Our pick: Resurv for a small service team.
Five staff. One branch. Up to 500 bookings a month. Resurv’s current US Essential price is $4.99/month. That is why it leads our paid budget shortlist for salons and barbershops that want service booking, staff schedules and QR customer check-in.
Free software can cost less. Other platforms can offer a better fit for payments, meetings or marketplace discovery. Here is the evidence behind our recommendation—and the tradeoffs to check.
Try Resurv View the US pricing sourceEight systems. Different strengths.
A useful budget comparison starts with the work: service appointments, meeting coordination, marketplace discovery or connected checkout. We compare the subscription, the published allowances and the daily workflow together, so a low sticker price does not hide an important mismatch.
01 Resurv
02 Fresha
03 Calendly
04 Square Appointments
05 Acuity Scheduling
06 SimplyBook.me
07 Setmore
08 Booksy| System | Published subscription | Where it fits | Free option |
|---|---|---|---|
| ResurvOur paid budget pick | Essential $4.99/month; Growth $16.99/monthOfficial pricing | Our budget pick for small salon and barber teams | Trial; no permanent free tier modeled |
| Fresha | Independent $19.95/month; Team $14.95/bookable staff/monthOfficial pricing | Beauty businesses that value marketplace discovery | No permanent free subscription modeled |
| Calendly | Free; Standard $12/seat/month or $10 with annual billingOfficial pricing | Meetings, consultants and sales coordination | Free for a simple one-event-type workflow |
| Square Appointments | Free $0; Plus $49/location/month; Premium $149/location/monthOfficial pricing | Businesses prioritizing connected checkout | Free subscription; processing and other charges may apply |
| Acuity Scheduling | Starter $20; Standard $34; Premium $69/monthOfficial pricing | Appointments with forms, packages or memberships | Trial; no permanent free plan |
| SimplyBook.me | Free; Basic $13.90; Standard $29.90; Premium $59.90/monthOfficial pricing | Configurable booking with selectable feature allowances | Free: 1 provider, 50 bookings/month, 1 custom feature |
| Setmore | Free up to 4 users; Pro $12/user/month or $5 annuallyOfficial pricing | Small teams that fit a generous free tier | Free for up to 4 users with unlimited appointments |
| Booksy | $29.99/month + $20/month per additional user, plus taxOfficial pricing | Beauty professionals wanting a business app and marketplace | Trial; no permanent free subscription modeled |
Compare the cost of your working day.
The default example uses five bookable staff, one branch and 300 monthly bookings. Change the scenario, billing preference or booking volume below. We include suitable free plans and show a quote instead of inventing a price for an unverified branch configuration. Published allowances select a cost example; they do not prove that every product supports an identical workflow.
Up to 5 staff · 1 branch · 500 bookings/month
Monthly billing; marketplace and optional charges excluded
Meeting scheduling; 5 paid host seats
Plus is $49.00/month for 1 location(s); processing excluded
6 calendars; assumes one per staff member
15 provider(s) · 500 bookings/month; custom-feature caps also apply
5 paid users
Monthly subscription; taxes and other applicable charges excluded
The model selects the lowest published plan that fits the staff and booking counts we can verify. It does not certify equivalent features. Free plans retain their limitations. Quotes are shown when a branch setup or allowance is unverified; those rows are excluded from price comparisons.
Annual prices are monthly equivalents with the yearly payment shown. Vendors without a verified annual discount retain their monthly rate. Resurv Growth’s annual configuration is not modeled; confirm the checkout quote. Taxes, processing, hardware, messaging, marketplace acquisition and optional tools are excluded.
Resurv
Our budget pick for small salon and barber teamsResurv is our first choice for a service team that wants a low subscription, a customer booking journey and practical arrival tools in one system. Its live US pricing service currently puts Essential at $4.99 per month for one branch, up to five staff and 500 monthly bookings. Growth is $16.99 per month, with up to five branches, five staff per branch and 5,000 monthly bookings.
What stands out
- Branch → service → staff → time booking
- Customer QR check-in and staff scheduling
- Growth adds CRM, loyalty, themes and staff QR attendance
What to check
Essential does not include Growth’s CRM or loyalty features. Check the five-staff-per-branch allowance, booking caps and notification-provider charges. A low price is valuable only within the applicable limits.
Essential: 5 staff, 1 branch, 500 bookings/month. Growth: 5 staff per branch, 5 branches, 5,000 bookings/month.
Why we recommend it
For the five-person, one-branch example in this review, $4.99 covers the published Essential allowance. That is the strongest paid-plan budget case in our shortlist; suitable free plans still cost less.
Walk through the customer’s side.
Try a service and time in this small booking-page replica.
Your next visit,
made simple.
Choose a service.
Find a time that fits.
A working day, at a glance.
