Trafft is the cheapest of the three for any team of three or more. A salon with ten people on the books pays $39.99 a month on Trafft, $83.99 on Vagaro and $149.50 on Fresha, subscription only. A solo stylist who doesn't need online deposits pays $0 on Trafft's free plan.
The three bill in different ways. Going by Vagaro Support's 2026 pricing, Vagaro charges per bookable calendar and stops charging for calendars after seven licenses. Fresha's 2026 pricing page lists $14.95 per bookable team member after a 7-day trial. That price never caps, and Fresha also keeps a cut of the first booking from every new marketplace client.
Trafft charges a flat monthly price per plan, with user brackets of 1, 3, 5, 15 and 30 (Trafft pricing page, 2026). It takes no commission on bookings. It also has no marketplace app sending you new clients, and that trade-off decides a lot below.
Where you are matters too. Vagaro was founded in 2009, is based in Pleasanton, California, and is stronger in the US. Fresha launched in London in 2015 as Shedul and does better in the UK, Australia and Canada. Trafft comes from the team behind the Amelia WordPress booking plugin, opened to a wider audience in late 2021 and early 2022, and offers its site in English, German, Spanish and French.
What Is the Difference Between Vagaro, Fresha and Trafft?
On core booking, the three overlap. All run an online calendar, client profiles and card payments at booking. The real split is how the bill grows and what sits outside the booking tool.
Vagaro is a flat subscription per bookable calendar with paid add-ons and its own POS. Fresha bills per bookable team member, and when its marketplace sends you someone new, it takes a 20% one-time commission on that client. Trafft is booking software only. It has flat plans, no commission, and card payments run through your own Square, Stripe, PayPal, Mollie or Authorize.net account.
Geography matters more than most comparisons admit. Wmtips technology tracking rates Fresha at roughly 2.7 times as popular as Vagaro in the scheduling category. Fresha leads in Australia, the UK and Canada. In the US, Vagaro is still ahead.
These are the numbers worth having in front of you. All figures were checked in October 2026.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Vagaro base price (US) | $23.99/month for one bookable calendar, listed as a limited-time rate (Vagaro Support, 2026) |
| Fresha Independent | $19.95/month for one bookable team member (Fresha pricing page, 2026) |
| Fresha Team | $14.95/month per bookable team member |
| Fresha new client fee | 20% of the first booking, $6 minimum |
| Fresha scale | Over 130,000 businesses and a marketplace of 25+ million customers, per Fresha's own 2026 figures |
| Trafft Free plan | $0 for 1 user, 1 location and 100 appointments a month (Trafft pricing page, 2026) |
| Trafft paid plans | $7.99 Mini, $19.99 Growth, $39.99 Professional and $64.99 Business per month, monthly billing (Capterra and Trafft, 2026) |
| Trafft booking commission | None on any plan |
| Trafft scale | 50,000+ businesses, counting Trafft and Amelia users together, per Trafft's own homepage |
So Vagaro gets cheaper per head as the team grows. Fresha is cheaper than Vagaro for a solo pro, right up until the marketplace starts sending new clients. Trafft undercuts both from its first paid plan if you skip deposits, and from three staff if you want them.
If none of the three fits your shop, a wider look at the best salon software options covers the rest of the field.
How Much Does Vagaro Cost?
One bookable calendar runs $23.99 per month in the US. Each extra calendar adds $10. After seven paid licenses the number stops moving, so a big team caps out at $83.99 a month before add-ons and card fees.
Front desk staff don't need a license. Only people who perform services count as bookable calendars.
There's one caveat. Vagaro Support labels the $23.99 rate "limited time," and Vagaro's own pricing page shows $30 as the standard price, with $23.99 offered as an exclusive rate for the first six months. At $30, the same seven-license cap comes to $90. I wouldn't build a budget around the lower number lasting.
Subscription Cost by Team Size
| Bookable staff | Vagaro (US) | Fresha | Trafft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $23.99 | $19.95 | $0 (Free) |
| 2 | $33.99 | $29.90 | $7.99 (Mini) |
| 3 | $43.99 | $44.85 | $7.99 (Mini) |
| 5 | $63.99 | $74.75 | $19.99 (Growth) |
| 7 | $83.99 | $104.65 | $39.99 (Professional) |
| 10 | $83.99 | $149.50 | $39.99 (Professional) |
The Vagaro and Fresha lines cross at three people. With a third stylist on board, Fresha's subscription costs more every month. At 10 bookable staff the gap between them is $65.51 a month.
Trafft sits below both at every size from two staff up. Its plans count users, so count the owner and any front desk login too. Three stylists plus the owner means Growth, not Mini.
That's the subscription only, by the way. Card processing, texts and add-ons come on top for all three, and online deposits change the Trafft column (see the deposit table further down).
