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A nail tech finishing a client's nails

Mission and vision

Every independent salon and studio deserves its own place to be booked

Avana is booking software for independent salons and studios, made by Sweeber Technologies in the Netherlands and available in the UK and the US. We build it so that taking bookings and payments online is within reach from your very first client or member: under your own name, for a fixed price you know in advance, and without a percentage of your revenue going anywhere else.

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Our mission

Every independent salon and studio bookable online, without it costing a share of their revenue.

We give everyone who works for themselves the same tools a big chain has: their own booking page, online payments, reminders and a calendar or schedule that fills itself. For a fixed price a month, from the very first client.

Our vision

Clients should find you, book with you and come back to you.

The software does the work around it: booking, payments, reminders, filling gaps and bringing people back. The owner's time goes into the craft and the people, and every dollar earned stays in the business.

Why we started

Being bookable online should come with the job from day one

Most booking software is priced for a business that is already running. You pay per team member, per location or per booking, so the bill grows at exactly the moment things get a little busier. A chain can absorb that. Someone just starting out, with one treatment chair or one studio room and a calendar still waiting to fill, meets a hurdle that has nothing to do with how good they are at their craft.

Then there are the booking platforms that take commission. They bring in clients, and that works, but a client who books there also becomes the platform's client. Next time, that same person is shown other businesses nearby, and part of your revenue goes with every appointment. If you work for yourself, you end up paying most in the weeks that go best.

We thought the starting point was in the wrong place. Booking online is simply how people arrange an appointment or a class today, so it should be within reach of everyone who chooses this work.

The choices that follow

A mission and a vision only mean something when you can see what they make you give up. These are the choices we will not reverse, even when a business model that looks better on paper is on offer.

  1. No commission, ever

    You pay a fixed amount a month, however full your calendar or your classes are. A percentage per booking punishes you in your best weeks.

  2. Your clients and members belong to you

    Avana is not a marketplace. There is no competitor next to you in a search result, we never send your clients someone else's offers, and we never sell your client list.

  3. Start on your own, without hurdles

    No quote, no implementation project and no sales call first. You try Avana free for 7 days, and afterwards you know exactly what it costs.

  4. Clear without a manual

    You did not choose this work to learn how to operate software. What you do every day should take a few taps, even between two clients or two classes.

  5. Open about what is included

    What each plan includes is on the website, even when that shows something sits in a higher plan. Features never hide behind a sales conversation.

  6. Only promise what exists

    What the website describes, you can use today. If another system suits you better, we would rather tell you so than sign you up.

The proof is in the product

You can see a mission in the bill and on the screen

  • One fixed monthly amount. For a salon from $20.99, with unlimited bookings, and for a studio from $22.99. What each plan includes is on the pricing page and with studio pricing.
  • 0% commission, on every booking and on every client or member, whether they are new or have been coming for years.
  • Your price stays yours. If a client or member pays online, a small service fee covers the card processing and is part of the price they see from the start. Paying in person adds nothing, and members on a class pack or membership pay nothing extra per class.
  • An address that belongs to you. Your own booking page and a booking widget for your own website.
  • For studios, everything that keeps a schedule full: an online schedule, class packs, memberships that renew every month by themselves, and a waitlist that fills a free spot again. It is all in Avana for studios.
  • Switching does not cost you anyone. A salon brings clients, services and appointments along, and a studio moves members over with their credit. How that works is on switching to Avana.

Try it yourself, without committing to anything

Free for 7 days, with no payment details needed. After that, one fixed amount a month, and you can cancel any month.

More about our mission

Who we build Avana for, and what we deliberately leave out

What we do not do

Being within reach also means saying no. We do not build a marketplace where businesses are played off against each other on price, because that moves the pressure onto exactly the people we make this for. We charge nothing per booking, not even a small percentage. And we do not promise anything that is not there yet.

If another system suits you better, we would rather say so than sign you up. That is why you will find honest comparisons on our comparison pages.

Helping you get started is part of it

Making this accessible does not stop at the price. What holds a new salon or studio back is often not the buttons but the questions around them: what am I allowed to do, what does it cost to start, and what is left at the end of the month. That is why we write those answers down and put them online for free, even if you are not a customer yet.

Most of all, we try to make the first week easy. You add your services or classes, set your hours and share your link, and if you get stuck, our team answers by email. Read how switching works if you are coming from another system.

Where we are now

We started in the Netherlands and now work with business owners in Belgium, Germany, the UK and the US, with booking pages, emails and payments in the language and currency that belong there. Data from you, your clients and your members is stored on European servers under the GDPR, and we never share it with marketplaces. The details are in our privacy policy.

Tell us what you think

Most of what we build comes from conversations with salons and studios about where their week gets stuck. If something is missing, or something does not work the way you expect, let us know through the contact page. Want to see what is included first? Read about Avana.