Setmore alternatives for beauty businesses

For a self-employed UK hair or beauty professional building their own brand, JENA Pro is our recommended Setmore alternative. It combines your own website, consultation forms, email marketing and booking tools for £29 a month including VAT, with free migration help and ongoing human support.

A booking calendar matters. But when you work for yourself, you’re also responsible for bringing clients in, collecting treatment information, keeping people coming back and making your working hours count.

That’s where the differences between booking apps become more useful than the headline price.

This guide compares JENA, Square Appointments, Timely, Fresha and Booksy with Setmore. JENA is our product. We’ll explain why we recommend it for this audience, what you’re paying for and where another option could fit better.

What should a Setmore alternative help you do?

If you’re thinking about moving, start with what you want your business to do differently.

Perhaps clients can book online, but you’re still chasing consultation answers. Your website might be a separate bill. Or you have a list of clients you’d like to contact about availability, with no simple way to send a campaign.

We’ve compared the options using six questions:

1. Can you build your own brand? Look at the website, domain and experience clients see.
2. Can you manage treatment information? Check client records, consultation forms and how answers reach you.
3. Can you bring clients back and reach new ones? Compare marketing tools with marketplace discovery.
4. Can you make better use of booked time? Consider reminders, deposits, cancellation rules and scheduling.
5. What does the complete setup cost? Include the plans and extras you need, VAT, payment fees and usage charges.
6. What help will you get? Check migration support and who you can contact after you’ve joined.

For a solo beauty business that wants its website, consultations and marketing alongside booking, JENA Pro brings those needs together. That’s the basis for our recommendation.

Setmore alternatives at a glance

Official sources checked: 11–13 September 2026. Subscription prices below exclude payment processing and other usage charges unless stated. Annual prices require a year paid upfront.

Square, Timely, Fresha and Booksy didn’t publish a separate annual tariff on the pricing pages checked. Setmore’s displayed prices are in US dollars, so confirm your final billed amount.

JENA: our recommendation for building your own beauty business

JENA Pro is the plan we’d recommend if you want to move beyond managing appointments and bring more of your business into one place.

Give clients a website that represents your business

Pro includes a branded website with custom-domain connection, a portfolio gallery and client reviews.

It’s built to help people discover your business through Google and book directly. You can also send people there from Instagram, TikTok or a recommendation, with your work and your brand at the centre of the experience.

You don’t need a full client book before that becomes useful. Your website gives new clients somewhere to find out about your services and book, without a new-client acquisition fee. Google rankings aren’t guaranteed.

Your domain registration remains a separate cost. The website and booking tools are part of Pro.

Collect consultation answers as part of booking

You can build consultation forms and set them to send before booking, after booking or manually. Client profiles also hold booking and treatment history.

For a beauty business, the value is practical: you can ask the questions relevant to your treatments through the same system you use to manage appointments. You don’t need to add a separate form integration for that job.

Explore JENA’s client management tools.

Keep in touch with clients

Pro includes email marketing, so you can tell opted-in clients about a new service or available appointments without adding a separate email platform for those campaigns.

SMS appointment confirmations and reminders are included too. Marketing texts are charged separately at 5p per message, with a £1 minimum per campaign.

Make your available hours more useful

JENA’s gap elimination setting offers slots next to existing bookings to help reduce fragmented time in your diary.

If scattered appointments leave gaps too short for another treatment, that setting gives you more control over how clients book the time you have available. See JENA’s booking and scheduling tools.

Get help with the move

JENA includes free migration help and human support. You also have access to its community of solo business owners.

Before moving, agree which client details, notes and future appointments can transfer. Your new booking system should be ready to use before you change the links clients already have.

What it costs

Pro costs £29 a month or £249 a year, including VAT. That includes the website, consultation forms, email marketing, appointment texts and scheduling features described above.

Starter costs £9 a month or £79 a year for core booking and payment tools. Max costs £49 a month or £399 a year and adds JENA’s AI suite. You don’t need Max for the Pro features in this comparison.

JENA charges no booking commission or new-client acquisition fee. Stripe processing starts from 1.5% + 30p per transaction. See the current plans and charges.

For deposits, JENA currently applies one fixed or percentage rule across all services. Refunds are currently full refunds only.