Outside the US, Vagaro starts at $35 CAD in Canada, GBP 20 in the UK and $45 AUD in Australia. Each extra calendar costs $10 to $15 there.
Vagaro Add-Ons That Raise the Bill
The base plan is lean. A lot of what other platforms bundle is sold separately here.
- Online Shopping Cart, $10/month. You need it for online deposits and cancellation fees, and it also gives salons that sell retail products a way to take product orders alongside appointments.
- Forms at $10/month (intake, consent and waiver forms)
- MySite, the $20/month website builder
- Check-In App for $10/month
- QuickBooks Online sync, also $10/month
- Branded App: $100/month (a limited-time rate) plus a $100 setup fee, which is a lot for most single-location shops
A 4-person salon that adds the cart, forms and MySite goes from $53.99 to $93.99 a month. That's before a single text message.
Capterra's pricing page calls Vagaro's starting price mid-range for its category, where alternatives start between $8 and $39.
The 30-day free trial covers everything except email marketing, text marketing and the branded app. You can cancel any time with no fee.
For what owners actually say about billing surprises and support, the full set of Vagaro reviews is worth a skim before signing up.
Is Fresha Really Free?
Not anymore. After a 7-day trial you pay $19.95 a month for one bookable team member, or $14.95 per member on the Team plan.
The free-forever plan is gone. The 20% marketplace fee and card processing sit on top of the subscription now, not in place of it.
Sources don't agree on when the switch happened. Pabau says Fresha dropped its subscription-free model in 2025. HeyBooked reports the free subscription ended for all accounts, existing ones included, in July 2026.
Fresha's own pricing page shows where things stand today. There's Independent, there's Team, and there's custom Enterprise pricing for businesses with more than 20 team members.
| Feature | Independent | Team |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $19.95/month | $14.95 per member/month |
| Calendar columns | 1 | Multiple |
| Free texts | 100/month | 100 per member/month |
| Support | Email and chat (phone support $14.95/month extra) | Phone, chat, email |
| Commissions, wages, timesheets | Not included | Included |
Some things still cost nothing. Direct booking links and Instagram or Facebook bookings are free, returning marketplace clients don't trigger a fee, and automated email notifications are included.
No contract either. Fresha bills monthly and lets you cancel any time.
If you picked Fresha only because it was free, it makes sense to compare free online booking systems before the next renewal.
How Much Does Trafft Cost?
Trafft starts at $0. The Free plan covers 1 user, 1 location and 100 appointments a month. Paid plans run $7.99 (Mini), $19.99 (Growth), $39.99 (Professional) and $64.99 (Business) per month, and annual billing saves up to 25%.
Each plan has a user cap and a location cap, not a per-person price. Extra users can be added to a plan, and the price per extra user is shown on the Trafft pricing page.
| Plan | Price/month | Users | Locations | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1 | 1 | Booking website, booking link, QR code, embeddable form, chatbot, Square payments, mobile app, 100 appointments a month |
| Mini | $7.99 | 3 | 3 | Unlimited appointments, group bookings, buffer times, coupons, Google, Outlook and Apple calendar sync, client import |
| Growth | $19.99 | 5 | 5 | Stripe, PayPal, Mollie and Authorize.net, extras, custom fields, custom notifications, multilingual booking page, invoices, Zoom, Mailchimp |
| Professional | $39.99 | 15 | Unlimited | Deposits, gift cards, packages, recurring appointments, resources, ratings and reviews, custom roles, Zapier, 5 SMS credits a month |
| Business | $64.99 | 30 | Unlimited | Reserve with Google, WhatsApp, API and webhooks, employee commission, custom domain, Trafft branding removal, 10 SMS credits a month |
Trafft's FAQ states there are no booking commissions, no hidden fees and no contracts. Every paid plan has a 14-day free trial with no credit card, and a 30-day money-back guarantee backs the paid plans.
One cost sits outside the plans. SMS credits are bought separately on Free, Mini and Growth, and Professional and Business include 5 and 10 a month.
For a salon, Professional at $39.99 is the plan that matters. It's where online deposits, packages, gift cards and recurring appointments start, and it covers up to 15 users with unlimited locations.
You can look at the booking pages before paying through the Trafft demos, or read how Trafft works for salons.
Vagaro Pay vs Fresha Payments vs Trafft: Processing Fees Compared
For an in-person US card payment, Fresha takes 2.29% + $0.20. Vagaro splits merchants in two. Small merchants under $4,000 a month pay 2.6% + $0.10. Large merchants get 2.29% + $0.19 but also pay a $10 monthly fee.
