"Free" can mean a limited plan, a trial or a single tool, and the difference matters when your clients and money run through it. Here is what each kind covers, what to check, and what you can use today without paying or signing up.
Salonipy is not free forever. The full app is free to try for 7 days with no card, and after that it is a yearly plan, USD 70 for Basic or USD 100 for Pro, for the whole salon with no per-staff fee. What is free for good is the set of salon tools below, which work in your browser with no sign-up.
Billing, appointments, staff commission, stock and WhatsApp reminders. No card needed.
| Type | What you get | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | A permanent plan with limits. For example, Salonist's free listing plan allows 50 appointments a month with online booking, a calendar and staff shifts (checked on its pricing page, 31 Oct 2026). | Caps on appointments or features, and paid steps to reach billing, commission, stock or messaging. |
| Free trial | The full product for a limited time. Salonipy gives 7 days with no card; Vagaro lists 30 days. | What happens when it ends, and whether you can export your data. |
| Free tools | Single-purpose tools such as an invoice maker or a printable appointment book. | They do one job well but do not remember clients or add up the day. |
Even "free" plans can have costs elsewhere. Fresha, for instance, lists a small number of free automated texts or WhatsApp messages each month and then charges per message, and a fee on new clients that arrive through its marketplace. None of this is wrong, but it is worth reading the pricing page for it before you rely on the plan. See our comparison of Salonipy, Salonist, Fresha and Vagaro for more.
These run in your browser, need no sign-up and cost nothing:
Read how it works in the billing and appointments pages, or see the pricing.
Yes, in three forms: free plans with limits, free trials of the full product, and free single-purpose tools. Salonipy offers a 7-day free trial with no card needed, plus free tools such as an invoice maker, appointment book, bill book and calculators that need no sign-up.
The full Salonipy app is free for 7 days with no card, after which it is a yearly plan with no per-staff fee. The free salon tools on this site, such as the invoice maker and the appointment book, are free to use with no sign-up.
Usually a limit or a cost elsewhere: a cap on appointments per month, charges for text or WhatsApp messages, a fee on new clients from a marketplace, or features you need locked behind a paid plan. Check the pricing page for limits and message costs before you put your salon on it.
A single chair with a few regular clients often can. Once you have several stylists, need commission, stock, reminders and a day close, free tools tend to run out and the time you spend working around them costs more than a paid plan.
That depends on the product. Before you commit, check whether you can export your client list and sales, and what happens to your data if you leave or the free plan changes.