Salon software with no per-seat fee
Most salon software is priced per person who can be booked, so every chair you fill raises the bill. Slotora's salon account costs £0 a month whether there are two of you or fifteen. Below: what the per-seat price looks like at your size, what we do charge for, and what a £0 price does not buy.
The per-seat price at your size
Two of the systems UK salons use most price by the person. This is their own list price multiplied by your team — not an estimate — before VAT and before any commission.
| Team size | Slotora | Fresha Team | Booksy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 people | Slotora: £0 | Fresha Team: 2 × £9.95 = £19.901 | Booksy: £40 + 1 × £5 = £452 |
| 5 people | Slotora: £0 | Fresha Team: 5 × £9.95 = £49.751 | Booksy: £40 + 4 × £5 = £602 |
| 10 people | Slotora: £0 | Fresha Team: 10 × £9.95 = £99.501 | Booksy: £40 + 9 × £5 = £852 |
| 15 people | Slotora: £0 | Fresha Team: 15 × £9.95 = £149.251 | Booksy: £40 + 14 × £5 = £1102 |
Over a year, a five-person team is £597 on Fresha's Team plan and £720 on Booksy, before VAT. Both also take a one-time commission on a new client their marketplace sends you: Fresha 20% (minimum £4), Booksy's Boost 30% (minimum £5). Slotora takes 0% on every booking.
Three systems that do not charge per seat either
A page about per-seat fees that left these out would be misleading, so here they are. Against them the difference is not the seat — it is what you pay instead.
Treatwell
The Advanced plan has unlimited staff. Treatwell does not print its monthly fee on its pricing page; what it prints is 35% on a new marketplace client's first booking and 2.5% + VAT on online prepayments.3
Phorest
Every plan includes unlimited staff, and pricing is by quote only — there is no published number to compare.4
Timely
Unlimited team members; the bill is weekly and rises with your booking volume, starting from £4 a week. The team tools (targets, staff pricing, payouts) are an add-on from £8 a week.5
What Slotora does charge for
The account is free. These are the things that cost us money every time they run, so they are paid per use, with the price shown before anything is spent.
Text messages
E-mail confirmations and reminders cost nothing. An SMS reminder is optional and comes from credits you buy in packs; credits do not expire and there is no monthly minimum.
The AI phone receptionist
Answers your salon's phone and books guests when nobody can pick up. Pay-as-you-go minutes, £49.99 for 100, no monthly fee.
What the AI makes for you
A post, a campaign text or an image — from the same credits, each one priced before it runs. The guest chat on your booking page and Nita, the assistant in your account, are free.
Card processing
Card payments, deposits and Tap to Pay run on your salon's own Stripe account at Stripe's rate. Slotora adds nothing to it.
What the whole team gets, at £0
None of this sits behind a higher plan, because there is no higher plan.
- A login for every person, on the web and in the iPhone and Android app
- A front-desk login that runs every column but not the salon's takings or settings
- A column per person in the diary, with a weekly rota, odd and even weeks, named breaks and days off
- Clock in and clock out for the team
- Commission per person, a separate retail rate and a month-end statement of what each person is owed
- Self-employed stylists whose card money goes to their own account, with a rent ledger
- Rooms, chairs and machines that limit what can be booked at once
- More than one location on one account
- Your future appointments imported from Fresha, Booksy or Phorest when you switch
What a £0 price does not buy
Free is not the same as complete, and a salon of ten should know where the edges are before it moves.
A person on the phone
Support is by e-mail, the contact form and Nita, the assistant inside the account. There is no phone line and no onboarding call.
One checkout for services and retail together
Payment is taken per booking. A single ticket that sells a service, a product and a gift card and splits the payment is not built.
A rota planner
Each person has her own weekly hours, but there is no grid that shows everyone's week on one screen with copy-week and leave requests.
Tiered commission and custom permissions
Commission is one percentage per person with a retail rate beside it — no bands, no rate per service. Roles are four fixed ones, not toggles you design.
A marketplace's traffic
Your salon can be listed in our directory at no cost, but it is small. If strangers finding you is what you pay a marketplace for, that is a real reason to stay.
Sources
- Fresha — pricing — https://www.fresha.com/pricing · read on 2026-10-11
- Booksy Biz UK — pricing — https://biz.booksy.com/en-gb/pricing · read on 2026-10-11
- Treatwell Partners UK — pricing — https://www.treatwell.co.uk/partners/pricing/ · read on 2026-10-11
- Phorest — pricing — https://www.phorest.com/pricing/ · read on 2026-10-11
- Timely — pricing — https://www.gettimely.com/pricing/ · read on 2026-09-28
Questions about the price
Is the salon account really free for a team of fifteen?
Yes. No monthly fee, nothing per person, nothing per location and 0% on bookings, deposits and card payments. What costs money is listed above: text credits, AI phone minutes and what the AI makes for you.
How do you make money, then?
From the paid extras above, and from the Shop: if you buy supplies through a partner's link, the partner may pay us a commission, at no extra cost to you. We never take a cut of your bookings or your card payments.
Is there a contract or a notice period?
No. There is nothing to cancel, and you can export your clients, services and bookings whenever you like, free.
Does a receptionist count as a seat?
Nothing counts as a seat. A front-desk login, a stylist, a trainee or a self-employed stylist renting a chair all cost the same: nothing.
The rest of this product
The other pages about Slotora for busy salons.