software in the UK or Fresha alternatives for small UK salons.
When isn’t Covered Beauty the cheapest choice?
- Your diary is quiet and you don’t need no-show fees. A free plan costs less, and on Book in Beautiful’s your clients pay the booking charge instead of you.
- You want a marketplace to find you new clients. Ours, Find a salon, lists you at no fee, but it’s small.
- Your team is bigger than five, or you need the software to switch sunbeds on through a timer.
- You’re outside the UK.
Otherwise, at £57 in the example, Covered Beauty’s Solo plan costs less than every plan in the table with no-show fees or a marketplace that charges. Try it for a week with your real treatments before you decide.
Questions about the cost of booking software
What is the cheapest salon booking software in the UK?
Covered Beauty costs £9 a month (Solo) or £19 (Salon), with no commission and no contract. We make it, so it’s in the table with everyone else. In our worked example, a solo tech taking 60 bookings a month at £40, all paid by card online, pays £57 a month with Covered Beauty, card fees included. Square Appointments’ Free plan (£48.60) comes to less, so a free plan is the cheapest way to take bookings if you can do without what it leaves out. Marketplaces cost the most once they find you new clients: with 15 of those bookings from new marketplace clients, Fresha comes to £210.54 and Treatwell to £324 plus its monthly fee.
Is there free salon booking software in the UK?
Yes. Square Appointments’ Free plan is £0 for one location, SumUp Bookings has no monthly subscription fees, Book in Beautiful’s Free for You plan is £0 a month and Setmore’s free plan covers up to four users, priced in US dollars (all checked 26 October 2026). You still pay card fees when clients pay by card, and free plans leave things out, such as no-show fees on Square’s Free plan.
Is Fresha cheaper than Covered Beauty?
Not in our example. Fresha’s Independent plan is £14.95 a month excluding VAT, £17.94 with it, against £9 for Covered Beauty Solo. With card fees on £2,400 of bookings, that’s £66.54 a month against £57, and £210.54 once 15 of the bookings are new clients from its marketplace (checked 26 October 2026).
Do I pay VAT on booking software?
If you aren’t VAT registered, VAT on a provider’s price is a cost to you. When we checked on 26 October 2026, Fresha’s prices excluded VAT, Booksy added it, and Treatwell’s commissions and fees were subject to it. Covered Beauty charges £9 a month for Solo, with nothing added.
Are card fees included in Covered Beauty’s price?
No. Card payments go through your own Stripe account, and Stripe charges its own fees, 1.5% + 20p for a standard UK card when we checked on 24 October 2026. Covered Beauty takes no commission on top.
What else should you read?
Booking apps with no commission (UK)
Which booking apps take a cut, on which clients, and how to keep the clients you found yourself free of fees.
Read the guide ↗Treatwell alternatives for UK salons
What Treatwell charges, why a salon might look elsewhere, the alternatives with and without a marketplace, and how to move.
Read the guide ↗Best salon booking software in the UK (2026)
Twelve booking systems compared on price, commission, deposits and consent forms, and who each one suits.
Read the guide ↗Taking deposits for the first time? Read how to take deposits for beauty appointments.