How much does salon software cost? Pricing models and examples (2026)

Salon software in the Netherlands costs between €0 and €49 per month excluding VAT for a one-person salon in 2026, depending on the plan. Which choice is the best value depends on your team. For one staff member, Fresha is the cheapest complete option at €14.95 per month, although Fresha charges a fee on new clients that is not on its pricing page. From 3 staff, Lookster is the best value: 3 months free, then €19.95 per month including 3 staff members, with 0% commission and free reminders by email and push.

All prices were checked on 27 October 2026 on the official pricing pages and exclude VAT (called btw in the Netherlands, 21%) unless stated otherwise.

Which pricing models do salon software providers use?

Eight cost items together determine what a salon system costs you per year. Most providers combine three or four of them. With Lookster you pay one: a fixed amount per month.

1. Flat monthly subscription

You pay one amount per month for a plan, regardless of the number of bookings. Examples: Lookster Essentials €19.95, Onlineafspraken.nl Solo €20 (annual billing only), Treatwell Starter €35. This model is the easiest to budget, especially when the subscription includes unlimited bookings, as Lookster's does.

2. Price per staff member

The base price covers one or a few staff members; each extra staff member costs a fixed amount. With Lookster, 3 staff members are included in the base price and each extra one costs €5. Salonized charges €5 per extra staff member on top of the €35 base price, Booksy €7. On Fresha's Team plan you pay €9.95 for every bookable staff member.

3. Commission per new client

Marketplaces charge a percentage of the first booking of a new client. Treatwell charges 35%. Fresha's pricing page only mentions a one-off fee without a percentage; Fresha's own content page states 20%, and that is the figure we calculate with below. The more new clients you get through such a platform, the higher the bill. Lookster charges 0% commission, including on clients from its own marketplace and consumer app.

4. Transaction fees for online payments and card payments

If clients prepay online, the provider takes a percentage: Treatwell 2% on prepaid bookings, Fresha 1% plus €0.20 per online payment, SumUp 2.50% online. Card payments through the system cost 1.0% with Salonized Pay, 0.89% plus €0.10 with Fresha and 1.49% with SumUp (0.99% with the Payments Plus subscription at €19 per month).

5. SMS credits

Many providers charge per text. Salonized charges €0.15 per text for 50 to 999 credits and €0.11 from 2,500 credits. Fresha gives 20 free messages per month and charges €0.15 per text after that. SimplyBook.me sells 100 texts for $8. For a salon that sends 300 reminders a month, that quickly adds €30 to €45 per month. Lookster sends confirmations and reminders (24 hours ahead) free of charge by email and push notification, with no SMS costs.

6. Hardware and card terminal

A card terminal is a separate purchase: Salonized Pay from €199, Fresha terminal from €119. SumUp sells its own readers. With Lookster you simply take payments with your own card terminal; Lookster handles your calendar, bookings and clients. You usually already own a tablet, laptop or phone, and the Lookster Dashboard app runs on iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows.

7. Setup fees

Lookster, Salonized and Onlineafspraken.nl charge no setup or connection fees. With providers that only work on quotes (such as Optios), you only find out after a sales call.

8. Annual versus monthly billing

Annual billing sometimes gives a discount, but it locks you in. Salonized gives 10% off for annual billing. Onlineafspraken.nl charges €20 per month on annual billing and €25 on quarterly billing; monthly billing is not available there. Treatwell mentions a cheaper annual subscription without stating the price. With Lookster you pay monthly, with no contract and the freedom to cancel at any time, and the first 3 months cost nothing.

Salon software price table, Netherlands (checked 27 October 2026)

Fresha explicitly states its prices exclude 21% VAT. Onlineafspraken.nl and SimplyBook.me do not say on their pricing pages whether amounts include or exclude VAT. Booksy has no Dutch pricing page; the German rate is used as an indication. A full review per system is in Best salon software in the Netherlands 2026.

Worked example: what does salon software cost for 1, 3 and 6 staff?