Setmore: compare the work and cost of connecting separate tools

Setmore Free includes unlimited appointments, up to four users, a Booking Page and email reminders. Pro adds automated SMS and fixed or percentage deposits, with one deposit rule across services. Its published paid prices are per user. See Setmore’s plans.

The reason to consider JENA is the wider setup your business needs.

Setmore’s Booking Page supports branding, photographs and reviews. Its documented address is a customisable .setmore.com URL, and you can connect booking to a website you already have. That differs from having a website on your own domain included in your booking subscription. See its Booking Page URL options.

For consultation forms, Setmore documents a Jotform connection through Zapier. That means connecting accounts, choosing what should happen when a form arrives, matching the form fields to Setmore and testing the connection. It’s extra setup, and you need to be comfortable configuring how the tools work together or get help with it.

Marketing can add another account, through integrations such as Mailchimp or MailerLite. Free plans have limits. For example, Jotform Starter allows 100 form submissions a month, while Zapier Free includes 100 tasks and two-step workflows. When you need more capacity or paid features, separate subscriptions can start adding up.

The reason to choose JENA: consultation forms and email marketing are already part of Pro, alongside your own website and bookings. You aren’t responsible for connecting separate form and marketing products to get that setup working.

Square Appointments: check what the free plan leaves outside the package

Square Appointments Free includes a booking website, automated email and text reminders, and online deposits. It supports different deposit requirements for selected services, which is useful when appointments vary in length and value.

But a free booking plan doesn’t include every part of the setup described above.

• Your own domain: Square Online requires a paid plan for custom-domain connection and removal of Square branding. Online Plus starts at £20/month billed annually, before applicable tax.
• Custom consultation questions: Square includes automated contracts on Free, but custom contract fields require Appointments Premium at £69/location/month before applicable VAT. Third-party form integrations are another route.
• Email campaigns: Square Marketing is a separate subscription, starting at £9/month for up to 500 contacts.

These are connected Square products. You don’t necessarily need every one of them, so adding them all together wouldn’t be a fair estimate for every business. Check the Online plans, Appointments features and Marketing prices against what you need.

The reason to choose JENA: Pro already includes a branded website with custom-domain connection, consultation forms and email marketing alongside bookings and appointment texts.

Square deserves consideration if you rely on its payment setup or need more complex staffing and resource tools. For a solo beauty business wanting the Pro combination, comparing only the two entry prices misses much of the decision.

Timely: check which tier includes the beauty tools you need

Timely is relevant if you need stock management, staff tools and detailed salon operations. Its UK plans are Build at £22, Elevate at £34 and Innovate at £39 per bookable staff member each month. Its terms exclude applicable taxes from those prices.

Build includes booking, a mini website, reminders, stock tools and payments. Consultation features vary by plan: Build includes creating forms in the Consult iOS app; Elevate adds sending forms before appointments and saving them to client profiles; Innovate adds automatic sending.

The plans include 100, 200 or 300 SMS per staff member respectively, with excess messages at 9p each. Targeted SMS campaigns are charged separately. Check Timely’s UK plan comparison and subscription terms.

For a solo beauty business, compare the tier you’ll actually use. JENA Pro includes automatic consultation forms, your own branded website and native email marketing for £29/month including VAT. Timely puts automatic forms on Innovate and lists Mailchimp for email marketing.

If you need Timely’s deeper stock and staffing tools, those may justify the plan. If your priority is running and growing your own solo business, JENA Pro brings the website, consultations and marketing together at a lower subscription than Timely Innovate.

For a broader comparison, see our booking apps guide for self-employed beauty businesses.

Fresha: choose how you want new clients to find you

Fresha combines marketplace discovery with beauty features such as consultation forms and patch-test records. It also supports deposits and saved-card policies.

For one person, Independent costs £14.95/month plus VAT. The main cost question is what happens beyond that subscription.

An eligible new client first discovered through the Fresha Marketplace attracts a one-time 20% acquisition fee, with a £4 minimum, plus VAT. Returning clients don’t attract that acquisition fee. Discovery can happen on Fresha even if the client later books through your own website, so attribution matters. See Fresha’s Marketplace fee rules.

Independent includes 20 automated text or WhatsApp messages a month. Additional automated texts cost 6p each before VAT. Fresha also lists a Smart website add-on at £12.95/month before VAT. See Fresha’s UK pricing.