Neither headline rate is the full cost. Vagaro adds a network fee (FANF) and a Mastercard location fee of $1.25 a month, and Fresha adds $0.10 to every Tap to Pay authorization.
| Payment type (US) | Vagaro | Fresha |
|---|---|---|
| Swipe, dip or tap on reader | 2.6% + $0.10 (small) / 2.29% + $0.19 (large) | 2.29% + $0.20 |
| Keyed-in card | 3.5% + $0.19 | 3.30% + $0.20 |
| Tap to phone | 2.6% + $0.16 (small) / 2.29% + $0.25 (large) | 2.29% + $0.30 |
| Buy now, pay later | 6% + $0.30 (Affirm) | 5.99% + $0.30 (Klarna) |
Ticket size decides this one. On a $25 barber cut, a small-merchant Vagaro account pays $0.75 and Fresha takes $0.77.
A $120 color service flips it. Vagaro takes $3.22 there, Fresha $2.95.
The break-even ticket is about $32. Under that, Vagaro's small-merchant rate is cheaper per swipe. Over it, Fresha wins, and that's before Vagaro's monthly network fees get added.
Fresha terminals start at $139 per device, and they can be free on the Team plan depending on processing volume. Vagaro is running a free card reader promotion for new merchant sign-ups (terms apply).
Vagaro Merchant Services is a registered ISO of PNC Bank. Fresha payments are optional, so bookings and the calendar still work if you process cards somewhere else.
UK shops get a very different picture. Vagaro's UK rate is 1.15% + GBP 0.20 for dip and tap on newer accounts, with no monthly cost listed on its UK page.
Trafft doesn't process cards itself, so it has no rate table of its own. Clients pay at booking through Square on every plan, or through Stripe, PayPal, Mollie or Authorize.net from Growth, and you pay that provider's standard rate with nothing added by Trafft.
Stripe also covers Google Pay and Apple Pay. Mollie handles Euro only, which matters if you take payments in another currency.
The flip side is hardware. Trafft focuses on payments at the time of booking and doesn't sell card readers, so a shop that wants a terminal on the counter keeps one from its own provider.
If the terminal matters more to you than the rate, compare a few other salon POS setups before committing to any processor.
How Does the Fresha New Client Fee Work?
It only kicks in when someone brand new finds your business on the Fresha marketplace and books. Fresha then takes a one-time 20% commission, with a $6 minimum. Returning, existing and imported clients never trigger it. Neither does anyone who books through your own link, Instagram or Facebook without having found you on the marketplace first.
That last condition matters. Fresha's help center says the fee also applies when a new client views your marketplace profile first and then books through your own website or social channels.
Vagaro takes no commission on regular US marketplace bookings. Its Fill My Books and Daily Deals promotions do charge a fee, though: 20% on a new customer's first booking and 5% on a repeat customer. In the UK, a flat 20% new-customer fee applies.
| First service price | Fresha fee | Why |
|---|---|---|
| $25 | $6 | Minimum applies |
| $60 | $12 | 20% |
| $150 | $30 | 20% |
| $300 | $60 | 20% |
Is that expensive? Depends on the client.
$12 for someone who comes back every six weeks is cheap acquisition. $60 on a one-off bridal trial that never rebooks is a lot to pay for a single lead.
Before you turn on marketplace visibility, import your existing client list. Fresha's help center says clients imported before their first booking aren't charged, so regulars who find you through the Fresha app aren't counted as new.
The fee is really the price of building a clientele through someone else's app, so track which new clients actually return.
Trafft has no fee of this kind on any plan. The catch is that it doesn't list your shop in a consumer app either, so new clients arrive through your website, your Instagram bio and Google.
Which Has Better Booking and No-Show Protection?
On Fresha, deposits, upfront payments and no-show fees come with every plan through Fresha payments. Vagaro can do the same, but you need the $10-a-month Online Shopping Cart before online deposits and cancellation fees work. On Trafft, deposits start on the $39.99 Professional plan.
Fresha also puts a fair amount of booking detail into its plans:
- Waitlists and group bookings
- Consultation forms and patch tests
- Processing and finishing times, so a colorist can take another client while color develops
- Resources such as rooms and equipment
Vagaro's base plan covers online booking, automated reminders, waitlist support and class booking.
Classes are where Vagaro pulls ahead. Live Stream costs $10 a month and runs appointments or classes over video. A pilates studio will care about that far more than a nail bar.
Forms are a small cost difference that adds up. Fresha includes consultation forms, and Vagaro charges $10 a month for Forms. Trafft's custom fields come with Growth at $19.99 and support text, dropdowns, checkboxes, dates, addresses and file attachments.
Fresha gives you 100 free reminder texts per team member each month. After that it's $0.02 per text, or $0.04 to $0.11 per WhatsApp message.
Trafft sends automatic email reminders on every plan, with SMS through credits and WhatsApp on Business. Trafft's salon page describes a reminder 24 hours before the visit plus a second nudge on the day.
