ChairCal vs Booksy
Booksy is $29.99 a month,
and Boost takes 30% of a new client's first visit.
We charge $19. No cut.
Booksy's marketplace listing is free, and Boost is optional: when it's on, Booksy takes 30% of a new client's first visit, up to $100. That's worth it only if Boost actually sends you regulars. ChairCal is $19 a month with 1,000 texts included, and we never take a percentage of your bookings.
The honest comparison
What changes when you switch.
ChairCal · $19–$29/mo
- Monthly cost (single stylist)$19–$29 · 1,000 texts
- Cut of a new client's first visitNone
- Texts your regulars about a cancelled opening✓
- Appointment reminders✓
What Booksy has that we don't, and when it matters
- A free listing on the Booksy marketplace1
- Card payments, from 2.49% + $0.10 on the Booksy Card Reader1
- Online gift cards, memberships and packages1
- 2,000 marketing texts a month included1
- Boost, for paid placement on the marketplace2
- Team calendars at $20 a month per extra member1
Booksy is built for teams and for the marketplace: per-member pricing, card payments, gift cards and Boost. If you run several chairs, or Boost keeps sending you new regulars, that can be the better deal. For a solo stylist whose book is regulars and referrals, most of it is machinery you won't switch on.
FAQ
If you're considering the switch.
Only through Boost. Booksy says it does not charge commissions on new clients who find you online, through your own marketing, or on Booksy when Boost is off. Boost is optional. When it is on and a client books with you for the first time, Booksy takes 30% of that first visit, up to $100. From the second visit on, that client pays you 100%. All of this is per biz.booksy.com/pricing and biz.booksy.com/features/boost as of October 2026.
Sometimes. If Boost clients become regulars, a one-time 30% on the first visit is a fair price for a new client. The honest test: look at your last 20 new clients in Booksy and count how many came through Boost. If it's almost none, your new clients come from Instagram and word of mouth, and the $29.99 a month is paying for a marketplace you don't use.
Three things. (1) Fill: you tap Send. Your top regular gets first dibs. Then ChairCal widens, a few regulars at a time, until the chair's booked. First to tap gets 60 seconds to confirm. (2) Process Time: while one client's color processes, another can book a cut in the same chair. (3) Inbox: texts and emails from the same client land in one searchable thread. Booksy lists waitlists and free reminders too, so compare how each works for your book.
Not fully. ChairCal doesn't take card payments. The smoothest path: keep a card reader you already like (Square, or whatever you use in the chair) for checkout, and let ChairCal handle bookings, cancellation recovery and the client inbox. You can run both while you switch.
Yes, from any spreadsheet of your clients. Open Clients › Import and drop in the .csv or .xlsx file, up to 5,000 clients. ChairCal doesn't recognize a Booksy file on its own, so you tell it which column is which. Names, mobile phones and emails come across, plus notes, last visit and visit count when your file has them. Opening alerts are opt-in — each client chooses to hear about cancellations when she books or replies YES to an invite you send.
If you work alone, your new clients come from Instagram and word of mouth, and Boost rarely brings anyone, yes. You'd pay $19 instead of $29.99 and no commission either way. If Boost is a real source of new clients for you, run ChairCal alongside Booksy for a season and compare.
Further reading
Sources · as of October 2026
- Booksy pricing: biz.booksy.com/pricing, checked October 2026.
- Booksy Boost: biz.booksy.com/features/boost, checked October 2026.
Try it. If it doesn't pay for itself, don't pay for it.
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