Fresha vs Treatwell (2026): Which Should Your Salon Use?

Fresha and Treatwell look alike from the outside. Both run a consumer app that people browse to find a treatment nearby, both give you a diary to run the business from, and both make their money from a mix of subscription, commission and card fees.

The differences are in the detail: how big the cut is, how the monthly fee works, and how easy it is to leave. This guide puts each of those side by side using only what the two companies publish themselves. We build our own booking systems for salons, so we've got a horse in this race, and we'll be upfront about that when we get to it.

How Fresha charges

According to its UK pricing page, the Independent plan is £14.95 monthly for someone working on their own, and the Team plan is £9.95 monthly per person. Businesses with more than 20 team members get custom rates. There's a 7-day trial, no minimum commitment and no long-term contract, so you can cancel any month.

When the Fresha marketplace sends you a brand-new client, you pay 20% of their first booking once, with a minimum of £4. Clients who book through your own website, Facebook or Instagram don't trigger it, and returning clients never do. Card payments are charged per transaction, and Fresha states all its rates before VAT.

We've gone through every Fresha charge in detail, including texts and emails, in a separate post.

How Treatwell charges

Treatwell's partner pricing page lists two plans, Freelancer and Advanced, and Advanced covers your whole team for the one fee, however many people are on it. Neither plan has a price on the page. You find out the monthly fee from Treatwell when you sign up.

It takes 35% the first time a stranger discovers you on its app and makes a booking, and the page notes the rate is subject to location. Repeat bookings are free of commission, and so are bookings clients make directly with you. Online prepayments carry a 2.5% fee, and VAT is added on top of its commission and fees.

Its partner terms add two things worth knowing. You can end the agreement by giving 30 days' notice, whatever your reason. And a lapsed client, with no appointment in the past 365 days, is treated as brand new if they return through the app. Our full breakdown of Treatwell's fees works through each charge on a £40 appointment.

Fresha vs Treatwell: the numbers side by side

Read off each company's own pages on 18 September 2026. Where we've written "not published", the company doesn't state it publicly. That doesn't mean the charge doesn't exist.

What a new client costs on each platform

Commission is where the two differ most, so here's what each one takes from a new client's first visit at three different prices. We've added 20% VAT to both, as if your salon isn't VAT-registered. Card fees and monthly fees are left out.

On a £15 treatment, Fresha's £4 minimum kicks in, because 20% would only be £3.00. That narrows the gap on cheap services, and below about £11.43 Treatwell's cut is actually the smaller of the two. Above that, the bigger the booking, the more Treatwell's higher rate adds up: on a £90 treatment, the difference is £16.20 for a single client.

That isn't the whole comparison. If one app brings you twice as many new clients who then keep coming back, it can be worth paying more for each one. Check where your new clients actually came from over the last few months before deciding.

Taking payment on a £40 booking

Card fees are smaller, but you pay them on every visit, not just the first. Here's what each platform charges to process the same booking, before VAT.

So Fresha is a little cheaper when clients prepay online, and Treatwell a little cheaper at the till. Treatwell's card machine costs £199 once; Fresha's pricing page doesn't give a price for its terminal. If you already have a card machine you like, ask whether you can keep using it before you sign up.

What each one includes

Price isn't everything, so here's what each company lists as included on its own pricing page. A feature missing from a list isn't proof it doesn't exist. It just isn't on the page, so ask before you rely on it.

On paper, Fresha lists more, and it also prices its extras openly: a loyalty scheme, AI reception cover, a Xero link and more, each with a monthly fee next to it. Treatwell's list is shorter but covers the everyday jobs, and it includes unlimited email reminders rather than a monthly text allowance. If you rely on consultation forms or sell memberships, check Treatwell covers them before you move.

When Fresha makes more sense

• You want to know the full monthly cost before you sign anything.
• You don't want a notice period, so you can walk away any month.
• You're a solo therapist or a small team, where a per-person fee stays low.
• Most of your treatments are higher-priced, where a lower commission rate saves the most.

When Treatwell makes more sense

• Its marketplace is sending more new clients to salons in your area than Fresha's is. Ask other salon owners locally, as it varies from town to town.
• You have a bigger team, and a plan with unlimited team members for one fee works out cheaper than paying per head. Get the monthly price in writing to check.
• You're happy to run your whole diary inside Treatwell's own system.

Can you use Fresha and Treatwell together?

You can list on both, but it takes care. Treatwell states in its FAQ that it won't connect to other salon software, so the two diaries won't talk to each other. A client could book a slot on one app that's already taken on the other.

If you do try it, keep one system as your main diary and block the time by hand in the second. That's workable for a handful of slots. On a busy week it gets messy, and an unhappy client who turned up to a double booking is hard to win back.

Switching between them and keeping your clients

Fresha's help centre explains how to export your client list as an Excel or CSV file. Saved card details can't be exported, for security reasons, so clients will need to add their card again on the new system.

Treatwell's FAQ states that your data belongs to your business, and still does after you cancel. Its partner help centre has an article on exporting your client list, but it only opens for logged-in partners, so we can't tell you the steps. Ask Treatwell to confirm the format before you give notice.

Whichever way you move, your reviews and your listing belong to the app you're leaving, so they won't come with you. Give yourself an overlap: bring the client list across first, then close the old account once your regulars are booking in the new place.

The option that isn't a marketplace: your own booking system

Here's our bias, declared: we build booking systems for salons and clinics. The booking lives on your own website, so nobody takes a percentage of any client, new or returning. Booking Pro costs £2,500 up front, and £59 monthly after that.

The trade-off is simple. Fresha and Treatwell both put you in front of people searching their apps. Your own system won't do that. It suits salons whose new clients already come from Google, Instagram and word of mouth, so paying a marketplace to introduce them makes little sense.

KAY Clinics in Wickersley is one we built. It's a newly opened aesthetics clinic, and its site puts every price on the page and lets people book a free consultation through a five-step flow that runs at any hour. Its founder, Shuaib Hanafi, wrote in his review: "The final result has exceeded my expectations, and I couldn’t be happier with how KAY Clinics is now presented online." It's in our portfolio if you'd like a closer look.

If you're also weighing up a bigger platform, we've compared Fresha with Mindbody in the same way.

Frequently asked questions

Not sure which way to go?

Message us on WhatsApp or call 01709 225755 for a free 10-point check. We'll look over your website and Google listing, ask where your new clients really come from, and help you work out which of the three routes leaves you better off. If filling the diary is the real problem, our social media work for salons is built for that.