Shopolo vs Booksy

Booksy alternative — own your client relationships, not just their bookings

Booksy offers marketplace discovery for salons but keeps client data within its ecosystem and requires Boost spending for visibility. Shopolo gives you appointment booking you own directly — plus gift cards, loyalty stamps, and email campaigns included from $29/month.

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Feature	Shopolo	Booksy
Monthly fee	From $29/mo	$29.99–$59.99/mo depending on staff count
Marketplace exposure	None — your own branded link	Listed on Booksy marketplace — local discovery
Marketplace commission	$0	Boost fees to appear higher in Booksy search
Service catalog	Services with prices, durations, staff assignment	Full service menu with photos and descriptions
Staff scheduling	Per-staff availability	Full team calendar management
Customer reviews	Not included	Booksy review system (publicly displayed)
Digital gift cards	Included	Not natively available
Loyalty program	Included	Not natively available
Email campaigns	Included — customer list auto-builds	Basic client messaging; limited campaign tools
Online ordering	0% commission	Not available
Customer data	Full access — name, email, history	Booksy retains client data within their platform

Booksy pricing and Boost fees based on publicly available information. Subject to change.

Marketplace discovery vs direct client ownership — the core trade-off

Booksy's marketplace helps discovery — but your clients are in Booksy's ecosystem, not yours.

Booksy lists your salon on their consumer app, which is genuinely useful for being found by new clients. The trade-off: those clients belong to the Booksy platform. Booksy can recommend competitors in the same search results, and if you ever leave Booksy, you lose the review history and client contacts built inside their system. Shopolo gives you full ownership of every client relationship from day one.

Booksy has no gift cards or loyalty. Shopolo includes both.

Booksy is focused on the appointment flow and marketplace. There's no built-in way to sell gift cards or run a loyalty program for repeat clients. For salons where gift cards represent a significant revenue stream around holidays, and where a 'visit 10 times, get one free' stamp card is a simple client retention tool, the gap matters. Shopolo includes both alongside every booking.

Booksy requires Boost spending for visibility. Shopolo has no upsell.

To appear higher in Booksy's marketplace search, salons pay for Booksy Boost — an additional marketing spend on top of the monthly fee. If you don't pay Boost, you compete for organic placement against salons that do. Shopolo has no marketplace and no upsell — every feature is included in the flat monthly price.

When Booksy is the right choice

Booksy is a good fit if you're a newer salon or stylist who genuinely needs marketplace discovery to build your client base — the Booksy app puts you in front of people searching for salons locally. Once your calendar is full from regular clients, the marketplace value decreases significantly relative to its cost. For established salons with loyal clients who book via Instagram, Google, or word of mouth, Shopolo's direct model and included loyalty features are the better investment.

Other comparisons

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