Booking-software pricing pages are notoriously misleading. Headline prices hide per-staff fees, per-booking commissions, payment processing cuts, and “Contact us for pricing” tiers. Here’s the real math at typical small-business volume.
Assumed scenario
A representative service business:
- 5 staff
- 200 bookings/month
- $80 average ticket
- 50% paid online (rest paid in person or via invoice)
Annual revenue: $96,000. We’re calculating what each platform’s software bill (including all fees) takes from that.
The honest numbers
| Platform | Subscription | Per-booking fee | Payment proc. | Annual cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zedule | $100 | $0 | BYO Stripe (~2.9%) | ~$100 + Stripe at your rate |
| Cal.com (Free) | $0 | $0 | None | $0 (limited) |
| Cal.com Teams | $900 (5 × $15/mo × 12) | $0 | None | $900 |
| Calendly Standard | $720 (5 × $12/mo) | $0 | Stripe at booking | $720 + Stripe |
| Acuity Growing | $408 ($34/mo) | $0 | Stripe at booking | $408 + Stripe |
| Setmore Pro | $480 (5 × $8/mo) | $0 | None | $480 |
| Square Apptm | $1,140 ($69/mo + 4 × $20/staff) | 0 | Square 2.6% + 10¢ | ~$1,140 + ~$3,000 = ~$4,140 |
| SimplyBook.me Std | $358 ($29.90/mo) | $0 | Stripe | $358 + Stripe |
| Setmore Free | $0 | $0 | None | $0 (limited features) |
| Fresha | $0 (subscription) | 2-3% per online booking | Stripe ~2.9% | ~$1,440 + Stripe = ~$4,200 |
| Booksy | $1,800 ($30/mo × 5) | Some | Stripe | $1,800+ |
| Vagaro Plus | $1,560 (~$130/mo) | $0 | Vagaro 2.75% | ~$1,560 + ~$3,300 = ~$4,860 |
| Mindbody Starter | $1,548 ($129/mo) | $0 | Mindbody 2.75% | ~$1,548 + ~$3,300 = ~$4,848 |
| Mindbody Acclt. | $2,868 ($239/mo) | $0 | Mindbody 2.75% | ~$2,868 + ~$3,300 = ~$6,168 |
| Jane App | $2,340 (5 × $39/staff/mo) | $0 | Jane 2.95% | ~$2,340 + ~$3,540 = ~$5,880 |
(Payment processing assumes 50% of bookings paid online at $80 average = $9,600/yr × 2.6-2.95% = $250-280/yr × 12 = ~$3,000-3,500.)
Reading this table
The headline subscription is rarely the full cost. Notice:
- Fresha appears free but processes payment at platform rates; net annual cost rivals Mindbody.
- Square Appointments has cheap subscription but the 2.6%+10¢ payment cut adds significantly.
- Mindbody is honest about being expensive; both subscription and processing rates are at the high end.
- Zedule is the only platform on this list with no per-booking fee and BYO payment processing — your Stripe rate is whatever Stripe gives you (typically 2.9% + 30¢, but volume discounts apply at scale).
What you actually save with Zedule
For our scenario business (5 staff, 200 bookings/mo, 50% paid online):
vs Mindbody Starter: ~$4,748/year saved vs Fresha: ~$4,100/year saved (and customer ownership) vs Booksy: ~$1,700/year saved vs Vagaro: ~$4,760/year saved vs Acuity Growing: ~$308/year saved vs Calendly Standard: ~$620/year saved
Calendly, Acuity, Cal.com are reasonable choices for small teams. The big savings vs Zedule come from comparing against the vertical platforms that bundle features many businesses don’t use.
Caveats
The table assumes a “small business” scenario. Larger or smaller operations will see different ratios. A 1-staff solo operator will find Calendly Free, Cal.com Free, or Setmore Free competitive with Zedule’s $100.
A 20-staff multi-location operation gets enterprise discounting from all platforms; this comparison applies to small-medium businesses.
Try Zedule
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