Comparison
An honest look at where Booksy is genuinely strong and where barbers pay more than they expect.
| Feature | PerfectBarber | Booksy |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly base price | $0 Free / ~$49 CAD Premium | US$29.99/mo (~CA$41) Prices as of July 2026 — check biz.booksy.com/pricing. |
| Per-staff fees | $0 — unlimited providers | +US$20/mo per extra staff 3-barber shop ≈ US$70/mo before add-ons. |
| New-client commission | $0 — ever | Boost: 30% of first visit Min US$10 / max US$100 per new client. Optional toggle, but on by default. |
| Own website or marketplace profile? | Your own booking page at perfectbarber.ca/yourname (or your own domain) | Marketplace profile in the Booksy app — clients belong to Booksy's ecosystem |
| Client list ownership | Yours — full export within 48h by contract | Stored in Booksy; export not contractually guaranteed |
| Canadian rails | CAD pricing, Interac e-transfer first-class, CASL + PIPEDA native | USD pricing; CASL compliance is the shop's responsibility |
Prices change — verify at biz.booksy.com/pricing before you decide.
The following are verbatim quotes from public review platforms, reported by users. They are their experiences, not ours.
"They add the booksy online appointment on my website and my existing clients were able to get an appointment through them and I was paying them 30% commission."
— Glenda S., Business Owner | SmartCustomer | April 2, 2024 — reported by users on SmartCustomer
"Booksy charged me a 30% marketing commission for a booking made on January 8th, despite the fact that I turned off their feature on January 4th."
— Service Provider, BBB complaint | January 18, 2026 — reported by users on BBB
"Booksy placed a lock on my account and froze my payouts without notifying me."
— Licensed Massage Therapist, BBB complaint | February 13, 2026 — reported by users on BBB
"Every time I have a problem with Booksy I am generated to a AI bot...There's never any interaction between person to person...there is zero data I had to go back through and hand count all of my clients."
— Carrie R., Florida | SmartCustomer | March 30, 2024 — reported by users on SmartCustomer
"These were my followers and my traffic."
— Chris Fleming, Trustpilot UK | 2 stars | April 6, 2026 — reported by users on Trustpilot. Context: charged 30% Boost commission on clients who came via his own site and social media.
$0 commission on any booking, ever. Not a toggle — it does not exist in our model. The 30% Boost charge that barbers describe happening on their own-traffic clients is structurally impossible here.
One flat price per shop, not per barber. A 5-chair shop pays the same as a solo booth renter. No math required to predict your bill.
You get a real booking page at your own URL — not a profile on someone else's app. When a client searches your name, they find you, not a Booksy directory entry.
We commit in writing (ADR-0010) to deliver a full export of your client data — names, phones, visit history, notes — within 48 hours of your request. No platform holds your relationships.
If you rely on Booksy's marketplace for new clients, leaving is a real risk. The Booksy app actively brings in people who would never have found you otherwise. If you are newly established, in a high-traffic neighbourhood, or your calendar still has meaningful empty slots you are filling through Booksy discovery — that traffic has real value and the 30% may be the right trade for you right now.
PerfectBarber works best for barbers whose book is already filled by regulars and referrals — people who want to stop paying commission on clients they already own, and want their own branded presence instead of a profile in someone else's app.
No commission. No per-staff fees. Set up in 2 minutes. See pricing