Fresha’s 20% commission is a one-time fee on the first booking of a new client who finds your salon through the Fresha marketplace. It is 20% of that booking’s value, with a $6 minimum in the US, and it never applies to the client twice.
That sentence explains the fee, not the bill. The commission only hits some bookings, and the amount moves with your prices and your new-client count.
I review pricing pages and payment setups for a living. Fresha’s commission is the fee salon owners ask me about most, because it is the hardest to predict from the pricing page alone.
This guide works it out with real numbers, so you can see what it costs your salon. For the full picture, read our guide to the real cost of salon software.
What Fresha’s 20% commission actually is
Fresha runs a marketplace where clients search for salons and book online. When a brand-new client finds you there and books, Fresha charges 20% of that first booking as a client acquisition fee.
The fee applies once per client. The second booking and every booking after that carry no commission, even if the client keeps booking through Fresha.
The $6 minimum matters on small bookings. A $25 brow tidy would owe $5 at 20%, but Fresha charges the $6 minimum instead. That is 24% of a $25 booking, not 20%.
The fee is non-refundable. If the client cancels or does not show up, Fresha keeps it. The fee is worked out on the booking value as confirmed, so add-ons and later discounts do not change it.
Fresha lists the fee on its pricing page as a 20% one-time commission with a $6 minimum in the US. Rates differ by country, so check the figure for your region before you commit.
When the commission applies, and when it does not
The commission applies when three things are true at once. The client is not already on your client list, the client first discovers you on the Fresha marketplace, and the client books online.
One detail catches owners out. A client who views your Fresha profile first and then books through your own website or social pages can still count as a marketplace client. Fresha introduced them, so the fee still applies.
The commission does not apply to returning clients. It does not apply to clients who find you through your own website, Instagram, Facebook, or Google, as long as they never found you on the marketplace first.
It also does not apply to clients already on your list. If you import your existing clients before you start listing on the marketplace, those clients stay free. Import them on day one, not later.
Booksy runs the same idea at a higher rate. Its Boost feature is free to switch on, but each new client it brings costs a one-time 30% of the first visit.
The Boost fee has a $10 minimum and a $100 cap in the US. Our Booksy alternatives guide covers that fee in full.
What the commission costs a real salon
Take a salon with an $85 average ticket that gains ten new marketplace clients a month. Each first booking costs $17 in commission. Ten clients cost $170 a month, or $2,040 a year.
Raise the ticket to $100 and the same ten clients cost $200 a month, or $2,400 a year.
Small tickets feel the minimum most. A $30 nail booking pays $6, which is 20% exactly. A $25 brow booking pays $6, which is 24%.
Commission grows fastest when your salon is growing fastest. The month you gain twenty new clients is the month you pay $340 at an $85 ticket, on top of everything else.
That is the trade. The marketplace brings clients you would not have found alone, and you pay for each one once. Whether the trade works depends on how many come back.
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The commission is not the only Fresha fee
Fresha charges a subscription on top of the commission. The Individual plan costs $19.95 a month for a solo operator, and the Team plan costs $14.95 per bookable team member. Three people cost $44.85 a month.
Card processing sits on top of both. Fresha lists 2.19% plus $0.20 per in-person payment in the US, 2.79% plus $0.20 for online payments, and 3.30% plus $0.20 for manually keyed cards.
Put the three layers together for a three-person salon doing $8,500 a month in card revenue with ten new marketplace clients. Subscription $44.85, processing about $186, commissions $170. The total is near $401 a month.
That total is nearly nine times the $44.85 subscription. The pricing page shows the smallest number, not the real one.
Some vendors add their own markup on top of the card network rate. PandaCue charges 0% payment markup on its paid plans. Our payments and POS guide explains how checkout works inside PandaCue, and the payments feature page lists what is included.
Figures here are Fresha’s published US rates, checked in November 2026. See Fresha’s pricing page for current figures in your country.
How to pay less commission without leaving Fresha
Start with the client list. Import every existing client before you list, so none of them ever counts as a new marketplace client. This one step saves the most money for the least effort.
Then push repeat bookings to your own channels. Once a client has booked through Fresha, later bookings carry no commission, so give them a reason to book direct next time. A booking link on your Instagram profile and Google profile costs nothing to add.
Track where new clients come from. If the marketplace brings five a month and your own channels bring twenty, the commission is a small line. If it brings most of them, you are paying for growth you could build yourself.
If the math does not work, you have options. Our Fresha alternatives guide compares flat-fee software with no marketplace commission, and our roundup of the best free salon booking software is honest about what free plans leave out.
Frequently asked questions
Does Fresha take 20% of every booking?
No. Fresha takes 20% only on the first booking of a new client who discovers you through its marketplace. Returning clients and clients from your own channels cost nothing in commission.
What is the minimum commission per client?
The minimum is $6 per new marketplace client in the US. If 20% of the first booking comes to less than $6, Fresha charges $6. Minimums differ by country.
Do I pay commission on clients who book through my own website?
Not usually. Bookings from your own website, Instagram, or Facebook are free, unless the client first found you on the Fresha marketplace. In that case Fresha can still charge the fee.
Is Fresha still worth it with the 20% fee?
It depends on your new-client count and your rebooking rate. Ten new marketplace clients a month at an $85 ticket costs $170 a month. If most of those clients return, the fee is a fair acquisition cost. If few return, a flat-fee platform costs less.
See what your salon would actually pay.
Start free today. No credit card required.