Free salon scheduling apps exist, and five of them are real free plans rather than trials: bbook, Goldie, Setmore, Picktime and Square Appointments all let a salon take bookings at no cost, with no end date and no card. What none of them gives away is a team, and that is the honest part of the comparison: for a salon the limit that bites first is usually not appointments, it is chairs.
This is for a stylist working alone or a salon with two to four chairs that wants a booking link without adding a monthly bill. Every price and limit below was read on each company’s own pricing page on November 10, 2026, in the currency that page served us.
What “free” means on each app
The free plans split two ways. bbook and Goldie give one person the whole app up to a number of appointments a month, 30 and 20, and nothing expires. Setmore, Picktime and Square instead allow a team with no appointment cap — four users, three users and one location with unlimited calendars — and hold back the features a busy salon needs. Square’s is free because your card payments run through Square, which earns on every one.
Fresha and Booksy belong in neither group: a 7-day and a 14-day trial, and a trial is a test drive, not a free plan.
Free salon scheduling apps, side by side
| App | Stylists on the free plan | Appointments a month | Automated reminders on free | Where the free plan stops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bbook | 1 | 30 | Past 30 a month: per-user plans in your own currency, see pricing | |
| Goldie | 1 | 20 | No, manual only, sent from your own phone and carrier | Automated reminders and unlimited appointments: Pro at $19.99 a month or $199.99 a year |
| Setmore | Up to 4 | Unlimited | One email reminder, no SMS | SMS, two-way calendar sync, deposits, recurring appointments, removing Setmore’s branding: Pro at $5 a user a month billed yearly, $12 monthly |
| Picktime | 3 team members | Unlimited | None, email notifications only | Email and SMS reminders, two-way sync, Stripe and Square: Starter at $3 a user a month billed yearly |
| Square Appointments | Unlimited staff calendars, one location | No cap published | “Appointment reminders” listed, channel not stated | Paid tiers are per location; Square’s card fees apply on free |
| Fresha | No free plan, 7-day trial | — | — | €14.95 a month solo or €9.95 per bookable team member, plus 20% of a new marketplace client’s first visit, minimum €5 |
| Booksy | No free plan, 14-day trial | — | — | $29.99 a month plus $20 per extra staff member, plus 30% of a Boost client’s first visit, capped at $100 |
Square is the gap in that table: its US pricing page showed us no prices at all on November 10, because the tier prices and processing rates are loaded by JavaScript. The figures we can stand behind are on our Square Appointments comparison, checked October 8, 2026: Plus at $29 and Premium at $69 per location a month.
Salon booking software free: where each plan stops
The second chair. bbook and Goldie free are one user, so the day a second stylist needs their own calendar you are on a paid plan. Setmore’s four users, Picktime’s three and Square’s unlimited calendars on one location are the free plans that fit a small team outright. If you are hiring, read that column first.
Automated reminders. No free plan here sends automated text reminders. Setmore sends one email and holds SMS for Pro, which includes 500 credits a month. Picktime’s free plan has email notifications but no reminders at all. Goldie’s has you send them by hand from your own phone, so they come out of your mobile plan. bbook sends email reminders on free, with SMS and WhatsApp on Business Premium. If no-shows are the reason you are shopping, budget for a paid plan.
Two-way calendar sync. Setmore’s free plan has none, and Picktime’s syncs one way only, to Google, Outlook, iCloud and Exchange. One-way sync fills your phone from the salon calendar, but an appointment you block out at home will not stop a client booking over it.
Your salon’s name on the booking page. Setmore keeps its own branding on the free booking page; removing it is a Pro feature. bbook, Goldie and Square give you a page under your own name on every plan. For a salon whose bookings arrive through an Instagram bio, that link is the shopfront.
Payments. Picktime’s free plan takes PayPal and nothing else; Setmore’s is unusually generous and includes Square, Stripe and PayPal. On bbook, payments and deposits come on Business Premium through Stripe at Stripe’s published rates, with nothing added. Worth asking about: Picktime lists “Zero Booking Commission” as a Pro-only feature and never says what the commission is below Pro.
Fresha and Booksy are not free salon booking apps
On November 10, 2026 neither pricing page offered a free plan or claimed the software was free to use. Fresha showed a 7-day trial, then €14.95 a month for one person or €9.95 per bookable team member on the euro page we were served, plus a 20% one-time commission on each new client the marketplace sends with a €5 minimum, and texts metered after 20 a month per team member at €0.12 each. Booksy’s US page showed a 14-day trial, then $29.99 a month plus $20 per extra staff member, with Boost taking 30% of a Boost client’s first visit up to $100; its confirmations and reminders are free.
Both price by country, and the differences are not small: Booksy’s Irish page shows €44 a month, €5 per extra user and no new-client commission at all. Check the page for your own market. The Fresha alternative page sets those fees against a flat per-user price.
Which free plan fits which salon
- Solo, under 30 appointments a month. bbook or Goldie. bbook’s cap is higher and it runs in a browser as well as on iOS and Android, so you can work the book from the desk.
- Two to four chairs, happy with email reminders. Setmore, with its branding on your booking page, or Picktime if you can live without reminders entirely.
- Already tapping cards on a Square reader. Square Appointments free: the processing fees you pay anyway are the price of the calendar.
- No-shows are the problem. No free plan solves it, because automated SMS is paid everywhere. Compare the paid tiers in best salon booking software in 2026 instead.
How bbook’s free plan works
bbook is free for one user and 30 appointments a month: your own booking page, the iOS and Android apps, email reminders and your client list, with no card and no end date. Clients book from your link without creating an account, and bbook never takes a commission on a booking or on a new client, on any plan. Past 30 a month, a paid plan adds unlimited appointments, a login and calendar per stylist, two-way sync, recurring appointments, payments and deposits through Stripe, SMS and WhatsApp reminders and the optional AI receptionist that answers the calls nobody can take mid-colour. Plans are priced per user and shown in your own currency on the pricing page. Barbers comparing the same free plans want free booking app for barbers.
FAQ
Is there a completely free salon scheduling app?
Yes. bbook is free for one stylist and 30 appointments a month, Goldie’s Starter plan for 20 a month, and Setmore, Picktime and Square Appointments have free plans with no appointment cap for four users, three users and one location. None of them is a trial, so none of them expires.
What is the catch with free salon booking software?
Each plan stops somewhere: an appointment cap and one user on bbook and Goldie, Setmore’s branding plus no SMS, deposits or two-way sync, no reminders at all on Picktime, and card processing fees on Square. Automated text reminders are a paid feature on every one of them.
Is Fresha free for salons?
No. On November 10, 2026 its pricing page showed a 7-day trial, then €14.95 a month for one person or €9.95 per bookable team member on the euro page we were served, plus a 20% commission on each new marketplace client’s first visit with a €5 minimum. Fresha prices by country, so check the page for your own market.