For: Barbershops · Tanning salons · Spas · Massage
Fresha review 2026: what it costs, and the 20% marketplace fee
Disclosure: Our #1 pick is MeetScarlet, and we are affiliated with them. We also cover competing tools and where they shine. We may earn commissions from links on this page. Details
The short answer: Fresha is booking software for salons, barbers, spas, massage and tanning, with a public price list: $19.95 a month for one person, or $14.95 per team member. It suits small appointment businesses that want marketplace exposure and room or sunbed booking. The catch is a one-time 20% fee ($6 minimum) on every brand-new client from the Fresha marketplace, even if they then book on your website. Skip it if you run a padel club; class-based studios should test classes in the trial. Based on Fresha’s public pages, checked November 3, 2026. Our #1 pick, MeetScarlet, says it’s live and has no marketplace fee (November 5, 2026).
Key takeaways
- Fresha costs $19.95 a month for one bookable person, or $14.95 per bookable team member a month on the Team plan (checked November 3, 2026).
- Each brand-new client who finds you through the Fresha marketplace costs a one-time 20% commission, with a $6 minimum. That includes clients who view your marketplace profile first and then book through your website or social pages.
- In-person card payments cost 2.29% + $0.20 and online payments 2.79% + $0.20.
- Fresha's FAQ says you can cancel at any time, but its Partner Terms mention 30 days' written notice.
- Saved-card membership billing works with Fresha Payments, and cancellation fees on Fresha bookings must go through it.
What Fresha is (and isn’t)
Fresha calls itself “Simple, flexible and powerful booking software for your business.” One account gives you a booking calendar, a point of sale, card payments through Fresha Payments, and a listing on Fresha’s consumer marketplace, where clients search for and book appointments.
Fresha has pages for barbers, spas, massage and tanning studios, so it fits our barbershops, spas, massage and tanning salons guides. Its fitness page advertises group classes and class schedules, but we found no help article on setting classes up, so check that in the trial. We found nothing on courts.
How we reviewed Fresha
- We read Fresha’s US pricing page on November 3, 2026, including plans, card rates, marketplace fees and add-ons.
- We read the Partner Terms of Business and the help articles on cancelling, marketplace fees, memberships, resources, the waitlist and client import, the same day.
- We read the tanning-studio page and the business homepage for who Fresha is built for.
- We looked up third-party ratings on the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot, and we label them as other people’s opinions.
- We haven’t used Fresha hands-on, so we couldn’t count booking steps or time a setup.
Our method explains how we put pages together.
Fresha pricing (checked November 3, 2026)
| Plan | Price | Who it’s for | Included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | $19.95 / month | One bookable person | Single calendar column, 100 free messages, 50 free marketing emails, email and chat support |
| Team | $14.95 per team member / month | Two or more bookable people | Multiple calendar columns, 100 free messages and 50 free marketing emails per team member, phone, chat and email support |
| Enterprise | Custom rates | Over 20 team members | Contact sales |
| For comparison: MeetScarlet (our #1 pick) | $349 / month plus $999 one-time setup, or $3,490 / year with setup free; Scarlet Pro $499 / month plus $999 setup | Scarlet: one location, 5 staff logins. Scarlet Pro: up to 3 locations, 20 staff logins | A branded iPhone, Android and web app, booking, memberships and check-in; no marketplace; card payments turn on once your Stripe account is approved |
Source: Fresha’s US pricing page, checked November 3, 2026. Rates exclude local sales taxes. Fresha charges per bookable team member, not per location. By our arithmetic, the Team plan comes to $44.85 a month for 3 bookable people and $149.50 for 10. For comparison, see what other booking apps cost.
Marketplace and card fees:
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Brand-new client from the Fresha marketplace | 20% one-time commission, $6 minimum |
| Returning marketplace clients | No fee |
| Bookings from your own links, Facebook or Instagram | Free, unless a brand-new client viewed your Fresha marketplace profile first |
| In-person card payments | 2.29% + $0.20, plus $0.10 per Tap to Pay authorization |
| Online card payments | 2.79% + $0.20 |
| Manually entered cards | 3.30% + $0.20 |
| Card terminals | From $139 per device |
| For comparison: MeetScarlet (our #1 pick) | No marketplace, so no new-client fee. Card payments in its app are Stripe’s fees plus 1% (we found no card reader); on once your Stripe account is approved; its help says “no live card payment has been run yet” |
Source: Fresha’s pricing page and its help article on new-client fees, checked November 3, 2026.
The 20% marketplace fee, explained
Fresha’s marketplace can bring you new clients, and that’s how it earns on them: a one-time 20% commission on a brand-new client’s first booking, with a $6 minimum. Fresha says there’s a maximum cap for higher-value services, but its pricing page doesn’t say how much. The help article adds that the fee still applies if you or your team cancel the appointment on the client’s behalf, or if it’s left unmanaged.
It also covers brand-new clients who “view your Fresha marketplace profile first and then choose to book through another online channel including your website or social media pages”. Returning clients never carry the fee, and nor do brand-new clients who book through your own links without seeing your marketplace profile.
