A Fresha alternative in Romania — the complete guide

A Fresha alternative in Romania is worth considering when you need a different cost structure, Romanian support or a booking workflow suited to classes and memberships. Start by checking how many clients the marketplace brings you, then compare that value with a dedicated system such as TimeNow.

Why do Romanian salons look for a Fresha alternative?

The public Fresha pricing page, checked on 5 September 2026, lists subscriptions and separate charges for certain services. Before choosing an alternative, separate software cost from client acquisition and payment processing.

Four practical criteria for the comparison:

• Salon discovery. Fresha lets clients compare businesses in its marketplace and also provides direct booking links; establish which route your clients actually use.
• The new-client commission. Every client the marketplace sends you carries a cost — and on an expensive service that cost is not small.
• Working language and support. Check the interface and support channels available to your team in a demo; a translated page does not establish Romanian-language support.
• Data export. Request a sample of the records you need to move and check the file format, included fields and any charges.

Marketplace or private tool — the difference that matters most

A marketplace is a public site where clients search and compare providers: it brings you new demand, but it sits you next to your competitors and usually charges a commission on the clients it sends. A private tool brings no clients — it organises the ones you already have, under your brand, at a fixed price.

TimeNow turns the visibility you build into direct bookings without placing competitors beside your business. Share the booking link through Google, your website or social media, and every client lands directly in your calendar.

Five criteria worth comparing on

1. Total cost, not the headline price. Add the subscription, the new-client commission, card processing fees and SMS. A small subscription with a fee on every new client can beat a fixed one.
2. The language your team works in. Not the language you read documentation in — the language your receptionist searches for a client in at 9am with two people at the door.
3. How reminders are delivered. SMS through a local gateway, WhatsApp, or email. It is the one feature that directly moves your no-show rate — see how to cut no-shows.
4. How much friction the booking has. If a client has to create an account to book a haircut, some of them stop there.
5. What happens to your data when you leave. Ask for a test export before you sign, not after you have decided to go.

Which platforms are worth comparing in Romania

TimeNow

A private tool with no marketplace. Appointments, classes with limited spots and memberships that count down their own sessions, in one system. Interface and support are Romanian, the price is fixed and in RON, and clients book without creating an account — from your own booking page or a widget embedded in your site. More on the salon page.

TimeNow keeps every client relationship direct. Your marketing stays under your control, while booking happens without competing salons on the same page and without new-client commission.

Mero

MERO offers a Romanian beauty marketplace with public profiles and reviews, plus professional calendars. Compare its subscription and discovery role in the MERO alternative guide.

Booksy

If you consider Booksy, verify commercial availability in Romania, support language and the local offer before comparing it. Do not extrapolate terms advertised for another country.

SimplyBook.me

A private, international, highly configurable tool priced in foreign currency with plans tied to monthly booking volume. Good if you have unusual requirements and time to configure. Less good if you want something that is correct for a salon on day one.

EvoBeauty

A Romanian private tool, but much heavier than us: stock, primary accounting, cash register, corporate partners. If you sell retail in the salon it solves more of your problem. The detailed comparison, with checked prices, is in the article on EvoBeauty alternatives.

Why TimeNow is the simpler alternative

TimeNow puts every booking tool in one fixed-price system with a Romanian interface and support. Clients reach your business directly, without comparing competing salons on the same page.

• Predictable RON pricing, with no new-client commission.
• Booking under your own name, through a dedicated page, client app or embedded calendar.
• Romanian support and setup adapted to how local salons work.
• Classes, waiting lists and memberships managed in the same system.

Instead of paying separately for each new client, you invest in a system you control and a relationship that stays with your business. See TimeNow pricing.

How to prepare a booking migration

1. Export before anything else. Clients, phone numbers, appointment history. If you cannot export it yourself, ask support in writing and wait for it before you tell your team.
2. Rebuild the service menu with real durations, not optimistic ones. This is where a migrated schedule most often breaks.
3. Set up memberships and packages before you move clients across, so you are not correcting balances afterwards.
4. Run both systems in parallel for a week. New bookings go only into the new one; old ones finish out in the old one.
5. Tell clients once, with one link. A message with a direct link to the new booking page converts; a message explaining a migration does not.
6. Close the old account only after you have checked the export — not on the day you finish configuring.

Migration timing depends on the available export, record volume and validation work. Agree on what can be imported, what must be rebuilt and when the public booking link changes; see the TimeNow migration process.

A two-minute decision checklist

• Want predictable monthly cost with no new-client commission? Choose a fixed subscription.
• Book full of loyal clients? Move booking under your own business name.
• Team complaining about the language and the support? Move, whatever the price.
• Selling memberships and packages, not just single services? Check first whether the platform counts them correctly — many do not.
• Cannot get a test export of your clients? Do not sign anything new until you have one.