Fresha is the largest free-to-start booking platform in beauty and wellness, monetized primarily through marketplace commissions. Bronzly is a paid platform built only for spray tan, with no commissions and a tiered platform fee starting at 1.99% for new studios (plus Stripe processing passed through at cost). The right answer depends on whether you want a marketplace acquisition channel or a service-vertical operations platform.
Last verified: 2026-05-23 — pricing and features confirmed against published sources.
Choose Fresha if:
Choose Bronzly if:
| Feature | Fresha | Bronzly |
|---|---|---|
| Starting monthly subscription | $0 (free tier) | $19/mo (Solo) |
| Per-booking commission | Yes — on marketplace bookings | None |
| Transaction fee | Yes — payment processing fee | 1.99%–1.49% platform fee (plan-based) + Stripe pass-through |
| Entry plan | Free tier available | Solo paid plan |
| Spray-tan rinse reminders | No | Yes — solution-strength aware |
| Fitzpatrick skin-type tracking | No | Yes — structured field |
| Tan history per client | Generic appointment history only | Full solution + depth + photos log |
| Native iOS + Android client app | Yes — consumer marketplace app | Yes — branded per studio |
| AI receptionist | No | Studio plan and above |
| Loyalty / rewards program | Limited | Bronzly Gold — dual-currency native |
| Consumer discovery marketplace | Yes — primary acquisition channel | No — own booking flow only |
| Client relationship ownership | Shared with platform | Studio owns the client direct |
| CSV import from Fresha | Self-serve export | Yes — direct CSV import |
| Vertical focus | General beauty and wellness | Spray tan only |
Fresha's headline is the $0 subscription. The real cost arrives through marketplace commissions (per-booking percentage when a client discovers you via the Fresha consumer app) and payment processing fees on every transaction. For a studio that does not accept many marketplace-discovered clients, total cost can stay low. For a studio leaning on Fresha as a primary acquisition channel, total cost can exceed the cost of a flat-fee platform plus your own marketing spend.
Bronzly's Solo plan is $19/month with a 1.99% platform fee and no per-booking commissions. Stripe processing fees are passed through at cost (typically ~2.7%+5¢ in-person). At 60 appointments averaging $65 each, the Bronzly platform fee adds $77.61 — total monthly cost including subscription and platform fee is roughly $97, before Stripe processing. All-in with Stripe, plan for approximately $175–$205 depending on card mix. Predictable, no commissions on the new bookings you acquire yourself.
Fresha
$0/mo subscription
+ per-booking commission on marketplace bookings
Bronzly Solo
$19/mo
+ 1.99% platform fee + Stripe fees at cost. No per-booking commissions.
Fresha pricing structure verified at fresha.com, 2026-05-23. Specific commission and processing percentages depend on country and plan add-ons. Bronzly pricing verified at bronzly.app/pricing, 2026-05-23.
Fresha is genuinely useful for the right kind of business. Its marketplace is one of the largest in beauty and wellness, and its zero-subscription floor lowers the barrier for new operators.
Free subscription tier
The $0 subscription means a new operator can start without commitment. Total cost is volume-driven through commissions and processing fees, which scales with business activity rather than locking in a fixed expense.
Consumer marketplace
Fresha operates a large consumer discovery app. New clients can find your business without you running ads. This is the most genuinely valuable part of the platform, and the only feature that comes close to being a moat against vertical-specific competitors.
Multi-service breadth
If your business spans hair, lashes, nails, brows, and spray tan, Fresha handles the full menu with consistent reminders, checkout, and reporting. Vertical- specific platforms cannot match this.
For a spray-tan-first business, generic beauty software puts you at a disadvantage on the workflows you run every day. Bronzly's wins are concentrated in service-vertical depth and the absence of commissions on bookings you acquire yourself.
Rinse reminders are native
Solution-strength-aware, quiet-hours-respected, sent through the same two-way SMS thread as appointment messages. Fresha does not offer this.
Fitzpatrick tracking as a structured field
Every client record stores Fitzpatrick type. Contraindication warnings fire at checkout when service selection is risky for the skin type. Fresha treats every client field as generic.
No per-booking commissions
Bronzly charges a tiered platform fee — 1.99% on Solo, 1.69% on Pro, 1.49% on Studio — with no marketplace commissions. Stripe processing fees are passed through at cost, with no Bronzly markup on processing. Bookings you generate through your own channels deliver predictable revenue without platform commissions eating margin.
