The Flow · Comparisons
Fresha vs revenu: marketplace booking app or custom business system?
8 July 2026 · by Adam Pilakis, founder of revenu
Quick summary
Choose Fresha if you want salon booking, POS and client management with marketplace exposure to bring new faces through the door. Choose revenu if the real problem is the lead journey: website enquiries going unanswered, missed calls, no follow-up, no reactivation, and a client relationship you want to own outright.
- Fresha is a salon and wellness platform: scheduling, POS, client management and a consumer marketplace
- revenu is a full business system: CRM, bookings, AI receptionist, follow-up, reviews and reactivation, built into your business
- Fresha now charges subscriptions in USD, plus a commission on new marketplace clients. revenu is a flat $599 + GST a month in AUD
- The real difference: on a marketplace, the platform owns the shopfront. With revenu, you own the whole journey
- Fair warning: if marketplace discovery is genuinely filling your book, Fresha is doing its job. This article covers when that's true
Your business might not need more software. It might need fewer leaks.
If you're comparing Fresha and revenu, you're really comparing two different bets. One says put your business on a marketplace and let the traffic come to you. The other says own every step of the journey, from the first enquiry to the review afterwards. Both can work. They just work for different businesses, and this is the honest guide to which one is yours.
including the bit where the "free" app got a price tag ↓01 — Quick answer
Fresha or revenu at a glance
| Your situation | Choose Fresha | Choose revenu |
|---|---|---|
| The main job | Bookings, POS and marketplace exposure | Leads, follow-up, AI, reviews and reactivation |
| New clients | You want the marketplace to bring them | You want to capture and convert your own enquiries |
| The relationship | Comfortable sharing the shopfront with a platform | You want to own the client journey end to end |
| Missed calls | Someone can always answer the phone | Calls and DMs get missed while you work |
| Who builds it | You set it up yourself | Adam builds it with you, live after the first session |
02 — Credit where it's due
What Fresha does well
Fresha is a salon and wellness platform covering appointment scheduling, point of sale and client management, and it scales to unlimited staff and multiple locations under one account. For the day-to-day mechanics of running a salon, it's a polished piece of software.
Its real point of difference is the marketplace. Your business gets a booking page plus visibility on Fresha's consumer app, where people actively search for beauty and wellness services. For a new salon with empty chairs and no audience, that discovery can genuinely matter. Fresha charges a one-time commission when a brand new client finds you through the marketplace, and repeat visits from that client book fee-free after that.
Automated reminders, campaigns, loyalty add-ons and integrated payments round it out. If the job is "run the salon and let the marketplace top up the book", Fresha does that job properly.
03 — The honest limits
Where Fresha may not be enough
Start with the money, because Fresha's story changed. It built its name on being subscription-free. As at July 2026, its pricing lists paid plans starting around $19.95 USD a month for individuals, or per team member on team plans, plus a 20% commission (minimum $6 USD) on new marketplace clients, plus payment processing fees on transactions. For Australian salons, that pricing is in US dollars, so your real cost moves with the exchange rate. Not a dealbreaker, but worth knowing before you compare "free" against anything.
Then there's the marketplace itself, which cuts both ways. Your salon sits in a grid beside every competitor in your suburb, one scroll away. The platform owns that shopfront, holds the search rankings, and sets the rules. Discovery is real, but so is the fact that the client's first relationship is with the app, not with you.
And the part Fresha isn't necessarily built for: the journey outside the app. The call that rings out while you're with a client. The website enquiry that waits hours for a reply. The 600 past clients in your list who haven't heard from you in a year. Messaging allowances on plan tiers are not the same thing as a follow-up system designed around how your business actually works.
None of that makes Fresha bad software. It's the edge of the category. A marketplace booking app fills the diary from its own traffic. It was never meant to run the whole journey around your business.
04 — The other side
Where revenu is different
revenu isn't a marketplace and doesn't want to be. There's no grid of competitors, no commission on new faces, no shared shopfront. It's a system built around one business: yours.
One login covers the whole connected stack: enquiry capture from your website and socials, missed call text-back, an AI employee answering calls and messages in seconds, CRM, bookings and payments, SMS and email follow-up, database reactivation, review requests, your website and funnels, and reporting. The framework behind it is the rhythm: plug the holes first, then turn the tap on.
And unlike software you configure alone, I build it with you. Live after the first 45-minute session, fully built over three sessions inside 14 days, with support and a monthly showcase call included after that.
