Your own salon website vs Fresha, Booksy and Wix
Four ways to take bookings online, compared on the things that matter after the first month.
Most salons choose between a marketplace app, a website builder and a website built for them, and the brochures of each describe a different sport. This page puts them side by side on the questions owners ask us: who the customer belongs to, what you pay and when, what it looks like, and how long until it works. Where a platform is the better choice, it says so.
Your own website · Fresha · Booksy · Wix + Wix Bookings
| Your own website | Fresha | Booksy | Wix + Wix Bookings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A website with the booking system inside it, on your own domain, built to your salon by alien-dev. | A booking platform and marketplace. Your salon gets a profile on Fresha and a booking widget for a website you already have. | A booking app and marketplace on a subscription. Your salon gets a profile in the Booksy app and a widget. | A general website builder; bookings come from the Wix Bookings add-on. |
| Who the customer relationship belongs to | Your salon. Bookings and customer details live in your own system. | Shared with the marketplace, where your clients also see other salons. | Shared with the marketplace, as with Fresha. | Your salon, on your own site. |
| How it is paid for | A written quote for the build and any agreed ongoing work. No fee per booking and no fee per new client. | No subscription. Fees on card payments, and a fee for new clients who find you through the marketplace. | A monthly subscription per account; optional paid promotion brings new clients from the marketplace for a share of their first visit. | A monthly site subscription; booking features sit on the higher plans. |
| Your domain and your look | Entirely yours: domain, design, photographs and wording. | A profile on fresha.com in Fresha's layout; your own site only through the widget. | A profile on booksy.com in Booksy's layout; your own site only through the widget. | Your own domain on paid plans; a template look, adjusted by you. |
| New clients from a marketplace | No. Your site is found through search, maps and your own channels. | Yes, that is the main reason to be there. | Yes, and the paid promotion is built around it. | No. |
| Languages | Six today, each with its own web addresses, on the website and in the staff area. | The app's interface languages; your profile text is written once. | The app's interface languages; your profile text is written once. | Possible, with extra setup per language. |
| Staff tools | Day and week schedule, statuses, booking rules, opening hours, closed days, roles for admin, manager and staff. | Full salon software: calendar, point of sale, marketing, reports. | Calendar, payments, marketing and reminders in the app. | Calendar and staff management through Wix Bookings. |
| Time until it takes bookings | Usually weeks: your content, your look and your rules on a system that already runs. | The same day. | The same day. | Days to weeks, depending on how much you build yourself. |
| Best for | Salons that want their own website and their own customer list, and that are known by name. | Salons that want new-client discovery and all-in-one software with no upfront cost. | Salons that want an app their clients already use and are willing to pay for promotion. | Salons that want to build and maintain the site themselves. |
Checked on 29 October 2026 against the providers' own pages. Their terms change; confirm current prices on their sites before deciding.
When a platform is the better choice
If your chairs are not full yet and you rely on walk-ins and strangers, a marketplace puts you in front of people who are searching for any salon nearby today. Fresha and Booksy also bundle payments, reminders and reports from day one, with nothing to build. If that is what you need this year, start there; a website of your own can come later, and can run alongside a marketplace listing.
When your own website is
If your clients already know your name, every booking that goes through a marketplace is a customer you already had, paying a third party to reach you — and nudged towards your competitors while they are there. A site of your own keeps the relationship, the data and the brand where they belong, in the languages your customers actually speak, with a staff schedule that is yours. The trade is an upfront build instead of a monthly fee, which is why we quote each salon separately.
What it costs
There is no fixed price for a salon website from alien-dev, because the scope decides it: the number of treatments and staff, the languages, the look and any extras. You describe your salon, we send a written quote, and you know the price before anything is built. The live demo shows exactly what you would be buying.
Common questions
- Can I keep my Fresha or Booksy listing and still have my own website?
- Yes. Many salons keep a marketplace listing for new-client discovery while regular clients book on the salon's own site. Appointments made in the two places have to be kept in one calendar, which is part of the setup conversation.
- Is a website builder like Wix enough for a salon?
- Often, if someone in the salon is willing to build and maintain it and the booking needs are simple. The Wix Bookings add-on handles a basic calendar. A site built for the salon starts to pay off when treatments combine, when staff need roles and rules, or when customers speak more than one language.
- Where can I try the booking system before deciding?
- At salon-app-demo.online, a public copy with fictional data: book an appointment as a customer, then sign in to the staff side with the demo accounts shown there. Every browser gets its own sandbox that resets after 24 hours.