Bronzly Gold dual-currency loyalty
Loyalty dollars and upgrade credits earned simultaneously. Two redemption tracks protect your margin while rewarding repeat clients. Included on paid Bronzly plans up.
AI receptionist for after-hours inquiries
Pro and Studio plans include an AI receptionist that handles inbound inquiries 24/7, qualifies new clients, processes reschedules, and escalates anything ambiguous. Fresha does not include this.
Native iOS and Android client app — branded per studio
Clients see your brand on every screen except the app icon (which is the Bronzly container). Native push notifications, native biometric auth, native offline history. Repeat-booking conversion is meaningfully higher on native than on the generic Fresha consumer app.
Fresha is the right call for:
Bronzly is the right call for:
Moving from Fresha to Bronzly takes most studios under one business day. Bronzly's import tool accepts Fresha's CSV export format directly.
Export your Fresha client list
In Fresha, Clients → Export. Download the CSV. Include client name, email, phone, appointment history, and any package balances.
Start with Bronzly Solo
Create your Bronzly account. Card required when choosing a paid plan; upgrade when you need paid automation.
Import your Fresha CSV
Clients → Import → Fresha CSV. Confirm the auto-mapped fields and run the import. Lists under 500 complete in under two minutes.
Decide your acquisition strategy
Bronzly does not have a consumer marketplace. If Fresha was your primary client acquisition channel, plan how you'll replace that traffic — Instagram, Google Business Profile, referral program, local SEO. Most spray-tan-first studios acquire 70%+ of clients through these channels anyway.
Notify existing clients
Send a one-time email with your new booking link. Bronzly provides a template. Most studios see 70-80% of active clients rebook through the new platform within the first week.
Decide whether to keep Fresha for marketplace traffic
Some studios keep Fresha alive as a marketplace acquisition channel while running core operations in Bronzly. The double-booking risk is real — most studios eventually consolidate on one platform once Bronzly traffic stabilizes.
Full migration documentation at bronzly.app/how-to/migrate. If you hit a mapping issue, book a free migration call.
Fresha advertises a free subscription tier and monetizes through booking commissions, payment processing, and add-on services. New marketplace bookings (where a client discovers your business through the Fresha consumer marketplace) carry a per-booking commission. Payment processing also carries a percentage fee. The base subscription is genuinely $0; total cost depends on volume and which Fresha-driven bookings you accept.
Fresha is a general beauty and wellness platform. It handles spray tan bookings the same way it handles haircuts, lashes, or massages — generic appointment fields, generic reminders. There is no rinse reminder feature, no Fitzpatrick tracking, no solution-strength awareness, and no tan history CRM. Spray-tan-specific workflows are absent.
Bronzly's Solo plan is $19/month with a 1.99% platform fee and no per-booking commissions. Stripe processing fees (~2.7%+5¢ in-person) are separate and passed through at cost. At 60 appointments per month averaging $65, Bronzly's platform fee alone adds $77.61, plus Stripe fees on top — plan for roughly $175–$200 total depending on card mix. Fresha's subscription is $0/month plus per-booking commissions on marketplace bookings plus payment processing fees. Fresha's total cost at the same volume depends on how many bookings come through their marketplace versus your own channels. New studios only; existing studios may be on different rates. See bronzly.app/pricing.
Yes. Bronzly accepts CSV exports from Fresha directly. The import maps client name, contact details, appointment history, and package balances into Bronzly's structured fields. Most studios complete the import in under two minutes for client lists under 500.
Yes. Bronzly is purpose-built for spray tan artists and studios. Every feature — rinse reminders, Fitzpatrick tracking, tan history, Bronzly Gold loyalty, AI receptionist tuned for spray-tan inquiries — is designed around spray tan service delivery. If you offer other services as a small percentage of revenue, you can run them through Bronzly's standard appointment system, but the product is optimized for spray-tan-first businesses.
That is the genuinely useful part of Fresha — its consumer discovery marketplace can deliver new clients without you running ads. The tradeoff is the per-booking commission and the fact that you do not own the client relationship the way you would from your own booking page. Many studios use Fresha as a top-of-funnel acquisition channel while running their core operations on a platform built for their service vertical. That is a legitimate stack — Fresha for discovery, Bronzly for ongoing operations.
Full access to your plan. No per-booking commissions. Cancel before upgrade and you owe nothing.