Clients book on your page, under your name, and come back to you next time. No app full of other shops, no Boost bill.
Avana, by Sweeber Technologies, is booking software for salons and barbers in the UK with your own booking page and no marketplace fees. Avana Business costs £15.99 a month with VAT included. Booksy costs £40 a month plus £5 per extra team member, plus VAT, and Boost keeps 30% of a new client's first visit (with a minimum of £5).
| At a glance | Avana | Booksy |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | £15.99, VAT included | £40, plus VAT |
| Extra team member | One included in Business Plus; then £5.99 | £5 each |
| Fee on a new client | None | Boost, 30% |
Avana, by Sweeber Technologies, has no Boost-style fee and includes one colleague in Business Plus. Booksy adds £5 a month for every extra team member (checked October 2026).
In the Booksy app, your profile sits in a list with other salons and barbers. Your Avana page shows only you: your services, your prices, your reviews.
Booksy adds £5 a month for every extra team member. Avana's Business Plus already includes you and one other person, and Business Max you and two more.
With Boost, Booksy keeps 30% of a new client's first visit. Avana takes nothing from a booking, new client or regular.
Your booking page shows your treatments, your prices and your free times. You put the link in your Instagram bio, send it in a message and print a QR code for the front desk.
Paying at the desk works the way it always has. For a long treatment you can ask for a deposit when they book, so the slot you keep free is paid for. You decide per treatment.
Switch on Avana Connect once on your Instagram account. From then on it answers clients with your own prices and free times, and lets them book inside the chat.
A confirmation goes out the moment someone books, and a reminder the day before with the time and your address. For clients who never open their email, you can send the reminder by text as well.
You already explain your technique to every junior who joins. Record that once in the Avana Academy and sell it as a course. The hands-on practice day sits in your calendar between your appointments.
Booksy is a booking app with a marketplace. Avana is your own booking system. These are the differences that show up on your bill and in your calendar.
| Booksy | Avana | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A booking app where clients browse local businesses | Your own booking system and page |
| Monthly price | £40 a month, plus VAT | £15.99 for Business, VAT included |
| Each extra team member | £5 a month, plus VAT | One included in Business Plus (£28.99); after that £5.99 each |
| Marketplace fee | Boost: 30% of a new client's first visit, with a minimum of £5 | None |
| Where clients book | In the Booksy app or on your Booksy page | On a page that shows only your business |
| Instagram messages | Book button on your profile | Avana Connect answers DMs and books inside the chat |
| Selling courses | No | Avana Academy, as an add-on |
Booksy figures from Booksy's UK pricing page, checked in October 2026. Prices of other systems change; check with Booksy before you decide.
If you want your own booking page and no marketplace fees, Avana is a strong option. Clients book on a page that shows only your business, reminders and deposits are built in, and the price is £15.99 a month with VAT included. You give up Booksy's app listing, so new clients find you through your own channels.
At the time of writing (October 2026), Booksy's UK pricing is £40 a month plus £5 for each additional team member, plus VAT. Boost, the optional marketplace promotion, charges 30% of a new client's first visit, with a minimum of £5. Prices change, so check Booksy's site for the current figures.
Boost puts your profile higher in the Booksy app and charges you a share of the first visit when a new client books through it. Avana has nothing like it because it has no marketplace. Every booking, from a new client or a regular, costs you nothing beyond your plan.
Yes. Booksy lets you export your client list as a CSV file. Upload it in Avana's import screen, check the columns it has recognised, and your clients are in. Booksy does not offer a self-service export of appointments, so let the booked ones run out or ask their support for a file.
Yes. Barbers use Avana for short slots, several chairs with their own hours, and deposits on longer services like a skin fade with beard. Clients book from your link without installing an app.
Yes. Business is for one person, Business Plus is you and one colleague, and Business Max is you and two. Each extra person costs £5.99 a month, VAT included, and gets their own calendar, hours and services.
No. Try Avana free for 7 days without card details. After that you pay monthly and can cancel any time, without a notice period.
Question not here? The help centre walks through every part of Avana step by step.
Avana's booking page, deposits, reminders, Avana Connect and the Avana Academy work together in one account. Turn two on together and they win you appointments you would otherwise have missed.
Someone asks at eleven at night what balayage costs. Connect replies, they book Saturday at ten and the deposit is paid there and then. In the morning it is in your calendar.
How much is balayage?
£120. Saturday 10:00 is free.
The client picks a time and gets a confirmation straight away. The reminder follows the day before. If it no longer suits, they move it themselves and the slot opens up again.
Record your know-how once as a course and sell it to people who want to learn your craft. The practice day goes between your appointments and you keep the whole course price.
Facials and treatment courses, each with the right length, booked straight into your calendar.
Gel polish, new sets and maintenance, with a deposit that keeps the chair from sitting empty.
Clients pick their own stylist and book themselves, evenings included.
Full sets and maintenance appointments, in a calendar that never double-books.
A calm calendar with reminders, so clients arrive on time.
Every Avana plan includes a booking page, a calendar, deposits, email reminders and client records from day one. Where something starts at Business Plus, it says so on the tile.
Avana has three plans: Business at £15.99, Business Plus at £28.99 and Business Max at £55.99 a month, all with VAT included. There is no commission on your takings and no contract, and every plan starts with 7 days free without card details.
£0.53 a day, and no commission on your revenue.
Start free£0.97 a day. One extra appointment a month covers it.
Start free£1.87 a day, with Avana Academy included.
Start freeAll prices include VAT. If you change plan, you only pay the difference.
Avana Connect costs £9.99 a month, the Avana Academy £8.99 a month with a plan, and text messages come in packs from £4.99. They go on the same bill as your plan, and you can stop any month.
Switch it on once for your Instagram. It answers clients with your own prices and free times and lets them book inside the conversation.
Sell your own courses to people who want to learn your craft. Lessons are set up once, the practice day sits in your calendar and certificates go out on their own.
Text reminders for clients who skip their email. You buy texts in packs, the credits never expire and there is no subscription.
Avana, by Sweeber Technologies, suits salons and barbers who would rather have their own booking page than a profile in a marketplace app. At the time of writing (October 2026), Booksy costs £40 a month plus £5 for each extra team member, plus VAT, and its Boost feature keeps 30% of a new client's first visit (with a minimum of £5). Avana costs £15.99 a month with VAT included, has no Boost-style fee, and includes a colleague in Business Plus. The Booksy app does help strangers discover you, which Avana does not do.
People searching for alternatives to Booksy tend to be in one of two places. Either the team has grown and the per-person charge has started to bite, or Boost bills have turned up for clients who would have found them anyway. Both come from the same model: Booksy is a marketplace first, and you pay for being in it.
Avana starts from your own booking page. You share the link in your Instagram bio, on a QR code at the chair and through Avana Connect in your DMs. Clients book without downloading anything, get a confirmation and a reminder, and you can ask for a deposit on longer appointments so no-shows cost you less.
Booksy is popular with barbers, and for good reason: it is quick to set up and clients know the app. If your chair is full of regulars, though, they will happily book through a link. Avana handles several chairs too, each with their own hours and services, and Business Plus covers two people for £28.99 a month with VAT included.
Ready to move? Read how to switch from Booksy, compare other alternatives or check the full pricing.
Create your booking page, set your hours and share your link. Avana is free for the first 7 days.
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