Barberly vs StyleSeat

Barberly provides barbershops and salons with branded apps, online booking, walk-in queues, payments, team tools, and marketing features. A shop can publish a mobile app on the App Store and Google Play with bookings, waitlists, payments, and loyalty features. Its branded booking website supports a custom domain and can be embedded into an existing site. A tablet can act as a self-check-in kiosk, adding walk-ins to the queue alongside online bookings; the appointment board shows upcoming appointments and the electronic queue. Clients can book from a shop’s Google Search or Maps profile, with separate links for multiple locations. Supported payment providers are Stripe, Square, Revolut, and SumUp; Barberly says it takes no commission on payments. Businesses can require deposits, saved card details, or advance payment, and configure fees for no-shows and late cancellations. Plans include unlimited locations, team members, services, and app users, with no fee per booking. The subscription includes 500 SMS notifications per month; additional messages cost $0.03 each. Pricing starts at $9/mo, and the 30-day trial includes every feature without requiring a credit card.

StyleSeat is a booking and business platform for beauty, barber, and wellness professionals, combining scheduling, payments, marketing, and client management. Barbers can share a booking link that shows their next available appointment, including walk-ins. Professionals can set repeating appointment slots that StyleSeat books and reminds clients about automatically. Payment features include Tap to Pay on iPhone, a card reader, card-on-file automatic checkout, deposits, and no-show protection. Marketing tools include marketplace discovery, email and text campaigns, reminders and follow-ups, review management, and an AI social post builder. Client records can hold notes, history, and preferences, and professionals can message clients in the app. The service syncs with a phone calendar and notifications, and is available on Android, iOS, and the web. A free trial is offered, but there is no free plan. Listed pricing includes StyleSeat Pro at $19 a month after the trial and StyleSeat Pro annual at $199 a year; the pricing note says From $35/mo. The plan description includes unlimited bookings and calendar, up to 15 chairs, and no contracts.