Square Appointments vs Booksy vs dailybuilt: what a barber really pays
All three start at $30 a month or less. The card fees are the bigger bill. One month worked out line by line, and who should pick which.
A solo barber pays about $30 a month for booking software and $120 to $160 a month in card fees. Most comparisons stop at the first number. This one runs the whole month.
We make one of these three products, so read this with that in mind. Every price below comes from each company's own pricing page, read on November 3, 2026. On a month where every client pays by card, ours is the most expensive of the three, and we show that too.
The short answer: all three take bookings for $30 a month or less. What separates them is where your next client comes from and how you take payment. If you want strangers to find you, Booksy. If you take cards in the chair and want the lowest bill, Square Appointments. If your clients already find you and you want your own site, records and invoices in one place, dailybuilt.
What a month actually costs
The subscription is the smaller number. Card fees, and fees for new clients, are the bigger one.
Take a solo barber doing about 25 cuts a week at $40. That is roughly 108 cuts and $4,320 a month, all paid by card.
| Subscription | Card fees on $4,320 | Fee for 8 new marketplace clients | Month | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square Appointments Free | $0 | $128.52 at 2.6% + 15¢ in person | none | $128.52 |
| Square Appointments Plus | $49 | $124.20 at 2.5% + 15¢ in person | none | $173.20 |
| Booksy | $29.99 | $118.37 at 2.49% + 10¢ on the Booksy reader | $96 if they came through Boost | $148.36, or $244.36 with Boost |
| dailybuilt Essentials | $29.99 | $157.68 at 2.9% + 30¢ online | none, and no marketplace | $187.67 |
Card fees on Square and Booksy land within about $10 of each other. dailybuilt's run about $30 to $40 more. Clients pay dailybuilt invoices online, at the standard online card rate of 2.9% plus 30 cents, with no platform fee on top. There is no card reader and no in-chair option today, so a barber who rings up every cut pays the online rate on every cut.
The other swing is Booksy's Boost. It only applies if you turn Boost on, and it only charges when it sends you someone new.
Square Appointments is for barbers who take cards in the chair
Square Appointments is the booking side of the Square point-of-sale system. If you already take cards on a Square reader, it plugs into what you have.
- Price. Free is $0. Plus is $49 a month per location. Premium is $149 a month per location. Every plan has unlimited staff calendars, and Plus and Premium come with a 30-day free trial.
- Included on Free. Online booking site, text and email reminders, prepayments and deposits, and Book Now buttons for Instagram, Facebook and your Google Business Profile.
- Needs Plus. Text and email confirmations, a cancellation policy with late-cancellation and no-show fees, a waitlist, Google Calendar sync and more than one location.
- Card fees. In person, 2.6% plus 15 cents on Free, 2.5% plus 15 cents on Plus and 2.4% plus 15 cents on Premium. Online, 3.3% plus 30 cents on Free and 2.9% plus 30 cents on Plus and Premium. 3.5% plus 15 cents keyed in.
The Free plan is the cheapest bill on this page, and the cheapest way to get online booking with text reminders. The catch is no-show fees. If people skip appointments on you, you will end up on Plus at $49 a month.
Pick Square Appointments if most of your clients pay by card in the chair, or you already run Square for payments or retail.
Booksy is for barbers who want new clients
Booksy is a booking app and a marketplace. Clients search the Booksy app for a barber near them, and Booksy runs a paid program, Boost, that charges you only when it brings someone new.
- Price. $29.99 a month plus tax, all features included. Each extra staff member is $20 a month.
- Included. Booking, reminders, no-show protection, and 2,000 marketing texts a month. Booksy says appointment confirmations and reminders are always free.
- Boost. Free to turn on. When Boost brings you a new client, Booksy charges 30% of that first visit, capped at $100. Clients who find you through your own marketing, or on Booksy while Boost is off, cost nothing extra.
- Card fees. 2.49% plus 10 cents on Booksy's card reader, 2.49% plus 20 cents with Tap to Pay, 2.69% plus 30 cents for mobile and keyed-in payments. Payouts within 30 minutes cost 1.5%.
- Trial. 14 days, no card needed.
On a $40 cut, a Boost client costs $12 the first time and nothing after. Whether that is cheap depends on one thing: do they come back?
per visit after 1 visit
Pick Booksy if your chair has empty slots and you want the app to fill them.
dailybuilt is for barbers who want their own site and records
This is our product, so judge it against the two above.
dailybuilt Essentials gives you a website with your booking page on it, a customer record for every client, invoices, online card payments and text and email reminders, in one place.
- Price. $29.99 a month, billed monthly, no contract. Five staff members and your own domain are included. Each staff member after five is $14.99 a month.
- Included. Online booking and calendar, website pages, customer records, invoices, online card payments, text and email reminders and your own domain. Bookings are written to your Google Calendar, and busy time there blocks booking slots. Changes you make in Google don't come back to the booking.
- Card fees. Clients pay online, from a pay page linked to their invoice, at the standard online card rate. dailybuilt adds no platform fee. There is no card reader and no in-chair payment today.
- Trial. 30 days, no card needed.
- Your data. You can download all of it, client records included, any time, with no ticket and no fee.
- Limits. No marketplace, so dailybuilt will not send you new clients. No deposits at booking and no no-show fees, only a cancellation cutoff in hours. For a barber who takes every payment by card, card fees run higher than on the other two.
Pick dailybuilt if your clients already find you through Instagram, Google or word of mouth, and you want a site with your name on it and a client list that is yours to take anywhere.
Which one to pick
| If you | Pick |
|---|---|
| Take nearly every payment by card in the chair | Square Appointments |
| Have empty slots and want new clients from an app | Booksy |
| Want online booking with text reminders for $0 | Square Appointments Free |
| Have a lot of no-shows | Square Appointments Plus or Booksy |
| Get clients from your own Instagram and Google and want your own site | dailybuilt |
Two things to check before you choose any of them. First, price it with your real number of chairs. A second barber adds $0 on Square, $20 on Booksy and $0 on dailybuilt up to five. Second, ask how you get your client list out if you leave. Your regulars are the business. The software is not.
If you are still sorting out what your week looks like before you pick a tool, our post on five jobs your team still does by hand covers where the hours go. For a wider look at all-in-one tools, see HoneyBook vs Jobber vs GoHighLevel vs dailybuilt.
Questions people ask
Is Square Appointments really free? The Free plan has no monthly fee and includes online booking, text and email reminders and prepayments. You pay card fees on every payment, and no-show fees, waitlists and calendar sync need the $49 Plus plan.
How much does Booksy take from new clients? Only if Boost is on and Boost brought the client. Booksy charges 30% of that client's first visit, up to $100. Later visits from the same client are not charged.
Why are dailybuilt's card fees higher? Every dailybuilt card payment is an online payment, at the standard online rate of 2.9% plus 30 cents, with no platform fee on top. Square and Booksy charge their lower in-person rates on their own readers.
Which is cheapest for a barber with two chairs? On subscription alone, Square Appointments Free at $0, because it does not charge per staff member. dailybuilt Essentials stays $29.99 with up to five staff, and Booksy would be $49.99 a month. Card fees will matter more than any of these numbers.
Can I switch later without losing my clients? Ask each company before you sign up. dailybuilt lets you download every client record at any time. Check the same for whichever tool you are leaving.