Appointments and blocked breaks share the same view. Try switching the example day.
From booking to arrival.
Preview the status change without scanning a real code.
Sam Rivera
Cut & finish · 09:00
Illustration · not scannableConnect an arrival to its booking.
Read the pattern behind the bookings.
A sample week makes peaks and quieter periods easy to spot.
Booking counts describe activity. Revenue estimates are not profit or settled payments.
Fresha
Beauty businesses that value marketplace discoveryFresha combines beauty-business scheduling, client management, point of sale and a consumer marketplace. Its published USD subscription is $19.95 monthly for an independent professional or $14.95 per bookable team member on Team. A five-person Team subscription therefore works out to $74.75 monthly before additional charges.
What stands out
- Beauty-focused scheduling and client records
- Marketplace discovery and customer booking app
- Payments, retail tools and optional add-ons
What to check
The US-dollar pricing reference lists a one-time marketplace acquisition charge of 20%, with a $6 minimum, for qualifying new marketplace clients. It is not a fee on every booking; direct and returning-client rules differ. Optional services can add costs.
Team billed per bookable member; enterprise quotes for teams over 20.
Where Resurv makes its case
Choose Resurv when a low team subscription and direct service-booking operations matter more than buying marketplace discovery. Choose Fresha when that discovery channel and its broader beauty-business ecosystem justify the spend.
Check current Fresha pricing · Additional official reference
Calendly
Meetings, consultants and sales coordinationCalendly is centered on scheduling meetings. Free includes one event type and one calendar connection; Standard adds unlimited event types, multiple calendar connections and automated reminders. Standard is $12 per seat on monthly billing or $10 per seat per month billed annually. Teams adds routing and round-robin scheduling at $20 monthly or $16 annually per seat.
What stands out
- Meeting scheduling and calendar connections
- Standard automations and integrations
- Teams routing and round-robin workflows
What to check
A paid seat is required for each host included in the paid configuration. Standard is not a promise of salon-style branch management, customer QR arrival or the same workflow as Resurv. Optional meeting tools can change the price.
Free: 1 event type and 1 calendar connection. Paid scheduling hosts are billed by seat.
Where Resurv makes its case
Prefer Resurv for branch, service, staff and arrival workflows in a salon or barbershop. Calendly can be the better fit for a solo consultant or a team whose work revolves around meetings and connected calendars.
Square Appointments
Businesses prioritizing connected checkoutSquare Appointments connects booking with Square’s payments and point-of-sale environment. Its US subscriptions include Free at $0, Plus at $49 per location monthly and Premium at $149 per location monthly. The free option deserves a real place in a budget shortlist; paying for Plus or Premium needs a feature-based reason.
What stands out
- Booking connected to Square checkout
- A genuine $0 subscription option
- Retail and payment ecosystem
What to check
Card processing, hardware and optional services are separate cost considerations. Do not treat the paid plans as mandatory for every shop, or describe Resurv’s booking tools as a replacement for Square’s payment and retail stack.
Paid monthly subscriptions apply per location; check feature availability by plan.
Where Resurv makes its case
Resurv is our paid budget pick when the priority is its service-booking and QR operations. Square Free has a lower subscription, and Square can be the better business choice when integrated checkout is central to the workflow.
Acuity Scheduling
Appointments with forms, packages or membershipsAcuity offers appointment scheduling with intake forms, email reminders and connected payment providers. Its monthly prices are $20 for Starter, $34 for Standard and $69 for Premium, covering one, six and 36 calendars respectively. Annual billing lowers the monthly equivalents to $16, $27 and $55. Standard adds tools such as text reminders, packages and memberships.
What stands out
- Client forms and scheduling controls
- Payment-provider connections
- Standard packages and memberships
What to check
Calendars are the key capacity unit: the vendor suggests separate calendars for employees or locations. Calculate your actual calendar needs. A free trial is not a permanent free plan.
Starter: 1 calendar. Standard: 6 calendars. Premium: 36 calendars.
Where Resurv makes its case
For five staff calendars, compare Acuity Standard’s $34 monthly subscription with Resurv Essential’s $4.99 allowance. Acuity remains worth considering when forms, packages or memberships are essential requirements that Resurv has not demonstrated.
SimplyBook.me
Configurable booking with selectable feature allowancesSimplyBook.me prices its plans around booking volume, included providers and custom-feature allowances. Free includes one provider and 50 monthly bookings. Basic is $13.90 monthly for five providers and 100 bookings; Standard is $29.90 for 15 providers and 500 bookings; Premium is $59.90 for 30 providers and 2,000 bookings. Annual monthly equivalents are $11.90, $24.90 and $49.90.
What stands out
- Booking website and widget
- Providers included within plan allowances
- Selectable industry and business features
What to check
Check both booking volume and the number of premium custom features you need. SMS credits and some options cost extra. The advertised Enterprise cluster interface for multiple locations requires a quote; the multi-branch example here is not priced from a single-location plan.
