Best Fresha Alternative for Lash and Brow Studios in 2026

Qualivo Team · Fri Jul 31 2026

Why Lash and Brow Studios Are Rethinking Fresha

If you run a lash extension studio, a brow bar, or offer both services — you already know how tight margins can be. A classic lash full set might bring in $120–$180. A brow lamination, $60–$80. When a new client finds you through Fresha's marketplace, Fresha charges a 20% commission on that booking. On a single lash appointment, that's $24–$36 gone before you've paid for supplies or your own time.

Fresha is genuinely good software — polished, widely used, and feature-rich. But if you're relying on marketplace discovery to grow your client base, that new-client commission is a real, recurring cost. This guide gives you an honest look at the best alternatives, starting with the only one that offers a discovery marketplace and booking software completely free, with no commission on new clients.

Qualivo: A Free Fresha Alternative Built for Visual Discovery

Qualivo is free booking software with a built-in consumer marketplace — available on iOS and Android — where customers can find and book your lash or brow studio without you paying a monthly fee or a per-new-client commission.

Here's what's included on the free Starter plan, with no credit card, no trial clock, and no expiry:

A public booking page and claimable business profile
Unlimited services and pricing (list every lash set, brow service, and add-on you offer)
Staff and multi-provider scheduling
Bookings, calendar, and client list
Two-way Google Calendar sync
A listing in the Qualivo marketplace — where new clients discover and book you
Your own mini-site at yourbusiness.qualivo.app, which helps you get found on Google

No monthly fee. No commission when a new client books you through the marketplace. That's the direct contrast with Fresha's model.

Book the Look: Made for Lash and Brow Artists

Qualivo's signature feature — Book the Look — is especially well-suited to visual service businesses like lash and brow studios. The concept captures exactly how beauty clients think: "book the look, not just an appointment."

You post a Look — a real photo of your work, whether it's a wispy mega-volume set, a natural brow lamination, or a defined arch tint — and attach the exact bookable service with price and duration. That Look appears in the Qualivo marketplace. When a client taps "Book this look," they're booking that specific result with you, straight into your calendar.

Instead of scrolling through a text menu and guessing what they'll walk out looking like, clients see the finished result first and book it. For lash and brow artists whose work sells itself visually, this is a meaningful difference.

Qualivo Pro: When You're Ready to Add Payments and Automation

When you want to layer on payments, deposits, and marketing tools, Qualivo Pro costs $19/month with an optional 30-day free trial. Pro adds online payments and deposits, revenue analytics, an AI website widget with lead capture, automated reminders and follow-ups, and marketing campaigns to up to 500 recipients per month. A Growth Marketing add-on (+$15/month) raises that limit to 3,000 recipients. Online payments run at standard processing rates through Stripe.

If you ever cancel Pro, your free features — including your marketplace listing — keep working. And if no-shows are already costing you, the automated reminders alone can pay for the upgrade quickly. For more on that, see our guide on how to reduce no-shows at your salon or barbershop.

How Qualivo Compares to Fresha and Other Alternatives

Platform	Starting Price	New-Client Commission	Marketplace	Visual Discovery	Best For
Qualivo	$0 forever	None	Yes (free)	Yes (Book the Look)	Studios wanting free discovery, no commission
Fresha	$14.95–$19.95/mo + 20% new-client fee	20% on marketplace bookings	Yes	No	Studios comfortable with a paid, established platform
Booksy	~$29.99/mo + ~$20/extra staff	None stated	Yes	No	Solo artists willing to pay for brand presence
Vagaro	~$24–$84/mo + paid add-ons (~$10 each)	None stated	Yes	No	Studios needing a feature-rich all-in-one system
Square Appointments	Free (solo) / ~$49/mo+ (teams)	None	No	No	Solo operators already using Square POS

An Honest Look at Fresha's Strengths

Fresha deserves a fair assessment. It's a well-built platform with strong name recognition in the beauty industry. Features like client notes, no-show protection, and inventory management are genuinely useful — and the consumer-facing marketplace has real traffic. If you already have a full book of repeat clients and aren't relying on Fresha to bring in new business, the 20% commission may not affect you much.

The commission becomes a significant cost specifically when you're using the Fresha marketplace as a discovery channel — which is often exactly why small lash and brow studios join these platforms. That's where Qualivo's model is structurally different.

Other Alternatives Worth Considering

Booksy

Booksy has genuine consumer traction in the beauty and personal care space. At around $29.99/month per professional — plus roughly $20 per additional staff member — it's a reasonable option for solo lash artists or small studios with a stable monthly budget. It doesn't offer Book-the-Look-style visual discovery, but its marketplace has an established audience.

Vagaro

Vagaro is a comprehensive platform with a wide feature set and its own marketplace. Pricing starts around $24/month for a single user and scales to $84/month for larger teams, with most advanced features available as paid add-ons at roughly $10 each. It's a solid choice if you want a mature, feature-rich system and are comfortable with the ongoing cost.

Square Appointments

Square Appointments is free for solo practitioners and integrates tightly with Square's payment ecosystem. It doesn't have a beauty-specific discovery marketplace, so new-client growth relies on your own marketing. For a solo lash or brow artist who's already using Square for in-person payments, it's worth considering — but it won't put you in front of new clients the way a marketplace listing does.

Which Platform Is Right for Your Studio?

If you're a solo lash artist, a small brow studio, or anyone building a client base without wanting to pay a monthly fee or give up 20% of new bookings, Qualivo's free plan is the strongest fit. You get marketplace discovery, a bookable profile, and Book-the-Look visual presentation — for $0, with no expiry date and no commission when new clients find you there.

If you're running a larger operation and need deep reporting, advanced staff management, or a platform with years of established consumer trust, Fresha or Vagaro are worth the cost. They're genuinely capable products for studios at that stage.

For lash and brow studios that are cost-sensitive, commission-sensitive, or just starting out, the calculus is simple: Qualivo costs nothing to try, and your free features don't disappear if you later decide it's not the right fit.

Looking at how alternatives compare across other beauty niches? See our guides to the best Fresha alternative for nail salons and the best Fresha alternative with no monthly fee and no commission for deeper comparisons.

Claim Your Free Lash or Brow Studio Profile

Qualivo is free to join — no credit card, no trial clock, and no commission when new clients discover and book you through the marketplace. Set up your profile, list your services, post your first Look, and start getting found. If you decide later that you want online payments, automated reminders, or marketing campaigns, Pro is there at $19/month with an optional 30-day free trial.

Claim your free Qualivo profile today and get your lash or brow studio in front of clients who are ready to book the exact look they want.

← All posts