Fresha vs Timely: the pricing models differ more than the features

Disclosure first: we make Trimsy, which competes with both of these. You should weigh everything below with that in mind. We have tried to write the comparison we wish existed when we were researching the market, and we have put the places where each of them beats us in writing rather than leaving them out.

Fresha and Timely come up together constantly, and most comparisons of them list features in two columns. That is the least useful way to tell them apart, because on features they overlap heavily. They charge in fundamentally different shapes, and that is what actually decides the bill.

The two models

Fresha is a marketplace with a subscription attached. At the time of writing its published rates are a subscription from about A$44.95/month for a solo operator (around A$29.95 per team member), plus 20% commission, one time, on a brand-new client who finds you through the Fresha marketplace — minimum A$8. Returning clients are free.

Timely charges per staff member, per month. Its published tiers run roughly A$42 per staff per month at the entry level, rising through higher tiers, ex GST. There is no booking commission at all.

Everything else follows from that.

Which is cheaper depends on one question

Not "how many features do I need". It is: where do your new clients come from?

If you have your own demand — existing clients, word of mouth, local search, Instagram — then Fresha's commission rarely triggers, and a subscription-only comparison usually favours it, especially for a solo operator. Timely's per-staff pricing is pure cost with nothing to offset it.

If you want the marketplace to find you clients, the commission is the price of that, and it is not unreasonable for what it is — paid acquisition you only pay for on success. But it scales with your growth rather than your usage, and a busy month costs more than a quiet one.

If you have a team, Timely's model gets expensive fast and predictably: six staff is six seats, every month, whether they are booked solid or on leave. Fresha's per-team-member rate is lower.

Work out your own number before you read another feature table. Take your realistic new-client count per month, multiply by the commission, and compare it to the per-seat difference. For most businesses one of the two answers is obviously larger.

Where they genuinely differ on substance

Who owns the client relationship. This is the part worth slowing down for. The Fresha marketplace shows your clients to businesses near you. That is what a marketplace is for and it cuts both ways — it brings you people and it shows your people other options. Timely has no marketplace, so the question does not arise.

Your booking page's address. Fresha's hosted page is fresha.com/yourbusiness. Timely's is book.timely.com/yourbusiness. Both are their domain, not yours, which matters for anything you build up over years.

Card processing, and the bit nobody works out. Fresha Pay publishes 1.29% + A$0.26 in person and 1.59% + A$0.28 online. Timely Pay publishes 1.54% + 5c in person and 1.80% + 30c online, plus Tyro and EFTPOS integrations.

Online, Fresha is cheaper at every ticket size — it is lower on both the percentage and the fixed fee.

In person the answer flips depending on your average sale, because Fresha charges a lower percentage with a higher fixed fee and Timely does the opposite. They cross at exactly A$84.

So a barbershop averaging A$45 a cut is better off on Timely's card rate, and a colour specialist averaging A$180 is better off on Fresha's — the opposite of what the headline percentages suggest. Work it out against your own average sale, not the advertised rate. Check both against whatever rate you already qualify for.

Retail and reporting. Timely is the stronger product on higher tiers — genuinely good reporting and retail features, with years of depth behind them. If detailed reporting is central to how you run, that is a real reason to pay more.

Walk-ins. Neither handles them. Both are built around scheduled appointments. If a meaningful part of your day is people walking in, you will be managing that outside whichever one you choose.

What about the other names in this search

Acuity is scheduling rather than a business platform — excellent at calendars and intake, no POS or retail, and not Australia-specific. Booksy is closest to Fresha in shape, marketplace included, with a stronger barbering slant. Mindbody is a different weight class aimed at studios and gyms with membership billing, and prices accordingly.

If you find yourself comparing Acuity to Mindbody, you are probably comparing two answers to two different questions. Decide first whether you need a calendar, a marketplace, or a business platform.

The honest note about us

We built Trimsy because we wanted a flat Australian subscription with no booking commission at any volume, your own booking address on your own subdomain, and your own Stripe or Square account so you pay whatever rate you qualify for rather than ours. It also runs a walk-in queue, which neither Fresha nor Timely does.

It is also newer and smaller than both, with fewer reviews and fewer integrations — we have no live Xero connection, where Timely has had one for years. If mature integrations or deep retail reporting are what decide it for you, Timely is the better product today and we would rather say so here than have you find out in week two.

How to actually decide

1. Count your genuinely new clients per month, and how many of those you could find yourself.
2. Count your staff seats.
3. Price all three against both numbers, including card processing at your real volume.
4. Ask who owns the booking URL and the client list in each case.
5. Trial the shortlist with your own services loaded, not the demo data.

The feature lists will look similar. The invoice will not.

Pricing for Fresha and Timely is their published rate at the time of writing (October 2026) and changes — check with each vendor before deciding. Compare Trimsy and Fresha, Trimsy and Timely, or see plans.