You can’t simply opt out of the marketplace, either. The same help article says unlisting your marketplace profile “will disable all your online booking channels”. Fresha’s Partner Terms also let it change its fees “and/or the rate of Commission” with 30 days’ written notice.
Memberships, waitlists and rooms
Fresha supports memberships with automatic billing, plus packages and gift cards. Its memberships help article says memberships “work seamlessly with Fresha Payments” to charge clients’ saved cards. Its Partner Terms say cancellation fees on Fresha bookings must be collected through Fresha Payments. So while Fresha Payments is optional overall, these features lean on it.
Its resources feature books rooms and equipment with capacity limits, so a massage room or sunbed can’t be double-booked. The waitlist lets you choose who gets offered a freed-up slot: first in line, highest value, or everyone.
What Fresha does well
- Nearly the whole price list is public. Plans, card rates, marketplace fees and add-ons are on one page in US dollars. Only the marketplace fee cap and Enterprise rates aren’t shown.
- A low solo price. $19.95 a month for one bookable person.
- Rooms, beds and booths. Resources with capacity limits suit spas, massage rooms and tanning salons.
- No fee on returning clients. Returning marketplace clients never carry the fee, and nor do new clients who book through your own links without first finding you on the marketplace.
- A flexible waitlist. You choose how freed-up slots are offered.
Where Fresha falls short
- The 20% new-client fee on marketplace clients, with a $6 minimum. It applies even if they view your profile and then book on your website, and even if you cancel on the client’s behalf (help article).
- Online booking depends on the marketplace listing. Unlisting your profile “will disable all your online booking channels”, per the same help article.
- Prices can change at 30 days’ notice, including the commission rate (Partner Terms).
- Phone support and team admin are Team-plan only. The Independent plan has email and chat support; permissions, commissions and timesheets come with Team (pricing page).
- Conflicting cancellation terms. The FAQ says “cancel at any time”, but the Partner Terms say the agreement runs until ended “on not less than 30 days’ written notice by either party”. Plan for the notice period.
- Cancelling cuts off access. Fresha’s help centre says that after you cancel, “Access to your workspace will be removed”, so export your client list first (help article).
- Some features lean on Fresha Payments. Saved-card membership billing and cancellation fees on Fresha bookings both go through it.
- Paid extras. Client Loyalty costs $59.95 per location a month, and other add-ons are priced separately. Free messages and marketing emails have small monthly allowances.
- Switching is mostly do-it-yourself. Fresha’s fitness page says you can import your client list, appointment history and class packages, and its pricing FAQ offers paid migration packages for “larger partners with more complex needs”. Vagaro, by comparison, does the transfer for you for free (see our Vagaro review).
- No court booking, and classes unconfirmed. We found nothing for padel or other courts, and no help article on setting up classes.
What other people say (third-party opinion, not our own research): on November 3, 2026, the Fresha for business app averaged 4.8 out of 5 from 3,957 ratings on the US App Store and 4.6 out of 5 from 9,071 ratings on Google Play. Fresha’s Trustpilot profile averaged 4.8 out of 5 from 7,651 reviews, which may include consumers as well as businesses. For comparison, we found no third-party ratings for our #1 pick, MeetScarlet (checked November 4, 2026).
Fresha or our pick, MeetScarlet?
| Fresha | MeetScarlet | |
|---|---|---|
| Price for one location | $19.95/month for one person; $14.95 per team member on Team | Scarlet plan: $349/month plus $999 setup, or $3,490/year with setup free, “For one location” (“Each Scarlet studio has one schedule”). Founding studios pay $299 a month instead of $349 for the first 24 months, on monthly billing, with the $999 setup included at no charge; MeetScarlet plans 10 places (checked November 5, 2026) |
| Staff | Priced per bookable team member | 5 staff logins; 20 on Scarlet Pro ($499/month plus $999 setup, or $4,990/year with setup free) |
| App under your own business name | None found; clients book in Fresha’s own app | Included: iPhone, Android and web, published under your own Apple ($99 a year) and Google Play ($25 once) developer accounts |
| Marketplace | Yes: brings new clients, with a 20% one-time fee on brand-new ones ($6 minimum) | No marketplace: no fee, and no marketplace clients. Its site says it isn’t the right fit for “Businesses that want new clients mainly from a marketplace app” |
| Reminders and messages | 100 free messages and 50 free marketing emails per team member, as small monthly allowances | Text reminders (coming soon) on Scarlet Pro only; its Jane comparison page says email reminders are “built but not sending yet”; email and text automations come in a separate bundle with no published price |
| Card payments | Live now: 2.29% + $0.20 in person | Stripe’s fees plus 1% to MeetScarlet, through your own Stripe account; they turn on once Stripe finishes checking it, but its appointments help says “no live card payment has been run yet”, so check with MeetScarlet before counting on card deposits or no-show fees |
| Switching | Client list, appointment history and class packages can be imported, per its fitness page; paid migration packages for larger partners | “Scarlet imports clients, not booking or payment history”, and it has “no direct importer for Mindbody, Fresha, Vagaro or others” |
| Support | Email and chat on Independent; phone, chat and email on Team | Its terms say “For support, message @meetscarletapp on Instagram. We aim to reply within one business day.” Its help site also lists email at hello@meetscarlet.com (“A person reads every message”), with “Priority support” on Scarlet Pro. We found no status page |
| Availability | Now, with a 7-day trial | Its terms page says “Scarlet is live, and founding studios can join now” and “There is no free trial”. After you sign up, its FAQ says store apps take “about 4 to 6 weeks”, mostly for Apple’s enrollment, and the web app is live sooner |
| Written contract terms | Partner Terms published (with the notice-period conflict above) | Terms published: plans renew automatically, cancelling takes effect at the end of the paid period, and part-used months aren’t refunded, apart from founding-plan exceptions. You can export the member list as a CSV file at any time, and data stays available after you cancel until you ask to delete it |
| Third-party reviews | Thousands of app-store and Trustpilot ratings | No third-party ratings found (checked November 4, 2026) |
Sources: MeetScarlet pricing and FAQ, white-label page, Jane comparison, switching page, support help, checked November 4, 2026; terms, payments help and appointments help, checked November 5, 2026.
