Primzy vs Fresha: Pricing and Commission Compared

Quick answer: Fresha's subscription starts lower, around $19.95 a month for a solo provider or $14.95 per team member on the Team plan, but it charges a 20% commission (minimum $6) on new marketplace clients plus metered messaging fees once you exceed the free allowance. Primzy charges a flat $40 a month, a lower 15% commission on new marketplace clients, and includes unmetered SMS and email. Which platform costs less depends on your team size and how many new clients you get through the marketplace each month.

Fresha spent years building its reputation as the free booking platform for salons and independent pros. That changed. Understanding what Fresha actually costs today, and how that compares to Primzy's flat-fee model, means looking past the headline subscription number to the fees that scale with your business.

What Changed With Fresha's Pricing

For most of Fresha's history, the platform was free to use, funded by transaction fees and marketplace commissions. That model ended. As of 2026, Fresha offers a 7-day trial followed by a paid subscription, with no permanent free-forever tier, according to Bizzly's pricing guide dated July 31, 2026. Long-standing users who signed up under the old free terms have reported being moved onto paid plans, which has become one of the more common complaints in recent reviews of the platform.

The current structure has two subscription paths. The Individual plan runs about $19.95 a month for a solo provider who doesn't need team tools, according to The Salon Business's review dated February 26, 2026. The Team plan charges $14.95 per bookable team member per month, so a five-person team pays roughly $75 a month, and a ten-person team pays roughly $150, based on the same source.

On top of the subscription, Fresha charges a 20% commission, with a $6 minimum, on new clients who discover and book you through Fresha's marketplace for the first time. This fee doesn't apply to clients who book directly or to repeat visits from the same client. Card processing runs roughly 2.19% to 3.30% plus $0.20 per transaction in the US, depending on the payment method, according to Pabau's pricing breakdown dated July 28, 2026.

Client messaging is metered too. The Team plan includes 20 free messages per team member per month, and messages beyond that allowance bill at per-message rates, based on Fresha's pricing page as reported by RZRV on June 11, 2026. Primzy's equivalent plan and messaging details are on Primzy's pricing page.

Comparison Table

	Primzy	Fresha
Starting price (solo)	$40/month flat	~$19.95/month (Individual plan)
Team pricing	$40/month + $5/month per additional seat	$14.95/month per bookable team member
Commission on direct/repeat bookings	0%	0% (subscription-based)
Commission on new marketplace clients	15%, first booking only	20%, minimum $6, first booking only
Card processing fee	Standard processing applies, not published here	~2.19%–3.30% + $0.20 per transaction (US)
Client messaging (SMS/email)	Included, unmetered	20 free messages/team member/month, then metered
Free trial	Not specified here, check current terms	7-day trial, no free-forever tier
Career-investment community and grants	Included	Not offered
Marketing/growth tools	Included (Growth Studio)	Limited on lower tiers

Pricing above reflects Fresha's published rates as reported by The Salon Business on February 26, 2026, Pabau on July 28, 2026, and RZRV on June 11, 2026. Primzy's current plan details are on Primzy's pricing page, and its full feature list is on Primzy's features page.

Worked Math: A Solo Pro With a Handful of New Marketplace Clients

Say you're a solo esthetician on Fresha's Individual plan who picks up 3 new clients this month through Fresha's marketplace, each spending $80 on their first visit.

Fresha: Subscription: $19.95 Commission: 20% of $80 per client = $16 per client, well above the $6 minimum, times 3 clients = $48 Total: $67.95 for the month

Primzy: Subscription: $40 Commission: 15% of $80 per client = $12 per client, times 3 clients = $36 Total: $76 for the month

At this small volume, Fresha comes out cheaper by about $8, mostly because its lower subscription price outweighs the commission gap when only a few new clients are involved.

Now scale it up. Say a growing solo pro on Fresha's Individual plan gets 10 new marketplace clients in a busier month, averaging $75 per first visit.

Fresha: Subscription: $19.95 Commission: 20% of $750 = $150 Total: $169.95 for the month

Primzy: Subscription: $40 Commission: 15% of $750 = $112.50 Total: $152.50 for the month

At this volume, Primzy comes out ahead by about $17.45 a month, and the gap widens every additional new client you bring in through the marketplace, since Primzy's 15% rate stays 5 points lower than Fresha's 20% on every transaction.

The gap grows further for a team. Say a 3-person salon on Fresha's Team plan gets 15 new marketplace clients in a month, averaging $75 per first visit.