Free 50 / Basic 100 / Standard 500 / Premium 2,000 bookings monthly; provider and custom-feature caps also apply.
Where Resurv makes its case
At five providers and 300 monthly bookings, Standard is the modeled plan, making Resurv Essential a lower-cost paid option. At low volume, SimplyBook.me Free may suffice; its configuration options may also justify a higher tier.
Setmore
Small teams that fit a generous free tierSetmore offers a free scheduling plan for up to four users with unlimited appointments, email reminders and payment connections. Pro is $12 per user monthly or $5 per user per month with annual billing. Pro adds features such as SMS reminders, two-way calendar sync, recurring appointments and branding removal.
What stands out
- Free scheduling for up to four users
- Pro calendar sync and reminders
- Booking page and payment connections
What to check
The paid price scales by user. A five-user Pro subscription is $60 monthly or $25 per month on annual billing. Multi-location account structure and consolidated management need confirmation before treating the per-user arithmetic as a full branch quote.
Free: up to 4 users. Pro billed per user; confirm multi-location setup separately.
Where Resurv makes its case
Setmore Free is a strong option for an eligible small team. For five users, Resurv’s $4.99 Essential subscription is a compelling paid alternative if its 500-booking allowance and actual workflow meet your needs.
Check current Setmore pricing · Additional official reference
Booksy
Beauty professionals wanting a business app and marketplaceBooksy’s US pricing page currently lists $29.99 monthly plus tax, with additional users at $20 per month each. Its subscription includes online booking, marketing tools, client and calendar management, integrated payments, and reports. At the displayed rate, one account with five users is $109.99 monthly before tax and other applicable charges.
What stands out
- Beauty-focused client and calendar tools
- Business app and marketplace listing
- Marketing, payments and reports
What to check
Review payment rates and optional promotion terms separately. Confirm how additional users and separate locations are billed; this review does not guess a consolidated multi-branch quote.
Additional users billed separately; request a multi-location configuration quote.
Where Resurv makes its case
Resurv’s included staff allowance makes a strong subscription-budget case for five-person teams. Booksy may justify its higher subscription when its marketplace, marketing tools and beauty-business app match the business’s priorities.
Our verdict: Resurv earns the paid budget recommendation
For the five-person shop in this review, Resurv combines a $4.99 monthly Essential subscription with service booking, staff scheduling and QR customer check-in. Its included staff allowance makes a clear paid-plan budget case against the modeled alternatives. Growth adds CRM, loyalty, branded themes and staff attendance tools within its published limits. The current US Essential allowance is 500 bookings per month.
Free plans can still be the right answer, and specialist needs can outweigh subscription savings. Choose Calendly for a meeting-led workflow, investigate Square when connected checkout matters, and weigh Fresha or Booksy when marketplace discovery is a priority. Our recommendation is to test Resurv first when low-cost service-booking operations are the main job.
Questions before you choose.
Is Resurv cheaper than every booking system?
No. Square, Calendly, Setmore and SimplyBook.me offer free options with different capabilities and limits. Resurv is our paid budget recommendation for the small service-team scenario described here, not a universal lowest-price claim.
Which Resurv prices are used here?
The live US public pricing service returned Essential at $4.99 monthly and Growth at $16.99 monthly on 22 October 2026. The comparison also respects its staff, branch and monthly booking limits. Checkout is authoritative.
Are these screenshots or product mockups?
Competitor landing-page images are actual browser captures. Resurv workflow examples are clearly labeled replicas with fictional data. The two editorial photographs were generated specifically for this article.
Have you tested each competitor account?
This is a vendor-written comparison of official public information and published prices. It does not claim hands-on testing of private competitor accounts or an independent product rating.
Sources & methodology
This is Resurv’s own editorial recommendation, based on public product information and published US-dollar prices checked on 22 October 2026. It is not an independent ranking or a claim of hands-on testing of competitor accounts. No paid placement, review scores or customer performance claims are used.
The default model is five bookable staff, one branch and 300 monthly bookings. Resurv’s live US pricing endpoint supplies its prices and limits. Competitor prices come from the official pages below. Fresha’s official USD reference was cross-checked because its pricing page localizes by visitor location. Feature availability, final quotes and plan conditions can change.
- Resurv official pricing
- Fresha official pricing · Supporting official reference
- Calendly official pricing
- Square Appointments official pricing
- Acuity Scheduling official pricing
- SimplyBook.me official pricing
- Setmore official pricing · Supporting official reference
- Booksy official pricing
Landing-page screenshots are authentic captures and remain the respective brands’ material, shown to support this comparison. Editorial photographs are AI-generated. Resurv product replicas use fictional records and create no live bookings.