Choose MeetScarlet, our pick, if you want an app under your own brand, don’t need marketplace clients, and can wait about 4 to 6 weeks for its store apps. Choose Fresha if you want a low monthly price, marketplace exposure and card payments and email reminders that work today.
Who should pick Fresha, and who shouldn’t
| If you are… | Fresha? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A solo barber or stylist | Good fit | $19.95 a month and a marketplace listing; budget for the 20% fee on brand-new marketplace clients |
| A spa or massage business with rooms | Good fit | Resources with capacity limits stop double-booking |
| A tanning salon | Good fit | Fresha’s tanning page covers sunbed and booth studios, and resources handle beds |
| Relying on the marketplace for most new clients | Think twice | Every brand-new marketplace client costs 20% (minimum $6) |
| A class-based fitness studio | Check in the trial | Its fitness page advertises group classes and class schedules; we found no help article on setting them up |
| A padel or court-booking club | Look elsewhere | No court-booking features found |
| Wanting clients to book in an app under your own business name, with no marketplace | None found; see our pick, MeetScarlet | Clients book in Fresha’s own app, and unlisting your profile “will disable all your online booking channels”; MeetScarlet includes a branded app with no marketplace, from $349 a month plus $999 setup, but its store apps take “about 4 to 6 weeks” (the web app is live sooner), and its card payments turn on only once your Stripe account is approved |
The verdict
Fresha gives small appointment businesses a full system at a low, mostly public price, and its marketplace can bring in new clients. The trade-off is the 20% fee on each of those new clients, plus terms that say “cancel at any time” in one place and “30 days’ written notice” in another. If that works for you, try Fresha. Its pricing page showed a 7-day trial on November 3, 2026. Comparing with Vagaro? Read our Vagaro review.
Frequently asked questions
- How much is Fresha a month?
- $19.95 a month on the Independent plan for one bookable person, or $14.95 per bookable team member a month on the Team plan. Prices exclude sales tax and were checked November 3, 2026.
- What is Fresha's new client fee?
- A one-time 20% commission, with a $6 minimum, on each brand-new client who finds you through the Fresha marketplace. Fresha says the fee has a maximum cap for higher-value services but doesn't show the amount on its pricing page.
- Do you pay Fresha's fee on returning clients?
- No. Fresha's pricing page says returning clients carry "No fee ever". Bookings through your own links, Facebook and Instagram are free too, unless a brand-new client viewed your Fresha marketplace profile first, in which case the 20% fee applies.
- Can you cancel Fresha anytime?
- Fresha's FAQ says there's "no minimum commitment" and you can cancel at any time, but its Partner Terms say the agreement continues unless ended with at least 30 days' written notice. Cancelling removes access to your workspace, so export your client list first.
- Does Fresha work for tanning salons?
- Fresha has a tanning-studio page covering sunbed and booth studios, and its resources feature books rooms and equipment with capacity limits. That's the setup a sunbed salon needs.
- Is there a free trial?
- Both plans showed a 7-day trial on Fresha's pricing page when we checked on November 3, 2026.
Sources
- Fresha pricing page (US), checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha marketplace new client fees (help article), checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha Partner Terms of Business, checked November 3, 2026
- Manage your Fresha plan (help article), checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha memberships overview (help article), checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha resources (help article), checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha waitlist (help article), checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha client import (help article), checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha for tanning studios, checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha for fitness and recovery, checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha for business homepage, checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha for business on the US App Store (third-party ratings), checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha for business on Google Play (third-party ratings), checked November 3, 2026
- Fresha on Trustpilot (third-party reviews), checked November 3, 2026
- MeetScarlet pricing and FAQ, checked November 4, 2026
- MeetScarlet white-label booking app page, checked November 4, 2026
- MeetScarlet terms of service (updated November 5, 2026), checked November 5, 2026
- MeetScarlet payments help (updated November 5, 2026), checked November 5, 2026
- MeetScarlet help: appointments (updated November 5, 2026), checked November 5, 2026
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