Beauty & Salon · head to head
Squire vs Fresha
The short version
- Only Fresha has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Squire booking fees of $1-3 per appointment add significant cost beyond subscription, increasing total cost of ownership; Fresha fresha charges a 50 percent one time commission on each new client booked through its marketplace, subject to a minimum fee per client
- They diverge on capability: Squire covers Walk-in queue, Fresha covers Appointment management.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Squire and Fresha actually diverge.
Identical on both: platforms (Web, Ios, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), founded (2015).
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 Squire
- Walk-in queue
- Team management
- Instant payouts
- Client app
- Business analytics
- Yelp
- Venmo
Only in Fresha
- Appointment management
- Client database
- Inventory management
- Staff scheduling
- Reports & analytics
- Google Calendar
- Apple Calendar
Both cover
- Online booking
- Point of sale
- Marketing tools
- PCI DSS
- SSL encryption
- Cloud deployment
- Web support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Squire
- Barbershop managementnot Fresha
- Walk-in handlingnot Fresha
- Team payrollnot Fresha
- Client bookingnot Fresha
Fresha
- Running appointment booking and point of sale for salons and spasnot Squire
- Attracting new clients through the Fresha consumer marketplacenot Squire
- Sending appointment reminders and marketing campaigns to clientsnot Squire
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Squire
- Booking fees of $1-3 per appointment add significant cost beyond subscription, increasing total cost of ownership
- Limited to barbershops and beauty salons; not suitable for other service industries
- Walk-in and waitlist features only available on higher-tier plans, limiting functionality for drop-in appointments
- POS system tightly integrated; cannot use with alternative payment processors or systems
- Customer data locked into Squire platform with limited export options
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
Pricing, plan by plan
Squire
$30/monthNo published plan breakdown. See the Squire review.
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
Which should you pick?
Choose Squire if
- You need walk-in queue.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want team management.
Choose Fresha if
- You need appointment management.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want client database.
Questions people ask
- Is Squire or Fresha better?
- Neither clearly leads. Squire starts at $30/month and Fresha at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Squire or Fresha?
- Fresha has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $30/month for Squire and Free for Fresha.
- Does Squire or Fresha run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Fresha for free?
- Yes. Fresha has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Squire starts at $30/month.
- What is Squire best used for?
- Squire is most often used for barbershop management, walk-in handling, team payroll, client booking. Of those, barbershop management and walk-in handling are not what Fresha is typically brought in for.
- What can Squire do that Fresha cannot?
- Squire covers Walk-in queue, Team management, Instant payouts, Client app. Fresha covers Appointment management, Client database, Inventory management, Staff scheduling. Both handle Online booking, Point of sale, Marketing tools, Instagram.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Squire: What are Squire's pricing tiers?
Squire offers Pro plans starting at $30/month for independent barbers, Pro-Complete at $100/month for full shops, Executive tiers at $100-150/month, and Titan at $250/month. All include scheduling, POS, and customer management features.
SourceSquire: Does Squire charge booking fees?
Yes, Squire charges customers $1-3 per booking for online scheduling, in addition to the monthly subscription cost. This is a key cost factor beyond the base subscription.
SourceSquire: What integrations does Squire support?
Squire integrates with Square, QuickBooks, Google Calendar, and Stripe. It also offers an API for custom integrations and works with Zapier to connect to hundreds of other applications.
SourceSquire: What core features does Squire provide?
Squire includes online appointment scheduling, integrated POS system, customer relationship management, loyalty reward programs, promo codes, and automated text reminders.
SourceSquire: Does Squire support walk-in customers?
Yes, Squire supports walk-in booking through its waitlist feature, which is available on all plans except the basic Pro tier.
SourceSquire: Who founded Squire and how is it backed?
Squire was founded by Songe LaRon and Dave Salvant in 2016. The company raised $162M in funding as of February 2026 and achieved a $750M valuation in 2021.
Source