If you already run a WordPress site for a hair salon, barbershop or spa, the Bookly vs Salon Booking System choice is not “which plugin can take an appointment.” Both can. The real question is whether you want a generic appointment engine that you assemble with add-ons, or a salon-first plugin that already thinks in stylists, processing time, deposits and repeat clients.
This is the long comparison promised on the WordPress salon booking plugin hub. The sibling page is Salon Booking System vs Amelia. Hosted marketplaces are a different article: Fresha alternatives.
Prices and stats below are taken from official pages and WordPress.org on 27 August 2026. Where a number is not published, it is omitted.
Short version: Bookly is a fair pick if you book generic appointments, want a lifetime licence, or only need one or two extra modules. Salon Booking System is the better Bookly WordPress salon plugin if you actually run chairs, cabins and colour-plus-cut bookings — on your site, with 0% commission and no competing salons on the booking page. In their own alternative posts, Bookly names Salon Booking System as the vertical specialist. That frame is theirs, not a slogan we invented.
Salon Booking System vs Bookly at a glance
| Bookly | Salon Booking System | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Generic WP appointment plugin (salons, clinics, tutors, events) | WP plugin for hair salons, barbershops, beauty centres, spas |
| On WordPress.org since | 2014 | 2015 |
| WP.org rating | 4.4/5 from 575 reviews | 4.4/5 from 180 reviews |
| Reach | 60,000+ active installs; 3M+ downloads (vendor) | 2,000+ active installs; 750,000+ downloads |
| Free version | Unlimited appointments; 5 services, 1 staff. Payments and extra staff/services are Pro-only | Unlimited bookings, staff and services. Reminders, two-way Google Calendar, coupons. No card payments |
| Paid price (1 site, 27 Aug 2026) | Pro $39/yr or $99 life; Business $69/yr or $129 life; Ultimate $159/yr or $199 life. CodeCanyon Pro Regular License $199 | Basic €89/yr; Business €169/yr (2 sites) + VAT |
| Add-on stacking | 40+ add-ons ($9.95–$18.95/yr or $29–$59 life). Many bundled in Business/Ultimate | Salon core in Basic. Multi-location, white label, WooCommerce, add-on library in Business |
| Salon-specific features | Duration, staff, extras, locations, packages — mostly add-ons | Processing breaks, colour + cut, price per staff, rooms, staff mobile app |
| Staff | Individual schedules; Staff Cabinet is an add-on (in Business) | Calendars, permissions, commissions; staff mobile web app on Basic |
| Payments | Local pay on Free. Stripe, PayPal, deposits: Business or à la carte. WooCommerce from Pro | Stripe/PayPal, deposits and full prepay on Basic. Local gateways + WooCommerce on Business |
| Trial / refund | No paid trial. 30-day money-back | 15-day trial of paid plugin. Free on WordPress.org, no card |
| Who it’s for | Mixed service businesses, agencies, lifetime-licence buyers | Salon / spa / barber owners and their WP developers |
Two plugins, two product ideas
Bookly has been on WordPress.org since 2014. The vendor presents it as a scheduler for salons and yoga studios, dentists, tutors, photographers and event spaces. That breadth helps developers with mixed clients. It is extra work if you need processing time, a second service on the same ticket, and a staff app that is not an afterthought.
Salon Booking System has been on WordPress.org since April 2015. The free listing is built around staff skills and hours, processing time, rebooking and no-shows. It runs on your WordPress install. No marketplace fee. No competing salons next to your form.
Hosted marketplaces are a different article: SimplyBook.me pricing, Fresha alternatives, Square Appointments review.
Pricing and add-on stacking
Bookly
Official 1-site prices on 27 August 2026:
- Free — $0. Official FAQ: up to 5 services and 1 staff member.
- Pro — $39/year (list $99) or $99 lifetime. Unlimited staff/services on that site, WooCommerce, one-way Google Calendar, Zoom / Google Meet.
- Business — $69/year (list $129) or $129 lifetime, with a 5-site option. Bundles Stripe, PayPal Standard, deposits, cart, coupons, extras, locations, recurring/group booking, cabinets, two-way Google Calendar.
- Ultimate — $159/year (list $199) or $199 lifetime (20- and 100-site options). Adds waiting list, packages, invoices, Mailchimp, collaborative/chain services and extra gateways.