Fresha: Subscription: $14.95 x 3 team members = $44.85 Commission: 20% of ($75 x 15) = 20% of $1,125 = $225 Total: $269.85 for the month

Primzy: Subscription: $40 + $5 x 2 additional seats = $50 Commission: 15% of $1,125 = $168.75 Total: $218.75 for the month

At this team size and volume, Primzy comes out about $51.10 a month cheaper, almost entirely from the 5-point commission gap on $1,125 of new-client revenue, since the subscription costs land close to each other once Fresha's per-member pricing catches up to Primzy's seat pricing.

Where the Crossover Point Sits

The math above shows the pattern clearly: Fresha's lower subscription wins at low new-client volume, and Primzy's lower commission rate wins as new-client volume climbs. Based on these two plans, the crossover happens somewhere around 4 to 5 new marketplace clients a month at a $75 to $80 average ticket. Below that, Fresha's smaller subscription fee keeps it cheaper. Above it, Primzy's 5-point lower commission rate takes over.

If your business leans heavily on repeat clients and word-of-mouth rather than marketplace discovery, this whole comparison matters less, since neither platform charges commission on direct or repeat bookings. In that case, the decision comes down to subscription price, team size, and which set of non-commission features, messaging, marketing, community, matters more to your day-to-day work.

Where Fresha Pulls Ahead

Fresha's interface has a reputation for being genuinely easy to navigate, and its existing marketplace has real scale behind it, which matters if marketplace discovery is a meaningful part of how you find new clients. Its Team Pay system automates commission calculations and timesheet tracking for salons with staff, and its per-team-member pricing can work out cheaper than Primzy for a very small team doing low marketplace volume.

Fresha also integrates with Google Calendar, Meta for Business for Facebook and Instagram booking, and Square Point of Sale, according to Capterra's product listing. If you're already deep in that specific tool stack, that integration path is worth weighing. A pro whose client discovery leans heavily on Instagram and Facebook booking, rather than a standalone booking page, may find Fresha's social integrations line up more naturally with how they already operate.

Fresha's marketplace also carries genuine name recognition among clients who are used to booking beauty appointments through it, which can matter for a new business trying to get in front of people who are already in the habit of searching there rather than through a search engine or social link.

Who Fresha Still Makes Sense For

If you're solo, doing modest new-client volume through the marketplace, and want the lowest possible starting subscription price, Fresha's Individual plan at roughly $19.95 a month is a legitimate option, particularly if you're comfortable turning off messaging features to avoid the metered fees or keeping usage inside the free allowance. Fresha's Team plan can also work for a very small team where per-team-member pricing lands below what Primzy's seat add-on would cost, though that math flips quickly once a team grows past a few people.

It's fair to say plainly that if your business runs almost entirely on direct bookings and repeat clients, and you don't need career-development resources or a forums community, Fresha's lower base subscription may simply cost less for the booking-and-payments functionality you actually use. A pro who has already built a loyal client base and only occasionally relies on new marketplace discovery won't feel Fresha's 20% commission very often, which changes the calculation considerably compared to a pro still building a client list from scratch.

What Primzy Adds Beyond the Fee Structure

The commission difference is the headline, but it isn't the whole story. Primzy bundles Growth Studio, its marketing and retention toolkit, into the base $40 price, covering Spotlight and Local Blast for ZIP-targeted visibility, Fan Broadcasts and Fresh Openings, Win-Back Offers for lapsed clients, AI Client Matching, Search Result Shoutouts, First-Time Client Deals, Loyalty Programs, Time-Based Campaigns, Referral Programs, and Campaign Performance Tracking. Fresha's comparable tools are more limited on its lower tiers.

Primzy Forums give pros a community to ask questions and see what's working for others in the same trade. The Booked Out Beauty Lab, beauty school partnerships, and the Professional Freedom Grant are resources aimed specifically at helping independent pros build sustainable careers, not just book more appointments. Fresha doesn't have an equivalent to any of these three.

Smart Analytics and Client Tools

Fresha's reporting covers appointment and sales tracking with inventory features included in its base tools. Primzy's Smart Analytics goes further into forward-looking business intelligence: real-time beauty trend data, competitive price optimization to see how your pricing compares locally, local market insights, content performance metrics, a take-home pay simulator, and a smart expense reader that categorizes a photographed receipt automatically.

On the client side, Primzy's CRM includes private notes, linked formulas, client photos, and a Beauty Passport that carries a client's preferences and history across visits. Fresha's client profiles cover similar ground with contact info, photo storage per appointment, and charge tracking, though the depth of the formula-and-preference layer is less specific than Primzy's Beauty Passport concept.

