Why you don't want to pay per booking for salon software, and how to work out your cost per appointment

What paying per booking means in practice

Paying per booking comes in several forms, and they are not always spelled out clearly on the pricing page.

A fixed amount per appointment. You pay a small amount for every booking that goes through the system. On its own it looks like very little, but it adds up with every client you see.

A percentage on new clients. Marketplaces often charge a commission on the first booking of a client who finds you through their platform. The better you are found there, the more you hand over. What well-known marketplaces charge according to their own pricing pages is covered in our article on what a marketplace booking really costs.

Separate costs per message. Sometimes the variable cost sits in confirmations and reminders: a rate per message sent, or a bundle of credits you top up.

A fixed subscription. Here you pay a fixed monthly amount for the system itself, following the Software as a Service model. The number of appointments does not change that price.

In practice, providers combine these forms. So don't look at a single figure on the pricing page, but at what you spend in total in an ordinary month. A broader overview of pricing models is in our guide to salon software costs.

Why per-booking costs hold back your growth

The first problem is timing. The months when your book is fullest, such as December or spring, are also the months when you pay the most for your software. Your costs follow your revenue, while the software does nothing extra for you that month.

The second problem is predictability. With a fixed amount, you know at the start of the year what your system costs. With a rate per booking, you only know once the month is over. That makes budgeting harder, especially if you want to invest in an extra chair, a new colleague or a refit.

The third problem is that your choices start to follow the bill. A salon that pays per booking thinks twice about an extra short appointment, a free aftercare check or a client coming back for a small correction. Those are exactly the moments that turn clients into regulars.

A model in which your costs do not rise per appointment removes that brake. You plan your schedule around what is good for your client and your salon, not around what a booking costs you.

The measure that matters: software cost per appointment

To compare providers fairly, work out for each plan what one appointment costs you in software. The formula is simple: add the subscription to all variable costs for that month, then divide by the number of appointments.

Variable costs include: rates per booking, commissions on new clients, costs per message and transaction fees on payments. Include all of them, including the items in the small print.

With a per-booking model, the result never drops below the rate per booking, however big your salon gets. With a fixed subscription, the subscription share per appointment actually gets lower as you book more appointments: the same monthly price is spread over more clients.

One thing applies in every model: if you want to be paid online or by card, you pay transaction costs somewhere. A fair comparison therefore puts those costs into the sum for every provider, not just for one.

Worked example: Salonnare for a growing team

Salonnare charges nothing per appointment and no marketplace commission on new clients who book with you through Salonnare. You pay a fixed plan: Free for €0, Starter for €29 or Pro for €59 per month. Every online or card payment does carry a transaction fee of 0.5%, with a minimum of €0.30 per payment. Your payment provider also charges its own transaction costs. The current plans are on the pricing page.

In the example below we assume an average spend of €45. On that amount, 0.5% is about €0.23, so the minimum of €0.30 per payment applies. Only above €60 per payment is 0.5% more than that minimum.

Small team on Starter. Three team members, 300 appointments a month, 200 of them paid online or by card. Subscription €29, plus 200 times €0.30 is €60 in transaction fees. Together that is €89, or about €0.30 per appointment. The subscription share of that is about €0.10 per appointment.

Larger team on Pro. Six team members, 700 appointments a month, 500 of them paid online or by card. Subscription €59, plus 500 times €0.30 is €150 in transaction fees. Together that is €209, again about €0.30 per appointment. The subscription share has dropped to about €0.08 per appointment, while your schedule has more than doubled.

If you work on your own and stay under 50 appointments a month, the subscription on the free plan costs €0. The transaction fee on every online or card payment applies there too.

To compare this with another provider, fill in the same three numbers: appointments, payments made online or by card, and average spend. Add that provider's rate per booking or marketplace commission as well. You will see at a glance which model suits your growth. Try Salonnare for free and check the sums against your own schedule.

What to expect for a fixed monthly price

A low bill is worth little if you still need separate tools for the basics. When comparing, look at what is included in the plan.

Online booking through your own channels. Clients book through a booking page on your own website and through your Google Business Profile. That way they come straight to you rather than through a detour.

Email reminders. A confirmation when they book and a reminder before the appointment help against forgotten appointments, without you having to send messages yourself. This is already included in the free plan.

A till that belongs to your calendar. A finished appointment becomes a receipt straight away. The point-of-sale system splits VAT automatically between treatments and products, and from Starter you can export your revenue for your accounting.

Payments to your own account. From Starter, you connect your own Mollie or Stripe account for online payments. Clients pay by iDEAL or card and the money goes to your account, with the transaction fee of 0.5% (minimum €0.30) per payment.

Secure client records. Health information such as allergies or medication is kept in an encrypted vault set up for Article 9 of the GDPR, with per-staff permissions for who may view it. Your data is stored in the EU. Read more in our guide to client records software.

Switching without losing your clients

A switch starts with your client list. Export your client data from your current system, usually as a CSV file, and import it into Salonnare. That way your clients are there from day one.

Then choose the plan that fits your team size: Free for one team member and up to 50 bookings a month, Starter for up to three team members and Pro for a larger team. Set up your calendar and services, connect your payment provider if you want to accept online payments, and walk through the whole journey yourself once, from an online booking to the receipt at the till.

Still weighing up providers? Use our guide to comparing salon software and take the calculation from this article with you. Want to see how it works straight away? Start free with Salonnare. There is no trial period running out, and you can upgrade as soon as your salon grows.

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