Best salon software in the Netherlands 2026: Lookster and 8 others compared

Which salon software is best depends on your salon. If you work alone, Fresha is the cheapest entry at €14.95 per month, although Fresha charges a fee on new marketplace clients. With 3 or more staff, Lookster is cheaper: the first 3 months free, then €19.95 per month including 3 staff members, with 0% commission (also on new clients from its own marketplace) and apps for iPhone, Android and Windows. Below we compare 9 systems and set out, per type of salon, which choice fits best.

We checked every price in this article on 27 October 2026 on the providers' official pricing and help pages.

Salon management software compared: 9 systems at a glance

All prices checked on 27 October 2026. Fresha lists its prices excluding 21% VAT; Onlineafspraken.nl and SimplyBook.me do not say on their pricing pages whether amounts include or exclude VAT. In the Netherlands, VAT is called btw and is 21% on software subscriptions.

How we rated the salon systems

We only included systems that are active in the Netherlands, with a Dutch pricing page or a clearly Dutch offering. Planity dropped out for that reason: it has no Dutch site. For each system we looked at five things:

1. Pricing model: flat subscription, per staff member, or commission per new client.
2. Total cost for a salon with 1, 3 and 6 staff (the full calculation is in How much does salon software cost?).
3. Daily features: online calendar, 24/7 online booking, reminders, client records, staff roster and revenue insights.
4. New clients: can the system bring you new clients, and what does each new client cost you?
5. Trial and cancellation: how long can you test for free, and are you tied to a contract?

1. Lookster: 3 staff in the base price and 0% commission

Lookster is salon software from Enschede with an online calendar, 24/7 online booking, its own consumer marketplace and apps for every device, for one low fixed price and without commission. It is built for anyone who works by appointment: hairdressers, barbers, nail salons, beauty salons, fitness studios and personal trainers.

Price (checked 27 October 2026): the first 3 months free with your whole team, no credit card. Then Essentials €19.95 per month excluding VAT, including 3 staff members (owner plus 2). Each extra staff member costs €5 per month. You are never locked in: cancel any month, with no setup fees and unlimited bookings.

Commission: 0% on all bookings, including new clients who find you through the Lookster marketplace and the free Lookster consumer app.

Where Lookster is strong

1. The longest free period. 3 months free, compared with 14 days at Salonized, Onlineafspraken.nl and Optios and 7 days at Fresha and Booksy.
2. Good value from 3 staff. €19.95 per month with 3 staff and unlimited bookings. For 3 staff you pay €29.85 at Fresha, €45 at Salonized and €49 at Booksy (German rate). If you work alone, Fresha is cheaper at €14.95.
3. New clients without commission. Your salon appears on the Lookster marketplace and in the free consumer app for iOS and Android, and your salon page can be found through Google. Every new client who books there costs you nothing extra.
4. Free reminders. Clients get an instant confirmation and a reminder 24 hours ahead by email and push notification, with no SMS costs. After the appointment, a review request goes out automatically.
5. Apps on every device. The Lookster Dashboard app runs on iPhone and iPad, Android and Windows 10/11, and the full dashboard works in any browser. Everything syncs live.
6. Built for salons. Client records with appointment history, notes and before-and-after photos per appointment. Recurring appointments with per-date exceptions, add-ons clients choose themselves, price and duration per staff member, evening rates, a minimum booking notice, guest bookings without an account and several treatments in one booking.
7. Ready for your team. Every staff member gets their own login with their own calendar, permissions, working hours and breaks. You approve leave requests in the app. You see revenue, occupancy, no-shows and returning clients per staff member, and export everything to Excel or CSV for your accountant.
8. Reviews you can trust. Only clients who actually visited you can leave a review, and a portfolio shows photos of your work on your salon page.
9. Close by. A Dutch company with personal support, the product in English, Dutch and German, data stored in the EU and daily backups.

You take payments with your own card terminal; Lookster handles your calendar, bookings and clients. Lookster Pro (€34.95 per month) adds the till: Tap to Pay, iDEAL QR, payment links, online prepayment, invoices and end-of-day reports, stock and gift cards. Pro is already running at a select number of salons and is coming to everyone soon.

