The honest Booksy alternative
If Booksy’s Boost program is taking a 30% commission and crediting your returning or referred clients as “new” discoveries, you’re paying marketplace rates for relationships you already own. Keptbookings charges one flat price with zero commission, so a regular’s rebooking is never billed as a finder’s fee.
Why people leave Booksy
- Booksy Boost can charge around 30% commission, and it sometimes misattributes returning or referred clients as new — meaning you pay a marketplace fee on people who would have booked you anyway.
- Per-staff pricing of roughly $20 each means a growing team raises your monthly cost faster than your capacity does.
- Support skews toward bots and automated flows, which is frustrating when a commission dispute or payout question needs a human judgment call.
- Because discovery runs through Booksy’s marketplace, the brand equity from rebookings tends to accrue to Booksy rather than to your shop.
- Keptbookings never takes a commission and never reclassifies your own clients, so the money from a returning regular stays entirely yours.
How Keptbookings is different
- Zero marketplace commission — we never resell your regulars back to you.
- Flat team pricing, not per-staff.
- A human you can actually reach.
What Booksy does well
Booksy is a strong consumer marketplace, and for barbers and stylists chasing fresh demand that matters. Clients actively search the Booksy app to find and book local providers, the mobile experience is polished, and a well-optimized profile can deliver a genuine stream of new customers. If you’re building a book from scratch, that discovery engine has real value.
Where Booksy falls short for independents
The problem is attribution. Booksy Boost markets new-client discovery at roughly a 30% commission, but the system can credit returning clients — and even people referred to you by word of mouth — as Boost discoveries. When that happens, you’re handing over nearly a third of a ticket on someone who already knows your name, which is the opposite of paying for new business.
Scaling adds its own cost. Booksy charges around $20 per staff member, so every chair you add raises the subscription, on top of any commission flowing through Boost. For a small team that’s a double cost — more seats and more marketplace fees — eating into the margin that growth was supposed to create.
And when you need to question a charge or sort out attribution, support leans heavily on bots and canned flows. Disputes that hinge on whether a client was truly “new” are exactly the situations that need a person, and a chatbot rarely settles them in your favor.
How Keptbookings is different
Keptbookings removes commission from the equation entirely. There’s no Boost-style fee and no reclassifying your regulars — a returning client’s booking is simply your booking, with nothing skimmed off the top. You pay one flat price: a free tier to start, Solo around $19/month, and Team around $49/month flat for up to six people, so adding staff doesn’t multiply your bill the way per-seat pricing does.
Your booking page is branded and embeddable on your own site and social profiles, so the demand you generate builds your brand rather than a marketplace’s. Reminders by SMS and email are included, deposits and card validation protect against no-shows, and payouts move through Stripe with fast next-day timing.
Crucially, when you have a question, you reach a real person — human and phone support are part of the plan, not a bot you have to outsmart.
Switching from Booksy to Keptbookings
Keptbookings imports your client list and appointment history for free, so your regulars and their notes move with you intact. Setup takes about 15 minutes, and there’s no lock-in — one-click export means your data is always yours to take back. The switch is designed to cost you a coffee break, not your book.
Who should choose which
If you genuinely depend on Booksy’s marketplace to find new clients and you accept commission as a cost of acquisition, keep using it for what it’s good at. If your book is already largely repeat business and you’re tired of paying Boost rates on people you’ve served for years, Keptbookings’s flat, commission-free model keeps that revenue where it belongs.
Keptbookings vs Booksy
The differences that actually touch your money.
| What matters | Keptbookings | Booksy |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | One flat price | $29.99 + $20 per extra staff |
| Processing | Transparent flat rate | 2.49% + $0.10 |
| Commission on your clients | Never | 30% |
| No-show protection included | ||
| Guest checkout | ||
| One-click export |
Questions, answered
Is Keptbookings a good Booksy alternative?
Yes, especially once you have a steady base of regulars. Keptbookings replaces Booksy’s commission and per-staff pricing with one flat fee and never reclassifies returning clients as new, so you keep the full value of your repeat business.
Can I move my clients from Booksy?
Yes. Keptbookings imports your client list and appointment history for free, and setup usually takes about 15 minutes, so your regulars and their notes come with you.
Does Keptbookings take a commission like Booksy Boost?
No. Keptbookings charges no commission at all and never bills a returning or referred client as a “new” discovery. You pay a flat subscription and keep 100% of each ticket.
How does Keptbookings pricing compare for a team?
Booksy charges roughly $20 per staff member, while Keptbookings’s Team plan covers up to six people for about $49/month flat — so adding chairs doesn’t keep raising your bill.
Will I lose new-client discovery by leaving Booksy?
You lose the marketplace listing, but Keptbookings gives you a branded, embeddable booking page for your own site and social channels, so you can drive and own your own discovery without paying commission on it.
Is there human support with Keptbookings?
Yes. Unlike Booksy’s bot-first support, Keptbookings offers human and phone support, which matters when you need to resolve a billing or attribution question.
How does Keptbookings handle no-shows?
Keptbookings validates the card at booking, supports deposits, and alerts you if a client removes their card, so missed appointments don’t simply become lost income.
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