Fees, compared

Where your money goes before it reaches you.

Booking apps take a cut of new clients. Shop builders take a cut of every order. Here's what the big names charge, worked out on real numbers, next to a site of your own taking payments straight through Stripe.

Coyote Concept · coyoteconcept.com/fees · published fees checked 15 October 2026

Salons & bookings

Yearly cost, including VAT where the provider charges it

Platform	Subscription	New clients	Card fees	Source
Treatwell	Not published · listed from £9.99 a month (salons report £30–£50)	35% + VAT of a new client's first booking	2.5% + VAT on online prepayments	Pricing page
Booksy	£40 a month + £5 per extra team member, plus VAT	30% + VAT of a Boost client's first visit (min £5)	1.29% + 20p + VAT	Pricing page
Fresha	£14.95 a month solo, or £9.95 per team member, plus VAT	20% + VAT of a new client's first booking (min £4)	1.40% + 25p online, plus VAT	Pricing page
Square Appointments	Free for one location, any number of staff; Plus (£29 + VAT a month) adds cancellation fees and waitlists	None (no marketplace)	1.4% + 25p online	Pricing page
Your own site	£800 build, then £20 a month hosting (VAT included)	None	1.5% + 20p (Stripe)	Stripe

Online shops

Yearly cost, including VAT where the provider charges it

Four kinds of shop

Yearly cost of each, including VAT · your own shop shown from year two, year one in brackets

Platform	Subscription	Per order	Card fees	Source
Etsy	None	6.5% transaction + 0.48% regulatory fee + about 15p listing fee per sale; up to 15% more on sales from Offsite Ads	4% + 20p, plus VAT	Pricing page
Shopify Basic	£19 a month paid yearly (£25 monthly)	None with Shopify Payments (2% with any other provider)	2% + 25p	Pricing page
Squarespace Core	£17 a month paid yearly (£24 monthly)	None on Core (2% on Basic)	2.0% + 25p	Pricing page
Wix Core	£16 a month paid yearly	None	2.1% + 20p	Pricing page
Your own shop	£800 build, then £20 a month hosting (VAT included)	None	1.5% + 20p (Stripe)	Stripe

The honest bit

What the numbers don't show.

Marketplaces do find clients

Treatwell, Fresha and Booksy put you in front of people browsing their apps. The commission is what each new client costs. A site of your own that ranks on Google and shows up in AI search brings new clients for nothing more than the card fee.

Keep the listing if you like

You don't have to leave. Many salons keep a marketplace profile for discovery and send everyone else, including all their regulars and Instagram followers, to their own booking page.

Shop builders are fair, until you grow

Against Shopify, Squarespace and Wix the saving is per order, so it's small for a small shop and grows with every sale. Against Etsy it's large from day one: about 14.6% of a £30 order goes in fees, before Offsite Ads take up to 15% of any sale they bring. Either way, the site and the customer list are yours.

Book a free consultation

Want the numbers for your business?

Try the calculator at coyoteconcept.com/fees, or book a free consultation at coyoteconcept.com/book. Email hello@coyoteconcept.com.

Websites from £300, booking and shop sites from £800, all prices including VAT.

Fees are from each provider's UK pricing page, checked 15 October 2026, and are shown before VAT unless stated; we add 20% VAT wherever the provider charges it: subscriptions, commissions and platform fees, and the card fees of Fresha, Treatwell, Booksy and Etsy. Card fees from Stripe, Square, Shopify, Squarespace and Wix carry no VAT. Treatwell doesn't publish its subscription, so we use the lowest listed price (£9.99 a month on Capterra; salons report £30–£50). Etsy's figures include its 0.48% UK regulatory operating fee and the VAT a seller who isn't VAT-registered pays on every Etsy fee, but not Offsite Ads. Card fees use each provider's standard UK online rate; premium and international cards cost more everywhere (on Stripe, 2.8% + 20p for premium UK cards and 3.15% + 20p for international). Our prices already include VAT: the build is a one-off £800 Full Moon package plus £30 set-up, and Pack Care is £20 a month including hosting, domain and email. Prices change, so check the providers' pages before deciding.