"Top service. The dashboard is very clear and easy to use. It takes a lot of planning and admin work off my hands, so I can focus on my core work." Gabriel, Aiyo the Barber (translated)

You can be live within a day: create an account, set up treatments, team and opening hours in a short wizard, and share your booking link. Lookster can run next to your current system until you are sure. More on the features page, the pricing page and in 3 months free explained.

2. Salonized: from €35 per month and no marketplace of its own

Price (checked 27 October 2026): from €35 per month excluding VAT, plus €5 per extra staff member, according to the Salonized help center (April 2026). The pricing page itself does not show the subscription price; it only lists the extras. 14-day trial.

Commission: 0% on your own bookings. Salonized has been part of Treatwell since 2022. If you want new clients from a marketplace through Salonized, that runs through the Treatwell integration, where you pay 35% commission on new bookings and 2% transaction fees on prepaid online bookings.

Downsides:

• With 3 staff you pay €45 per month, more than twice as much as with Lookster.
• The subscription price is not on the pricing page; you have to look it up in the help center.
• SMS reminders cost extra: €0.11 to €0.15 per text.
• No marketplace of its own; new clients through a platform cost 35% via Treatwell.
• 14 days to try, compared with 3 months at Lookster.

3. Treatwell: 35% commission on every new client

Price (checked 27 October 2026): Starter €35 per month, billed monthly. Treatwell calls an annual subscription cheaper, but does not publish its price.

Commission: 35% excluding VAT on the first booking of every new marketplace client. Prepaid online bookings carry an additional 2% transaction fee.

Downsides:

• With ten new clients a month and a €40 first treatment, you pay €140 in commission on top of the €35 subscription.
• Your clients book through Treatwell and build their profile there; the client relationship sits with the platform.
• No free trial stated.
• The price of the annual subscription is not published.

With Lookster, new clients also arrive through a marketplace, but you keep the full €40. The full calculation is in Booking marketplace or your own booking system?.

4. Fresha: low entry price, unpublished fee on new clients

Price (checked 27 October 2026): Independent €14.95 per month for one bookable staff member, Team €9.95 per bookable staff member per month, excluding 21% VAT. 7-day trial.

Commission: the pricing page lists a one-off fee on the first appointment of a new client from the Fresha marketplace, without a percentage. Fresha's own content page states 20% one-off on that first appointment. Online payments cost 1% plus €0.20 per transaction, in-person card payments 0.89% plus €0.10.

Pro: for a salon with one staff member, Fresha is the cheapest complete entry: €14.95 per month, €5 less than Lookster.

Downsides:

• The percentage of the new client fee is not on the pricing page.
• Teams pay per staff member: 3 staff cost €29.85 and 6 staff €59.70 per month.
• SMS and WhatsApp reminders are paid after 20 free messages per month (€0.15 per text).
• Many extras are separate add-ons: Insights (reporting) €9.95 per staff member per month, loyalty €59.95 and Google Rating Boost €13.95 per month.
• 7 days to try, compared with 3 months at Lookster.

5. Booksy: no Dutch pricing page

Price: Booksy publishes no Dutch business pricing page. The German rate (checked 27 October 2026) is €35 per month excluding tax plus €7 per extra staff member. The US pricing page shows $29.99 plus $20 per extra staff member.

Commission: the German pricing page states no commission. In the US, Booksy's Boost, an optional marketing service, carries a one-time 30% fee on a Boost client's first visit (capped at $100).

Downsides:

• For the Netherlands you have to ask for the rate yourself.
• €7 per extra staff member: with 6 staff you pay €70 per month (German rate), compared with €34.95 at Lookster.
• 7 days to try.

6. SumUp Bookings: a free calendar, but only for one person

Price (checked 27 October 2026): Free POS €0 per month with one calendar. POS Plus €49 per month for unlimited team members, SMS reminders and no-show fees.

Commission: none, but there are transaction fees: 1.49% for card payments (0.99% with Payments Plus at €19 per month) and 2.50% for online payments.

Downsides:

• The free version has only one calendar, without SMS or no-show fees.
• With a second staff member you jump straight to €49 per month.
• 2.50% transaction fee on every online payment.

7. Onlineafspraken.nl: annual or quarterly billing only

Price (checked 27 October 2026): Solo €20 per month (1 resource), Groei €32.50 (2 to 10 resources), Pro €65 (11 to 20 resources), all per month with annual billing. Quarterly billing costs €25, €40 and €80. 14-day trial. The page does not say whether prices include or exclude VAT.

