What does a booking system cost for your studio? Pricing models explained

There is no simple answer to the question of what a booking system costs. Two providers can show almost the same number on their pricing page. And at the end of the year, a completely different amount has left your account.

The difference is rarely in the price itself. It is in what you are paying for. Every booking, every staff member, or simply the month.

Below are the four common pricing models, a worked example with real numbers, and a short list of questions to ask before you sign anything.

Model 1: Commission per booking

You pay nothing upfront. Instead the provider keeps a share of every booking. Either a percentage of the class price or a fixed amount per spot.

Who it suits: Studios that are just starting out and have no idea yet how many bookings a month will bring. At the beginning you pay almost nothing.

Where it gets uncomfortable: Your costs grow at exactly the same speed as your studio. Every extra class, every full session raises the bill. And the commission also applies to the regulars who have shown up every Tuesday for three years. The platform did nothing for those bookings. You pay anyway.

A second point often gets overlooked. With some providers the commission is tied to a marketplace. Your classes then appear in a list next to other studios in your town.

Model 2: Price per user

Here you pay for every person with access to the system. Usually that means your teachers.

Who it suits: Businesses with a small, stable team that rarely changes.

Where it gets uncomfortable: Many studios work with a pool of freelance teachers. One person teaches two classes a month, another only covers for illness. If every one of those accounts costs money, you start thinking about the price instead of the timetable when you build your team. That is the wrong order.

Check carefully whether inactive accounts still count. And what happens when someone comes back after the summer break.

Model 3: Flat monthly rate with tiers

You pay the same amount every month. The tiers usually differ by limits: Number of bookings, number of locations, number of staff, available features.

Who it suits: Anyone who wants to plan. The amount is fixed, no matter how busy January turns out to be.

What to watch: Look at what triggers the jump to the next tier. A booking limit is predictable. So is a feature limit for something you will only need in a year. It only gets uncomfortable if you find out about the limit at the moment you hit it.

Model 4: A free entry tier

Almost every provider now has a free plan. It is rarely a marketing trick. It is simply a trial without a countdown.

What matters is where the limit sits. Sensible limits are bookings per month, number of services or number of staff. You can test the system properly and eventually outgrow it.

Some free plans finance themselves through a commission per booking. That is a legitimate model as long as it is stated openly. You are not paying upfront with money, you are paying with a

Less sensible is a free plan that leaves out the core function. A free tier without online payment does not answer the question of whether your clients would book and pay online. And that is the whole point. There is a separate article on what else to look for when choosing a system.

The worked example

Let us run the numbers. They are made up, but realistic for a small studio.

Studio A has 200 bookings a month. A class costs 15 euros. That is 3,000 euros of revenue a month and 36,000 a year.

Here is one year in each of the four models:

1. Five percent commission: 150 euros a month, 1,800 a year
2. Flat one euro per booking: 200 euros a month, 2,400 a year
3. Price per user, three staff at 20 euros each: 60 euros a month, 720 a year
4. Flat rate on a mid tier: 33 euros a month, 396 a year

The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive option is 2,000 euros a year. For the same service.

Now the studio has been running another year. Classes are fuller, 400 bookings a month. Revenue is 6,000 euros a month.

1. Five percent commission: 3,600 euros a year
2. One euro per booking: 4,800 euros a year
3. Price per user, now five staff: 1,200 euros a year
4. Flat rate, same tier: 396 euros a year

Revenue doubled. In the first three models the cost grew with it. With the flat rate it did not.

That is the real point. A commission model is cheap while things are quiet. It gets expensive as soon as things work. Which is exactly when you were planning to start making money.

What is often not in the price

The number on the pricing page is rarely the total. These items are frequently added:

1. Payment provider fees. When your clients pay online, the payment processor takes a share. That applies to every booking system and has nothing to do with the plan. Include it in your calculation anyway.
2. Email limits. Reminders, confirmations, waiting list notifications. Some providers cap the volume or bill it separately.
3. A second location. An extra site is a reason to move up a tier with almost every provider. If a second location is realistic for you, look at those prices now.
4. Extra staff. Even flat rate plans usually come with a ceiling.
5. Contract length. Monthly cancellation or a twelve month commitment. Annual payment is almost always cheaper. It is also a bet that you will still be using the same system in a year.
6. Setup and data migration. If your client list lives in a spreadsheet today, it has to get into the new system somehow. Ask whether that is included. We have written elsewhere about how you notice that the spreadsheet no longer holds up.

How to work it out for your studio

Four steps, and you can compare any two offers.

1. Count your bookings. Count them, do not estimate. Take a normal month, not January and not August.
2. Project a year ahead. Where do you want to be in twelve months? Use that number, not today's.
3. Add everything up. Base price plus commission plus payment fees plus surcharges for staff or locations.
4. Divide the result by your bookings for the year. Now you have your cost per booking.

Back to the example with 400 bookings a month, so 4,800 a year. At five percent commission a booking costs you 75 cents. On the flat rate it is eight cents.

That single number makes offers comparable even when their pricing pages look nothing alike. It also helps with the question of how you set your own prices.

Five questions for the provider

Before you sign:

1. Is there a commission per booking? If so, does it apply to regulars who book directly through my page?
2. What exactly are the limits on my plan, and what happens when I reach one?
3. What does a second location cost?
4. How long am I tied in, and how do I cancel?
5. Can I export all my client data at any time?

The last question is the most important one. It decides whether you still have a real choice two years from now.

How Slotlify charges

So you know where we stand ourselves.

Slotlify's paid plans have no commission per booking. Whether you have a hundred bookings a month or a thousand, the plan price stays the same.

The Free plan works differently. It costs nothing per month, but a commission applies per booking. You will find the exact rate on the pricing page. That way you can start without paying anything upfront. Once bookings come in regularly, a flat rate usually works out better.

Four tiers, billed annually:

1. Free at 0 euros a month, with a commission per booking. 300 bookings a month, one location, one staff member, five services, unlimited events and online payments.
2. Light at 33 euros a month. 600 bookings, three staff, 12 services, on-site payment and coupons.
3. Standard at 59 euros a month. 1,200 bookings, two locations, eight staff, 30 services, plus waiting list, AI descriptions and credit cards.
4. Professional at 110 euros a month. Unlimited bookings, five locations, 20 staff, 80 services and the competitor analysis.

With monthly billing the prices are roughly 15 percent higher. You can switch tiers at any time.

One more thing for the sake of fairness: Online payment fees go to Stripe and are not part of the plan price. That applies to every tier.

Conclusion

Do not compare monthly prices. Compare what a year costs if your studio runs the way you want it to.

A commission model feels good on day one. A flat rate feels good in year three. Which of the two matters to you depends on how far ahead you are planning.

Sit down and run the numbers once. Twenty minutes and a sheet of paper. For most studios the result is surprisingly clear.

You will find all plans in detail on our pricing page. The Free plan starts without a credit card.