Softwr

Scheduling & Booking · head to head

Fresha vs MariaDB

Fresha logo

Fresha

Scheduling & Booking

Free salon and spa software

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
MariaDB logo

MariaDB

Database & Data Management

The open source relational database for the enterprise

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • 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; MariaDB jSON support using text fields rather than native binary type; lacks MySQL's JSON syntax and functions
  • They diverge on capability: Fresha covers Online booking, MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Fresha and MariaDB actually diverge.

Attributes where Fresha and MariaDB differ
AttributeFreshaMariaDB
Pricing modelfreeUnknown
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidLinux, Unix, Windows, macOS
CategoryScheduling & BookingDatabase & Data Management
Founded20152009

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 MariaDB

  • MySQL Compatibility
  • Aria Storage Engine
  • ColumnStore
  • Galera Cluster
  • MaxScale
  • Spider Engine
  • Temporal Tables
  • phpMyAdmin

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 MariaDB
  • Attracting new clients through the Fresha consumer marketplacenot MariaDB
  • Sending appointment reminders and marketing campaigns to clientsnot MariaDB

MariaDB

  • Transaction processingnot Fresha
  • Data storagenot Fresha
  • Application backendnot Fresha
  • Reportingnot Fresha
  • Data analyticsnot 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

MariaDB

  • JSON support using text fields rather than native binary type; lacks MySQL's JSON syntax and functions
  • Galera Cluster maximum performance limited to the slowest node in cluster
  • InnoDB tables limited to 1,017 columns and 64 secondary indexes
  • Transaction size limits in Galera (128K rows and 2GB by default)
  • Less strict SQL type checking than PostgreSQL; allows implicit conversions

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

MariaDB

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the MariaDB 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 MariaDB if

  • You need mysql compatibility.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want aria storage engine.
MariaDB review

Questions people ask

Is Fresha or MariaDB better?
Neither clearly leads. Fresha starts at Free and MariaDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Fresha or MariaDB?
Fresha starts at Free and MariaDB at Free.
Does Fresha or MariaDB run on more platforms?
Fresha runs on Web, Ios, Android. MariaDB runs on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS.
Can I use Fresha for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
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 MariaDB is typically brought in for.
What can Fresha do that MariaDB cannot?
Fresha covers Online booking, Appointment management, Client database, Point of sale. MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility, Aria Storage Engine, ColumnStore, Galera Cluster.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

MariaDB: Is MariaDB completely free and open source?

Yes. MariaDB Server is licensed under GPLv2 and guaranteed to remain perpetually free and open source, independent of any commercial entities.

Source
MariaDB: Is MariaDB backward compatible with MySQL?

Yes. MariaDB was designed as a drop-in replacement for MySQL. Every application, driver, and configuration that worked with MySQL works with MariaDB without code changes.

Source
MariaDB: What are the storage engine options in MariaDB?

MariaDB supports multiple storage engines including InnoDB (transactional, default), Aria (crash-safe, good for read-heavy workloads), and MyISAM. The Aria engine is faster than InnoDB for certain read-heavy queries and full table scans.

Source
MariaDB: How much does MariaDB cost?

MariaDB Community Server is completely free to download and use. MariaDB offers paid enterprise support and managed cloud services for organizations needing professional support.

Source
MariaDB: Does MariaDB support native JSON storage?

MariaDB stores JSON using text fields (the JSON type is an alias for LONGTEXT), not as a native binary type like MySQL does. JSON support exists but is less sophisticated than MySQL's JSON functions and syntax.

Source
MariaDB: What scaling options does MariaDB provide?

MariaDB supports both scaling up (more cores, memory, storage) and scaling out (read replication, Galera Cluster with multi-node replication). However, Galera Cluster performance cannot exceed the slowest node in the cluster.

Source
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