Disclosure: Solovi (the product I built and run) is on this list. I've included Solovi where it's genuinely the best fit + been honest about where other platforms beat it.
What "free" actually means in this market
Booking platforms use "free" in three different ways:
- Free tier forever, pay nothing, but with feature limits. Setmore, SimplyBook.me, Calendly all do this. Usually capped at 4 staff / 5 services / no Stripe integration on free tier.
- Free trial, full features for 7-30 days, then required to subscribe. Solovi does this on Solo tier (30 days, no card).
- Free booking page, paid website, booking widget free, but you need to host a website separately. Wix sort of does this with Wix Bookings on its free plan (the booking is free, but Wix shows its own branding all over your "free" site).
All three are valid. The question is what you're optimising for: zero cost, maximum free-trial features, or lowest long-term total cost.
The 6 platforms compared
| Platform | Free tier | Starts from (paid) | Per-booking fee | Website included? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wix Bookings | Yes (with Wix branding) | £11/mo (Light), £19 (Core) | 0% (Stripe fees only) | Yes (DIY) |
| Setmore | Yes (1 user, 4 staff cap) | $5/mo (~£4) | 0% (Stripe / Square fees) | Booking page only |
| SimplyBook.me | Yes (50 bookings/mo cap) | $9.90/mo (~£8) | 0% (provider fees) | Booking page only |
| Square Appointments | Yes (single user) | £25/mo | 1.4-2.5% Square processing | Basic booking page |
| Calendly | Yes (1 event type) | $10/mo (~£8) | N/A (Calendly is scheduling, not bookings) | No |
| Solovi | 30-day trial (no card) | £19/mo | 0% (Stripe processing fees only) | Yes (done-for-you, in 7 days) |
Prices in GBP where vendor lists GBP, else converted from USD at ~1.27. All vendor websites checked June 2026.
Wix Bookings
Best for: Designers who actually want to spend a weekend laying out their own site.
Wix is the broadest tool here. You get full website-builder freedom, the booking module is well-integrated, and the free tier is generous if you're OK with the "Powered by Wix" footer + a wixsite.com subdomain. The catch: setting up a booking flow that doesn't look like a default Wix template takes 8–20 hours of fiddling. Most solo traders don't have the time, and the result often looks like… a Wix site.
UK-specific note: Wix is US-headquartered, GDPR support requires you to dig through their settings, and there's no UK-specific compliance positioning. Fine for a personal trainer doing 1-on-1s; insufficient for a salon that needs proper booking + payments + reminders + loyalty all stitched together.
Setmore
Best for: The lowest-cost-possible booking page.
Setmore's free tier is genuinely good, you get a booking page that accepts customers + Stripe payments, with no monthly fee. The booking page itself can act as a basic landing site. The trade: it's not a website builder, it's a booking widget pretending to be one. No content pages, no service descriptions, no SEO optimisation. If you literally just need a "book me" button to send to clients, this is the cheapest path.
Trade-off: the free tier branding is heavy ("Powered by Setmore") and customer-facing emails come from Setmore, not your domain. Looks unprofessional if you're charging £50+ per session.
SimplyBook.me
Best for: Coaches and consultants with international clients (multi-language built-in).
The free tier is 50 bookings/month, fine for someone just starting. Strong multi-language support, decent feature set on paid tiers. The interface feels dated compared to Wix or Square. Booking page only, no content website.
Square Appointments
Best for: Existing Square retail users (POS integration).
If you already use Square for in-person card payments, the Appointments product integrates smoothly. UK availability has been spotty historically, confirm your area before committing. The bigger issue: Square's per-transaction processing fees (1.4–2.5%) eat into margins on every booking. On £3,000/mo bookings, that's £42–75/mo on top of the £25 subscription.
Calendly
Best for: Consultants who only need scheduling (not commerce).
Calendly is excellent at scheduling meetings. It's not a booking + payment + customer-management platform. The free tier is unmatched for "client picks a 30-min Zoom slot." If you need to take a deposit, sell a service, or manage a customer database, wrong tool.
Solovi
Best for: UK service businesses, sole traders, Ltd companies, and single-location salons / clinics / gyms / studios with up to ~5 staff sharing one booking calendar, that want done-for-you setup, 0% commission, and a real website (not just a booking page).
Honest disclosure: I built Solovi. Here's the genuine case:
- 0% commission, ever. Booksy takes up to 30% on new clients via Boost, Fresha takes 20% on new clients, and Vagaro charges higher card-processing rates, all on top of a subscription. Solovi charges a flat £19/mo Solo (£39 Local, £79 Bespoke) with no commission. The only payment fee is Stripe's standard processing (about 1.5% + 20p in the UK), a pass-through cost every business pays, not Solovi's margin.
