Yes, a free booking app for barbers exists, and more than one: bbook, Goldie, Setmore and Square Appointments all have a free plan with no trial clock on it, and a solo barber can take real bookings on any of them without paying. What nobody gives away is the rest: a marketplace that sends you new clients, text reminders in any quantity, or card payments without processing fees, and each free plan stops in a different place.
This is for a barber who books through DMs and a notebook and wants a link clients can tap, without adding a monthly bill. Every price and limit below was read on each company’s own pricing page on October 26, 2026, in the currency that page showed.
Three kinds of “free”
A free plan with a cap. bbook and Goldie give you the app for nothing up to a number of appointments a month, 30 and 20. Nothing expires: book fewer than that and you never pay.
A free plan paid for somewhere else. Square Appointments is free because you take payments through Square and it earns on every card. Setmore’s free plan is the top of a funnel that sells SMS reminders and calendar sync at $5 a user a month.
A free trial. Booksy gives you 14 days and Fresha 7, then it is $29.99 or €14.95 a month plus a commission on every new client from their marketplace. A trial is a test drive, not a free plan.
The free plans, side by side
Square’s US pricing page would not load for us, so its numbers come from the UK page; our Square Appointments comparison has the US prices, checked October 8, 2026.
| App | Free plan | What it includes | Reminders on free | Where it stops being free |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bbook | Yes: 1 user, 30 appointments a month | Your own booking page, iOS and Android apps, custom form, cancel and reschedule links | Past 30 a month: per-user plans, see pricing | |
| Goldie | Yes: 1 user, 20 appointments a month | Booking website, unlimited clients, Reserve with Google | Manual only | Past 20 a month: Pro at $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year |
| Setmore | Yes: up to 4 users, unlimited appointments | Booking page with Setmore branding, iOS and Android apps, Square payments | One email reminder | SMS, two-way calendar sync, deposits and recurring bookings: Pro at $5 a user a month billed yearly ($12 monthly) |
| Square Appointments | Yes: one location, unlimited staff calendars | Booking site, Square card processing at 1.75% in person | Included | No-show fees and waitlists: Plus at £29 a month per location |
| Booksy | No: 14-day trial | Trial only | Trial only | $29.99 a month plus $20 per extra staff member, plus 30% of a new client’s first visit |
| Fresha | No: 7-day trial | Trial only | Trial only | €14.95 a month solo, plus 20% of a new client’s first visit (minimum €5) |
Where the free plans run out
The appointment cap. A barber doing 15 cuts a week books about 65 a month, past both bbook’s 30 and Goldie’s 20. The free tier at either covers a part-timer, a chair you rent two days a week, or the first weeks of a new shop, not a full book. A full chair pays on any of these apps; the question is what the payment buys.
Text reminders. No free plan includes automated SMS in any quantity. bbook sends email reminders free and SMS and WhatsApp on Business Premium; Goldie’s free plan has you send reminders by hand; Setmore’s sends one email. If no-shows are the reason you want an app, budget for a paid plan or for Square’s processing.
Payments. The Square and Setmore free plans both run payments through Square at Square’s rates, and that is where the money is made. On bbook, payments and deposits come on Business Premium through Stripe, Mollie or SumUp at their published rates, with nothing added.
Your own name. Setmore keeps its logo on the free booking page. bbook, Goldie and Square give you a page under your own name on every plan, including free. For a barber whose bookings come from an Instagram bio, that link is the product.
More than one barber. The bbook and Goldie free plans are for one user; Setmore gives four, Square gives unlimited calendars for one location. On bbook, a second barber is a second user on a paid plan.
Which free plan fits which barber
- Solo, under 30 cuts a month. Starting out, part-time, or renting a chair at weekends: bbook or Goldie. bbook’s cap is higher and it has a web app, so you can run the book from a laptop too; the Goldie alternative page has the full table.
- Two to four barbers, fine with email reminders. Setmore, with its branding on the page. If that bothers you, the Setmore alternative page shows what the same money buys elsewhere.
- Already tapping cards on a Square reader. Square Appointments Free. The card fees you already pay are the price.
- Need strangers to find you. There is no free option. Booksy and Fresha are the marketplaces, and both charge a subscription and a cut of each new client’s first visit; the best booking apps for barbers post sets them against the flat-price apps.
How bbook’s free plan works
bbook’s free plan is one user, 30 appointments a month, your own booking page, the iOS and Android apps and email reminders, with no card and no end date. Clients book from your link without creating an account, and there is never a commission on a booking or a new client, on any plan. Past 30 a month, a paid plan adds unlimited appointments, staff logins, calendar sync, recurring appointments, payments, deposits, SMS and WhatsApp reminders and the optional AI receptionist that answers the calls you miss mid-cut. Plans are priced per user and shown in your own currency on the pricing page.
FAQ
Is there a completely free booking app for barbers?
Yes. bbook is free for one barber and 30 appointments a month with no trial period, Goldie’s Starter plan is free for 20 a month, and Setmore and Square Appointments have free plans with no appointment cap. Booksy and Fresha have trials only, 14 and 7 days.
What is the catch with a free barber booking app?
Each one stops somewhere: an appointment cap on bbook and Goldie, email-only reminders and branding on Setmore, and card processing fees on Square. None of the free plans includes automated text reminders, so a barber fighting no-shows should expect to pay for a plan or for processing.
Is Booksy free for barbers?
No. Booksy has a 14-day trial, then one plan at $29.99 a month in the US plus $20 for each extra staff member, and a 30% fee on the first visit of each client its marketplace sends you. Fresha is the same shape: a 7-day trial, then €14.95 a month and 20% of a new client’s first visit.