What are the key differences between Fresha and Phorest?
If you’re on the lookout for new software for your salon or clinic you’re in the right place. We’re here to unpick some of the key differences between Fresha and Phorest so that you can decide which is the best fit for your business.
While we’re here, we’re also going to throw another name in the mix – Pabau.
Fresha is designed for the beauty and wellness industry and is a subscription-free model. However, they do charge commission fees. Customers get unlimited bookings, locations, team members and notifications and they help businesses boost sales and attract new clients via online bookings through Google search, Facebook and Instagram.
Now let’s take a look at Phorest. Phorest is an all-in-one solution that, in their words, “enables hair, beauty, or personal services businesses to reach their full potential.” Headquartered out of Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, Phorest supports businesses with online salon booking features, team management, reporting, and marketing features.
Pabau is an all-in-one clinic management software specifically designed for medi aesthetic clinics. With clients all over the world, Pabau provides everything clinics need to reduce time spent on admin, improve the patient experience, and attract new customers. Because it’s purpose-built for med spas, it has key features that this client base will find particularly valuable.
Let’s start by breaking down the pricing in Fresha, Phorest, and Pabau…
Fresha operates a subscription-free model. While you don’t pay a monthly fee, you will be charged a commission fee of 20% for each new customer that books via Fresha. So, if you have 100 appointments booked through Fresha in a month costing £50 each, they’ll take £1000.
Phorest has a tiered pricing plan structure, where you can pay more to unlock more features. However, you are also charged for online bookings – if a service costs over £40 it costs £1.50 per booking. Additionally, you can only pay annually – there is no option for a monthly subscription.
Pabau charges a flat monthly fee – there’s no locking customers into lengthy annual contracts. The pricing is based on the number of users and every client will get access to all features. The only additional costs are entirely optional.
We offer one-off training and data transfer services to save you time and help you get up and running as soon as possible. The other optional fees are SMS charges and our advanced marketing feature.
| Why Choose Pabau Over Fresha vs Phorest | Fresha | Phorest | Pabau |
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| No commission fees/processing fees Fresha charges 20% commission on every new client that books through their online marketplace. Phorest charges a fee for every online booking. Pabau won’t charge online booking fees. |
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| No online marketplace Fresha places you on their online marketplace, where you’ll be pitched alongside competitors in your area. New Fresha subscribers also get preferable positions. With Pabau, you can fully customize the online booking experience with an online booking widget. |
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| Branded communication When you send any communication from Pabau, your brand is front and centre. Texts and emails will come from your business. You can also add your own logo and branding to emails. With Fresha this isn’t the case and it can be confusing for clients. |
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| Intuitive automated pre and aftercare emails In Pabau, you can schedule pre and aftercare emails at the time of booking so you can simply set it… and forget it. The emails are service-specific, so you can send a timely reminder about any particular treatment. Phorest offers a less intuitive workaround for these emails, and clients only receive them if they've opted into general marketing messages. |
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| 100% paperless While Fresha and Phorest enable businesses to go paper-light, they’re not built to meet the high demand for documentation that medi aesthetic clinics need. Medical forms, customizable consent forms, aftercare… you name it, Pabau has a form for it. |
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| Free prebuilt forms In Fresha you have to build your forms from scratch. In Phorest you have to upgrade your pricing plan to get forms. In Pabau you get 100s of prebuilt forms that you can link to a specific service and customize to your own needs. |
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| No long contracts Pabau offers a monthly payment plan for more flexibility. Phorest offers an annual contract only and Fresha is free (with costly additional fees - see the point above) |
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The best software understands you, your business, and your challenges. Pabau has been built to meet the needs of media-aesthetic operators, not hair or beauty salons.
That’s why it has features that have been created specifically for this sector, such as automated pre-care and aftercare emails, electronic medical records (EMR), before and after photos, injection plotting, customizable forms, and so on. At Pabau, we get you.
Pabau isn’t the cheapest software on the market. But the great thing is you won’t need anything else as, in the words of one of our customers, “Pabau does it all.” While choosing Fresha means you’ll probably need to budget for additional tools, such as email marketing or online forms, this isn’t the case with Pabau. And because we’re so feature-rich, as your business grows, we’ll grow with you.
Phorest and Fresha have great integrations for salons, but choosing Pabau means you’ll have access to the integrations that medi aesthetic practitioners really need. Whether you need to connect the tech you use for prescriptions, the call agent software you use for leads, or third-party insurance, Pabau will enable you to do it quickly and easily. Plus, you’ll also find the mainstays like Xero, MailChimp, and Stripe too.
When you get a five-star review, you want to make sure it’s added to your website asap, right? In Pabau, we make that process as easy as possible. Whereas other platforms like Phorest require you to publish reviews manually, in Pabau, you can do it automatically.
The result is that your latest and greatest reviews are always on show on your site, so you can build your social proof and win more customers from the competition.
Clinics need to collect a LOT of documentation before an appointment, right? With Pabau, you don’t have to break a sweat trying to remember everything. You can simply use our app to ensure you have up-to-date health records, signed medical consents, and photos.
Not every provider has this functionality, but we know how needed by med spa practitioners. Not only does it protect the client, it also protects your business.
[Pabau] makes things so much easier in terms of your medical records, diary management, your reporting system, and that’s really very important for a business.
“After 16 years of using about 20 different client management software systems, this is the only one I can honestly say does it all, and does it all very well.”
Roxanne Merchant,
Head of Operations, Juvea Medical
“Pabau is feature-rich, allowing us functionality to grow as our business needs grow, and at the same time quite intuitive to use. Competing software offerings can’t compete!”
Daniel, Doctor,
G2 review
“I’ve been in business for almost nine years. I’ve tried a lot of different software, but I was always missing some features. This software has everything that saves my time, keeps my records and medical forms in one place, and is easy to use.”
Angelina, Owner
G2 review
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