- Done-for-you setup. You tell us about your business, we ship a live site in 7 days or refund your first month. No drag-and-drop required.
- Real website, not just a booking page. Custom domain on Local + Bespoke tiers. Editorial design templates for Bespoke. Service catalog, gallery, about, contact pages, not just a booking widget.
- UK-built, UK-hosted, GDPR + ICO compliant. EU traders should not have to dig through US privacy settings.
- 30-day free trial on Solo (no card required). Long enough to actually test it with real customers.
- Founding 100 program: first 100 paying customers lock £29/mo (Local) or £49/mo (Bespoke) forever. As of June 2026, Solovi is pre-launch and all 100 spots are open.
Where Solovi loses against other platforms:
- No permanent free forever tier. If you genuinely cannot pay £19/mo after the 30-day trial, use Setmore.
- No DIY website editor. Wix gives you total design control; Solovi prefers to do it for you. Some traders want the control.
- No per-staff scheduling yet. If you run a multi-stylist salon where each stylist needs their own calendar and availability, Solovi isn't there yet, that's on the roadmap. Use Booksy for the per-stylist setup or wait for our release.
- No multi-location chain support. One Solovi subscription = one location. If you have multiple locations under one brand, hold off until we ship the chain support.
- Pre-launch, no third-party reviews yet (we're recruiting Founding 100 now). Wix and Setmore have years of Trustpilot reviews to bank against.
- UK-only. If you're outside the UK, look elsewhere, Solovi doesn't operate internationally.
How to pick (decision tree)
If your monthly budget is £0 and you only need a booking link: Setmore free tier.
If you enjoy designing your own website and have a weekend free: Wix Bookings (free tier).
If you only need to schedule meetings (no payments, no commerce): Calendly free tier.
If you already use Square for in-person POS: Square Appointments (£25/mo + per-transaction fees).
If you have international clients and need multi-language: SimplyBook.me (free tier capped at 50 bookings/mo).
If you're a UK service business (sole trader, Ltd company, single-location salon / clinic / gym / studio with up to ~5 staff on one shared calendar) and you want done-for-you setup + 0% commission + real website + Founding 100 forever pricing: Solovi. 30-day free trial, no card required. £19/mo after trial. If you need per-stylist scheduling or multi-location, Booksy is the right call for now; Solovi's roadmap covers those next.
The math: why 0% commission matters more than monthly subscription
A common mistake: comparing platforms by their headline monthly subscription only. The real number is the total monthly cost, which includes per-booking fees.
Take a UK nail salon doing £3,000/month in bookings:
| Platform | Monthly | Commission on new clients | Website included? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booksy | £40 (+£5/staff) | Up to 30% (Boost) | No |
| Fresha | ~£16/staff | 20% | No |
| Vagaro | ~£24 | 0% (card ~2.75%) | Basic |
| Solovi (Local Founding) | £29 | 0% | Yes |
On top of the monthly fee, Booksy and Fresha take a cut of every new client (up to 30% and 20%), which a flat 0% platform like Solovi never does. Add the website, gift cards, loyalty cards and local SEO that Solovi bundles in, and over a year the gap runs into the hundreds.
Bottom line
There's no single "best" platform, the right one depends on your budget, your skill set, and where your customers come from.
For a UK service business (sole trader or small Ltd) that values its time and wants the lowest total cost: Solovi's flat £19/mo (Solo with free trial) + 0% commission + 7-day done-for-you delivery is structurally better than the alternatives. Start the free 30-day trial (no credit card required), Founding 100 spots are open.
If you genuinely need £0/mo and don't mind a Setmore-branded booking page: use Setmore's free tier honestly. It's a real, working free product.
Avoid the "free Wix" trap if you're charging customers serious money, the Wix branding + wixsite.com subdomain undermines the price you're trying to charge.
Founding 100 program · open now
Lock £29/mo forever as a Founding 100 customer.
The first 100 paying customers lock the Local tier at £29/mo (or Bespoke at £49/mo) for the lifetime of their account. After that, prices return to standard.
See pricing →30-day free trial · no card required · live in 7 days · money-back guarantee
A note on this guide. This article is general information to help you weigh up your options, not financial, legal or business advice. The figures were accurate to the best of our knowledge on the date shown above, but third-party prices and terms change often, so always check the provider's own website before you decide. Any product or company names mentioned are trademarks of their respective owners, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by them. We make Solovi, so we are not a neutral party, and we have tried to be fair and accurate throughout. If you spot anything out of date, let us know and we will put it right.