Salonnare vs Treatwell — marketplace or your own software?

The revenue model

Treatwell charges up to €2.50–3.50 per booking plus commission on new clients. At 100 bookings per month that is €250–350 to Treatwell alone. Salonnare costs a flat €0–€59 per month regardless of your booking volume. At 50+ bookings per month Salonnare is almost always cheaper.

Who owns the client relationship?

With Treatwell the client receives Treatwell-branded communication (emails, reminders) with their logo. Salonnare sends communication from your own salon name with your logo — clients remember you, not Treatwell. You own the client relationship 100%.

Can you combine both?

Yes. Many salons use Salonnare as their main back-office for direct clients and keep Treatwell as an acquisition channel for new clients. You can use Salonnare as your "home base" while Treatwell only delivers new traffic.

The booking experience compared: Treatwell vs Salonnare

With Treatwell a client searches the Treatwell app or website, sees multiple salons nearby, books and receives a Treatwell-branded confirmation. Your salon is one of many. With Salonnare the client books via your own widget on your website or via a direct link. The entire experience - from booking form to confirmation email and reminder - carries your salon name and logo. After the appointment Salonnare automatically sends a review request to your Google Business profile, not to an external platform. The difference: with Treatwell you build Treatwell's reputation; with Salonnare you build your own brand. See all the features that make this possible.

How to switch from Treatwell to your own software

Start by setting up Salonnare alongside Treatwell - you do not need to cancel immediately. Step 1: create a free Salonnare account and import your client base. Step 2: place the Salonnare booking widget on your own website and share the booking link on social media. Step 3: tell your regular clients they can now book directly with you without Treatwell. Step 4: after 1-2 months monitor how many bookings come through your own channel. Once the majority of your clients book directly, you can scale down Treatwell or keep it purely as an acquisition channel. This way you build your own client relationship without risk. Get started with the free plan.

Commission calculation: when does your own software pay off?

Do the maths: at an average of 80 bookings per month and a Treatwell fee of €3 per booking you pay €240/month in commission alone. Salonnare Pro costs €59/month flat - a saving of €180/month. Even at the break-even point of 20 bookings per month Salonnare is already cheaper than Treatwell. On top of that you keep 100% of the client data and can run your own marketing campaigns at no extra cost. Check the pricing plans for a full overview of what you get per tier.

Marketplace model vs ERP model: the fundamental difference

Treatwell and Salonnare both appear to offer "online booking", but behind the widget sits a completely different business model. Treatwell is fundamentally a marketplace - a consumer platform that aggregates salons and earns commission on every transaction. The product is built for the consumer: the Treatwell app with thousands of salons, filters on city and treatment, reviews, client accounts with booking history across multiple salons. As a salon you are a listing in that catalogue. Salonnare is a salon ERP: you run your own system that is fully yours, with a booking widget you embed on your own website or share via a direct link. No shared catalogue, no comparison page, no "clients who booked this also booked" cross-sell to your neighbour salon. That distinction is fundamental to how your brand and client data evolve long-term. With Treatwell you contribute to Treatwell's reputation and data position; with Salonnare you build your own brand as an asset.

Data ownership under the hood: widget vs marketplace

The Salonnare embeddable widget technically runs on your own domain (or a white-label subdomain) and writes client data directly to your own tenant database on EU servers. When a client books, her name, email, phone number, appointment history and payment preferences sit in your system - exportable whenever you want, without restrictions. You can use this data for marketing automation, loyalty programmes, birthday campaigns or rebook nudges without third-party intermediation. With Treatwell the client books via the Treatwell platform. Technically she is a Treatwell user with a Treatwell account who happened to reserve with you; your salon sees the transaction data in the Treatwell merchant dashboard, but you cannot reach the client outside Treatwell directly without explicit opt-in. If Treatwell decides tomorrow to adjust their algorithm, raise commissions or show your listing less prominently, you have little recourse - the client relationship does not sit with you. Read more about our approach to data ownership.

Commission cost calculator: three realistic scenarios

The "free listing" marketing of marketplaces hides how quickly commission costs scale with growth. Three scenarios from real Dutch salon practice (relevant for any European market with similar commission tiers). Scenario A (small hair salon, solo owner): 50 bookings/month × €2.50 average Treatwell fee = €125/month, so €1,500/year. Salonnare Starter €29/month (€348/year) - saving €1,152/year. Scenario B (mid-size salon, 3 staff): 150 bookings × €3.50 fee = €525/month = €6,300/year. Salonnare Pro €59/month (€708/year) - saving €5,592/year. Scenario C (larger salon or nail studio, 5 staff): 200 bookings × €3 = €600/month = €7,200/year. Salonnare Pro €708/year - saving €6,492/year. At every scale it applies: the more successful your salon, the more you pay Treatwell. With Salonnare the price stays flat. These calculations do not include possible additional new-client commissions Treatwell charges on some tiers, nor the hours spent monthly on Treatwell dashboard management versus the streamlined Salonnare dashboard. Check the pricing plans.

Where Treatwell is genuinely stronger: honest look

Objectively: Treatwell has advantages we will not brush away. First, consumer reach. Treatwell.nl is one of the most visited beauty websites in the Netherlands with millions of consumer visits per month; if your salon is new, sits in a saturated city centre or has not built an SEO base yet, Treatwell can reach new clients you cannot organically attract yet. Second, brand exposure: in cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht Treatwell ranks high in Google for search terms like "hairdresser near me" - you benefit from their SEO dominance. Third, no own website required: for a starting salon without a website, Treatwell offers a ready-made booking profile. Fourth, review aggregation: Treatwell centralises reviews on their platform, handy for social proof within their ecosystem. For a salon purely relying on marketplace acquisition without own brand marketing, Treatwell can be a valid choice - albeit with commission costs as a structural downside as you grow.

Hybrid use: Salonnare as main ERP, Treatwell as acquisition channel

Many Dutch salons do not choose between Salonnare or Treatwell, but use both complementarily. The most common setup: Salonnare runs as main back-office for all direct clients, walk-ins, phone bookings and appointments via your own website widget. All client data, POS transactions, inventory and marketing automation live there. Treatwell stays put as "acquisition channel" - new clients from the Treatwell marketplace book their first appointment via Treatwell (where you accept the commission), but on their second visit they receive a personal confirmation email from your salon with your direct booking link. That way you gradually shift the client relationship to your own system. After 6-12 months you can evaluate: if most clients book directly, minimise or end Treatwell; if not, it remains a paid acquisition channel with transparent ROI. This hybrid strategy minimises risk during a transition. Start with the free plan to set up Salonnare alongside Treatwell.

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