Fresha charges no subscription at all, and that free is real on day one. The costs live everywhere else: 20 percent of every first time client the marketplace sends, processing you cannot leave at about 2.19% plus 20 cents, paid texts, and paid no show protection. Here is the honest side by side.
| PainTrace | Fresha | |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | $29 a month | Free |
| New client fee | Zero, ever | 20 percent of first time marketplace clients |
| Payments | Your own Stripe or Square, your rates, your choice | Fresha processing only, about 2.19% plus 20 cents |
| No show protection | Deposits, saved cards and fees included | Paid add on |
| Text messages | Reminders included when texting is armed | Priced per message for campaigns |
| Whose brand your clients see | Yours, on your own page | Fresha marketplace and app |
| SOAP notes and outcomes | Charts, sign and lock, pain trends, superbills | Basic forms; built for salons first |
| Your data if you leave | Full CSV export anytime | Export available |
Price the whole year, not the sticker. A practice doing $8,000 a month through forced processing pays roughly $175 a month in fees it cannot shop around, before a single marketplace commission. Two new marketplace clients a month at a $95 service is another $38. The free software quietly invoices more than most paid software, and you cannot negotiate with it.
Fresha can genuinely send you new faces, and for an empty book that has value. The bargain is that your profile lives beside every competitor in town, your regulars become marketplace users, and each first visit the marketplace touches costs 20 percent. PainTrace runs no marketplace on purpose: your page sends clients only to you, and the growth tools point at making your own list compound.
Export your client list as a CSV from Fresha, import it into PainTrace in one click, set your services and hours, connect your own Stripe or Square, and your branded booking page is live at yourname.paintracebooking.com. Your clients and your data stay yours on the way in, and they stay yours if you ever leave.