Lifetime on the vendor site is a real Bookly advantage. Bookly Pro is also on CodeCanyon (Regular License $199, 6 months of support). SBS does not publish a lifetime licence. Bookly has no paid trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The pricing page sits next to a separate add-on catalogue. À la carte, official 2026 prices include Stripe $12.95/year, deposits $12.95, extras $15.95, cart $9.95, coupons $12.95, locations $12.95, waiting list $9.95, Staff Cabinet $12.95. Five of those already cost more than Pro. Business at $69/year is the honest Bookly number for a working salon, not the $39 tile.
SMS and WhatsApp go through Bookly Cloud (top-ups start at $25) — usage cost on top of the licence.
Salon Booking System
From the official pricing page:
- Free — €0. Unlimited bookings, services and staff. Calendar, reminders, discounts, customer accounts, two-way Google Calendar. No online cards.
- Basic — €89/year, 1 site. Stripe and PayPal, partial and full payments, advanced staff tools, staff mobile app, REST API, priority support.
- Business — €169/year, 2 sites. All official add-ons, multi-location, white label, WooCommerce checkout, local gateways, AI Setup Assistant. 15-day trial, then €169/year + VAT where applicable.
Basic users can still buy Communicator (€89/year) or Dynamic Pricing (€69/year). Smart Wait-list is €1 per recovered booking. All three are already in Business.
The WordPress.org build can run a small salon’s diary. You upgrade for a deposit, the staff app, or a second location — not for a second hire. Compare invoices as billed: Bookly Business in USD versus SBS Basic or Business in EUR.
Salon-specific features
A Bookly setup can look like a salon. You will configure it. An SBS setup starts as a salon.
Processing time and the same-ticket path. Colour needs a break. Cut + colour is one visit, two services, sometimes two people. SBS ships service breaks, conditional secondary services and multi-assistant tickets in the core (Pro can require more than one attendant). Bookly’s extras, cart and compound/chain/collaborative modules are add-ons; the last group is on Ultimate.
Price per staff, rooms and devices. SBS Pro prices a service from the selected assistant and can reserve a room or device as a resource. Bookly assigns staff to services and handles locations/capacity through add-ons; per-staff pricing is not listed as a first-class Pro feature on the public compare page.
Staff in the room. SBS Basic includes a mobile web app (upcoming reservations, calendar, address book, create/edit). Bookly’s Staff Cabinet, in Business, lets staff manage bookings from the website — useful, different product. Both do coupons; SBS adds history, fidelity scoring and (on Business) Communicator.
Bookly is not bad at beauty — it is a kit. If you want colour-and-cut before the add-on shop, SBS is the more honest default.
Staff, payments and who holds the client list
Bookly Pro removes the 1-staff Free cap. SBS Free already allows unlimited assistants with their own weekly rules, holidays and service limits. Paid SBS adds permissions, commission tracking, multi-location assignment (Business) and the staff app.
If a card or a deposit is non-negotiable on day one, Bookly Free will not do it — WordPress.org is explicit. You need Pro plus payment add-ons, or Business. SBS Free can run the diary; cards start at Basic. Business adds WooCommerce checkout and the local gateways listed on WordPress.org.
Both plugins store bookings in your WordPress database. Neither takes a commission on the appointment. The “0% commission / no competing salons” line is a contrast with marketplaces, not with Bookly.
Bookly support is prioritised for paid licences. SBS is an Italy-based team that answers in English, Spanish and Italian.
When Bookly is the better fit
- You are not only a salon. Clinics, tutors, coaches, photographers, class studios and mixed agency clients fit Bookly’s generic model. Zoom / Meet / Jitsi are first-class on Pro. SBS is the wrong tool for a hotel, a restaurant or a multi-day rental.
- You want to pay once. Official lifetime licences ($99 / $129 / $199 on 27 Aug 2026) and the CodeCanyon Regular License ($199) are a genuine reason to pick Bookly. SBS is annual: after expiry you can keep using it, but updates and support stop.
- You only need Pro plus one module. A solo booker who wants unlimited staff/services and WooCommerce can stay near $39/year — cheaper than SBS Basic.
- You need events or a huge install base. Bookly sells an Events add-on and publishes 60,000+ active installations.
