Planity vs Fresha: which one for your salon in 2026?
Planity or Fresha to run your salon? Price, commission, marketplace: the honest comparison, and the question neither of them solves.
Torn between Planity and Fresha to run your salon? It's the question that keeps coming up, especially since Fresha changed its model in early 2025. Both do roughly the same thing: online calendar, client records, reminders, payments. But the way they bill you is completely different.
And that's where a lot of people get caught out. You compare the advertised subscription price and forget to look at what's hiding behind it: the commissions, the payment fees, who really "owns" your new clients. Over a year, the gap can be huge.
In this comparison, we look at both tools head-on, no fluff: price, business model, marketplace, control over your clients. And if you want to widen your view, we also have a guide on all the alternatives to Planity. The goal: to help you choose with your eyes open.
that's the possible annual cost gap between two tools depending on your volume of new clients: it all comes down to the model, fixed subscription or variable commission
beauty market trend, 2025
1. In short: who each one is for
Before we get into the numbers, here's the short version. Planity and Fresha don't quite target the same salon profile.
Planity: the French go-to, fixed price
Planity is the long-standing player in France, hugely popular with hairdressers and beauty institutes. You pay a fixed monthly subscription, with no commission on your appointments. You know exactly what you pay every month, no matter how many clients you see. That's reassuring and clear, but it isn't cheap, and there's no free trial, just a demo with a sales rep.
Fresha: the full suite, hybrid model
Fresha is a very complete international platform (calendar, payments, inventory, marketing). Long known for its "free" calendar, it removed that offer in early 2025. Today it's a paid subscription, plus a commission on the new clients who come through its marketplace, plus payment fees. More features, but a cost that depends on your activity.
2. Price and business model: THE key point
This is where it all plays out, and it's what most comparisons skim over. Planity and Fresha don't bill you the same way at all. One warning first: prices change often, so always check the up-to-date rates on their sites before deciding.
With Planity, you're on a subscription that roughly sits around 74 to 114 € excl. VAT per month depending on options, with no commission at all on your appointments. For the detail, we have an article dedicated to Planity's pricing and rates.
With Fresha, the model is hybrid: a subscription, plus a commission of around 20% on the NEW clients who find you through the Fresha marketplace, plus payment fees (often around 1.3 to 3.3%). We covered all of this in the truth about Fresha being "free".
| Planity | Fresha | Naiva | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per month | ~74 to 114 € excl. VAT | Subscription + fees | 29.99 € |
| Commission on appointments | No | ~20% new clients | No |
| Free trial | Demo only | 7 days | 14 days |
| Marketplace / directory | No | Yes | No |
| You own your clients | Yes | Partly | Yes |
| Instagram DM replies | |||
| Online booking | Soon |
3. Marketplace and ownership of your clients
The big philosophical difference between the two is right here. Fresha has a marketplace, a directory where clients can discover you and book. That's a real source of visibility. The downside: for every new client who comes through that directory, Fresha takes a commission. In plain terms, you "rent" access to those clients, they arrive partly via the platform.
Planity doesn't have this commission model: the clients who book are yours, full stop. You don't pay a percentage on each new appointment. Less "free" visibility through a directory, but full control over your client relationship and a predictable bill. It's up to you to decide what matters most for your salon: the visibility of a marketplace, or full ownership of your clients.
4. Which one to choose for your salon
There's no universal winner. Here's how to decide based on your profile.
Choose Planity if...
You're in France, you want a fixed, predictable price, zero commission, and you don't need a marketplace directory to fill your calendar. You'd rather pay a bit more but know exactly what you spend every month, with no surprise depending on your volume.
Choose Fresha if...
You want a very complete suite (payments, inventory, marketing), you're happy to go through a marketplace to gain visibility, and the commission model doesn't bother you as long as it brings you new clients. Handy too if you work internationally. Just check the real annual cost before committing.
5. What neither of them does: answer your DMs
Now, the thing nobody tells you. Whether you pick Planity or Fresha, you'll have a great online calendar. But neither of them answers your Instagram messages. And that's very often where everything starts: a client writes you a DM to ask about a price, an availability, whether you offer a certain service. And if you reply three hours later because your hands were busy, she's already booked somewhere else.
That's exactly the gap Naiva fills. Naiva isn't another calendar: it's the assistant that answers your Instagram DMs 24/7, in YOUR tone of voice, gives the right price, reassures the client and keeps her warm until the appointment. You stay in control: you can validate everything before it's sent, and tricky cases are escalated to you. Naiva doesn't post content and doesn't take calls, it only handles the conversation, where it counts.
The smartest move is often to combine: keep Planity or Fresha for your scheduling, and let Naiva handle the conversation that brings in the appointments. To dig deeper, check out Naiva vs Planity and Naiva vs Fresha.
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