Fresha
Free booking software for beauty and wellness with payment processing
What it does
Fresha is a booking and business platform for salons, spas, barbers, and wellness businesses. The pitch is "the software is free forever" - Fresha earns on payment processing (Fresha Pay) and on the optional Marketplace where consumers discover businesses and Fresha takes a booking fee on new-client bookings. Includes online booking, calendar, POS, client records, memberships, packages, inventory, and marketing (email and SMS on top-ups). Popular in the UK, Australia, and increasingly the US.
Free tier
Yes
Setup
easy
Key features
Integrates with
Google, Instagram, Facebook
Who this fits
- Salons, spas, barbers, and wellness businesses that accept card payments
- Solo providers wanting a genuinely $0 software plan
- Multi-staff shops willing to run payments through Fresha Pay
- International businesses - Fresha has strong non-US market coverage
- Owners who want a modern UI without Mindbody or Vagaro's price
Who it does NOT fit
- Businesses that already use Square or Stripe and refuse to switch processors (Fresha's model requires Fresha Pay to unlock the "free" pitch)
- Clinical medspa with chart-note and injectable-tracking needs (Boulevard, Mangomint)
- Fitness studios with class-based scheduling and check-in (Mindbody, ClubReady)
- Consulting, coaching, professional services (Calendly, Cal.com, Acuity)
- Home service / trades (Jobber, Housecall Pro)
Pricing
Real gotchas
- The Marketplace fee on new clients is the most-complained-about pricing point
- Fresha Pay is opt-in in the US but effectively required for the platform to earn - some features are gated behind it
- If you leave Fresha, exporting client data is straightforward, exporting appointment history less so
- SMS reminders are pay-per-message and can add up on a large book
- Support has been criticized in the UK and Australia for slow email response - forums and Trustpilot show a mixed picture
- No native fitness class-check-in flow that competes with Mindbody
Integrations that matter
Otto’s take on this tool
Recommend Fresha when: user runs a salon, spa, barber, or wellness practice, wants zero software cost, and is willing to use Fresha Pay for card processing. Solo providers and 2-15 staff shops fit best. Pairs with Google Business Profile and Instagram. Do NOT recommend for clinical medspa (Boulevard or Mangomint), for fitness (Mindbody or Vagaro), for consulting (Calendly or Cal.com), or for anyone locked into Square or Stripe. Explicitly warn about the 20% Marketplace new-client fee up front - it is the number one Fresha complaint online.
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Editor's curated reviews
6,841 reviews across TrustPilot - avg 4.8/5Curated by Otto from TrustPilot public reviews (fetched 2026-08-31). Fresha averages 4.8 across 6,841 TrustPilot reviews - 88% 5-star, dominated by named-rep live-chat thank-yous (Dardan, Rinor, Viola, Era, Arlind, Butrint). The 8% 1-star tail is meaningful and clusters on Marketplace new-client billing disputes - relevant context for salon/beauty operators evaluating the free platform + marketplace-fee model. G2 and Capterra were consulted for aggregate context but not directly cited here (source-access limits). Not user-submitted on Ottomately.
“The service works fine and I had a great experience with their customer support. Dardan contacted me regarding my issue and they managed to resolve it very quickly.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“Always a great help from the fresha team. The live chat today for me with Rinor was spot on professional and very clear.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“Viola was very helpful and quickly pointed me to the right report I needed. Clear and friendly service.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“Era was such a helpful LiveChat agent. They helped me find workarounds, and continued to help me as i worked through the problems in real time.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“She listened to me and calmed me down while doing some detective work on the side. She was brilliant.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“Butrint was very helpful and sorted my issue out.”
TrustPilot5.0/5“Despite this, Fresha is still charging us the Marketplace new-client fee because the appointment was marked as completed. No treatment was provided and the client was refunded.”
TrustPilot1.0/5“Fresha then treated that person as a 'new client' they had acquired for our business and charged us a Marketplace fee, regardless of whether Fresha genuinely acquired that client.”
TrustPilot1.0/5
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