Fresha built its name on free. That is over. Timely never pretended: a set amount per staff member every month. From what each company publishes today, the choice between Fresha and Timely is whether you pay a share of new clients from a marketplace, or a fixed bill for every staff member.
| The decision row | Fresha | Timely |
|---|---|---|
| Software | $44.95 a month for one person, or $29.95 a month for each staff member on the Team plan, GST not stated on the page | $42, $65 or $79 a month per staff member, plus GST |
| New clients | A one-off 20% fee on every first visit booked through the Fresha marketplace, with a minimum of $8 a client | None. Its pricing page says "No new client fees" |
| Card payments | 1.29% plus 26 cents in person, 1.59% plus 28 cents online | 1.54% plus 5 cents on a tap, 1.80% plus 30 cents online |
| Texts | 20 free a month, then 6 cents a message | 100, 200 or 350 a month included, then paid per message |
| If you stop paying | Account access is paused | 14-day trial, no contract, cancel any month |
Prices as published on each company's own pricing page and help centre, checked again on 9 October 2026, worked out in the sections below.
Is Fresha still free?
No. Fresha now charges a monthly subscription for every team member who can be booked, and its help centre says that if the payment fails, "your Fresha plan is disabled, and access to your account is paused until payment can be taken."
That is the change owners feel most, because the free plan was the reason most of them joined. On ProductReview, an owner in New South Wales wrote in early 2026 that she signed up when it "says it's free forever. But that's not the case." Another wrote that when the mandatory subscription arrived it was pay "or completely lose access." Fresha's pricing in Australia is $44.95 a month for one person on the Independent plan and $29.95 a month for each staff member on the Team plan, the same shape as Timely. Fresha's page does not say whether GST is included; Timely's says its prices exclude it. Free is over. The subscription replaced it, and what sits on top of the subscription is the new client fee below.
What does the new client fee cost?
A share of the first visit, every time a new client books you through the Fresha marketplace.
Fresha calls it a "one-time charge per new client from the marketplace." It is not charged on anyone already in your client list, and Fresha's help centre says the fee applies when a client "first discovers your business on the Fresha marketplace and goes on to make an online booking." Fresha's Australian pricing page puts it at 20% with a minimum of $8 a client. At 20%, that is $24 on a $120 first visit and $50 on a $250 one. Timely's pricing page answers the same line with three words: "No new client fees."
Owners are not really arguing about the percentage. They are arguing about who counts as new. One owner wrote that the fee "is charged even if customers were introduced to the salon by the salon's Google, Facebook, Instagrams." The fee also outlasts a cancellation: Fresha's help centre says that if the client cancels online, the fee is "deferred and charged based on the value of the next appointment booked." So the fee follows the client. Fresha's help centre also says that to take bookings through your own website or social media pages, your profile has to be listed on the marketplace. Import your full client list before you switch the marketplace on, and check the "New Fresha client fee" lines in your Fresha wallet every month.
What does Timely cost in Australia?
Between $42 and $79 a month for each staff member who takes bookings, plus GST.
With Australia selected on its pricing page, Timely's Build plan is $42 a month per staff member, Elevate is $65 and Innovate is $79, all shown "exc GST" and billed monthly. Build covers the calendar, online booking, SMS and email reminders, stock and online payments. Elevate adds consultation forms, client photos, add-on services and a waitlist. Innovate adds automatic rebooking reminders, staff targets and a personalised booking confirmation page. Part-timers cost the same as full-timers, which Timely says on the same page.
For a one-person business that is $42 a month, or $504 a year plus GST, against $44.95 on Fresha. For four people who take bookings it is $168 a month before anyone books a thing, and $316 a month if you want the waitlist and the rebooking reminders, against $119.80 on Fresha's Team plan. That is the trade. Timely's bill goes up when you hire. Fresha's is lower per person once you have more than one, and then goes up when the marketplace sends you someone.
| Two staff, 6 new clients through the marketplace, $120 average first visit | Fresha | Timely (Build) |
|---|---|---|
| New client fees for the month | About $144, at Fresha's published 20% | $0 |
| Texts included before you pay per message | 40, at 20 for each team member | 200 |
| Card fee on one $120 visit | $1.55 plus 26 cents | $1.90 on a tap |
Both charge a subscription for the two staff: $59.90 on Fresha's Team plan, $84 plus GST on Timely's Build plan. Illustrative arithmetic from each company's published rules, checked again on 9 October 2026. Your prices, your marketplace share and how many new clients you get will move every number, so redo it with your own.
What do card payments and texts cost on each?
About the same on cards, and Timely includes far more texts.
Fresha charges 1.29% plus 26 cents on an in-person payment, with 12 cents more on each tap-to-pay authorisation, and 1.59% plus 28 cents online. Timely charges 1.54% plus 5 cents on a Tap to Pay or Timely terminal payment, 1.80% plus 30 cents on an online payment such as a deposit or a cancellation fee, and 3.00% plus 30 cents on an international card. On a $120 appointment the difference between the two is well under a dollar, so the card rate should not decide this.
Texts might. Reminders are what stop no-shows in any booking business, and Fresha gives you 20 free messages a month, then charges 6 cents a text. Timely includes 100, 200 or 350 a month depending on the plan. Send one reminder text to each of 40 appointments a week and you are through Fresha's free allowance in the first week.
One more change matters on both. Since 1 October 2026 you cannot pass the card fee on as a surcharge in Australia on eftpos, Visa or Mastercard cards, so the card fee now comes out of your price. We went through what that ban means in Zeller vs Square, and it applies to a booking app's card reader exactly the same way.
Can anything read your bookings from outside?
Not easily, on either one.
Neither Fresha nor Timely publishes an open connection that a system you own can easily read your bookings through. A booking app has to give us that read access or it cannot feed the daily business report, so ask each company whether it will. We wrote up what goes into that report in the daily business report article, and if your book lives in Fresha or Timely, the report may not be able to read it. Your clients, your calendar and your money sit inside the app, and the app decides what you can do with them. Nobody puts that on a pricing page.
Where do your new clients come from?
On Fresha, some walk in through its marketplace and you pay for each one. On Timely, they come through your own booking page and you pay for each staff member.
The marketplace is where those new clients meet you, and Fresha owns it, so it charges a fee on everyone who walks through. Timely has no marketplace, so you bring your own clients, and it keeps the price the same whether you bring one or a hundred. Both are still borrowed space. Cancel either subscription and your online booking page goes with it.
Where to start
Count how many of last month's new clients found you through the Fresha marketplace, and how many staff take bookings. If the marketplace brings you most of your new work and you are a one-person business, Fresha is probably still cheaper on the month. If your clients find you through Google, your own website or word of mouth, and you send a lot of reminders, Timely is cheaper and you always know the bill.
Or bring the booking home. We build the booking onto your own website and take it off Fresha or Timely altogether. The monthly subscription and the marketplace fee go away, and what replaces them is your own small piece of hardware in the cloud for a set monthly fee: the price shown before anyone books, the reminder the day before and the morning of, a photo or a note after the appointment, and no fee on a new client, ever. Your accounting stays where it is, read through a link you control, and every message is approved by you before it reaches a customer. Each morning you get one short daily business report on the whole book.
Our prices are flat and published: the Engine is $3,500 one-off and element packs are $950, yours outright. Or start smaller: answer a few short questions and we will provide a free custom audit of your business.