The rest of Trafft's protection set is broad for the price:
- Buffer times between appointments from Mini
- Client self-service rescheduling and cancelling with a cut-off you set
- Deposits, refunds, packages and gift cards from Professional
- Resources such as rooms and equipment from Professional
Two things to weigh. Colorists who rely on processing times will find Fresha's setup more specific, and Trafft's included SMS credits are modest next to Fresha's 100 free texts, so heavy texters buy credits on top.
Deposits only work if clients see a clear salon cancellation policy before they book. That's the same on all three platforms.
The wording of the message matters too. These SMS and email reminder templates drop straight into any of the three systems' automated reminders.
Vagaro vs Fresha vs Trafft Marketing, Payroll and Reporting Tools
You get more free marketing volume with Vagaro, but payroll is a $34/month add-on. Fresha is the reverse. Wages, pay runs and commissions come with the Team plan, while marketing and deeper reports are charged per message or per module. Trafft charges for none of these as modules, but it connects to outside email tools instead of sending campaigns itself.
| Tool | Vagaro (US) | Fresha | Trafft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Email marketing | 1,000 credits free, then $10 for 5,000 | 50 free per member, then $0.02 each | Mailchimp, SendFox and Acumbamail integrations from Growth |
| Text marketing | From $20 for 1,000 credits | $0.08 per text | No text campaign tool (SMS credits cover notifications) |
| Payroll | $34/month + $5 per employee | Wages and pay runs on Team plan | Commission tracking on Business (payroll runs not listed) |
| Advanced reporting | Data Lake, $40/month | Insights, $9.95 per member/month | Dashboard on every plan, no extra fee |
| AI receptionist or chatbot | Vera Receptionist, $10/month | AI Concierge, $99.95 per location/month | Booking chatbot on every plan |
Text marketing is where the gap gets silly. On Fresha, 5,000 marketing texts cost $400. Vagaro's text plans start at $20 for 1,000 credits, so at that entry rate and one credit per text, the same 5,000 would run about $100, and its larger plans bring the per-text cost down further.
Payroll goes the other way. An 8-person team on Vagaro Payroll pays $74 a month, and Fresha's Team plan records wages and pay runs at no extra charge.
Vagaro Payroll pays staff by direct deposit, so there's no separate payment run to manage.
Vagaro's Data Lake ships with a Power BI template holding 50+ pre-built reports. Fresha includes standard reporting, and its Data Connector for outside systems costs $295 per location.
Trafft's dashboard tracks revenue, occupancy, new customers, and top staff and services on every plan, according to its docs. There's no Power BI layer, but there's also no module to buy.
Fresha also sells a couple of extras Vagaro doesn't have. Client Loyalty is $59.95 per location, and Google Rating Boost is $14.95 per location. Trafft covers retention with coupons from Mini and gift cards from Professional.
None of these tools replace a plan, though. These salon marketing ideas work with any of the three platforms' campaign tools.
What Does Each Platform Integrate With?
Reserve with Google, Instagram and Facebook booking buttons are free on Vagaro and Fresha. Vagaro has more on the accounting and developer side. Fresha adds free ad tracking through Meta Pixel and Google Analytics. Trafft has the broadest tool list at the lowest plan prices, though some items sit on the higher plans.
| Integration | Vagaro | Fresha | Trafft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reserve with Google | Yes | Yes, marketplace profile required | Business plan, no marketplace profile |
| Instagram and Facebook booking | Yes | Yes | Booking link in bio and stories, all plans |
| Apple Maps and Yelp booking | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Xero sync | $10/month (US) | Not listed | Not listed |
| APIs and webhooks | From $10/month | Not listed | Included on Business |
| Meta Pixel and Google Analytics | Not listed | Free | From Growth |
On top of the table, Trafft connects to Google Calendar and Meet, Outlook and Teams, Apple Calendar, Zoom, Zapier and a free WordPress plugin. The full list is on the Trafft features and integrations page.
The Google setup is where they differ most, and all three have stricter rules than people expect.
Vagaro needs all of the following before the Google button goes live:
- Account out of the free trial
- Online booking switched on
- At least one appointment booked in the last 30 days
- A business address on the profile
Even then, Vagaro Support says Google can take up to a week to show changes after activation or any profile edit.
Fresha wants a published marketplace profile, services with real prices and staff shifts scheduled in the next 30 days. Your business name and address also have to match your Google Business Profile exactly. Once that all lines up, Fresha's help center says the Book button appears within 48 hours.
The part that surprised me is that Fresha won't give you a Google button unless you're listed on the Fresha marketplace.
Trafft's Reserve with Google needs the Business plan. You link each Trafft location to its Google location, and the Book button appears once Google approves the match. No marketplace profile is involved.
There are limits. Trafft's integration covers Wellness, Spa, Fitness, Beauty and Financial services in supported countries, and bookings made through Google don't carry online payments, group bookings, extras, custom fields or recurring appointments. They also arrive with a default Pending status, so you confirm them in the dashboard.
