Free until the bill arrives — the hidden cost of Fresha.
Fresha charges 20% commission (minimum €6) on every new client who books through their marketplace. On a €50 treatment that is €10 per new client. With 20 new marketplace clients a month you are paying €200–€400 in commission alone — on top of subscription and processing fees — month after month.
Fresha gives you a profile page on their platform. Clients see you directly next to every competitor in your area. You have no website of your own, no custom domain, and you are building brand awareness for Fresha — not for your salon.
Clients who book through the Fresha marketplace are, in practice, Fresha's clients. You have limited access to their data outside the platform. Leave Fresha and you lose your online booking stream. Those clients do not automatically belong to you.
Fresha charges €0.14 per SMS for reminders and confirmations. A salon sending two SMS messages per appointment across 40 bookings a month pays €11–€15 extra every month on SMS alone. It is rarely displayed prominently in their pricing.
Fresha charges 1.29% + €0.20 per transaction on card payments. Across 40 appointments at €55 average that is over €36 per month. Add subscription, marketplace commission, and SMS — and you are paying far more than a platform that calls itself free should cost.
€12.95/mo + 20% commission (min €6) + 1.29% + €0.20/tx + €0.14/SMS
Subscription + marketplace commission on new clients + processing fees + SMS
Most salon owners don't know until they see the numbers.
You save per month: €184
That's per year: €2.214
Your client wants a cut with Bonnie and a keratin treatment with Lisa. Traditional booking systems make them book twice. DoTheBeauty handles it in one seamless flow.
Same 2.5 hours. Traditional booking: one client, one stylist blocked. DoTheBeauty: Emma's full multi-stylist appointment AND a second client in Bonnie's freed time.
Fresha has one real strength: marketplace visibility. If you are opening a new salon in a city where Fresha is active, their platform can bring you new clients quickly. For salons without an established client base, that can be a genuine head start. But that visibility comes at a price. Every new client via the marketplace costs 20% commission — plus processing fees and SMS on top. For a salon with 40 bookings a month, 20 via new marketplace clients, that adds up to €250–€400 extra per month. And you are building client relationships for Fresha, not for yourself. DoTheBeauty is the better choice if you: - Want predictable, flat costs (€19.95–€79/month, zero commission) - Want your own website that ranks on Google for local searches - Want full control over your client data and booking relationship - Already have regular clients you do not need to find through a marketplace For salons that already have a client base — or are willing to build one through Google and social media — DoTheBeauty is structurally cheaper and gives you more control. Most salon owners who switch save €200–€400 per month.