Honest comparison

Salonomy vs Fresha

Both serve UK hair & beauty, but the business models differ: Salonomy is a flat per-chair subscription with no commission on your own clients; Fresha leads with a free core plus marketplace and transaction fees. Here is an honest, capability-by-capability comparison — no disparagement, just the facts as we understand them in June 2026.

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Fair play

Fresha is a large, well-funded platform with a genuine consumer marketplace, broad international reach and a free entry point that suits a lot of businesses. If new-client discovery through its marketplace is central to how you fill your diary, that is a real strength this page is not trying to argue away.

Why Salonomy

What Salonomy leads with

A real native app

iPhone and Android from day one — run the whole salon from your pocket, not just the iPad by the till. Works offline and syncs when the Wi-Fi comes back.

A live walk-in queue

Cancellations and gaps become a live queue clients join from their phone — a link, not an app-store download. They watch their place and ETA, and you keep the chair warm.

Honest comms

Unlimited email and push. SMS and WhatsApp are included with a monthly allowance and a cap you set — at the cap we pause and ask. We never auto-spend your balance.

No contracts, ever

Monthly rolling. A discount doesn't tie you in. Cancel in one click, in settings, without a phone call or a retention team.

Sealed per-renter books

Shared salon book, sealed books per chair renter, or a mix — chosen at setup and per renter after. When a book is sealed it is sealed by architecture, not a role setting.

Published pricing maths

The price on the page is the price on your invoice. Card payments are 1.9% + 5p in person; we publish that interchange and scheme fees cost us ~1.2% and we keep ~0.7%. No per-booking commission on your own clients.

Feature by feature

Salonomy and Fresha, side by side

A factual capability matrix. Where we mark a competitor “partial” it means “available, but check the detail for your workflow” — not a criticism. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.

Capability comparison between Salonomy and Fresha
Capability	Salonomy	Fresha
Pricing model on your own clients	Flat subscription — £12 /chair /month. No new-client or per-booking commission on clients you bring.	Core software is free; revenue comes from marketplace new-client fees and transaction/add-on charges. Model the blended cost for your mix.
Published payment-cost breakdown	1.9% + 5p in person; we publish ~1.2% interchange + ~0.7% kept. No surprise line items.	Card processing rates are quoted; the underlying interchange/margin split is not published. Confirm the rate for your region.
Native mobile app for the business	iPhone + Android from day one; full diary, queue, takings and client books from your pocket.	Native iOS and Android apps for the business and for clients; check current feature parity for your workflow.
Live walk-in queue (public ticket page)	salonomy.com/q/<salon> — clients join from a link, watch place + ETA live; diary gaps offer to the queue.	No equivalent live walk-in queue surface as far as we are aware.
No fixed-term contract	Monthly rolling; one-click cancel in settings. A discount never ties you in.	No subscription to lock into on the free core, but you opt into per-transaction and marketplace fees. Review the current fee terms.
Comms billing model	Unlimited email/push; SMS + WhatsApp allowance with a cap you set — we pause, never auto-spend.	Email/notifications included; SMS is typically a paid credit balance. Check how overage and top-ups are charged for your volume.
Who owns the client relationship	Your clients are yours. Export your full book in one tap, any time — no marketplace sits between you and them.	A consumer marketplace can introduce new clients, but it also sits between you and them. Confirm data export and ownership terms.
Sealed per-renter client books	Sealed by architecture (row-level isolation), not a role toggle; renters export in one tap.	Team/permission separation is available; verify whether books are truly isolated per chair renter.
Public roadmap & changelog	Published from day one — "you voted, we shipped".	No public, versioned roadmap/changelog that we are aware of.

Which is the better fit?

Choose Salonomy when…

—You want a flat, predictable per-chair cost and no commission on your own clients.

—Walk-ins and last-minute gaps matter and you want a live queue to fill them.

—You want to own your client relationship outright, with one-tap export.

—You rent chairs and want genuinely sealed books per renter.

Fresha may suit you when…

—Discovery through a large consumer marketplace is central to how you fill your diary.

—A free entry point matters more to you than predictable flat-rate costs.

—You operate internationally and want Fresha’s broad geographic coverage.

Try Salonomy free — and decide for yourself.

No contracts, ever. One-click cancel in settings. 30 days free, no card needed.

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