Vagaro has its own weak spot. Vagaro's Instagram integration support page says the Vagaro option went missing from Instagram's action buttons, and it was still missing in May 2022, more than a year after it first disappeared in November 2020. Vagaro's pricing page lists Instagram booking as included today.
Website builders split too. Fresha's Smart Website costs $15.95 a month and updates itself from your account. Vagaro's MySite is $20 a month. Trafft builds a booking website on every plan, including Free, with eight themes in light and dark modes, and it can sit on your own domain on Business.
If you'd rather own the page, this walkthrough on building a booking website covers the alternative.
Vagaro vs Fresha vs Trafft Side-by-Side Comparison
Count the rows below and Trafft takes 5 of 11 outright and shares two more, mostly on price, free access and booking reach. Fresha wins included deposits and included payroll. Vagaro wins classes and live streaming. Card rates aren't a row, because they depend on ticket size and, for Trafft, on whichever gateway you pick.
| Feature | Vagaro | Fresha | Trafft | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo subscription | $23.99 | $19.95 | $0 (Free, 100 appointments/month) | Trafft |
| 10 bookable staff | $83.99 | $149.50 | $39.99 | Trafft |
| Marketplace commission (US) | None | 20%, $6 minimum | None (no marketplace) | Trafft and Vagaro |
| Online deposits and no-show fees | $10/month add-on | Included | From Professional, $39.99 | Fresha |
| Intake forms and custom fields | $10/month add-on | Included | From Growth, $19.99 | Fresha and Trafft |
| Payroll | Paid add-on | Included on Team | Commission tracking on Business | Fresha |
| POS hardware and inventory | Yes | Yes | No | Vagaro and Fresha |
| Classes and live stream | Yes | Group bookings only | Group bookings from Mini, Zoom and Meet links | Vagaro |
| Google booking button | Out of trial plus a recent booking | Marketplace profile required | Business plan, no marketplace listing | Trafft |
| Free plan and trial | 30-day trial | 7-day trial | Free plan plus 14-day trial, no card | Trafft |
| Capterra rating | 4.7 (3,661 reviews) | 4.8 (1,448 reviews) | 4.9 (49 reviews) | Trafft |
A row count doesn't tell you what matters to your shop, though. A barbershop that never runs classes can ignore Vagaro's one win, and a salon with a card terminal already on the counter can live without Trafft's missing POS.
Vagaro's longer trial is worth noting. Trafft's answer is a free plan that never expires, plus a 14-day trial of any paid plan.
If this shortlist feels too narrow, a broader comparison of salon scheduling software puts all three next to tools with different pricing models.
Which Is Cheaper for My Salon?
For any salon with three or more bookable staff, Trafft costs less than both Vagaro and Fresha on subscription alone, with or without online deposits. Fresha stays cheaper for one or two people who want deposits, and for solo stylists with no new marketplace clients.
Deposits change the picture because Trafft puts them on Professional. This table adds the Vagaro cart ($10) and uses Trafft Professional ($39.99) at every size.
| Bookable staff, deposits on | Vagaro | Fresha | Trafft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $33.99 | $19.95 | $39.99 |
| 2 | $43.99 | $29.90 | $39.99 |
| 3 | $53.99 | $44.85 | $39.99 |
| 5 | $73.99 | $74.75 | $39.99 |
| 10 | $93.99 | $149.50 | $39.99 |
Trafft's price stays at $39.99 up to 15 users. A solo stylist who doesn't need deposits skips that cost entirely, since the Free plan is $0.
Now the Vagaro versus Fresha math with in-person card fees. For most salons taking zero or one new marketplace client a month, Fresha comes out ahead of Vagaro. Each marketplace client after that pushes the math toward Vagaro. In the scenarios below, the break-even lands somewhere between 1 and 4 marketplace clients a month.
The numbers use US pricing as of October 2026 and in-person card payments only. Deposits are on for both, and payroll is included where the team needs it.
| Scenario | Vagaro | Fresha, no marketplace clients | Fresha, with marketplace clients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo stylist, $3,000/month, $75 tickets, 2 new clients | $115.99 | $96.65 | $126.65 |
| 5-chair salon, $20,000/month, $100 tickets, 10 new clients | $638.99 | $572.75 | $772.75 |
| 10-staff salon, $40,000/month, $100 tickets, 15 new clients | $1,179.99 | $1,145.50 | $1,445.50 |
The Vagaro column includes:
- Base plan plus extra calendars
- Online Shopping Cart for deposits
- Large Merchant rate and its $10 fee above $4,000 in monthly volume
- Vagaro Payroll for the 5-chair and 10-staff salons
Without marketplace clients the gap stays small. It's $19.34 for the solo stylist, $66.24 for the 5-chair salon and $34.49 for the 10-staff salon.
