Merluavs
Fresha
Fresha: The dominant salon booking platform, subscription-free with a marketplace attached, though it monetises through new-client fees and card processing rather than a plan.
Merlua
Booking software built for beauty salons
As of 15 September 2026, Merlua is free to use. Appointment software for beauty salons with guest checkout, Stripe deposits, staff and client apps, and automated email and SMS reminders. Softwr lists it under Beauty. Merlua is made by Merlua LLC, available on Web, iOS, Android.
Overview
What Merlua does
Merlua is appointment software written for one industry rather than adapted to it: nails, lashes, brows, waxing and cosmetics salons. The pitch is the two things that actually cost a salon money, which are bookings that never get made because the form asked for a password, and bookings that get made and then no-showed. The first is handled by guest checkout. Clients book without creating an account or setting a password, on a booking page that carries the salon's own branding, embeddable as a widget or reached directly. The second is handled by taking money up front through Stripe deposits, and by automated email and SMS reminders that go out without anyone remembering to send them. Behind the booking page sits scheduling with per-staff availability, automated assignment of a service to whoever can perform it, and calendar rules that make double-booking impossible. There are two mobile apps as well as the web dashboard. Staff get their schedule and their earnings in real time; clients get their appointments and their loyalty points. A WordPress plugin covers salons whose site is already on WordPress. Merlua LLC does not charge booking transaction fees of its own on paid tiers, though the payment processor's fees still apply, and there is a free tier with core scheduling that runs without a time limit alongside a 14-day full-feature trial that asks for no card.
What people use it for
- Taking salon bookings without forcing client accounts
- Cutting no-shows with deposits and reminders
- Coordinating several staff members' availability
- Running a branded booking page from an existing website
- Giving staff their schedule and earnings on their phone
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Merlua.
- Plan prices are not published. The pricing page renders its comparison table client side and no amounts are visible on it as of September 2026, so the cost of Standard or Premium is not knowable before signup.
- Stripe is the only payment processor named, so a salon banking elsewhere has no alternative route.
- Built for beauty specifically. A clinic, a gym or a barber chain wanting inventory, POS or memberships will find those absent.
- The integration list is short next to established salon platforms: Stripe, WordPress and SMS, with no accounting, marketing or POS connections listed.
- A new vendor with no independent review coverage, so the reliability claims rest on the vendor's own material.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Merlua
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- MerluavsBooksy
Booksy: Salon and barber booking with a consumer marketplace that brings in discovery traffic, which a standalone booking page does not.
- MerluavsVagaro
Vagaro: Broader salon, spa and fitness platform with POS, inventory and payroll, heavier than Merlua and priced per bookable staff member.
- MerluavsSquare Appointments
Square Appointments: Booking bolted onto Square's payments and POS, worth comparing for a salon that already takes card payments through Square.
Pricing
What Merlua costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Free
Free
- Core scheduling with no time limit
- Basic booking management
Standard and Premium
On request
- 14-day full-feature trial, no card required
- No Merlua booking transaction fees
- Monthly or annual billing, switchable at any time
Capabilities
Features
Guest online booking
Clients book without a login or password, which removes the account-creation step that loses bookings on a phone.
Services and staff
Automated assignment of each service to the staff who can perform it, rather than manual allocation per booking.
Calendar and availability
Per-staff availability rules with double-booking prevented at the calendar level.
Deposits and payments
Stripe integration for taking a deposit at the point of booking, the main lever against no-shows.
Email and SMS reminders
Automatic appointment notifications on both channels with no manual send.
Branded booking page
Customisable booking page carrying the salon's own branding, usable standalone or embedded as a widget.
Staff and client apps
Mobile apps giving staff their schedule and earnings in real time, and clients their appointments and loyalty points.
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is there a free plan?
Yes. Merlua states it offers "a robust free tier with core scheduling capabilities so you can manage basic bookings without a time limit", separate from the paid trial.
SourceHow does the free trial work?
Fourteen days of full access to all premium features with no credit card required upfront. At the end you either pick a plan or continue on the free tier.
SourceDoes Merlua charge booking transaction fees?
No hidden booking transaction fees on the Standard or premium tiers. Standard payment processing fees from your gateway, such as Stripe, still apply.
SourceDo clients need an account to book?
No. Clients complete bookings as guests without creating a password or a permanent account.
SourceWhat happens if I cancel?
Premium features stay active until the end of the current billing period, and plans can be upgraded, downgraded or switched between monthly and annual at any time from billing settings.
SourceWhat can I install it on?
A web dashboard, mobile apps for staff and clients, a WordPress plugin, and an embeddable booking widget for any site.
SourceKeep looking
Where to go from Merlua
- Merlua alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Merlua pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Merlua badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Beauty softwareThe full category
- Best Beauty softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Beauty software for
Compare Merlua with
- DaySmart Salon
- DaySmart Spa
- Mangomint
- Resurva
- Salonized
- Squire
- Genbook
- Salonist
- SalonBiz
- StyleSeat
- Treatwell
- Belliata
- Rosy
- Rosy Salon Software
- Salon Ultimate
- Salon Iris
- Resurva
- Salonized
Other Beauty software
Spa and medi-spa booking and management with published tiers from 29 USD a month
From $29/mo13 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Merlua, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Merlua
Merlua alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Merlua pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Merlua
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Merlua badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Beauty software alternatives
Spa and medi-spa booking and management with published tiers from 29 USD a month
Per user per month
Online booking and business growth for salons
