Abeautella
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Guides

Running a salon, explained simply

Honest comparisons and practical answers for salons and independent beauty professionals.

Willingness to leave a review peaks in the minutes after an appointment and falls sharply over the following days
How to

How to Ask for Reviews Without It Being Awkward

Nearly every salon knows it should ask for reviews and nearly none do it consistently, because it feels like asking a favour from someone who has just paid you. The fix is timing, and a reframe: she already wants to say something nice.

September 19, 2026 · 10 min read
Of five booking apps, two have permanently free plans, one is free but charges a fee on each new client, and two offer trials that expire
Roundup

The 5 Best Booking Apps for Independent Beauty Specialists

When you work alone there is no reception, no cover, and no budget line for software. A missed hour is the whole hour's income. These five are compared on the two things that actually decide it: whether the free plan expires, and what happens while your hands are busy.

September 14, 2026 · 10 min read
A grid showing that deposits are worth asking for on long expensive services and clients who have missed before, but not on short cheap services with regulars
How to

How to Ask for a Deposit Without Losing Clients

Most salons treat this as one decision: deposits, yes or no. It is four decisions, and getting them right is the difference between protecting your day and driving people to the salon down the road.

September 11, 2026 · 10 min read
A year on Square costs about €576 in card fees at 720 bookings, against €120 to €540 in subscriptions elsewhere plus their own card fees
Comparison

Square Appointments for a Salon: Where It Works and Where It Stops

Square is the only platform in this category that is free without an asterisk. The calendar works, the reminders work, and for a lot of salons that is enough. This is where it stops being enough, and why it stops exactly there.

September 9, 2026 · 10 min read
Eleven places a salon booking link belongs, from the social bio and auto-reply down to email signatures and receipts
How to

Your Booking Link: Where to Put It and What It Must Do

A booking link is the shortest path between someone deciding they want an appointment and actually having one. Most salons have one, in one place, pointing at a page that asks for an account. Here is the whole job, done properly, in an afternoon.

September 8, 2026 · 10 min read
A single €40 booking charged twice: a share of the monthly subscription plus a percentage commission, leaving the salon less than either model alone
Comparison

Paying Twice for the Same Client: Subscription Plus Commission

Every comparison presents these as alternatives: pay a flat fee, or pay a percentage. On more platforms than you would expect, you pay both, on the same appointment, in the same month. Here is how to tell whether you are one of them.

September 7, 2026 · 10 min read
An empty styling chair in a quiet salon in the late afternoon
How to

How to Cut No-Shows at Your Salon: 9 Methods That Work

Most people who miss an appointment did not decide to. They forgot, or they were embarrassed to cancel late. Almost everything that reduces no-shows works on one of those two, and none of it requires being strict with your clients.

September 4, 2026 · 10 min read
Two pricing models compared: Fresha at €240 a year plus 20% on new clients, Booksy at €540 a year with no commission
Comparison

Fresha vs Booksy in 2026: Which One for a Small Salon

These two sell the same calendar and charge for it in opposite ways. Fresha is nearly free until it sends you a client. Booksy costs from day one and then leaves you alone. The right answer depends on one question about your own business.

September 4, 2026 · 10 min read
A salon booking calendar for the week, with the yearly cost of four platforms below it: Abeautella €120, Booksy €540, Fresha €1,200, Treatwell €1,680
Roundup

Best Salon Software in 2026: What Each One Really Costs

Most comparisons rank features. This one ranks what leaves your account. Two of these platforms take a cut of every new client you book, and that cut is bigger than any subscription on this page.

September 3, 2026 · 10 min read
Editorial standards

How we evaluate salon software

The same criteria, every time

Monthly price, commission on a new client, whether the free plan is permanent and where its limit sits, and what the product cannot do. Applied identically to every platform in a comparison.

One of them is ours

Abeautella is our product. We say so inside every comparison that includes it, and we name what it lacks, starting with the fact that we have no marketplace.

Every price is dated

Each table states when the figures were checked. We recheck them quarterly, and we change an article's update date only when something in it actually changed.

Sources at first hand

We link the provider's own pricing page wherever it exists, and add at least one independent source when the subject is commercial.

Corrections

If a number here is wrong, write to the author. We correct it, and the update date moves with the correction.

Mobile app

Your schedule, always in your pocket

Get a notification for every booking, check your appointments between clients and run your day from anywhere. Available on iOS and Android.