Every booking platform quotes you a monthly price. That number isn't the one that matters.
The one that matters is the cut some of them take when a new client books you for the first time. It's a lot bigger than the subscription.
What the big four charge in 2026
- Fresha: $19.95/mo on its Independent plan, plus a one-time 20% (minimum $6) on a new client who finds you through its marketplace, plus card processing. (Fresha pricing)
- Vagaro: $30/mo for one calendar, plus $10/mo for each calendar you add. Its pricing page lists no new-client fee, which is worth saying out loud. The $23.99 you'll see there is a promo rate for the first six months. (Vagaro pricing)
- Booksy: $29.99/mo plus tax, and a one-time 30% of a new client's first visit when Boost is switched on, capped at $100. (Booksy pricing)
- StyleSeat: $19/mo on the new-pro rate its pricing page is running right now, plus a one-time 30% of the first appointment with a new client StyleSeat sends you, capped at $50. (StyleSeat pricing, StyleSeat help center)
Want the monthly cost side by side? That's in Booksy vs Fresha vs Vagaro for a solo pro.
The subscription isn't the part that hurts
Twenty or thirty dollars a month is a sandwich situation. Survivable. The commission is where it stops being funny.
Thirty percent of a new client's first visit on a $120 color is $36, pulled out of the exact appointment where you were trying to turn somebody into a regular.
Credit where it's due: both caps exist, and they matter. StyleSeat stops at $50 and Booksy at $100. So StyleSeat's full 30% applies up to about a $167 service, and Booksy's up to about $333. Past that the fee flattens out and the percentage quietly shrinks. If your average ticket sits under those lines, you're the customer this pricing was built around.
And in fairness to the platforms: that fee buys discovery. A total stranger typed "balayage near me" and found you. If that's what happened, $36 once for a client who comes back for three years is a reasonable trade. Nobody's being robbed.
The question worth asking
Is that what happened? Did the marketplace find that client, or did they already know your name?
It matters, because the fee is only supposed to cover strangers the marketplace sends. Fresha's page says no fee ever applies to returning clients. StyleSeat's help center says the fee covers the first appointment with a new client it sends you, and nothing after that. Booksy's page says it doesn't charge commission on new clients who find you online or through your own marketing.
So count. Of your last twenty new clients, how many did the marketplace hand you, and how many came from a friend, a post, or walking past your window? Then check which ones you paid a fee on. If the two lists don't match, ask the app why.
After that, send everyone who already knows you to your own booking link, so there's no question about who found them. Want the yearly number? Put three figures into the marketplace fee calculator and see what the fee adds up to.
Where we sit, since you're going to ask
Morningside's booking page is free and takes a cut of nothing. Here's the unglamorous part: we have no marketplace, so we won't bring you strangers. That's not what this is.
What it does is keep the clients you already earned from quietly disappearing: a booking link that's yours, confirmations, reminders a day before and two hours before, a rebook link in the text when somebody cancels, and a rebook text when you mark a no-show. 50 texts a month are included.
If nobody knows you exist, a marketplace can be worth its commission. If the people who know you keep vanishing at 1pm, that's a different bill, and you shouldn't pay the first one to fix the second.
Prices and fees were read off each company's own pricing page, and StyleSeat's new-client fee off its help center, on October 13, 2026. They change often, so check them for the latest.