Wanna / Fresha alternatives
Fresha alternatives for a small salon or spa that wants marketing done
Written by Wanna AI. Checked on 27 Oct 2026, refreshed every 30 days. Wanna is our product and is in this list, so it sits last and carries a plain minus. The order is alphabetical, not a ranking. We did not test any of these tools; every fact is what the tool's own page says that day, and those pages change.
Short answer. Fresha is booking software with marketing tools priced by the message. Booksy, GlossGenius, Mangomint, Square Appointments and Vagaro are booking tools too, so they differ mostly in how much marketing is inside the monthly price. Wanna is not a booking tool: it drafts the marketing and leaves the appointment book to you.
What Fresha itself lists
Fresha prints these US-dollar prices on 27 Oct 2026, and says "Rates are exclusive of local sales taxes". Independent, for one bookable team member, is $19.95 a month. Team is $14.95 a month per bookable team member. Both carry a 7-day trial. Marketing emails: 50 free a month (per team member on Team), then $0.02 per email. Marketing texts: $0.08 per text, with no free allowance. Google Rating Boost, which prompts clients to leave a Google review, is an add-on at $14.95 per location a month. A brand new client who finds you through the Fresha marketplace costs a one-time 20% commission, with a minimum of $6 per client; returning clients carry no fee.
How we chose
- The vendor books appointments for a salon or similar studio, or drafts marketing for a small business, and we could read an amount on its own page on 27 Oct 2026.
- Every row has a minus, ours included, and every price keeps its billing term.
The six at a glance
| Tool | What it does | Price and limits, read 27 Oct 2026 | Minuses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booksy | Booking with marketing tools and a marketplace | $29.99 per month plus tax, and $20 a month for each added user. Plans include 2,000 free SMS marketing messages a month. 14-day trial | Boost, its marketplace feature, is free to turn on, with a one-time 30% fee on a Boost client's first visit, capped at 100 US dollars |
| GlossGenius | Booking, payments and marketing for beauty businesses | Monthly view: Standard $28, Gold $56, Platinum $168. Billed annually: $24, $48, $148 a month. 14-day trial, no card | Its FAQ lists text marketing from Gold, the middle plan. Platinum lists 2,500 marketing texts |
| Mangomint | Salon and spa software | $120 per location plus $10 per user, monthly. Marketing credits from $30 a month for 3,500 credits. Free trial | Marketing credits are a separate line on top of the $120 per location |
| Square Appointments | Booking with payments, per location | Free $0, Plus $49, Premium $149, each per location per month. Plus has 500 texts included, then 3¢ each; Premium 2,500, then 1.5¢. 30-day trial on Plus and Premium | Text message marketing is "Not available in Square Free" |
| Vagaro | Booking with email marketing, deals and an AI assistant | One location: $30.00 a month, or $23.99 a month for the first 6 months. 1,000 free emails monthly. 30-day trial. Each added bookable staff calendar costs $10, up to seven | Text marketing is an add-on starting at $20 a month. Fill My Books, which promotes you to Vagaro's own customers, is $34 a month plus $5 per employee |
| Wanna | Reads your site, drafts posts and letters; posts always wait for your OK | Free: the plan and first drafts, then 100 credits after setup, about 10 tasks. Starter $20 monthly for 200 credits, about 20 tasks. Growth $49: 5,000 credits. Scale $149 | Not salon software and early: 4 companies, 0 paying on 27 Oct 2026 (live). No bookings, booking calendar or payments. Publishing to your own pages is marked coming |
Which job were you hiring Fresha for
If the appointment book, card payments and reminders are the job, keep a booking tool and compare it on the marketing lines above. Booksy and Square print an included text allowance in the plan, and Mangomint sells credits as an add-on. With Fresha, a marketing text is billed per message at $0.08, so the bill grows with the size of your client list. Check that line first.
Wanna is a different job. It reads your site, decides what to do next and drafts the post or the letter. In Approve everything mode each waits for your OK; posts always do (Approve everything or Autonomous, how it works, what it will not do). Its Everything page lists LinkedIn, X, Instagram and Facebook under "Connects today" and marks "Publishing to your channels" as coming, and the ad it prepares is a LinkedIn campaign, so read that page before you plan around a salon feed. For the wider choice, see AI tools for local service businesses and AI social media schedulers.
What this list does not replace
Wanna does not replace Fresha: it has no booking, no booking calendar, no card payments, no client marketplace and no client inbox on the pages we read. Wanna is not a reason to leave a booking tool. If Fresha already does what you hired it for, keep it, and read the per-message lines before you run a campaign on it.
FAQ
What are the best alternatives to Fresha for a small salon or spa? It depends on the job. Booksy, GlossGenius, Mangomint, Square Appointments and Vagaro are booking tools with different marketing prices, and Wanna drafts marketing without booking; its posts always wait for your OK. We do not rank them.
Is there a free alternative to Fresha? Square Appointments has a Free tier at $0 per location, without text message marketing. Wanna's plan and first drafts are free, then 100 credits after setup, about 10 tasks. Fresha itself prints a 7-day trial.
How much does Fresha cost? On 27 Oct 2026 its US page prints $19.95 a month for Independent and $14.95 a month per bookable team member for Team, exclusive of local sales taxes. Marketing emails are $0.02 each after the free 50, marketing texts are $0.08 each, and a new client from its marketplace costs a one-time 20% commission, at least $6.
Which Fresha alternative includes marketing texts? Booksy lists 2,000 free SMS marketing messages a month. Square lists 500 on Plus and 2,500 on Premium, and GlossGenius lists text marketing from Gold. Fresha charges $0.08 per text.
Can Wanna take bookings for my salon or spa? No. It has no booking, booking calendar or payments. It drafts posts and letters. In Approve everything mode each waits for your OK; posts always do.
Paste your link and see the first posts Wanna would draft for your business.