The one-line version
Fresha rents you a spot in its marketplace. revenu builds the system your business owns.
most platforms solve one part. money leaks between the parts.Picture the same enquiry landing two ways. On the marketplace, a new client finds you in the grid, books, and the platform clips its commission. Fair trade. Now picture the enquiry that comes to you directly: a call during a treatment, a DM at 9pm, a form on your website. On a booking app, those moments hope someone's free. On revenu, the missed call gets a text within seconds, the AI employee carries the conversation, and the booking lands in your calendar with your name on the relationship, not a platform's. The businesses that win long term are the ones that own that second kind of moment.
05 — The money
Fresha pricing vs revenu pricing in Australia
Fresha lists subscription plans in USD as at July 2026: from around $19.95 USD a month for individuals, or around $14.95 USD per bookable team member on team plans, with tiers that include set allowances of messages and emails. On top sit the 20% new-client marketplace commission (minimum $6 USD) and payment processing fees per transaction. Check Fresha's site for current rates, because pricing changes and the exchange rate moves your real cost.
revenu is $599 + GST a month, flat, in Australian dollars, plus a $500 build fee up front (waived when a current client refers you). That includes the full build, valued at $3,000 to $5,000: your system wired around your business, an AI employee trained on how you work, your website or funnel, and ongoing support. Month to month, no lock-ins. Usage costs apply for calls, SMS, email and AI activity, with live usage pricing in AUD here, and there's an unlimited AI option to keep AI costs predictable.
Different models entirely. Fresha's cost scales with your team and your marketplace wins. revenu's cost is flat, and the return depends on how much revenue is currently leaking through missed calls, cold enquiries and an untouched database. Compare against your leaks, not just the subscriptions.
06 — The decision
Choose Fresha if, choose revenu if
Choose Fresha if: you're early stage or filling empty chairs, marketplace discovery genuinely brings you new clients, someone always answers the phone, and you're happy trading a commission and a shared shopfront for that traffic.
Choose revenu if: you're established and enquiries already come to you directly, but calls get missed, follow-up relies on memory, past clients sit untouched, and you want the whole journey, and the client relationship, owned by your business rather than a platform.
07 — Final verdict
The verdict
If you need marketplace exposure and salon booking software, choose Fresha. The discovery is real, and for a young salon it can be the difference between empty chairs and full ones.
If your business already generates its own enquiries and the problem is what happens to them, the missed calls, the slow replies, the follow-up that never happens, then a marketplace won't fix that. That's a system problem, and it's exactly what revenu is built for. If you're weighing up other salon platforms too, the Timely vs revenu comparison covers the per-staff booking software side of the same decision. At the premium end of salon software, the Phorest vs revenu comparison covers that decision.
08 — FAQs
Fresha vs revenu FAQs
Is Fresha really free?
Not anymore. Fresha built its name on being subscription-free, but as at July 2026 its pricing lists paid plans in USD, starting around $19.95 a month for individuals, plus a 20% commission (minimum $6 USD) on new clients from its marketplace and payment processing fees. Check Fresha's site for current pricing.
Is Fresha better than revenu?
They do different jobs. Fresha is better if you want salon booking, POS and marketplace exposure that brings new clients to you. revenu is better if the problem is your own lead journey: missed calls, unanswered enquiries, no follow-up and an untouched client database. Pick based on which problem is costing you money.
What is the best Fresha alternative in Australia?
It depends what's leaking. If you want different salon booking software, options like Timely price per staff member in AUD. If the real gap is enquiry capture, follow-up, AI response and reactivation, the alternative isn't another booking app, it's a connected business system like revenu.
Does revenu replace Fresha?
It can. revenu includes bookings, payments, reminders and client management alongside the CRM, AI employee and follow-up system, so most businesses consolidate into the one login. What revenu doesn't replicate is Fresha's consumer marketplace, so we weigh up how much of your book genuinely comes from it before moving anything.
Can revenu work with Fresha?
Yes. Some businesses keep Fresha for the marketplace and diary, and use revenu for everything around it: missed call text-back, AI response to direct enquiries, follow-up sequences, review requests and database reactivation. We design the flow together so the two don't step on each other.
Do I need a marketplace or my own system?
Early on, a marketplace can fill chairs while nobody knows your name. As you establish, more enquiries come to you directly, and the value shifts to owning that journey: capturing every call, following up every lead and reactivating your own database. Most established businesses get more from owning the system than renting the traffic.
Book a leak check
Not a demo, and not a pitch. We'll look at where your enquiries come from, how much of your book really depends on the marketplace, where follow-up falls over, and whether revenu actually makes sense. If Fresha is doing its job, I'll tell you that too.
Book a leak check with AdamNot ready? Check your score (2 min)two minutes, no email requiredWant the thinking behind what should stay human? Read the Human Premium framework: what Australian service businesses should never automate.
Published 8 July 2026 · Last updated 8 July 2026 · Competitor pricing checked July 2026
Adam