Salon software in the UK, compared for a team of five
Five products a British or Irish salon with a team is usually choosing between, and ours. One price table for five people, worked out from each company's own list; one table of the things a salon asks; and, for every rival, the part where it is the better buy. Every figure has a numbered source and the date we read it.
What five people cost a month
List prices before VAT, multiplied out for five bookable people. Where a company does not publish a price we say so rather than guess.
| Product | Five people, a month | How it is worked out | On a new client from their marketplace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slotora | Five people, a month: £0 | How it is worked out: No monthly fee, nothing per person, nothing per location | On a new client from their marketplace: 0% — and 0% on every other booking and card payment |
| Fresha (Team) | Five people, a month: £49.751 | How it is worked out: 5 × £9.95 per team member1 | On a new client from their marketplace: 20% once, minimum £41 |
| Booksy | Five people, a month: £602 | How it is worked out: £40 + 4 extra users × £52 | On a new client from their marketplace: Boost: 30% once, minimum £52 |
| Treatwell | Five people, a month: Not published3 | How it is worked out: The pricing page prints no monthly fee; the Advanced plan has unlimited staff3 | On a new client from their marketplace: 35% of the first booking; 0% on repeats3 |
| Phorest | Five people, a month: By quote4 | How it is worked out: No published price; unlimited staff on every plan4 | On a new client from their marketplace: No marketplace commission named on its pricing page4 |
| Timely | Five people, a month: From £655 | How it is worked out: Boost from £7 a week + the team add-on £8 a week, × 52 ÷ 12. A starting price: it rises with your bookings5 | On a new client from their marketplace: No new-client fees5 |
Fresha and Booksy also take a card-processing fee and so does Stripe on Slotora; that is the processor's, not the software's, and the table leaves it out for all six. Fresha and Treatwell print their figures for the UK; an Irish salon may be quoted in euro.
The rows a salon with a team asks about
Short answers, each from the numbered page. „Not checked” means we did not find it on the pages we read — not that the product cannot do it.
| The question | Slotora | Fresha | Treatwell | Booksy | Phorest | Timely |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charged per person | Slotora: No | Fresha: Yes, per team member1 | Treatwell: No — unlimited staff on Advanced3 | Booksy: Yes, per extra user2 | Phorest: No — unlimited staff4 | Timely: No — priced by booking volume5 |
| More than one location | Slotora: Yes, up to 20, no fee per location | Fresha: Yes; some add-ons are priced per location1 | Treatwell: Not checked | Booksy: Not checked | Phorest: Yes, multi-location4 | Timely: Yes5 |
| Booked appointments brought across when you switch | Slotora: Yes, from a Fresha, Booksy or Phorest export, yourself, free; guests are sent nothing | Fresha: Client details and product inventory; paid packages for larger moves1 | Treatwell: Not checked | Booksy: Not named on its UK pricing page2 | Phorest: Yes — they import clients, staff, services, products and more for you4 | Timely: Not checked |
| Staff commission | Slotora: One % per person plus a retail %, month-end statement; no tiers | Fresha: Flat or tiered commission6 | Treatwell: Not checked | Booksy: Per person and per type of sale7 | Phorest: Tiered or flat4 | Timely: Team payouts in the +£8/week add-on5 |
| Rota | Slotora: Weekly hours per person, odd and even weeks, clock in/out; no rota grid | Fresha: Shift scheduling and timesheets6 | Treatwell: Not checked | Booksy: Shifts7 | Phorest: Rosters4 | Timely: Rosters5 |
| A self-employed stylist's card money kept apart | Slotora: Yes — to her own Stripe account, with a rent ledger | Fresha: Separate merchants are described for the US8 | Treatwell: Not checked | Booksy: Yes, „Shared Location”7 | Phorest: Not checked | Timely: Not checked |
| Tap to Pay on a phone | Slotora: Android app; 0% to Slotora, Stripe's own fee | Fresha: 1.19% + £0.20, plus £0.07 per Tap to Pay authorisation1 | Treatwell: Not checked | Booksy: 0.99% + £0.20 + VAT2 | Phorest: Not checked | Timely: Not checked |
| A person on the phone | Slotora: No — e-mail, the contact form and the in-app assistant | Fresha: Live chat (about 2 minutes on Team) and phone help1 | Treatwell: Not checked | Booksy: Phone and e-mail9 | Phorest: Office phone lines per country; support inside the software10 | Timely: Chat in business hours; phone on Thrive5 |
Where each of them is the better buy
A table that wins every row is one nobody believes. These are the reasons to pick one of them over us today.
Fresha — the marketplace and the till
A consumer marketplace that sends salons new clients (the 20% pays for it), one checkout for products, add-ons, memberships and tips, flat or tiered commission, permissions you set per person and shift scheduling. If strangers finding you and one checkout for everything matter most, Fresha is ahead.6
Treatwell — traffic
Treatwell is a marketplace first. A salon whose problem is an empty book rather than the software will get more new faces there than from our small directory — at 35% of each first booking.3
Booksy — the consumer app and a phone line
A customer app many clients already use, Boost for new clients, shifts, five permission levels, memberships and packages, and a phone line. We have no consumer app, no phone line and four fixed roles.7
Phorest — depth for a big salon
Tiered commission, rosters, multi-location reporting, memberships and a team that moves your data for you on every plan. A fifteen-chair salon with a manager will find more there than here.4
Timely — texts in the price
Every Timely plan includes SMS scaled to your bookings; on Slotora a text reminder is bought with credits. If you text every guest, compare that before anything else.5
Who should choose which
- A salon whose book is full and whose bill grows with every chair
- Slotora: £0 for the team, 0% on every booking.
- A salon that needs new clients more than new software
- Treatwell or Fresha's marketplace — and count the commission.
- A fifteen-chair salon with a manager, tiered commission and memberships
- Phorest, or Fresha — we do not have tiers, memberships or a rota grid yet.
- A salon with self-employed stylists renting chairs
- Slotora or Booksy — both keep the renter's money apart; ours costs nothing.
- A salon with two or three addresses
- Slotora (no fee per location) — or Fresha or Phorest if you need reports per location.
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
- Fresha — features — https://www.fresha.com/for-business/features · read on 2026-10-11
- Booksy Biz UK — features — https://biz.booksy.com/en-gb/features · read on 2026-10-11
- Fresha help centre — merchants in your workspace — https://www.fresha.com/help-center/knowledge-base/payments/223-add-merchants-to-your-workspace · read on 2026-10-11
- Booksy Biz UK — contact — https://biz.booksy.com/en-gb/contact · read on 2026-10-11
- Phorest — contact — https://www.phorest.com/contact/ · read on 2026-10-11
Questions UK salons ask
Which salon software is cheapest for a team in the UK?
On list price for five people, Slotora at £0, then Fresha's Team plan at £49.75 and Booksy at £60 a month before VAT. Treatwell and Phorest do not publish a monthly price, and Timely's starts from about £65 with the team add-on and rises with bookings.
Can I move my booked appointments from Fresha, Booksy or Phorest?
Yes. Import your client list and services first, then upload the appointments export; each future appointment lands with its guest, service, stylist and time, and guests are sent nothing. It is done in the browser, by you, for free.
What does Slotora not do that these do?
No consumer marketplace with real traffic, no single checkout ticket for services and retail, no rota grid, no tiered commission, no memberships with recurring billing, no custom permissions and no phone support.
Is it the same in Ireland?
Slotora is the same — €0 for the team. The rivals' figures above are their UK lists; Fresha and Treatwell price by country, so check their Irish pages.
The rest of this product
The other pages about Slotora for busy salons.