“Free” scheduling software rarely stays free once a business grows past a handful of appointments a month, and “starting at $16/month” pricing pages often leave out processing fees, per-staff costs, and marketplace commissions that can double the real monthly bill. After comparing pricing across a dozen tools for different types of small businesses, here’s what appointment scheduling software actually costs in 2026 — not just the advertised number.
The Four Cost Layers Almost Every Tool Has
1. The subscription fee — the number on the pricing page. Ranges from $0 (a handful of genuinely free tiers) to $30+/month per calendar for full-featured platforms.
2. Card processing fees — charged on every transaction if you collect payment through the platform, typically 2.3%–2.9% plus a small flat fee per transaction. This applies almost universally and is easy to forget when comparing subscription prices alone.
3. Marketplace commissions — only on tools with a consumer-facing marketplace (Fresha, Vagaro’s marketplace), typically a one-time 20% commission (with a minimum, often $6) on new clients discovered through that channel. Repeat clients and direct bookings usually aren’t charged this.
4. Per-staff or per-calendar scaling — most tools charge per user or per bookable calendar, so the advertised entry price is often only accurate for a solo operator; a small team can pay 2-4x the headline number.
Real Appointment Scheduling Software Prices, Compared Across Tools We’ve Verified
| Software | Free Plan? | Entry Paid Price | Extra Fees to Know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setmore | Yes — 200 appts/mo, 4 users | $5/user/mo (annual) | None beyond standard processing |
| Calendly | Yes — 1 event type only | $10/seat/mo (annual) | Payment collection requires paid plan |
| Acuity Scheduling | No | $16/mo (annual) | Processing fees separate (Stripe/Square/PayPal) |
| GlossGenius | No | $24/mo (annual) | Flat 2.6% processing, no marketplace fee |
| Fresha | No (removed 2025) | $14.95/mo per team member | 20% commission on new marketplace clients |
| Vagaro | No | $30/mo per calendar | +$10/mo per additional staff calendar |
| Square Appointments | Yes — 1 location, 1 staff | $49/mo (multi-staff) | 2.5–2.6% + 15¢ processing |
| Bookedin | Yes — basic booking | $24/mo (Plus) | File uploads require $39/mo Pro tier |
What a Real Monthly Bill Looks Like
Advertised pricing rarely matches what a business actually pays once real usage is factored in. Two worked examples, using numbers we’ve verified directly against vendor pricing pages:
Solo barber, $8,000/month in card revenue, no marketplace clients: on GlossGenius, that’s $24 (subscription) + roughly $208 (2.6% processing) = ~$232/month. On Fresha with the same revenue and zero marketplace-driven clients, it’s roughly $20 (subscription) + ~$200 (processing) = ~$220/month — close, because the marketplace commission only applies when it’s actually generating new clients.
3-person salon using Vagaro: $30 (base calendar) + $10 x 2 (two additional staff calendars) = $50/month subscription alone, before any processing fees (~2.75%) are added on top of whatever the salon processes in card payments.
The Fee Type That Surprises People Most
It’s almost never the subscription price — it’s the marketplace commission on platforms like Fresha. A 20% one-time fee sounds small until you calculate it against an actual service price: a new client booking a $150 color service through Fresha’s marketplace costs the salon $30 in commission on that first visit alone. Multiply that by even 10 new marketplace clients a month, and the “cheap” $14.95/month subscription can end up costing far more in commissions than a competitor’s flat $24-30/month subscription with no marketplace fee at all. This isn’t a reason to avoid marketplace-based tools — for a business that genuinely relies on that discovery channel, the trade can be well worth it — but it’s the single most common source of pricing surprise we’ve seen across every comparison on this site.
How to Actually Estimate Your Real Cost
Before choosing based on the advertised entry price, work through three numbers specific to your business: your expected monthly card processing volume (times the tool’s processing rate), your staff/calendar count (times any per-seat cost), and — only if the tool has a marketplace — a realistic estimate of how many new clients you’d actually get through that channel versus your own marketing. Most vendors publish their fee structure in enough detail to run this math before signing up — check Setmore, Calendly, Fresha, or Vagaro‘s own pricing pages directly, since rates can change. It’s worth the ten minutes before committing to annual billing on any plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is any scheduling software actually free with no hidden costs?
Setmore’s free plan (up to 200 appointments/month, 4 users) is one of the more genuinely usable free tiers, though it doesn’t include payment collection. Truly zero-cost operation on any tool generally means no card processing and no premium features — the moment you take card payments, processing fees apply almost everywhere.
Why did Fresha stop being free?
Fresha removed its free tier in 2025, shifting to a paid subscription ($14.95–$19.95/month) plus its existing marketplace commission structure. Older articles online still describe it as free — that information is now out of date.
Are marketplace commissions worth paying?
Depends entirely on how many new clients that channel actually brings you. For an established business with its own client base, a marketplace fee is often pure cost with little benefit. For a new business without existing reach, it can be a legitimate and effective client-acquisition cost.
Do per-staff fees apply even to receptionists who don’t take bookings?
Usually not — most platforms (Vagaro is explicit about this) only charge for “bookable” staff who can be booked directly, not administrative users who manage the system without taking appointments themselves.
See real pricing applied to specific business types: barbershops, hair salons, and our direct comparison of GlossGenius vs Fresha.