So the marketplace decides it. At $100 tickets each new Fresha client costs $20. That wipes out the 10-staff salon's advantage in 2 clients, and the 5-chair salon's in 4.
Trafft doesn't fit that table cleanly, because card fees depend on which gateway you connect. So here are the software fees alone (subscription, the deposit add-on and marketplace fees), with deposits on and payroll left out for everyone.
| Scenario | Vagaro | Fresha, no marketplace clients | Fresha, with marketplace clients | Trafft Professional |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo stylist, $75 tickets, 2 new clients | $33.99 | $19.95 | $49.95 | $39.99 |
| 5-chair salon, $100 tickets, 10 new clients | $73.99 | $74.75 | $274.75 | $39.99 |
| 10-staff salon, $100 tickets, 15 new clients | $93.99 | $149.50 | $449.50 | $39.99 |
At 10 staff, Trafft costs $54.00 a month less than Vagaro and $109.51 less than Fresha before any marketplace fee. With 15 new Fresha clients the gap to Fresha grows to $409.51.
The 5-chair salon saves about $34 a month against either platform without marketplace fees, and $234.76 against Fresha with them. The solo stylist is the one case where Trafft's deposit-ready plan loses to Vagaro, and to Fresha unless the marketplace sends new clients. With 2 new Fresha clients a month, Fresha's $49.95 already costs more than Trafft's $39.99.
Two things are left out. Vagaro's FANF and Mastercard location fees would push its column up. Your Trafft gateway's card fees are a separate line, the same way Vagaro and Fresha card rates sit in the earlier table.
Software fees are one line among many salon costs, and a full breakdown of service business expenses puts them in proportion.
Which Is Better for Your Business Type?
Teams of three or more, coaches, clinics and agencies that want flat pricing and no commissions will be happier on Trafft. Solo pros who want deposits on the cheapest paid plan lean toward Fresha. Class-based studios and medical spas that need prescribing tools lean toward Vagaro.
| Business type | Better fit | Deciding factor |
|---|---|---|
| Solo stylist or barber | Trafft Free, or Fresha for deposits | Free plan covers 100 appointments, Fresha includes deposits at $19.95 |
| Salon with 3+ stylists | Trafft | Flat plan pricing and no marketplace fee, Vagaro second |
| Salon that needs POS and inventory | Vagaro or Fresha | Trafft has no POS hardware or stock control |
| Fitness or yoga studio | Vagaro | Class booking and live streaming |
| Coach, consultant or clinic | Trafft | Zoom, Meet and Teams links, intake forms, client import |
| Agency managing client accounts | Trafft | White-label options for agencies |
| Medspa | Vagaro | E-Prescribe through ScriptSure |
Medspas get a real feature gap here. Vagaro's E-Prescribe sends prescriptions to pharmacies on the Surescripts network for $40 a month per doctor (US only). Fresha's answer is patch tests and a HIPAA compliance listing, and Trafft's is intake forms with file attachments.
Barbers sit in the middle. Small tickets favor Vagaro's small-merchant card rate, but the solo plan favors Fresha or Trafft Free. A dedicated guide to the best booking apps for barbers covers shop-specific options like walk-in queues.
Vagaro Pros and Cons
What works in Vagaro's favor:
- The bill stops growing after seven calendar licenses, which is the big one for teams
- No commission on regular US marketplace bookings, so new clients from the Vagaro app cost nothing
- Booking, check-in and live streaming for class-based studios
- A 30-day trial to test before paying
And what doesn't:
- Deposits, forms and payroll cost extra
- Monthly network fees on top of card rates
- Mobile app stability and performance complaints from reviewers
That last complaint comes straight from Capterra reviewers. They mostly raise mobile app stability and slowness, a learning curve and the cost of a la carte add-ons.
Fresha Pros and Cons
Fresha puts more into the base plan and charges for growth instead. That suits some shops and punishes others.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Deposits and no-show fees included | 20% fee on each new marketplace client |
| Wages, pay runs and timesheets on Team | Per-member pricing never caps |
| Consultation forms and patch tests included | Only a 7-day trial |
| Payments optional | Phone support extra on Independent |
Keep an eye on the per-text marketing cost. Heavy SMS senders pay far more on Fresha than anywhere else in this comparison.
Trafft Pros and Cons
Trafft puts the lowest price on the widest feature list, then leaves out the till. That's a good deal for some shops and a dealbreaker for others.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free plan with no time limit, then $7.99 to $64.99 flat | No POS hardware, inventory or payroll runs |
| No booking commission on any plan | No consumer marketplace sending new clients |
| $39.99 covers 15 users, deposits, packages and gift cards | Deposits start on Professional |
| Booking website, mobile app and chatbot on every plan | Reserve with Google on Business, in selected industries and countries |
| Zoom, Meet, Teams, Zapier, API and WordPress plugin | Modest SMS allowance, credits bought separately |
| 14-day paid trial with no card, 30-day money-back guarantee | Several services in one visit are booked as a service plus extras |
That last row comes from Trafft's own documentation. Its example is a barbershop, with a haircut as the service and a beard trim or ear waxing added as extras. A cut plus a color works the same way.
