Is Fresha or Gusto better?

Neither clearly leads. Fresha starts at Free and Gusto at $49/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Fresha or Gusto?

Fresha has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Fresha and $49/month for Gusto.

Does Fresha or Gusto run on more platforms?

Fresha runs on Web, Ios, Android. Gusto runs on Web.

Can I use Fresha for free?

Yes. Fresha has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Gusto starts at $49/month.

What is Fresha best used for?

Fresha is most often used for running appointment booking and point of sale for salons and spas, attracting new clients through the fresha consumer marketplace, sending appointment reminders and marketing campaigns to clients. Of those, running appointment booking and point of sale for salons and spas and attracting new clients through the fresha consumer marketplace are not what Gusto is typically brought in for.

What can Fresha do that Gusto cannot?

Fresha covers Online booking, Appointment management, Client database, Point of sale. Gusto covers Automated payroll, Tax filing, Benefits administration, Time tracking. Both handle Google Calendar, PCI DSS.

Scheduling & Booking · head to head

Fresha vs Gusto

Fresha

Scheduling & Booking

Free salon and spa software

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Gusto

All industries

The people platform for small businesses

From: $49/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Fresha has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Fresha fresha charges a 50 percent one time commission on each new client booked through its marketplace, subject to a minimum fee per client; Gusto customer service can be slow and unresponsive to issues
They diverge on capability: Fresha covers Online booking, Gusto covers Automated payroll.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fresha and Gusto actually diverge.

Attributes where Fresha and Gusto differ
Attribute	Fresha	Gusto
Starting price	Free	$49/month
Pricing model	free	Unknown
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web, Ios, Android	Web
Category	Scheduling & Booking	All industries
Founded	2015	2011

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Fresha

Online booking
Appointment management
Client database
Point of sale
Inventory management
Staff scheduling
Marketing tools
Reports & analytics

Only in Gusto

Automated payroll
Tax filing
Benefits administration
Time tracking
Employee onboarding
HR compliance
Workers' comp
401(k) management

Both cover

Google Calendar
PCI DSS

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Fresha

Running appointment booking and point of sale for salons and spasnot Gusto
Attracting new clients through the Fresha consumer marketplacenot Gusto
Sending appointment reminders and marketing campaigns to clientsnot Gusto

Gusto

Payroll processingnot Fresha
Benefits administrationnot Fresha
Tax compliancenot Fresha
Employee onboardingnot Fresha
Time trackingnot Fresha

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Fresha

Fresha charges a 50 percent one time commission on each new client booked through its marketplace, subject to a minimum fee per client
Online card payments carry a 4.90 percent plus fixed fee per transaction charge on top of the subscription
Only 20 SMS or WhatsApp notifications and 50 marketing emails are free each month; everything beyond that is billed per message
Team and Enterprise plans are quoted as custom rates with no published figure
Add ons such as Team Connect and Insights are billed per team member per month on top of the plan
Enterprise pricing applies to businesses with 20 or more team members

Gusto

Customer service can be slow and unresponsive to issues
Weak reporting capabilities, cannot export data to spreadsheets for analysis
Support staff lacks deep payroll expertise and knowledge
Rehired employees do not have settings reset, causing manual cleanup work
City tax handling requires additional monitoring and monitoring
Onboarding can have issues with bank account verification and tax registration

Pricing, plan by plan

Fresha

Free

FreeFree
- Unlimited appointments
- Unlimited staff
- Online booking
Payments (Add-on)$2.19/transaction
- Card payments
- Contactless payments
- Online payments
Marketing (Add-on)$0.01/message
- Email campaigns
- SMS marketing
- Automated messages

Gusto

$49/month

No published plan breakdown. See the Gusto review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Fresha if

You need online booking.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Ios, Android.
You also want appointment management.

Fresha review

Choose Gusto if

You need automated payroll.
You also want tax filing.

Gusto review

Questions people ask

Is Fresha or Gusto better?: Neither clearly leads. Fresha starts at Free and Gusto at $49/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fresha or Gusto?: Fresha has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Fresha and $49/month for Gusto.
Does Fresha or Gusto run on more platforms?: Fresha runs on Web, Ios, Android. Gusto runs on Web.
Can I use Fresha for free?: Yes. Fresha has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Gusto starts at $49/month.
What is Fresha best used for?: Fresha is most often used for running appointment booking and point of sale for salons and spas, attracting new clients through the fresha consumer marketplace, sending appointment reminders and marketing campaigns to clients. Of those, running appointment booking and point of sale for salons and spas and attracting new clients through the fresha consumer marketplace are not what Gusto is typically brought in for.
What can Fresha do that Gusto cannot?: Fresha covers Online booking, Appointment management, Client database, Point of sale. Gusto covers Automated payroll, Tax filing, Benefits administration, Time tracking. Both handle Google Calendar, PCI DSS.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Gusto: What is Gusto's starting price?

Gusto starts at $49 per month plus $6 per person. The company also offers a Contractor-only plan for $35 per month plus $6 per contractor.

Source

Gusto: Does Gusto include unlimited payroll runs?

Yes, all Gusto plans include unlimited payroll runs at no extra charge, including off-cycle payrolls.

Source

Gusto: What core features are included in Gusto?

All plans include payroll processing, tax administration, digital onboarding, benefits enrollment, time tracking, performance management, and next-day direct deposit for most plans.

Source

Gusto: Does Gusto support integrations?

Yes, Gusto integrates with accounting software, applicant tracking systems, benefits providers, time-tracking tools, and other business platforms to reduce data entry.

Source

Fresha vs Gusto

Fresha

Gusto

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Fresha

Only in Gusto

Both cover

What people use each for

Fresha

Gusto

Where each one falls short

Fresha

Gusto

Pricing, plan by plan

Fresha

Gusto

Which should you pick?

Choose Fresha if

Choose Gusto if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Fresha

More on Gusto

Keep looking

Other head to heads