It's the last day of the month. You open your booking app and it tells you you took £2,400 in bookings this month. A solid number. You close the app feeling good. And then, twelve hours later, the platform invoice lands. £480, gone.
Twenty per cent of every booking. Quietly. Every month. Forever.
The big names in this category — Fresha, Booksy, Treatwell — all run on a version of the same model: they list your business alongside other salons, drive discovery, and take a percentage of every booking that comes through. The exact rates vary, but the structure rarely does.
Marketplace booking apps don't feel expensive at first. There's no upfront fee. You don't notice the commission as it's deducted — it just appears as a smaller payout. But when you actually run the numbers, the marketplace model is one of the most expensive ways a service business can run.
The maths nobody runs
Let's do it together.
Say you charge £80 for a treatment. The platform takes 20% on every booking — that's £16 per session. A regular client comes to you eight times a year. They stay with you for three years.
That client is worth £80 × 8 × 3 = £1,920 in revenue.
Of that, £384 has been quietly skimmed off by the marketplace.
If you have a hundred such clients, the marketplace has taken £38,400 over three years. That's not pocket change. That's a deposit on a flat. That's a year of childcare. That's a small studio refit you've been putting off.
And this is the conservative version. Some platforms charge higher commissions on first-time bookings (sometimes 30%+). Some charge separate transaction fees on top. Some only let you discount via their tools, which means even your "promotions" pay them.
Whose client is it, really?
The commission is the visible cost. The bigger one is structural.
When a client books on a marketplace, the marketplace owns the relationship.
- The booking arrives in the platform's app, not your inbox.
- The reminder is branded with the marketplace logo, not yours.
- Reviews live on the marketplace, not on your own page.
- You can't email or text the client outside the platform without breaking terms of service.
- If you ever leave, the marketplace keeps the data.
The client doesn't think they booked you. They think they booked an app. And the app has the next salon ready to suggest at the bottom of their next search.
The brand cost
This one is harder to measure but matters more over five years than the commission ever will.
On a marketplace, you appear next to your competitors. Your prices are lined up against theirs at the moment of booking. The booking confirmation looks identical to every other salon in the city. Your tone, your aesthetic, your specific approach — none of it comes through.
You spent years building a brand people walk past three other salons to come and see. Then you handed the most important moment in the customer journey — the act of booking — to a platform that treats you like every other listing.
What independent booking actually looks like
The alternative isn't difficult. It's just less normalised.
- Your URL. A link you can put in your Instagram bio that goes to a page with your name on it.
- Your branded confirmation. The client sees your logo, your tone, your colours.
- Your client list. Names, phone numbers, history — sitting in your account, not the platform's.
- A flat fee. Around £29–£89 a month for most independent platforms, regardless of how many bookings come through.
- Zero commission on returning clients. The biggest single change. Once a client has booked you, they're yours.
For most established salons and beauty businesses, switching from a 20% marketplace to a £69/month flat-fee platform pays for itself in the first month. After that, the difference goes in your pocket every month, forever.
How to switch without losing clients
Most owners stay on marketplaces because they're scared the bookings will dry up. They won't, if you do this in order.
- Set up your independent booking page — name, services, prices, photos.
- Update your Instagram bio link, Google Business profile, and any QR codes.
- Send one warm message to existing clients: "I've moved to a new booking page — book me here, same time, same prices, just a smoother experience."
- Offer a small thank-you for the first migration booking — a free add-on, a discount on a course, anything that costs you less than the commission you were paying.
- Keep the marketplace listing live for 8–12 weeks for new client discovery only — but never link to it from your own channels.
- Once 80% of regulars have moved, close the marketplace listing.
Within three months, most independent salons see no drop in bookings — only an increase in margin.
You spent years getting good at your craft. The platform that takes a cut of every appointment isn't paying you for that. You are.
It's time to stop letting it be.
Common questions
Is Aasure an alternative to marketplace booking apps like Fresha or Booksy?
Yes. Aasure is built for independent salons and beauty pros who want their own booking page, their own client list, and a flat monthly fee instead of a commission on every appointment.
Will I lose my regular clients if I move off a marketplace?
Most regulars follow you to your own booking page within a couple of months — especially if you give them one warm message about the move and a small thank-you for their first booking on the new system. New-client discovery slows briefly while you rebuild it on your own channels.
How much do independent booking platforms usually cost?
Most charge a flat monthly fee — typically £29–£89 depending on features — regardless of how many bookings come through. For an established salon doing more than around £1,500 a month in bookings, the flat fee almost always works out cheaper than a percentage commission.
What does Fresha actually cost you?
Run your numbers in the free Real Bill Calculator — full annual bill broken down across subscription, marketplace commission and card processing, using Fresha's own published 2026 UK pricing.
Open the calculator → Or: Client Lifetime Value Calculator →