Booking system for a new salon: which one fits when you are just starting?

For a new salon the main things that count are a low fixed monthly fee, no commission on new clients and a trial long enough to see whether your clients book online. Lookster scores well on all three: you try it free for 3 months without a credit card, then pay €19.95 per month excluding VAT, including 3 staff members, with 0% commission, including on new clients from Lookster's own marketplace. If you work alone and look purely at the monthly price, Fresha is cheaper at €14.95. Below are the criteria, a checklist, four starting situations and the traps that cost new salons money.

What matters in a booking system when you are just starting?

A new salon has different priorities from a five-chair salon with ten years of client records. You have few clients, little revenue and no time to spend on configuration. These eight criteria carry the most weight, each with how Lookster covers it.

1. Low fixed costs. In your first months you might see 10 to 20 clients a week. A subscription of €35 or more is then a large slice of your margin. Lookster: after 3 free months, €19.95 per month excluding VAT including 3 staff members, with no setup fee.
2. No commission on your clients. Some platforms take a percentage of the first booking of every new client. When you have just started, almost every client is new, so that commission hits you harder than an established salon. Lookster: 0% commission on every booking, including new clients who find you through the Lookster marketplace and the Lookster client app, with unlimited bookings.
3. A long free trial without a credit card. You want to use the system for real before you pay. A 7 or 14-day trial is too short to see whether clients actually use your booking link. Lookster: 3 months free, no credit card.
4. Live within a day. Entering services, prices and opening hours and sharing a link should take an hour. A setup that takes days gets postponed, and you keep booking through WhatsApp for weeks. Lookster: a short setup wizard for services, team and opening hours, and you share your booking link the same day.
5. Your data stays yours. Without an export you are locked in. Lookster: export to Excel and CSV, data stored in the EU, daily backups and encrypted connections.
6. Reminders against no-shows. An empty chair costs a new salon money straight away. Lookster: a confirmation right after booking and a reminder 24 hours ahead, free by email and push notification, with no SMS costs. After the appointment a review request goes out automatically. See also how to prevent no-shows.
7. Works on your phone. Self-employed stylists and chair renters stand at the chair all day. Lookster: the Lookster Dashboard app for iPhone, iPad and Android, an app for Windows and the full dashboard in any browser, synced live, with a push notification for every new or cancelled booking.
8. Grows with you. If you hire someone next year, you want to add a diary, not move to a different system. Lookster: each staff member gets their own login, diary, working hours and permissions in the staff panel. From the fourth staff member you pay €5 per person per month.

Finally, pick a system you can leave without a fight. Lookster has no contract and you can cancel at any time.

What do you need on day one?

On day one you need an online diary, a booking link, reminders, a client card and a good app. Lookster includes all of it in the Essentials plan.

In the meantime you simply take payment with your own card terminal; Lookster handles the diary, bookings and clients. Lookster Pro adds the till, with Tap to Pay, iDEAL QR, payment links, deposits, stock control and gift cards. Pro already runs at a select number of salons and will soon be available to everyone.

Checklist: the questions to ask before you choose

Run through these questions on the pricing page of every system you consider. The right-hand column gives Lookster's answer.

Which booking system fits your situation?

Here are four starting situations we see often, with what matters in each and what Lookster offers for it.

Self-employed hairdresser or nail tech working from home

You work alone, often in the evenings and on Saturdays, and your diary lives on your phone. The deciding factors are a low price, a good app and a booking link you put in your Instagram bio and WhatsApp profile.

What Lookster offers: you pay nothing for the first 3 months and €19.95 per month after that. A minimum booking notice (for example 24 hours) stops someone booking at 11 pm for the next morning, and the evening rate charges more after 6 pm automatically. A push notification tells you the moment a booking comes in. In the Netherlands you register as a zzp'er (sole trader) with the KvK (Chamber of Commerce) before you take your first booking; see how to start a hair salon in the Netherlands.

Good to know: if you only look at the monthly price, Fresha is €5 cheaper at €14.95 per month. There you pay a fee on new marketplace clients and have 7 days to test. Thanks to the 3 free months, you end up at around €180 with both in the first year.

Chair rental in an existing salon

You rent a chair and run your own business inside someone else's salon. You want your own diary and your own client list, separate from the owner's system. Never settle for "I'll just use the salon's diary": when you leave, your clients stay in their system.

What Lookster offers: for €19.95 a month you have your own diary, your own client cards and your own booking link. You set working hours per day, which suits chair renters who work fixed days, and new clients find you through the Lookster marketplace without you paying commission.

