Per-seat fees in Canadian salon software, and why Slotora has none
The plain answer first: in Canada, Slotora has no per-seat fee, because it has no fee at all. A salon of one and a salon of twelve pay the same, which is nothing — no subscription, no charge for each stylist you add, and no commission on bookings. Most of the other systems Canadian salons use do count seats, and how they count decides the bill. Below is how each one counts, from its own page, and what still matters once the price is out of the way.
Sign up freeWhy almost everyone else charges by the person
A booking system's work grows with the number of diaries in it: more columns to fill, more reminders, more people logging in at the front desk. Charging per bookable person ties the price to that, and it is why most of the systems on this page do it in some form.
The differences are in the details. One system counts every team member, another counts calendars, a third counts practitioners by the hours they book, and one counts only your locations. Some keep rising for as long as you keep hiring; others stop at a number. For a two-person studio none of that matters much. For a salon of nine it decides the bill.
Slotora does not do it in any form. In Canada, as in the UK and across Europe, the booking system itself is free for the whole team; what an owner can pay for are optional extras she picks herself, such as credits for AI-written posts and pictures, priced in Canadian dollars and shown before she buys.
How the Canadian options count a seat
From each company's own page, read on 10 November 2026. Where a page prints a dollar sign without saying which dollar, we say so rather than guess.
| System | What is counted | Does the count stop? |
|---|---|---|
| Fresha | Each team member on its Team plan; a separate plan for a single calendar. Its page served us pounds, and we found no Canadian-dollar list on Fresha's own site. (1) | Above 20 team members the page sends you to a custom Enterprise rate. (1) |
| Booksy | $29.99 a month plus $20.00 for each additional staff member, plus tax; the Canadian page names no currency. (2) | Yes: extra cost only for the first 14 staff members. (2) |
| Vagaro | $35 a month with one bookable calendar; each added licence is $10 (US), as its own Canadian page puts it. (3) | Yes: from seven licences, more employees cost nothing. (3) |
| Square Appointments | Locations, not people: a free single-location plan, then Plus and Premium per location per month. (4) | There is nothing to stop: the page says there is no employee limit. (4) |
| Jane | Practitioner profiles, at a full-time rate for 24 or more booked hours a week and a part-time rate below that. (5) | Its pricing page did not show a limit to us. (5) |
Numbers in brackets lead to the sources at the foot of the page. Every figure is before tax and leaves out card processing and marketplace fees.
What Slotora costs in Canada
Nothing. Free is the plan, not an offer: no subscription, no trial that runs out, no introductory rate, no fee for each person you add, and no card to sign up.
Every screen is open from the first day, for a salon of one or a team of twenty. The only things you ever pay for are optional extras you choose yourself, such as credits for AI pictures and posts, priced in Canadian dollars and shown before you buy.
Who counts as a seat with us
Nobody does. Adding a person to Slotora changes the diary, never the bill.
Anyone with a diary column: free
An active team member that clients can book, employed or renting a chair, gets her own column, hours and services. Adding the fifth person or the fifteenth costs the salon nothing.
Front-desk logins: free as well
A receptionist or manager who signs in to run the desk but takes no appointments gets a login of her own, also at no charge.
Switching someone off: only for tidiness
Deactivate a stylist who has left or is on a long leave and she drops off the booking page; her past appointments stay in the books. There is no count to bring down, so there is no reason to rush it.
No renewal to wait for
There is no billing period at all, so a hire on the fourteenth of the month takes bookings that afternoon, with no part-charge now and no higher price later.
Putting the numbers side by side
Take your own team, not an example. Count the people clients can book, then read each line of the table above for that number. Two things change the picture most: whether a system stops counting, and whether the plan you would really need is its cheapest one. Square's free plan, for instance, has no staff scheduling; the staff tools are on its Premium plan. Slotora's line reads the same for every number you could put in: zero.
Then add what sits outside each subscription. Card processing goes through your own Stripe account at Stripe's Canadian rates, and Slotora takes no commission on any booking. Some of the others include text reminders in their plan, which Slotora cannot match in Canada yet, because texts are not sent to Canadian numbers; confirmations and reminders go by email.
Where a free plan does not settle it
Plainly, so you can decide:
- Clients who never read email
- Slotora does not send texts to Canadian numbers yet, while several of the per-seat systems include text reminders in what you pay. If your clients never open an email, a paid seat elsewhere may be worth its price.
- A salon in Québec
- Salons in Québec cannot sign up yet, because the French version is not finished. A price of nothing is no help to a salon that cannot open an account.
- Chair renters
- A renter with her own column adds nothing to any bill of yours, but agree with her in writing whose Stripe account her card payments go to.
Questions about paying per seat
Does Slotora charge per staff member in Canada?
No. There is no charge per staff member, per calendar or per location, because Slotora is free in Canada: a team of twelve pays what a solo stylist pays, which is nothing. It works the same way in the UK and Europe.
Does my receptionist count?
Nobody is counted, so no. She can have her own login to run the desk, and it costs nothing, like every other login.
What happens when I hire someone mid-month?
Add her and she can take bookings straight away. There is no billing period, so nothing is charged now and nothing changes later.
Is there a cheaper plan for one person?
There is only one way to use Slotora in Canada, and it is free for one person and for a full team alike. What costs money are optional extras you choose, such as credits for AI pictures, with the price shown before you buy.
Does a stylist renting a chair count as a seat?
Nobody counts as a seat. If clients book her in your diary she has a column like everyone else, and her card payments can go to her own Stripe account.
Is GST/HST added to anything?
Not at present: Belavin Limited is not registered for GST/HST in Canada, so nothing is added to the optional extras you buy. That can change, and you would see it on the price before paying.
Sources
Each rival's structure is from its own pricing page, read on the day shown. Slotora's side needs no source: it is free in Canada.
- Fresha — Pricing — https://www.fresha.com/pricing · Read on Served to us in pounds sterling.
- Booksy — Pricing (Canada) — https://booksy.com/biz/en-ca/pricing · Read on No currency code on the page.
- Vagaro — Pricing (Canada) — https://www.vagaro.com/en-ca/pro/pricing · Read on
- Square Appointments — Pricing (Canada) — https://squareup.com/ca/en/appointments/pricing · Read on
- Jane — Pricing (Canadian prices) — https://jane.app/pricing?locale=en-CA · Read on
Add your whole team, free
Open an account, give every stylist her own column and hours, and look at your booking page on your phone. No card is asked for, and the team can grow without the bill ever moving off zero.