- You want a 30-day refund instead of a trial. Bookly: buy, test, refund. SBS: 15-day trial, then narrower refund rules on a completed purchase.
If those five describe you, use Bookly. If the other WordPress name on your shortlist is Amelia (events, wizard, Lite = one employee), that comparison is Salon Booking System vs Amelia.
When Salon Booking System is the better Bookly alternative for salons
- The free version has to survive a real week. Unlimited staff and services, two-way Google Calendar, reminders and coupons without a 5-service wall.
- The booking path is salon-shaped. Processing time, extras, two services, two assistants, a locked room, a price that changes with the stylist — without a cart of $10 add-ons.
- You want a predictable Business invoice. €169/year for two sites, multi-location, white label, WooCommerce and the add-on set. Compare that with Bookly Ultimate if you need waiting list + packages + extra gateways + Mailchimp.
- Staff need a phone app, not another wp-admin login. The mobile web app is on Basic.
- You care who answers the ticket. Italy-based team, EN / ES / IT, this vertical since 2015. 4.4/5 from 180 WordPress.org reviews is a smaller sample than Bookly’s 575 — say that out loud — but the product is not pretending to be a dental-and-yoga framework.
Start with the free plugin on WordPress.org, then the 15-day Pro trial on staging if you need payments and the staff app. Developers shipping one kit to dentists and trainers will prefer Bookly’s catalogue and lifetime licence. Owners (and salon-specialist developers) get fewer paid modules on the SBS invoice. White label on Business keeps the booking UI on the salon, not the plugin. Neither replaces POS or inventory — that is the Fresha / Square conversation.
Also on this site
The hub and vs Amelia sit with this page. Hosted tools already live: Fresha alternatives, Square Appointments, SimplyBook.me pricing, SimplyBook.me alternatives.
FAQ
Does Bookly’s free version work for a two-stylist salon?
Not as published. Vendor FAQ and WordPress.org limit Free to 5 services and 1 staff member. A two-chair shop is already a paid Bookly site. SBS Free allows unlimited staff and services; you pay when you need cards. Install SBS free.
Bookly vs Salon Booking System — which is cheaper?
Solo generic booker: Bookly Pro at $39/year (or $99 lifetime) can win. Salon that needs Stripe, deposits, extras, cart and a staff login: compare Bookly Business ($69/year) with SBS Basic (€89/year). Multi-location + WooCommerce + packages + white label: Bookly Ultimate ($159/year) vs SBS Business (€169/year, 2 sites). Lifetime Bookly can win over four or five years; SBS does not sell lifetime.
Can I buy Bookly once on CodeCanyon and never pay again?
Yes for Bookly Pro — Regular License listed at $199 on 27 August 2026, with updates of that item and 6 months of support. That is not the Business/Ultimate bundle. Extra add-ons are still extra. SBS’s pricing FAQ says their CodeCanyon listing is likewise Pro without the full add-on set.
Do these plugins show competing salons or take a commission?
No. Both run on your WordPress site. Marketplace fees: Fresha alternatives. SaaS feature caps: SimplyBook.me pricing.
Does Bookly include a staff mobile app?
Bookly’s Staff Cabinet (in Business) lets staff manage bookings from the website. That is not the same product as SBS Basic’s staff mobile web app (upcoming reservations, calendar, address book, create/edit on a phone). If the floor should not share the wp-admin login, compare those two surfaces before you buy.
Is Bookly a WordPress alternative to Salon Booking System?
Both are WordPress plugins. “Bookly alternative for salons” usually means you want the diary on the same site, without assembling extras, cart and cabinets as separate SKUs. The alternative to Bookly for a salon floor is Salon Booking System. The alternative to Salon Booking System if you need a generic engine, events, or a lifetime licence is Bookly. Amelia is the other WordPress name — vs Amelia.
Bottom line
Bookly is a mature, widely installed WordPress booking plugin with a real lifetime option and a catalogue that can imitate a salon if you pay for the right modules — or just buy Business.
Salon Booking System is the Bookly alternative for salons that do not want to imitate a salon: unlimited free staff and services, salon rules in the core, Stripe/PayPal and a staff app at €89/year, the rest at €169/year on your own site.
Install both free plugins on staging. Book a colour with processing time, a cut on the same ticket, and a deposit. Fewer extra SKUs wins.