Commission: none.

Downsides:

• Monthly billing is not available; you pay a year or a quarter in advance.
• Quarterly billing is 25% more expensive than annual billing.
• A second calendar means moving straight to the €32.50 Groei package.

8. SimplyBook.me: monthly booking caps

Price (checked 27 October 2026): Free €0 with 50 bookings per month and 1 staff member; Basic €13.90 per month (€11.90 billed annually) with 100 bookings; Standard €29.90 (€24.90) with 500 bookings; Premium €59.90 (€49.90) with 2,000 bookings.

Commission: none.

Downsides:

• Every plan has a monthly booking cap; a hairdresser with 5 clients a day passes the 100 bookings in Basic within three weeks.
• SMS credits are bought separately, in dollars (100 texts for $8).
• A general-purpose booking system, not built specifically for salons. Lookster has unlimited bookings.

9. Optios: price on request only

Price: Optios publishes no prices; the price depends on the plan and the number of users. There are three plans (Business, Business Plus and Pro). 14-day trial (checked 27 October 2026).

Commission: none. Optios Pay (card terminal) charges per transaction.

Downsides:

• No price without a sales call, so you cannot compare costs in advance.
• The Business entry plan is limited to 4 users.
• 14 days to try.

Which salon software suits you?

You work alone

On monthly price alone, Fresha wins: €14.95 per month, compared with €19.95 at Lookster. Two things weigh against that. Fresha charges a fee on every new client from its marketplace (20% according to Fresha's content page, which is €8 on a €40 first treatment), and Lookster's first 3 months are free. In the first year you therefore end up at about the same amount with both: 9 × €19.95 = €179.55 at Lookster, 12 × €14.95 = €179.40 at Fresha. If one calendar without SMS reminders is enough for you, SumUp's free plan is also an option, especially if you already use a SumUp card reader.

Lookster is the better fit if you want new clients from a marketplace without paying per client, or if you expect to hire a colleague soon: up to 3 staff you pay nothing extra. See also Which booking system for a new salon?.

Salon with 3 or more staff

Here Lookster is the cheapest. With 3 staff you pay €19.95 per month, compared with €29.85 at Fresha, €45 at Salonized and €49 at Booksy (German rate). With 6 staff you pay €34.95, compared with €59.70 at Fresha, €60 at Salonized and €70 at Booksy. Every staff member gets their own login, calendar and permissions, you approve leave in the app, and you see revenue, occupancy and no-shows per staff member. You take payments with your own card terminal, and Lookster Pro is bringing the till soon.

Barbershop with regulars and walk-ins

Lookster is a good fit here. Regulars get a recurring appointment with per-date exceptions, a beard trim or brows can be booked as an add-on, and you add walk-ins straight into the calendar from the app. With evening rates and prices per barber, every booking has the right price. Booksy has no Dutch pricing page and charges €7 per extra staff member. More in Barbershop booking system.

"I am very happy working with Lookster. Good service and a system that works excellently, so I now have much more time for my clients." Lodien Yusuf, Lodiensbarbershop (translated)

Nail salon with regular clients

None of these systems charges commission on clients you already have. The difference lies in new clients from a marketplace: at Treatwell and Fresha you pay per client, at Lookster nothing. You schedule recurring appointments once, keep before-and-after photos per appointment on the client record, and your portfolio shows your work on your salon page. See also Booking system for a nail salon.

"A really great app. Since I started using Lookster I have much more overview of my calendar and spend less time on my planning. Ideal for both me and my clients." Dalia, Biablicious (translated)

Salon that mainly wants new clients

Treatwell and Fresha have a large existing audience of consumers who look for a salon there. You pay for that reach per new client: at Treatwell 35% of the first booking, at Fresha a fee whose percentage is not on the pricing page. With Lookster you appear on the Lookster marketplace and in the consumer app, your salon page can be found through Google, and verified reviews and your portfolio win over new clients. You pay 0% commission on every new client.

Still unsure? Run Lookster next to your current calendar for a few weeks; with 3 months free you have plenty of time to compare. The full cost comparison, including SMS, card fees and commission, is in How much does salon software cost?.