How Do Users Rate Vagaro, Fresha and Trafft?
Trafft has the highest Capterra score of the three, 4.9 from 49 reviews, against Fresha at 4.8 from 1,448 and Vagaro at 4.7 from 3,661 (Capterra, 2026). The catch is sample size, since Trafft's rating rests on far fewer reviews.
Capterra shows 41 of Trafft's 49 reviews at five stars. It rates ease of use at 4.7, value for money at 4.8 and customer service at 4.7, and tags 96% of the sentiment as positive.
Between the other two, Fresha scores higher on both major review sites. Trustpilot is a different story. As of October 2026, Fresha holds 4.8 from more than 7,200 reviews, while Vagaro sits at 3.6 from 706.
| Source | Vagaro | Fresha | Trafft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capterra | 4.7 (3,661 reviews) | 4.8 (1,448 reviews) | 4.9 (49 reviews) |
| Trustpilot | 3.6 (706 reviews) | 4.8 (7,200+ reviews) | Thin sample, 67 reviews |
Why the split? Capterra collects reviews from business users only. Trustpilot mixes salon owners with consumers who booked a haircut or a massage through each app.
Vagaro's recent 1-star Trustpilot reviews are mostly about billing, like charges after trying to cancel and trouble reaching account management. Others cover outages and payment failures, and a payment device that wouldn't connect. Fresha's recent 5-star reviews mostly thank named support agents.
Trustpilot also notes that neither Fresha nor Trafft has invited customers to review recently, so those pages aren't representative. Only 6 of Trafft's 67 Trustpilot reviews are from the last 12 months, which is why its Capterra profile, built from verified business users, is the more useful read. Fresha's distribution is lopsided too, with 89% five-star and 8% one-star ratings, so the complaints that exist are loud rather than lukewarm.
Owners on Capterra say much the same. Only about 3% of Fresha's Capterra reviews are tagged negative, and "charges and fees" is among the themes users raise most.
When Vagaro, Fresha and Trafft Are Not the Right Choice
Vagaro and Fresha are built around beauty appointments and their own payment processing. Trafft is built around online booking and leaves the till to someone else. That leaves out shops that want everything at the counter, fitness brands built around classes, and high-end salon groups with custom client experience needs.
Skip Trafft if you need a card terminal and stock control in the same system. Skip it too if a marketplace app sending new clients is part of your plan, or if you need payroll runs or live class streaming.
Some alternatives worth a look:
- Solo and mostly cash? Square Appointments has a free plan for solo professionals, and you only pay card fees when you take cards.
- If classes are the business, Mindbody is built around memberships, class packs and instructor schedules rather than chair time.
- GlossGenius advertises a flat 2.6% processing fee with plans starting at $24 a month billed annually ($28 month to month), for anyone who wants one card rate and no math.
- Boulevard is popular with premium and multi-location salon and spa brands that want a more polished front desk and client flow.
A couple of problems hit Vagaro and Fresha users no matter the size of the shop. If you depend on Google bookings from day one, Vagaro gives you nothing there until the trial ends and a first appointment is booked.
And a Fresha shop that wants a Google button without marketplace exposure simply can't have one. The two are tied together.
For the Square route, this head-to-head on Vagaro vs Square covers processing and hardware in more depth.
Studios weighing classes should read the Vagaro and Mindbody comparison before committing to any platform here.
How to Switch Between Vagaro, Fresha and Trafft
Order matters here, especially on Fresha. If you import clients before going live, your regulars won't get billed as new marketplace clients.
- Export your client list. In Vagaro, go to Reports, then Customers, and export to Excel (only the account owner can do this). In Fresha, open the client list and choose Options, then Export as CSV. Trafft exports customers from Growth upward.
- Export upcoming appointments. Fresha exports them from Sales, then Appointments. Vagaro is less clear, since Goldie and ClinicSense migration guides say you need to request a CSV from Vagaro support, while salonMonster's guide describes exporting an iCal link for each employee's calendar.
- Import clients before anything goes live. Fresha's import tool takes a CSV or its own template and flags duplicate profiles for merging. Trafft's client import starts on the Mini plan.
- Rebuild services, prices and staff. Neither Vagaro nor Fresha offers a simple staff export, so plan to re-enter team members by hand. In Trafft you add services, prices, working hours and locations from the dashboard.