Below are the monthly and yearly subscription costs, excluding VAT, commission, SMS and transaction fees. For Salonized we assumed the €35 base price covers one staff member, because the help center does not state how many are included.

How the amounts were calculated:

• Lookster, 6 staff: €19.95 base plus 3 extra staff × €5 = €34.95 per month; × 12 = €419.40 per year. In the first year, thanks to the 3 free months, you pay 9 × €34.95 = €314.55.
• Lookster, 3 staff in the first year: 9 × €19.95 = €179.55.
• Salonized, 3 staff: €35 plus 2 × €5 = €45 per month; × 12 = €540.
• Fresha, 3 staff: Team plan 3 × €9.95 = €29.85 per month; × 12 = €358.20.
• Booksy, 6 staff: €35 plus 5 × €7 = €70 per month; × 12 = €840.
• Treatwell: €35 regardless of team size, plus commission on every new client (see below).

With 3 staff, Lookster is the cheapest complete option: €19.95 per month, compared with €29.85 at Fresha and €45 at Salonized. With six staff you pay €34.95 per month at Lookster and €70 at Booksy (German rate); on a yearly basis that is a gap of over €420.

Worked example: the effect of commission with 10 new clients per month

Suppose your salon gets 10 new clients a month through your provider's marketplace, each with a first treatment of €40. That is €400 in first-booking revenue per month.

Treatwell's commission excludes VAT; including 21% VAT you pay €169.40 per month in commission. Because VAT is usually deductible for a business, we calculate with amounts excluding VAT.

The sum per new client: with Treatwell you keep €26 of a €40 first treatment, with Fresha €32, with Lookster the full €40. And with Lookster you still get new clients through a marketplace: your salon appears on the Lookster marketplace and in the free consumer app, and your salon page can be found through Google. How to weigh this up for your salon is covered in Booking marketplace or your own booking system?.

Even with 2 new marketplace clients a month you already pay €28 in commission at Treatwell, and that amount grows with every new client. On top of that, commission comes in addition to the subscription, not instead of it.

Hidden costs of salon software to watch for

1. Add-ons you turn out to need. At Fresha, reporting (Insights) costs €9.95 per staff member per month and a loyalty programme €59.95 per month. With Lookster, insights into revenue, occupancy, no-shows and returning clients per staff member are part of the subscription.
2. Booking caps. SimplyBook.me Basic stops at 100 bookings per month; a hairdresser with 5 clients a day passes that in three weeks. Lookster has unlimited bookings.
3. Forced plan upgrades when you grow. At Onlineafspraken.nl you go from Solo (€20) to Groei (€32.50) as soon as you need a second calendar; at SumUp from €0 to €49. With Lookster, 3 staff members are already in the base price.
4. Contract length. At Onlineafspraken.nl monthly billing is not available. Lookster can be cancelled monthly, with no contract.
5. Short trials. Fresha and Booksy give 7 days, Salonized and Onlineafspraken.nl 14 days. Lookster gives 3 months, with no credit card.
6. Exporting your data. Lookster exports revenue and appointments to Excel or CSV for your accountant. Ask every other provider in advance whether they can do the same.

How much should salon software cost relative to your revenue?

A practical rule of thumb: a salon system including SMS and transaction fees should stay under 1% to 2% of revenue. A self-employed hairdresser with €4,000 revenue per month is fine at €20 to €40 per month. Lookster stays below even that at €19.95 including 3 staff members, with no SMS costs or commission quietly pushing the amount up.

Commission belongs in the same sum. If you pay €140 per month in commission on €4,000 revenue, you spend 3.5% of revenue on client acquisition through one channel. With Lookster you get a marketplace, a consumer app and a booking link for your Google Business Profile, Instagram and WhatsApp, for €19.95 per month in total.

Lookster in short: the first 3 months free with no credit card, then €19.95 per month including 3 staff members, 0% commission, unlimited bookings and monthly cancellation. Lookster Pro (€34.95) adds the till, with Tap to Pay, iDEAL QR, online prepayment and invoices. Pro is already running at a select number of salons and is coming to everyone soon. All details are on the pricing page.