How Much Does it Cost to Build a Salon Booking App like Fresha?

• Ankit Patel
• April 04, 2025
• 9 min read

We all have witnessed the buzz in the world of beauty & wellness, and it’s booming every day thanks to the fast-paced and stressful lifestyle.

In an era where time is the most precious luxury, the convenience of placing appointments with a few clicks has revolutionized the personal care experience.

Besides, the beauty & salon business has witnessed a seismic shift in customer engagement & appointment management, all thanks to online salon booking apps.

Now, customers can easily schedule, modify, and manage their appointments within minutes from home, avoiding the frustration of calls & hassle of going to the salon.

The unparalleled comfort and convenience these apps offer to clients and salon owners have given rise to the salon appointment booking app development.

And the surge is not a feeling thing; it reflects the fundamental shift in consumer behaviour.

The global salon services market was valued at $247.02 billion in 2024. It is projected to grow from $264.93 billion in 2025 to $447.76 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 7.79% during the forecast period.

The beauty and personal care products industry worldwide is expected to reach a projected revenue of $1874.3 million by 2030.

One of the most notable and inspiring success stories in the salon appointment booking industry is that of Fresha.

Famous for its intuitive design, smart features, and outstanding user experience, Fresha takes the beauty services app market to the next level.

Its success has not only transformed the beauty salon industry but also redefined the user experience, making it a benchmark for aspiring businesses trying to dip their toes in the market.

⦿ What is Fresha App and Why is it Popular?

Fresha is a revolutionary salon booking app that has carved out a unique place in the market by offering a comprehensive yet user-friendly platform for both businesses and customers.

But what makes the journey of the Fresha app so compelling and inspiring?

And how to develop a salon booking app like Fresha?

Well, first of all, we can say that Fresha has evolved beyond just an online appointment booking platform—it is now a complete business management solution.

⦿ Fresha’s Growth and the Success Mindset Behind It: A Detailed Case Study

• Core User and Business Experience:

• Fresha offers a robust online booking system, allowing users to easily schedule, modify & cancel appointments anytime, any day.
• The app integrates seamless payment processing while eliminating the need for separate POS systems and streamlining the operations for businesses.
• With a suite of powerful marketing tools, email & SMS campaigns, promos & loyalty programs, Fresha helps businesses enrich their clientele.

• Intuitive Interface Experience

• Fresha offers intuitive UX, which makes app navigation easy, offering a flawless experience to the guests and salon owners.
• While guests enjoy the ease of booking appointments and managing their schedules, businesses benefit from streamlined daily operations, thanks to the well-organized dashboard.

• Freemium Model

• The freemium model has been the shining star, bringing popularity to Fresha.
• These important business tools offer small businesses the occasion to dissect the request & make a mark in the competitor territory while the big sharks are thriving.

• Market Impact of Fresha

• Fresha has revolutionized the traditional salon appointment booking experience and has resulted in 1 billion+ appointments so far.
• Fresha offers a potential option to expensive and subscription-based platforms, due to which it has successfully partnered with 120,000 businesses and 450,000 hairstylists and professionals till now.
• Fresha’s freemium model doesn’t require any monthly charges. Rather, it generates profit through commission from new client bookings, making it more affordable.
• With a global presence in over 120 countries and rapid growth, Fresha demonstrates its ability to meet the diverse needs of the beauty and wellness sector.
• Moreover, Fresha was ranked 59th in the top 100 marketplace platform in 2023, highlighting its rising prominence in the industry.

⦿ How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Salon Booking App Like Fresha?

The cost of developing a salon appointment booking app varies based on several factors, including app complexity, UI/UX design, platform choice(Android, iOS, or both), development team, and project management requirements.

However, to give you a rough estimate, the cost to build an app like Fresha can range from $15,000 to $50,000 or more, depending on the features, third-party API integrations, and overall development approach.

Let’s understand this in detail:

I. App Interface & Design

To build a salon booking app like Fresha, you need to consider top-notch design elements and intuitive design to enhance the user experience.

However, the more complex the design, the higher the development cost.

A well-structured, user-friendly design ensures easy navigation and seamless operation, making the app more customer-friendly.

So, while aiming for Fresha’s level of intuitiveness and quality, it’s crucial to balance features and budget to optimize development costs effectively.

II. Platform Choice

Selecting the right platform for your app is a critical decision. Choosing between native development (iOS or Android), cross-platform solutions, or multiple platforms will significantly impact the budget.

Native development typically incurs higher costs due to separate codebases, while cross-platform solutions can reduce development and maintenance expenses.

To make an informed decision, it’s essential to analyze your target audience, budget, and long-term business strategy.