- Move your booking buttons. Disconnect Google, Instagram and Facebook from the old account, then connect them to the new one. For Trafft that means a booking link in your bio, an embedded form or the WordPress plugin, plus Reserve with Google on Business.
- Run a short overlap. Set the old calendar to private and turn off its reminders so clients don't get duplicate messages.
- Cancel the old plan last. Vagaro bills several add-ons forward to the end of the cycle, so cancel them before the billing date.
Fresha's own blog states imported clients won't be charged the new client fee if they later book through the marketplace. Of everything on this list, step three protects the most money if you stay on Fresha.
Moving to Trafft removes the question completely, since there's no marketplace fee to trigger. Trafft's docs and support team can help with the setup, and a free account lets you test the booking flow before you cancel anything.
Setting up the new booking flow is easier with a checklist for setting up an online booking system.
Clients also need a heads-up, and a ready-made appointment email template saves writing the announcement from scratch.
FAQ on Vagaro Vs Fresha Vs Trafft
Who owns Vagaro, Fresha and Trafft, and where are they based?
Fred Helou founded Vagaro in 2009 and is still its CEO. The company is headquartered in Pleasanton, California, where it moved from nearby Dublin, CA in 2022.
Fresha started in 2015 as Shedul and later rebranded. It's run from London by co-founder and CEO William Zeqiri.
Trafft grew out of the team that built the Amelia WordPress booking plugin. Its prelaunch ran in late 2020, it opened more widely in late 2021 and early 2022, and Alexander Gilmanov is its CEO and founder. Trafft's About page says the team has grown to 20+ people.
Does Trafft charge commission on bookings?
No. Trafft takes no commission on bookings on any plan. If clients pay online, your payment provider (Square, Stripe, PayPal, Mollie or Authorize.net) charges its standard fees.
Can Trafft replace a salon POS?
No. Trafft handles booking, scheduling and payments at the time of booking, and it doesn't sell POS hardware or track retail inventory. Salons that need a till and stock control usually pair it with a separate POS.
Does Vagaro have a contract or cancellation fee?
No. Vagaro's pricing page says you can cancel any time with no fee.
Watch the forward billing, though. Email marketing, text marketing, payroll, QuickBooks, Xero, Vagaro Drive and the Large Merchant plan still charge through the end of the cycle, even if you switch them off early.
Trafft also has no contract. Paid plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can switch plans or cancel any time.
Does any of them work outside the US and UK?
Yes, but Fresha reaches much further than Vagaro. Vagaro publishes pricing for four countries: the US, Canada, the UK and Australia.
Fresha operates in 120+ countries.
Trafft's site comes in English, German, Spanish and French, and its booking pages can be translated from Growth. Reserve with Google isn't available in every country, and Mollie covers Euro only.
Is there a free trial for each one?
Vagaro gives 30 days, covering every feature except email marketing, text marketing and the branded app. Vagaro says moving your data over typically takes 1 to 2 business days.
Fresha's trial is 7 days, with no credit card required. Trafft offers a free plan with no time limit, plus a 14-day trial of any paid plan with no credit card.
Which has better customer support?
With Fresha, support depends on the plan. Independent gets email and chat, with a typical 24-hour email reply, and Team adds phone support at no charge.
Every Vagaro account gets chat with a human option, plus free workshops and video training. One-on-one training sessions cost $100 in the US.
Capterra lists email, phone, chat and a knowledge base for Trafft, rating customer service at 4.7, and Trafft publishes phone lines for the US, UK and Europe.
Are Square Appointments or Booksy better alternatives?
Square Appointments is a good option for solo pros. It has a free plan, and Square lists in-person card fees on it at 2.6% + 15 cents.
Booksy targets barbers and salons but holds a 3.1 Trustpilot score from about 16,600 reviews. This breakdown of Booksy vs Vagaro covers the details.
What Should You Check First in Vagaro Vs Fresha Vs Trafft?
Start with how many new clients the Fresha marketplace would send you each month. That number moves the monthly bill more than staff count, card rates or paid add-ons.
After that, count how many bookable staff you expect next year, and whether you need a card terminal and payroll inside the same tool. Then check where your average ticket sits against the $32 card-rate line.
That order follows the size of each cost. One marketplace fee on a $120 color service is $24, more than Vagaro's entire $23.99 base plan, and more than half of Trafft's $39.99 Professional plan.
Picking Vagaro to avoid commissions isn't free either. You get deposits, intake forms and payroll back as monthly add-ons. Picking Trafft to avoid both means accepting no POS and no marketplace, in exchange for the lowest flat price once your team passes two people.
Testing costs nothing. You can start on Trafft's free plan, then trial a paid plan for 14 days without a card.
All figures here were verified in October 2026. Vagaro calls its US base rate limited-time, so re-check all three pricing pages before renewing.
Salons ruling out all three can compare the best hair salon booking systems as the next step.
