Atelier Booking vs Fresha
Fresha (formerly Shedul) built its name on "subscription-free" booking software. That era ended in 2025. Here's what the model looks like now, and what it means for who owns your clients.
| Dimension | Atelier | Fresha |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | Free plan · paid from $29/mo ($49 BYO processor) | No longer free, from ~$20/mo solo, ~$15/member on teams |
| Grows with team size? | No, same at any size | Yes, per bookable member |
| Per-location fees | $25/mo per extra: full plan at each | Enterprise quoted |
| Cut of your bookings | Never: $0 per booking, no commission | 20% new-client fee (min $6) on marketplace clients + metered messaging |
| Features | Unlimited staff on every plan; higher plans fold the add-ons in | Deep feature set; AI concierge $99.95/mo extra |
| Your own domain | Day one, no upgrade fee | No: marketplace profile |
| Your own texting number | Yes: two-way; with text reminders on every paid plan | No: one-way texts, replies not received |
| AI receptionist for texts | $49/mo, books by text, staff approve by text | Yes: AI Concierge at $99.95/mo per location |
| Live window availability display | $19/mo, unlimited tablet displays, live from your calendar; included with Website Pro | — |
| Remove platform branding | $12/mo, or included with Booking Pro & Website Pro | — |
| Booth renters paid directly | Included, each pro's own account, no extra % | Yes: via their wallet system |
| Whose website ranks? | Yours: full site on your domain, structured data from live booking data | Theirs: rich listing data ranks on fresha.com |
| Payment processor | Atelier Payments (Stripe or Square), or your own Stripe/Square/Clover | Fresha payments |
What Fresha does well
Fresha's platform has matured into one of the deepest feature sets in the industry, its consumer marketplace generates real new-client traffic, and its marketplace listings are impressively engineered. Their AI concierge (an add-on at a published $99.95/month per location) handles calls and messages.
How they price now
Fresha removed its free-forever plan in 2025. Published pricing now starts around $20/month for an independent and roughly $15 per bookable team member on teams, plus card processing, metered client messaging beyond a small monthly allowance, and a 20% new-client fee (minimum $6) on the first appointment of any client acquired through their marketplace. One widely-reported gotcha: if you don't import your existing client list before your regulars find you on the marketplace, the new-client fee applies to people who were already yours. Verify current Fresha pricing and fee terms on their site, these change.
Who owns the client relationship
Fresha's marketplace holds the consumer account. Your clients book through Fresha's app and website, your reviews and services build a profile that ranks on fresha.com, and marketplace surfaces show other businesses alongside yours. Text notifications go out one-way; clients can't reply, and there's no per-business texting number. It's a genuinely good marketplace, but the discovery, the data, and the search ranking accrue to the platform.
How Atelier prices
Free Starter plan; paid plans from $29/month ($49 with your own processor), flat at any team size, with no new-client fees and no messaging meters on paid plans (500 texts a month included, from your own two-way number). Our AI Suite is $49/month against their concierge's published $99.95. Ours handles texts and web chat rather than voice calls, which is exactly why it costs less than half as much.
Where Atelier is different
Atelier runs a public directory that feeds new customers to its businesses, but the bookings click through to YOUR URL rather than completing inside the directory, there's no cut on directory-sourced clients, and your reviews, services and prices are published as structured data on your own domain, where they build your search ranking. Discovery without the commission tax, and a client list that lives in your database.
Where Fresha might fit better
If marketplace foot traffic is your main acquisition channel and you're comfortable paying 20% for each new client it brings, Fresha's marketplace is one of the largest in beauty and wellness. That exposure is real, and per-member pricing can suit teams with many part-timers.
Who each is best for
Fresha fits businesses that want maximum marketplace exposure and accept the new-client fees and platform-held client relationships that come with it. Atelier fits businesses that want their clients, reviews, rankings and texting number to belong to them, with directory discovery included and nothing charged per client.
Start free. Take real bookings today.
Free to start, and your first month of any paid plan is free. Paid plans from $29 a month, every team size.