First salon with one or two employees

Now the team matters: each employee gets their own login, diary and working hours, and you as the owner see everything. Watch how the price scales, because systems that charge per staff member quickly cost more with three people than a flat fee.

What Lookster offers: the owner plus 2 staff members are included in the €19.95. Staff request leave in the app and you approve it, and you see revenue, occupancy and no-shows per staff member. See also what a salon POS system needs to do.

Barbershop

Barbershops have short services of 20 to 45 minutes and many regulars. You want a diary you can read at a glance per barber, and reviews and photos weigh heavily, because barbers are chosen on Instagram and Google.

What Lookster offers: the team view shows all barbers side by side, you add a walk-in to the diary yourself, and regulars get a recurring appointment (the same slot every three weeks). After every cut a review request goes out, and your photo portfolio sits on your salon page, which can also be found through Google. See our article on a booking system for a barbershop.

Traps in booking systems for new salons

Most new salon owners overpay because of one of these traps, not because of the monthly fee itself. For each trap we show how Lookster deals with it.

Commission on new clients. Treatwell charges 35% commission excluding VAT on the first booking of every new client who discovers you through its platform, plus 2% transaction costs on prepaid online bookings. Salonized lists the same 35% commission on new bookings through Treatwell on its own pricing page. Fresha charges a one-time fee for new clients who discover you through the Fresha marketplace; according to the Fresha Help Center it also applies when a client views your marketplace profile first and then books through your own website. The amount is not shown on the Dutch pricing page (all checked on 27 October 2026). When you are new, almost every client is new. With Lookster you pay 0% commission, including on clients who find you through the Lookster marketplace. Our commission calculator shows what commission costs per year.

SMS costs. Salonized sells SMS credits at €0.15 each for 50 to 999 credits. Fresha includes 20 automated messages a month and charges €0.15 per text after that (both checked on 27 October 2026). With 60 clients a week that quickly adds €35 to €40 a month on top of your subscription. Lookster sends confirmations and reminders free by email and push notification, with no SMS costs.

A short trial. Fresha gives you 7 days, Salonized 14 days (checked on 27 October 2026). That is too short to see whether your clients pick up the booking link. Lookster gives you 3 months, without a credit card.

Annual contracts and annual billing. Treatwell makes its annual subscription cheaper than paying monthly (checked on 27 October 2026). Commit for a year to get that discount and you are tied to a system you barely know after your first months. Lookster is cancellable monthly, with no contract.

No data export. Ask before you start how you export your data. Under Article 20 of the GDPR your clients have a right to portability of their own data, but that does not give you a one-click export of your entire client base. Lookster exports to Excel and CSV.

"Free" that is not free. A free plan with commission, paid reminders or a cap on bookings often costs more after a few months than a flat subscription. Lookster is genuinely free for 3 months and then a flat fee with unlimited bookings. In what salon software costs we work out the yearly totals.

Shortlist: which booking system should a new salon choose?

This is how the best-known systems score on the criteria that matter to a new salon.

Where Lookster makes the difference for a new salon: you try it for longer, from 3 staff you pay less, and you keep every euro from your new clients. On top of that you get your own marketplace with the free Lookster client app for iOS and Android, a salon page with verified reviews and a portfolio, and the product in English, Dutch and German, which helps if your team or your clients are international. Lookster is a Dutch company from Enschede with personal support at [email protected]. More comparisons are in the best salon software of 2026 and at /en/vergelijk.

Dalia of nail studio Biablicious says (translated): "A really pleasant app. Since I started using Lookster I have much more overview of my diary and spend less time on planning. Ideal for me and for my clients."

How to get Lookster live within a day

A new salon does not need an implementation project. This is the order that works.

1. Create a free account and fill in your salon name, address and opening hours.
2. Add your services with price and duration through the short wizard. Start with your ten most requested services and add the rest later. Add-ons, such as an extra wash, are chosen by clients themselves when they book.
3. Set your working hours and breaks, even if you work alone, so clients only see times when you are genuinely available.
4. Set a minimum booking notice, for example 12 or 24 hours ahead.
5. Share your booking link in your Instagram bio, your WhatsApp profile and your Google Business Profile. Under "Bookings", Google lets you add your own appointment link, which appears as a button in Search and Maps.
6. Add your existing clients, or let them add themselves with their first online booking.
7. Use Lookster alongside your current way of working until you are sure, and see how many clients book themselves. With 3 free months you have plenty of time.

If you are still in the preparation phase, read how to start a hair salon in the Netherlands first. It covers what you arrange with the KvK and the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax office) before your first client books.