Which booking software for a small hair salon?
An honest comparison for salons with 1 to 5 chairs in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. Prices checked in July 2026.
First, so you know who is talking: I am a developer and my wife runs a small hair salon in Belgium. Five years ago I built her booking system, and that system is now Calizr. So yes, one of the options below is mine. I will tell you where it is the wrong choice too.
What changed for her is simple. She is not on the phone all day anymore, people who find her on Google book a spot right away, and her agenda is full three months ahead. That is the bar any software should clear. Everything else is detail.
What actually matters with 1 to 5 chairs
- Clients book themselves, also in the evening and on Sunday, straight from your Google listing or your own page. That is where new clients come from.
- An automatic reminder before the appointment. This alone is what ends most no-shows.
- An agenda that is easy on a phone, for you and for whoever works with you.
- The rest is nice to have. Stock management, loyalty points, gift cards, marketing campaigns: if you do not use them today, you will pay for them every month without noticing.
The three hidden costs
The monthly price on the website is rarely what you pay. Check these three things before you sign.
- Price per staff member. Some tools charge per person who can be booked. A salon with three chairs pays three times the advertised price.
- Commission on new clients. Marketplace apps take 20 to 35 percent of the first appointment of every client they send you. They also show your competitors next to you on the same page.
- A booking fee for your clients. Some tools are cheap for the salon because your client pays one to three euro every time they book online.
- And the setup fee. One well known option in Belgium charges 499 euro before you have taken a single booking.
The options, honestly
These are the tools you will run into in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. List prices from the vendors' own websites, checked July 2026, excluding VAT where that applies.
| Software | Monthly price | Setup fee | Commission | Languages | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salonkee | from €49 per user | €499 (€299 Febelhair) | marketplace bookings | NL, FR, EN | Salons that want cash register, stock and a marketplace in one system and do not mind the installation cost. |
| Optios | €29 to €109 depending on plan | on request | none | NL, FR, EN, DE | Bigger salons with stock, a certified cash register or several locations. Belgian company. |
| Treatwell Connect | about €29 | €0 | 35% on a new client's first booking | NL, FR, EN | Salons that want new clients from a marketplace and accept paying for each one. |
| Fresha | €14.95 solo, €9.95 per team member | €0 | about 20% on clients from the marketplace | EN | International chains and salons that want an English-first all-in-one with marketplace. |
| Salonized | €21, €39 or €59, plus €7.50 per extra staff member | €0 | 35% via the Treatwell link | NL, EN | Dutch salons that want the Treatwell connection built in. |
| Avana | €15.99 flat | €0 | none, but your client pays €1.49 to €2.99 per online booking | NL | Solo hairdressers in the Netherlands who want a fixed price and do not mind a booking fee for clients. |
| Calizr | €10 solo, €25 up to 5 team members | €0 | none, and no fee for your clients | NL, FR, EN, DE | Salons with 1 to 5 chairs in Belgium that want online booking, reminders and an agenda that plans the team for them, at a fixed price, in Dutch, French, English and German. You set it up yourself in about 25 minutes. |
Language support as shown on the vendors' sites; check your own language before deciding. Prices change, always verify on the vendor's site.
What Calizr does differently
You set it up yourself, and it takes about 25 minutes. You describe your salon in a few sentences and Calizr suggests your services with their durations, your languages, and the text for your booking page. You correct what is off and you are live. No installation visit, no 499 euro, no form marathon.
Want to see what that looks like? This is the booking site of Studio25, my wife's salon, exactly as her clients see it. She changes the text and the photo herself.
With a team, the agenda does the planning work. When a client books a treatment with several steps, say colour and cut, the planner gives each step to someone who can do it and places it where it closes a gap instead of opening one. It can swap steps between team members when that keeps the day tighter. Fewer empty half hours, and nobody has to juggle it by hand.
When Calizr is not the right choice
If you sell products and need stock management, if you need a certified cash register, or if you want deposits and SMS reminders today, look at Optios or Salonkee. If you run a chain with several locations, the standard plans are not built for that, but we do build tailor-made solutions for salon chains, so get in touch. Calizr does online booking, email reminders, customers, a team agenda that optimizes the planning, simple billing, and you configure it yourself with its guided setup. It does those well. It does not try to be everything.
How to decide in ten minutes
Four questions. Write down the answers and the choice is usually made.
- How many people can be booked? One, or several? That decides whether per staff pricing hurts you.
- Do you want new clients from a marketplace, and are you fine paying 20 to 35 percent of their first visit for it?
- Which languages do your clients speak? In Belgium that is often two. Make sure the booking page and the emails handle both.
- What do you actually use? If the answer is agenda, booking and reminders, do not pay for stock management.
Why I built it
My wife was answering the phone between two clients, every day. I built her a booking page so people could book themselves, and a reminder email so they would show up. That was five years ago. Today other salons use the same system. Ten euro a month, no limit on bookings, no commission, and it is built in Belgium. If you have a question about your salon, write to us, we answer ourselves.