Salonnare vs Dotbooker - which suits your salon?

Pricing and cost model

Salonnare uses clear, fixed monthly prices with no marketplace commission (though there is a platform fee: 0.5%, min. EUR 0.30, per transaction). The free plan is EUR 0 per month (1 staff member, 50 bookings per month) and needs no credit card. Above that you choose Starter at EUR 9.99 per month (EUR 99.90 per year) or Pro at EUR 14.99 per month (EUR 149.90 per year). The only transaction cost on our side is a platform fee of 0.5% (min. EUR 0.30) per online or card payment.

According to their pricing page, Dotbooker has four plans from USD 79 to USD 449 per month, with a 14-day free trial and no free plan.^[1] For a salon in the Netherlands or Belgium those are dollar amounts; with Salonnare you start for free and then pay fixed prices in euros. See all details on the pricing page.

Built for the Netherlands and Belgium

Salonnare is NL/BE-first. iDEAL works natively via both Stripe Connect and Mollie, and we also support Bancontact, SumUp and card payments. You charge through your own Stripe or Mollie account at the standard provider fees, plus Salonnare's own platform fee of 0.5% (min. EUR 0.30) per transaction.

The point of sale (POS) calculates Dutch VAT rates (21% and 9%, set per treatment and product) and you export the sales per VAT rate for your bookkeeper. Dotbooker is positioned internationally; iDEAL and Dutch VAT logic are not mentioned on its website. For a salon in the Netherlands or Belgium, that saves a lot of manual work.

Online booking and daily use

With Salonnare you place a booking widget on your own website plus a dedicated booking page with your own logo and branding. Clients pick one or more treatments, see available time slots per staff member and book in a few clicks. In the calendar you manage appointments, client records, inventory and your point of sale in one place.

You also get email marketing and campaigns, recurring memberships via SEPA and iDEAL, gift cards, loyalty, no-show fees with deposits, and forms or intake - all included at no extra cost. Dotbooker serves a broad range of businesses such as gyms, studios and wellness, with memberships and payments; Salonnare's features are broad and specifically tuned for hairdressers, beauty salons and wellness businesses in the Benelux.

Switching to Salonnare

Switching does not have to be a hurdle. Salonnare has a CSV import so you can bring your existing client base along and never start from scratch. You set up your treatments, staff and opening hours, connect your own Stripe or Mollie account, and your online booking page goes live. The modern, fast interface means even trainees are productive within an hour.

Because the free plan works without a credit card, you can try Salonnare calmly alongside your current system before switching for good. If you have questions during migration, a Dutch-speaking developer helps you.

Conclusion: why Salonnare wins

To be fair: Dotbooker is mature and internationally positioned. If you run an international spa chain today with English-speaking clients and extensive multi-location spa flows, Dotbooker is worth considering.

But for the vast majority of salons in the Netherlands and Belgium, Salonnare wins, and there are concrete reasons why. You know exactly what you pay in advance (free tier, then EUR 9.99 or EUR 14.99 per month) with no commission on bookings (though there is a platform fee: 0.5%, min. EUR 0.30, per transaction). iDEAL and Bancontact work natively, the POS calculates 21% and 9% VAT and offers an accounting export for your bookkeeper. You charge through your own Stripe or Mollie account, keep your own client data (kept separate per salon) and present 100% your own branding - no marketplace pushing competitors to your clients. Online booking, POS, inventory, marketing automation, memberships, gift cards, loyalty, no-show fees and intake are all included at no extra cost. With Dutch-speaking support and EU servers compliant with the GDPR, Salonnare is the logical, better choice for the Benelux salon.

A multi-location dashboard is not available at Salonnare yet; for a single-location salon in the Benelux, that does not outweigh the advantages above.

Frequently asked questions