Website and Booking Page Tools

Fresha provides a booking page as part of its core product, with integrations to Google Calendar, Meta for Business, and Square Point of Sale for pros who want their booking flow connected to social platforms. Primzy's website tools include preset themes, a custom portfolio section, embedded videos, drag-and-drop layout control, built-in SEO optimization, and custom links, plus Beauty Boards, a Pinterest-style feature for building shareable portfolios. This is a more built-out website layer than Fresha offers within its own platform, though Fresha's social integrations cover a use case Primzy handles differently.

Team Management and Salon Features

Fresha's Team Pay system automates commission calculations and timesheet tracking for salons with staff, which is a real strength for a multi-person team that needs payroll-adjacent tools without a separate system. It's included as part of the per-team-member subscription rather than gated behind a higher tier.

Primzy's Salon Workspace, added through the $5 per-seat fee, covers multi-staff calendars, salon inventory with usage logging and low-stock alerts, and smart per-employee scheduling conflict detection. Primzy's salon-tier features also include certificate of insurance (COI) management for staff credentials, a time clock, labor scheduling, tip management, and an employee permission model controlling what each team member can access. Fresha's Team Pay handles commission and timesheets well, but Primzy's permission model and COI tracking cover ground Fresha's team tools don't specifically address.

Booking and Payment Mechanics

Primzy's Advanced Booking includes SMS, email, and in-app notifications, cancellation waitlists, no-show protection through deposits, and booking without requiring a client account. It syncs with Google Calendar, supports custom service disclaimers per service, and exports client data to CSV. Client notes persist across every visit rather than resetting per appointment.

Fresha's booking flow is built around its marketplace-first design, with multiple calendar columns for teams and gap-time scheduling. Where Fresha's booking experience leans on marketplace discovery as a core feature, Primzy's Advanced Booking is built around direct booking as the primary channel, with the marketplace layer functioning but not the centerpiece of the product.

Client Messaging: A Real Cost Difference

This is worth calling out on its own because it's easy to overlook. Fresha's metered messaging means a busy pro who relies on text confirmations and reminders can burn through the free allowance quickly, especially on the Team plan where the 20-message limit is per team member, not shared across the account. Primzy includes SMS and email as part of the core subscription without a separate metered allowance, which removes one more variable cost from the monthly total.

For a pro sending regular appointment reminders, rebooking prompts, and birthday messages, this difference compounds month over month in a way that's easy to miss when comparing headline subscription prices alone.

Considering the Free-to-Paid Shift

Worth naming directly: some pros comparing platforms in 2026 are doing so specifically because Fresha's move away from its free-forever model changed their calculation. If you built your business assuming free software, re-running the math now that a subscription and a 20% marketplace commission are part of the picture is worth doing before renewing rather than after, especially if your marketplace volume has grown since you first signed up.

Deciding by Team Size and Marketplace Reliance

The two variables that matter most here are team size and how much of your new-client flow runs through Fresha's marketplace versus direct booking and referrals. A solo pro with light marketplace reliance sits closest to price parity between the two platforms, since Fresha's lower subscription offsets its higher commission rate at low volume. Add staff or lean more heavily on marketplace discovery, and the math shifts toward Primzy, first through the per-team-member subscription cost and then through the 5-point commission gap. Running your own numbers against your actual client mix, rather than assuming either platform's headline price tells the full story, is the only reliable way to know which one costs less for your business specifically.

The Bottom Line

If you're solo, doing light marketplace volume, and want the cheapest possible entry price, Fresha's Individual plan can beat Primzy on pure subscription cost. But once your new-client volume through the marketplace grows past roughly 4 to 5 clients a month, or once you add staff, Primzy's lower 15% commission rate and flat $5 per-seat pricing start to pull ahead, and the unmetered messaging removes a cost that quietly adds up on Fresha's Team plan. The right choice comes down to your actual new-client volume and team size, not the sticker price either platform leads with.

Sources

• Primzy Pricing
• Primzy Features
• The Salon Business, "The Ultimate Fresha Review 2026," February 26, 2026
• Pabau, "Fresha Pricing 2026: Plans, Fees & What It Costs," July 28, 2026
• RZRV, "Fresha Fees in 2026: What Salons Actually Pay," June 11, 2026
• Bizzly, "Fresha Pricing 2026: Plans, Fees & Real Costs," July 31, 2026
• Capterra, Fresha product listing