III. Essentail Features

The inclusion of both basic and advanced features in your app will significantly impact the overall development cost.

The more feature-rich and complex the app becomes, the higher the development cost.

It is crucial to strike a balance between must-have features to build an app like Fresha while keeping the budget in mind, ensuring a powerful yet cost-effective solution as per your needs.

Customer App Features

1. Register and Login

A secure registration and login process ensures user authentication, data protection, a personalized experience, and access to appointment history and preferences.

2. Online Booking and Cancellations

It allows guests to view hairstylists’ available time slots, book appointments, and cancel or register them directly through the app, which is accessible 24/7.

3. Online & Cash Payment Options

Provides guests with secure online payment methods (credit/debit cards, digital wallets, UPI) while also offering cash payment options to enhance convenience and security.

4. Service Catalogue

A comprehensive salon roster offers service options, easy service discovery for users & promotes informed decision-making, and enhances service bookings.

5. User Profiles

This feature offers individual customer information, history, and preferences. Therefore, the business can produce individualized service recommendations and appointment operations and, hence, improve customer connections.

6. Customized Service Configuration

With this option, salons can offer highly individualized services, customized packages, and unique service add-ons in order to produce a tailored customer experience.

7. Makeup Tryon Integration

With the help of AR, this feature allows guests to try on the makeup or hairstyles.

The guests can also upload their photos to get an idea about the looks after product or service use.

Also, e-commerce integration with these features can allow users to directly buy the tried products.

8. eWallet Integration

This service allows guests to make online payments for services and products, earn rewards, and store money within the app, enhancing convenience and security.

9. Reviews and Ratings

Allow users to leave reviews and ratings for salons and individual service providers, enhancing transparency and strengthening client relationships.

Salon Side Features

1. Appointment Management and Staff Scheduling

This feature provides tools for efficient operations, including:

• Managing client appointments and scheduling
• Assigning staff based on their availability
• Handling time-off requests

It helps optimize staff utilization, reduce scheduling conflicts, and improve workflow and time management.

2. Stylist’s Profile Management

This feature helps the business to manage the staff profiles & availability, thus improving centralized staff information, communication, and streamlined staff management.

3. Revenue Management

Revenue management tools help businesses track and manage financial transactions, including client payments, salaries, deductions, inventory procurement, and profits.

These tools provide valuable financial insights and assist in developing optimized business strategies.

4. Appointment Status updates

This feature offers real-time updates on the status of the appointment to improve appointment tracking, better client-staff communication & proper appointment operations.

5. Service Management

This allows businesses to efficiently manage their services, including details, pricing, and durations. This promotes better service information for clients, easy service updates & pricing strategies for the salon.

6. Customer Communication Tools

This feature offers direct communication with the customer regarding query management, assistance, appointment status updates, and reminders.

It allows better client communication, query solutions & better feedback channels.

7. Campaign Management

It allows salons or businesses to make marketing campaign strategies, promos, sales, discounts, seasonal offers & loyalty programs.

This feature helps businesses with improved customer management, targeted marketing & campaign ROI.

8. Inventory Management

Inventory Management tools offer inventory status tracking, stock management & purchase order generation when needed. This promotes reduced stock outs, optimized stock management & reduced product waste.

9. Payment Management

This feature encompasses secure payment operations within the app. It includes secure payment through all online gateways, refund management, transaction history & developing financial reports.

10. POS Integration

Point-of-sale (POS) integration allows seamless data synchronization, inventory management & transaction recording. This feature provides centralized data management, streamlined operations in the salon/salons, and better physical to online data management.

11. Customer Database Management

This feature stores, organizes, and manages customer data within the app.

It provides businesses with access to each customer’s information, appointment history, preferences, and inquiries.

This allows businesses to offer personalized services, implement targeted marketing, gain valuable data insights, and improve customer relationships.

Admin Panel Features

1. Powerful Dashboard

An intuitive and visually appealing dashboard provides high-quality KPIs and real-time insights on bookings, earnings, and client engagement. It includes customizable widgets and intuitive elements like charts and graphs for comprehensive data reporting.

2. Client and Staff Data Management

This feature allows businesses to view and manage customer and salon information. It enhances user and staff operations, improves data analysis, and enables personalized customer service.

3. Stylist Management

This tool enables the admin panel to manage stylist profiles, schedules, and performance metrics. It helps optimize staff operations, improve scheduling, and facilitate performance analysis.

4. User Profile Management

This feature allows the admin to manage client accounts, including activation, deactivation, password resets, and account recovery. It provides better control over user permissions, data security, and overall business safety.

5. Manage Salon Profile

This feature helps manage salon profiles, including biographies, contact details, locations, and services. It enhances business visibility, improves searchability, and improves the overall client experience.

