makeabook.ing vs Fresha: Which Is Right for Solo Beauty Pros?

TL;DR: Fresha is a booking marketplace — it can bring you new clients through its own app, but that discovery comes with commission on marketplace-sourced bookings and Fresha sitting between you and the client relationship. makeabook.ing is a private booking link with no marketplace and no commission, built for solo pros who already get clients through Instagram, referrals and word of mouth and just want an easy way to book them.

They're not really solving the same problem. This page is here to help you tell which one you actually have.

At a glance

	Fresha	makeabook.ing
What it is	Booking marketplace + salon software	A direct booking link
New client discovery	Yes, via the Fresha marketplace app	No — built for clients who already know you
Commission on bookings	One-time fee for new marketplace-sourced clients	Never — flat subscription only
Customer account required	Fresha account, via their app or web widget	No account required
Built for	Salons and solo pros wanting marketplace visibility	Solo service businesses only
Pricing	Monthly plan; marketplace and payment fees can also apply	Free for 20 bookings/month, then flat £19/month
Client data ownership	Shared with the Fresha platform	Yours

The real difference: where your clients come from

This is the crux of it. If a meaningful share of your bookings come from people discovering you through Fresha's marketplace — someone searching "nail tech near me" inside the Fresha app — then Fresha is doing genuine marketing work for you, and the commission on those bookings is the cost of that discovery.

But if you're a nail, lash or brow artist who wins clients through your own Instagram, TikTok, referrals or a loyal repeat base, you're not using Fresha for discovery — you're using it as a booking calendar, and paying marketplace-shaped fees for a job a plain link would do for free.

makeabook.ing only does the second thing. There's no marketplace, so there's nothing to take a cut of. Every booking that comes in came from your link, in your bio, because a client who already wanted to book with you clicked it.

Pricing and fees

Fresha now offers monthly Independent and Team plans, with separate payment-processing costs and a one-time fee for brand-new clients introduced through its marketplace. Clients who find you through your own website, Google or social channels don't incur that marketplace fee. Check its current country-specific rates for the full comparison.

makeabook.ing charges a flat fee instead: free for the first 20 bookings each month, then £19/month for unlimited bookings, regardless of where the client came from. You always know exactly what you're paying, and it doesn't scale with how much work you're doing.

Setup and day-to-day use

Fresha is a full salon operating system — calendar, POS, payments, marketing tools, client records, marketplace listing. That's genuinely useful if you want most of your business run through one platform, but it's also more surface area to configure and learn for someone managing a solo diary.

makeabook.ing does one thing: turns your services into a link people can book. Add your services and prices, set your hours, share the link. There's no POS to configure, no marketplace profile to optimise, no marketing suite to learn.

Who Fresha is best for

Solo beauty and wellness pros who want a platform that actively brings them new clients, are comfortable with commission on marketplace bookings as the cost of that reach, and want payments, POS and client management bundled into one tool. If discovery is your main growth challenge, Fresha's marketplace is doing something makeabook.ing deliberately doesn't try to do.

Who makeabook.ing is best for

Solo pros who already have a following or referral pipeline and just want a clean, professional way for people who already intend to book with them to actually do it — without losing a cut of every booking or handing the client relationship to a third-party app. If your bottleneck is "too many DMs," not "not enough clients," this is the closer fit.

Switching from Fresha

There's no data lock-in to fight through. You don't need to export anything from Fresha to start — set up your services and hours on makeabook.ing, and start sharing the new link. Many solo pros run both for a short transition period: keep Fresha for any marketplace-sourced bookings already in the pipe, and point your own bio, WhatsApp and referral traffic at your makeabook.ing link going forward.

FAQ

Does makeabook.ing take a commission like Fresha?
No. It's a flat subscription — free up to 20 bookings a month, then £19/month unlimited — never a percentage of what you charge.

Will I lose new client discovery by switching away from Fresha's marketplace?
Potentially, if marketplace search is currently bringing you clients you wouldn't otherwise get. makeabook.ing doesn't replace that — it replaces the booking calendar part. Many solo pros use both: Fresha (or another marketplace) for discovery, and a direct link for everyone who already found them elsewhere.

Can clients still pay a deposit when booking through makeabook.ing?
You can show the full service price, but makeabook.ing doesn't currently process deposits. State the policy clearly and collect the deposit using your existing payment method.

Do I need a Fresha account to use makeabook.ing, or can I use both?
You can run both. They're not mutually exclusive — plenty of solo pros use makeabook.ing for their own direct following while keeping a lighter presence elsewhere for discovery.

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Keep the bookings that already come from your own following — without giving up a cut of them. Create your free booking link and see what a client sees before they book.