The Finisher.
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Rent an app, or own your back office.

Pay once, and it's yours: no monthly fee to us, no commission, no notice to give. Running costs are often just your domain name, once a year.

We build it and set it up; you approve it.

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The cost calculator

What is renting really costing you?

Three questions, your own numbers, about a minute. Nothing is stored or sent.

How busy are you?

We've started you on 20 clients a week, 48 weeks a year. Pick your craft and change the numbers to match your week.

What it counts

  • Bookings that slip through
  • Messages back and forth to book
  • Chasing forms, deposits and reminders
  • Fees you don't like to charge
  • Adding up what you took

Work out your own numbers

Every number the answer uses is yours to change, from your hourly rate to the fees you let go.

Fine-tune the numbers: the thirteen things it countsHide the numbers

The example: 20 clients a week, £45 an appointment, 48 weeks. We have used cautious guesses. At a quarter of £45 (£11.25) that is £2,430, at half (£22.50) £4,860.

No VAT is added. Where we show other providers' prices without VAT, we've added it so the comparison is fair.

Your week

An hour of admin is only worth money if you would otherwise fill it with a paying client, so we value it at a fraction.

Prices change, so check theirs. We start from the lowest published prices for your craft's rented set.

1. Appointments lost

Appointments that slip because a booking was not confirmed, a reminder did not go out or a cancellation was not refilled.

£855 a year

2. Back and forth

Messages to find a time, confirm it, send the address and say yes.

96 hours a year, £1,080

3. Admin by hand

Chasing forms and deposits, sending reminders and follow-ups yourself.

96 hours a year, £1,080

4. Fees you do not charge

A late-cancellation fee you waived because asking felt awkward.

A policy written once and applied for you takes the awkward conversation away.

£240 a year

5. Adding up what you took

Sorting bank transfers, cash and card to know what you earned.

Takings for visits you have settled up are added up for you.

24 hours a year, £270

6. Setting it up yourself

Choosing, building and testing a booking app, website, forms and payments yourself.

With The Finisher it is a free chat, your answers and a handover session.

30 hours once, £338
Show the seven other things that cost youHide the seven other things

7. Finding things

A few minutes each time you look up a client's last visit or form.

0 hours a year, £0

8. Re-checking what they had last time

0 hours a year, £0

9. Enquiries lost out of hours

Someone messages at 10pm, you reply at 8am, and they have booked elsewhere.

£0 a year

10. Empty gaps

Late cancellations a month nobody refilled.

Your waiting list is told when a time frees up, so a gap can fill itself.

£0 a year

11. Time off

Bookings you could not take while away or ill.

£0 a year

12. If you add someone

Many booking apps charge per team member each month. Our second practitioner extra is £450, once.

13. What leaving costs

Rebuilding a website, re-entering clients and telling everyone a new address.

After go-live there is nothing to move, because it is already yours.

20 hours once, £225

The sums behind the answer, and every price we used.

See how it adds upHide the sums
What your current set-up may cost you each year
Appointments lost£855 a year
Back and forth96 hours a year, £1,080
Admin by hand96 hours a year, £1,080
Fees you do not charge£240 a year
Adding up what you took24 hours a year, £270
More things that cost you0 hours a year, £0
Each year£3,525 (216 hours of your time and £1,095)
Setting it up yourself, once30 hours once, £338
What leaving costs, once20 hours once, £225
Three years and five years
3 years5 years
The rented set£1,205£2,009
The Finisher£1,950 once£1,950 once
Show the rented set for each craftHide the rented set

To do the whole job, a one-person business usually rents a booking app, a website and a forms tool, with reminders and payments inside one of them. Here is that set for each craft, from published UK prices, beside The Finisher.

CraftThe rented setEach monthOver three years
Hair and beautyFresha, Independent, £17.94 a month (booking app, forms, reminders, payments) + Fresha, Smart Website add-on, £15.54 a month (website)£33.48 a month£1,205
TattooGet Ink, Pro (one artist), £29 a month (booking app, reminders, payments) + website (typical range) + forms (typical range)£41 to £55 a month£1,476 to £1,980
Dog groomingPawfectly Booked, Solo Gold, £24 a month (booking app, reminders) + website (typical range) + forms (typical range) + Stripe, Pay as you go (payments, no monthly fee)£36 to £50 a month£1,296 to £1,800
Piercing, massage and moreSquare Appointments, Free, £0 a month (booking app, reminders, payments) + website (typical range) + forms (typical range)£12 to £26 a month£432 to £936
The FinisherOne system: website, booking, forms, client records, reminders and payments, on your own accountsRunning costs are often just your domain name, once a year.£1,950 once (£1,450 at the launch price)

Typical range: where no one tool has a single price, from the lowest to the highest published UK price of named providers, the cheapest way to pay. Website: Squarespace Basic, paid yearly, Squarespace Core, paid yearly, Hostinger Premium website builder, regular price. Forms: Tally Free, Typeform Basic, paid yearly (£108 a year). Read on 25 October 2026: Squarespace, Hostinger, Tally, Typeform. The other prices are in the line by line below, read on 10 October 2026. Card fees are charged on each payment, on top.

£1,950 over three years is £650 a year.

  • If an hour of your time is worth half your hourly rate, that is about 29 hours a year, or 36 minutes a week.
  • At a quarter, about 58 hours, or 72 minutes a week.

The Finisher pays for itself if it gives you back that much.

