Free salon software: how to choose a plan without commission in 2026
Free sounds simple, but in salon software it rarely means the same thing twice. One provider gives you a two-week trial, another a permanent plan with clear limits, and a third charges no subscription at all but takes a percentage of every booking. That last model feels free while your calendar is half empty and gets expensive the moment business picks up. This article helps you choose on numbers instead of promises. You will convert a commission model into euros per year, work through a checklist of the features that genuinely matter in a salon, and see which limits belong to a free plan. By the end you will know which type of free salon software fits your calendar, and when upgrading actually becomes necessary.
Why a free start makes sense for many salons
When you are starting out or working solo, every euro counts. A free plan lowers the barrier to digitising your calendar without committing to a subscription for something you still have to test in your daily routine.
The biggest gain is availability. With your hands in a client's hair you simply cannot answer the phone. An online calendar takes over: clients book from the sofa in the evening and you wake up to a full day. What you need for that is essentially appointment scheduling software, plus what a salon specifically requires: client records, a point of sale and payments.
The second benefit is less visible but worth more over time: from day one you build a structured client database. If you work for yourself, our tips on salon software for freelancers show how to set that foundation up without losing your evenings to it.
Trial period or permanently free: the difference shows up in your calendar
A fourteen-day trial sounds generous, but two weeks is short. In that time you have to enter your services, set your opening hours, receive your first online bookings and judge whether the system suits how you work. If the clock runs out while you are still setting up, you end up choosing under time pressure.
A permanently free plan reverses that pressure. You set things up when it suits you, use the software properly for a few months, and only decide about upgrading when your calendar calls for it. The limit is then based on volume rather than time, and that is a limit that moves with your business.
Want to know first what a free salon plan generally does and does not include? We cover that in our overview of free salon software. Here we go a step further and look at the real cost behind the word free.
Convert commission into euros before you choose
Some platforms charge no monthly fee but take a percentage of every treatment booked through their system. On paper you pay nothing; in practice you pay more the better you perform. That is exactly the wrong way round.
Make the sum concrete. At 5 percent commission on a 60 euro treatment you pay 3 euros per appointment. At 50 bookings a month that is 150 euros, or 1,800 euros a year - and that figure grows with every extra client you win. Put a fixed monthly price next to it and the tipping point becomes obvious.
That is why Salonnare uses fixed amounts without per-booking commission: Free at 0 euros (1 staff member and 50 bookings per month), Starter at 29 euros per month and Pro at 59 euros per month. Payments run through Mollie or Stripe straight into your own account, and we take no cut as your software provider. To weigh those amounts against other providers, use the method in our guide on how to compare salon software. If you would rather try it yourself, you can start free on the Free plan.
Checklist: what to judge a free plan on
Not every free plan is equally usable. Some providers restrict the features so tightly that you have to switch within a month anyway. So check four points explicitly.
One: can you place a booking widget on your own website or social media, so clients book on your domain rather than in the provider's marketplace? Two: are there digital client records where you can find history, preferences and past appointments? Three: where is your data stored, and does that storage meet GDPR requirements? For a European salon, storage inside the EU is the baseline.
The fourth point is the one most often forgotten. If you note allergies, medication or skin conditions, you are processing special category data under article 9 of the GDPR. An ordinary notes field is not enough for that. Look for software with separate encrypted storage and its own access rights for this kind of information.
What you get in the free Salonnare plan
Salonnare's Free plan is designed for salons working solo: one staff member and up to 50 bookings per month, at 0 euros. It is not a trial that expires, so there is no end date to pencil into your calendar.
You manage your full calendar, place the booking widget on your own site or social channels and stay bookable outside opening hours. No commission comes off your bookings: what a client pays for a treatment stays yours. Your data sits on servers inside the EU, and health information goes into a separate encrypted vault built for article 9 of the GDPR.
The interface is available in five languages, and you can export your client and revenue data whenever you want. That last point is not a detail: it means you are never locked in simply because your data will not come out. You can activate the free plan straight away and decide about upgrading later.
Growing without moving house
The limit of the free plan is a threshold, not a wall. If you start bumping into 50 bookings a month, you move to Starter at 29 euros per month. If you work with several people or want broader features such as inventory and marketing, Pro at 59 euros per month is the next step.
Your calendar, client records and settings all stay in place. That saves you the messiest job of the business year: migrating software in the middle of a full diary. And as you grow into a team you can set permissions per staff member, so not everyone can see your revenue figures or sensitive client data.
That keeps the sum from the third section valid in the long run too: you pay a fixed amount per month and know in advance what a busy season will cost you in software.
Start today with a free online calendar
Put your calendar online, place the booking widget on your own website and keep your full revenue. The Free plan costs 0 euros per month and does not expire. See below what each plan includes.
See all plans and pricingFrequently asked questions about free salon software
Is free salon software really completely free?
With Salonnare the Free plan costs 0 euros per month for one staff member and up to 50 bookings per month. No commission is taken from your bookings, so you keep the full proceeds of every treatment. With other providers, watch the difference between a temporary trial and a permanently free plan, and look out for models that charge no subscription but do take a percentage per booking.
Can I export my client database if I decide to leave?
Yes. You can export your client data and its history whenever you want. That is how it should be: data portability is a right under the GDPR. In practice it means you are not tied to a provider simply because your records cannot be retrieved.
Is there a limit to the number of treatments I can enter?
No. The free plan is limited by the number of staff members (one) and bookings per month (50), not by the number of services you create. Whether you offer four basic treatments or an extensive menu with specialisms, you can enter them all.