6. Everyday Bookings Management

Provides a real-time, comprehensive view of daily transactions and bookings, allowing admin to oversee scheduling and resource allocation efficiently.

7. Services Management

This enables the admin to add, edit, and delete service listings, ensuring accurate and up-to-date service information. Additionally, it helps manage service orders, pricing, and descriptions while facilitating the creation of promotional packages and discounts for loyal customers.

8. Service Appointment Handling

Allows admin to process and manage service requests from users, enhancing service efficiency, streamlining request operations, and improving client satisfaction.

9. Manage Payment

This feature allows the admin to view and manage payment transactions, including online and cash payments. The admin can approve refunds, resolve payment disputes, and generate sales reports.

10. Analytics Report

This feature generates reports on business profits and earnings from bookings, commissions, and other revenue streams. It helps businesses make informed decisions on profit strategies, such as optimizing pricing structures, commission rates, and subscription plans.

11. Client Support & Communication

This feature provides a centralized platform for client communication, offering 24/7 support and handling inquiries. It also enables ticket assignment to support staff, tracks issue statuses, and ensures efficient resolution.

IV. Choosing the Right Development Partner

Selecting the right development team is crucial for building a high-quality salon booking app and ensuring a successful launch.

A highly skilled team can deliver superior results, but it also significantly impacts the overall development cost.

Key factors such as team size, expertise, and the location of an app development company play a major role in determining the budget.

Striking the right balance between budget and team selection is essential to developing a feature-rich, cost-effective solution.

V. Technology Stack

• For Android – Kotlin or Java
• For iOS – Swift
• For Frontend – React, Java, Angular, CSS, HTML
• For Backend – Node.JS, Express.JS, Python
• Payment Gateway – PayPal, Stripe, Braintree, EWallets
• For Server – AWS
• API Integration – GraphQL or RESTful API
• Push Notifications and in-app messaging – Twilio, Push.io
• For Database – MongoDB, HBase, Postgres
• Appointment Scheduling – Calendar API
• Security – SSL Encryption, OAuth 2.0
• Analytics – Google Analytics, Amazon EMR, Mixpanel
• Real Time Communication – WebSockets, Firebase Cloud Messaging

VI. App Maintenance & Security

After developing the app, post-launch maintenance, security, and regular updates are essential to ensure long-term performance and reliability.

App maintenance includes routine updates, bug fixes, feature enhancements, and performance optimizations to provide a seamless user experience.

Implementing robust security measures may increase development costs, but it is crucial for protecting both the app and user data, ensuring customer trust and privacy.

Additionally, ongoing maintenance and security efforts safeguard your platform, enhance user satisfaction, and foster long-term customer loyalty.

Since the cost of salon app development depends on the various factors mentioned above, here’s a brief breakdown of the estimated budget.

⦿ How to Make Money from a Salon Booking App?

A salon booking app can generate revenue through multiple streams, making it a profitable business model. Here are some of the most effective monetization strategies:

Commission-Based Model

A popular revenue model, this approach charges a percentage-based commission on every transaction made through the app. If you’re building a salon booking app like Fresha, this strategy is worth considering, as it’s their primary monetization method.

Advertisements

Generate revenue by allowing brands to run targeted promotional ads based on user preferences, location, and market trends. Additional income can come from pay-per-click models. However, ensuring ad relevance is crucial to maintaining a seamless user experience.

Subscriptions-Based Model

Offer paid subscription plans with extra benefits, such as priority booking, exclusive discounts, or premium features. This provides a steady monthly or yearly income while enhancing user experience.

Partnerships & Affiliated Marketing

Collaborate with beauty and skincare brands to offer direct sales through the app. This proven monetization method not only boosts revenue but also enhances user engagement by providing valuable product recommendations.

Summing up

The market is filled with various on-demand apps, but creating a successful salon booking app like Fresha requires the right balance of features, technology, and cost management.

Developing a high-quality, budget-friendly app demands expertise, experience, and the right strategic approach.

At Xongolab, we provide tailored solutions and effective monetization strategies to help you maximize excellent ROI.

Ready to transform your business with a powerful salon booking system?

Contact us today and take the first step toward success!

About: Ankit Patel

Ankit Patel is a Director of Sales & Marketing at XongoLab Technologies LLP and PeppyOcean, A leading mobile app development companies. In his free time, He likes to write articles about technology, marketing, business, web, and mobile. His articles featured on YourStory, E27, Datafloq, JaxEnter, TechTarget, eLearningAdobe, DesignWebKit, InstantShift, Business Magazine, SimpleProgrammer, and many more.

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