The decision: if you need marketplace discovery and you’re happy to pay for it, Fresha can be a good option. If you want to build your own brand and attract clients through Google, Instagram, TikTok and recommendations, JENA gives you your own website and a direct booking setup without a new-client acquisition fee.

You don’t need to arrive with a full diary. JENA’s website helps you build your own presence online, so new clients can discover your business and book directly.

Our Fresha cost guide explains how the charges fit together.

Booksy: a marketplace option with a higher fixed subscription

Booksy costs £40/month plus VAT for one user. It includes appointment reminders, custom forms and client records with notes, photographs and booking history. Extra users cost £5/month each plus VAT. See Booksy’s UK pricing and features.

Clients can book through your Booksy profile, which includes your services, reviews and portfolio. Optional Boost adds paid acquisition to that marketplace presence.

Booksy’s public UK pages quoted conflicting Boost rates when checked: 30% with a £5 minimum on its pricing and dedicated Boost pages, versus 40% with a £10 minimum on its general features page, plus VAT. Confirm the terms in your account before enabling it. See Booksy Boost.

Without Boost, marketplace bookings don’t carry that acquisition commission. Payment processing still costs extra.

Booksy fits businesses that want its marketplace presence alongside forms and reminders. If your priority is your own website and direct marketing, JENA Pro offers those tools for £29/month including VAT, below Booksy’s core subscription.

Which should you choose?

Choose JENA Pro if you want to build your beauty business around your own brand, with your website, consultations, email marketing and bookings together. That’s the setup we recommend for the reader this guide is written for.

Your website gives new clients a route from Google, Instagram, TikTok and recommendations to a direct booking. Your forms and marketing help you manage what happens before and after that appointment, without adding separate products for those jobs.

If you specifically want marketplace discovery and its cost works for you, compare Fresha and Booksy. If you need deeper stock and staffing tools, look at Timely and Square’s relevant paid plans. Free booking plans may cover a simpler setup, but compare the complete package before deciding on price alone.

Try your working day in JENA

Use the 14-day trial to test a normal appointment from start to finish:

1. Add your services and availability.
2. Set up a consultation form and your deposit rule.
3. Book through the client-facing website.
4. Check the client record and messages.
5. Ask the team what can move across from Setmore.

A card is required for the trial. Cancel before it ends to avoid the subscription charge.

Explore JENA Pro and the current plans.

Frequently asked questions

Why pay for JENA when Setmore or Square has a free plan?

JENA Pro includes more of the setup a solo beauty business needs: your own branded website, consultation forms, email marketing and SMS appointment reminders alongside booking.

With other systems, those functions can mean separate products, integrations or higher tiers. Compare the cost and setup of everything you need with JENA Pro’s £29/month including VAT.

Do I need to leave Setmore to collect deposits?

No. Setmore Pro supports deposits. The reason to consider JENA is the wider package: your own website, consultation forms, marketing and bookings together, with migration help and ongoing human support.

Can JENA help new clients find my business?

Yes. JENA Pro includes a website on your own domain, built to help your business appear in Google searches. You can also bring people there from Instagram, TikTok and recommendations, then let them book directly without a new-client acquisition fee. Google rankings aren’t guaranteed.

If you want marketplace discovery and you’re happy to pay for it, Fresha can be a good option. Choose JENA if you want to grow your own brand and turn that visibility into direct bookings.

Can I move my Setmore clients to JENA?

JENA offers free migration help. Agree the scope with the team before switching, including contact details, notes and future bookings. An export from one system doesn’t guarantee that every field can transfer into another.

Keep your existing booking route working until you’ve checked the new setup.

Disclosure and sources

JENA publishes this guide and is one of the products compared. Our recommendation reflects the needs of a solo UK hair or beauty business wanting its own website, consultation forms, marketing and booking together. It isn’t an independent award or a claim that JENA wins every category.

We reviewed official product, pricing and help sources between 11 and 13 September 2026. Prices and terms can change. Setmore’s displayed prices are in US dollars, and Booksy’s conflicting Boost rates are flagged above.

The official sources are linked beside the relevant claims throughout this guide. Payment-processing charges, message usage and optional services can add to the subscription prices shown.