Fresha stopped being free

Fresha is not free any more. Its pricing page now reads "Software that grows with your business. As you expand we charge for each bookable team member," and the cheapest plan, Independent, is $19.95 a month with a 7 day trial. Almost every article you will find still says otherwise.

That matters before anything else on this page, because "Fresha is free" is the single most repeated claim in this category, and it is out of date. If you are shopping for a Fresha alternative on price alone, read the next section first, because the price is not what it was.

Is Fresha free?

No. As checked on August 24, 2026, Fresha pricing lists three plans and none of them is free:

Independent gets a single calendar column, 100 free messages, 50 free marketing emails, and email and chat support. Team gets multiple calendar columns, and the message and email allowances become per team member.

If you read a review saying Fresha costs nothing, check its date. The free-software model is what Fresha was known for, and the internet has not caught up.

How much is Fresha for one person?

$19.95 a month, which is less than CNL charges, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

CNL is $29 a month. On the subscription line alone, Fresha Independent is cheaper by about nine dollars. If the monthly number is the only thing you are comparing, Fresha wins that comparison and you should know that from us rather than finding it out later.

The rest of this page is about what the nine dollars buys, because it is not features.

What is the actual difference?

Your address. Fresha's product includes a marketplace, and a marketplace works by listing professionals together so clients can browse them. That is the model, it is not a flaw, and Fresha is very good at it.

But it means the page a client lands on is inside Fresha, alongside other salons and barbers near you, and the traffic you send there builds Fresha's brand rather than yours. At CNL the booking page is your own website on your own domain. We register one at cost, about $12 a year for a .com, or connect one you already own free. There is no directory, so there is nobody else on your page.

What counts as a bookable team member. Fresha's own headline is that it charges for each bookable team member as you expand. Independent covers a single calendar column. The moment a second person needs their own bookable calendar you are on Team at $14.95 each, and the message and email allowances are counted per member rather than pooled.

CNL is one plan at $29 whatever happens, though it is built for one pro and does not pretend to run a floor.

Allowances versus inclusion. Independent includes 100 messages and 50 marketing emails a month. Those are allowances, and allowances run out. CNL includes reminders and email campaigns without a monthly counter to watch.

Is Fresha good for a solo barber, stylist or nail tech?

For a lot of people, yes, and the honest answer matters more than the sale.

If you are starting from nothing, have no regulars yet, and want a marketplace to put you in front of people who have never heard of you, Fresha at $19.95 is a reasonable first move. Marketplaces are genuinely good at the cold-start problem, which is the one problem your own website cannot solve on day one.

The trade shows up later. Once you have regulars, the marketplace stops being marketing and becomes the place your existing clients go to rebook, next to nine competitors. And the address they have learned is not yours, so the day you change software you start again.

That is the same argument this site makes about Booksy, and it is not a coincidence. It is what marketplaces do.

What does CNL cost, and what do you get for the difference?

$29 a month, flat, one plan, no percentage of your sales.

For the nine dollars over Fresha Independent:

• Your own domain, registered at cost or connected free, rather than a listing inside somebody's marketplace.
• No allowances to watch. Reminders and email campaigns are included rather than metered.
• No directory. Nobody else appears on your page, and no client of yours has to scroll past a competitor to rebook.
• A person sets it up with you, live within 24 hours.
• The exit stays unlocked. Take your full client list whenever you like, history and notes included.

What CNL is not: a marketplace. We will not put you in front of strangers. If that is what you need right now, Fresha does it well and this is the wrong product.

The short version

Fresha stopped being free. Independent is $19.95 a month, Team is $14.95 per bookable team member, and the widely repeated claim that Fresha costs nothing is simply old.

At $19.95 it is cheaper than CNL, and if price is the only axis you should take it. The case for a Fresha alternative is not that Fresha is expensive. What you are buying at $29 instead is an address that belongs to you, no allowances, and no directory of your competitors on the page where your clients rebook.

Fresha's plan names, prices, trial length and included allowances were taken from fresha.com/pricing on August 24, 2026. Prices move, and this one moved recently; check before you sign anything, including ours.