Against£1,450once at the launch price, £483 a year over three years: about 54 minutes a week at a quarter, 27 at half. At £1,950: £650 a year, 72 and 36 minutes.

Launch price: £1,450 for our next nine customers, £483 a year over three years.

An example from your own numbers, not a promise. We cannot say how many appointments you will win back.

What we do not count

Your evenings, your stress and any promise of results. We cannot know them.

How we worked this outHide how we worked it out
  • Fresha, Independent: £17.94 a month (£14.95 as published, plus 20%). Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Fresha, Smart Website add-on: £15.54 a month (£12.95 as published, plus 20%). Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Booksy, Subscription: £48 a month (£40 as published, plus 20%). Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Square Appointments, Free: £0 a month. Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Square Appointments, Plus: £29 a month. Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Pawfectly Booked, Solo Gold: £24 a month (£20 as published, plus 20%). Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Get Ink, Pro (one artist): £29 a month. Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Commission, Fresha: On new clients from its marketplace: 24% one-time commission, minimum fee of £4.80 per client; none on returning clients. Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Commission, Booksy Boost: One-time 36% fee (with a minimum of £6), only when Boost is switched on. Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Commission, Treatwell: 42% commission on first bookings made by new clients we bring you from the marketplace; 0% commission for repeat bookings. Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Card fees, Stripe: Standard UK cards: 1.5% + 20p. (The Finisher takes payments through your own card-payment account, with no fee of ours on top.) Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Card fees, Square: In person: 1.75%; online: 1.4% + 25p Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Card fees, SumUp: Pay as you go: 1.69% in person Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Card fees, GoCardless: Direct Debit: 1.2% + 24p (capped at £4.80) Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.
  • Card fees, Fresha: Online payments 1.68% + 30p. Source, link last checked 10 October 2026.

Tools we looked at, by job:

  • Booking and diary: Fresha, Booksy, Treatwell, Timely, Square Appointments, Setmore, Phorest, Get Ink, Calendly, Pawfectly Booked, Acuity, Mindbody, Glofox, TeamUp, Pabau.
  • Website: Fresha Smart Website, Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, GoDaddy, Get Ink's page.
  • Consultation and consent forms: Jotform, Google Forms, Typeform, Paperform.
  • Taking payments and deposits: Stripe, SumUp, Square, PayPal, Zettle.
  • Text reminders: Twilio.
  • Mailing list: Mailchimp, MailerLite, Brevo.
  • Business email and calendar: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoho Mail, Fastmail, iCloud+ with a custom domain.

From held together to finished

A booking app, a website builder, forms, payments, reminders

One website and back office, in your own accounts, under your own name.

  • Held together

    A booking app you rent every month, with someone else's name on it

    Finished

    Your own website, with booking under your name

  • Held together

    Paper consent forms in a drawer

    Finished

    Health forms sent, chased, signed and kept private

Show the other changesHide the other changes
  • Before: Reminders sent by hand from your own phoneFinished: Automatic reminders, with links to change or cancel
  • Before: A website that doesn't yet match your workFinished: A website that lives up to your work
  • Before: Prices and photos updated in three placesFinished: Prices and photos that update themselves
  • Before: A spreadsheet at tax timeFinished: Takings ready for your accountant

The subscription is the cheap part

  • Hours between the tools. Copying a booking into your diary, a form into your notes, a payment into your spreadsheet.
  • Things that slip. A form not yet back, a deposit still to chase, a review you meant to ask for.
  • The same details, typed three times. A new client's name and number in the booking app, the forms tool and your phone.
  • Two systems, half a job each. And you doing the other half by hand.

The stack you'd otherwise stitch together

Often three to six tools, each with its own price, login and terms.

  • Booking and diaryFresha, Booksy, Treatwell
  • WebsiteFresha Smart Website, Wix, Squarespace
  • Consultation and consent formsJotform, Google Forms, Typeform
  • Taking payments and depositsStripe, SumUp, Square
  • Text remindersTwilio
  • Mailing listMailchimp, MailerLite, Brevo
  • The FinisherOne system, in your own name.

Messages and a diary, a booking app, or The Finisher

QuestionMessages and a diaryA booking appThe Finisher
Reminders and confirmationsSent by youUsually includedIncluded, from your address
Commission on new clientsNoneVaries by appNone
Your clients and recordsScattered across messagesHeld on their platform, you can usually exportIn your own accounts, you hold them
Your own website at your own addressSeparate jobVaries by appIncluded
QuestionMessages and a diaryA booking appThe Finisher
Cost of leavingLow, but nothing is joined upmoving your client list and rebuilding your page and settingsNothing to move
Time to set upLowquick to start, longer to set up fullyA chat and your answers
CostYour timeusually a monthly subscription (some have free plans), often with extrasOne payment, then optional care plan

The booking app column is checked against the apps' own pricing and help pages, 10 October 2026.

Need more convincing?

Every price and rate we used, line by line, with where it came from.

Why pay up front?
  • A subscription is rent: after three years you've paid a lot and own none of it.
  • Here you pay once. After the final payment it's yours, in your own accounts, and it carries on whether or not we do.
  • Running costs
  • The 25% deposit books your set-up. You see two design directions first: if you love neither, we revise the closer one once, and if that still isn't right, your deposit comes back in full.
  • The balance is due when you go live, or you can spread it over up to six monthly payments, no interest.

When another tool is the better choice

If you want a marketplace to send you new clients, one of them may suit you better. If you run a large team, or want the lowest monthly cost, or would rather not hold your own accounts, we may not be right for you.