Directories that also take a cut
A listing brings enquiries, but some platforms charge per new client. Paying to be found, then paying to book, squeezes a small practice.
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Counsellor booking with no platform in the middle
You offer a free intro call, then fifty-minute sessions. Clients find you through directories and referrals. Nobody should take a share of that.
- 0% commission on every booking, including a first booking. CA$29 a month for the Founding 50, then CA$49, one price for the whole team.
- Live in 48 hours from your Fresha export: booking page, calendar and reminders. Card payments start when you are ready: connect Stripe, or keep your current card machine and record payments in Fairbooked.
What gets in the way for counsellors
An intro call that never books
The call is how people decide. If the next step is an email asking when they are free, many stop there.
Evening hours, tired inbox
Most clients can only come after work, so evenings fill first. Sorting them by message after a full day is easy to drop.
How Fairbooked fits counsellors
Intro call to first session
Put your link in the email after an intro call. The client picks a first session from open times, and you pay nothing per booking.
A notice window that starts at 48 hours
The starter setting for a therapy practice is forty-eight hours, and you can change it. Add a no-show fee once Stripe is connected.
Evening hours that fill themselves
Set evening working hours and time off for holidays. Clients pick from live times and get a reminder by email or text.
Counselling is regulated differently by province and title. Check with your own regulator or association about records and fees. Fairbooked books the appointment only. It keeps no session notes.
A starting service list for counsellors
An example only. Every name, length and price here is a placeholder you change or delete when you set up your own list.
- Free intro call15 minNo charge
- First session, 60 min1 hCA$145
- Counselling session, 50 min50 minCA$125
- Long session, 80 min1 h 20 minCA$190
- Evening session, 50 min50 minCA$135
- Online session, 50 min50 minCA$120
Your maths, on a CA$125 50-minute counselling session
Fresha lists 20% on a new marketplace client's first booking (minimum CA$6): CA$25.00. We take 0%. For an in-person card Fresha lists 2.29% + CA$0.20, Interac included: CA$3.06. A Stripe Interac tap is CA$0.15. The calculator below opens on 50 card visits a month and one person; change any number to match yours.
What would Fresha cost you, next to us?
Put in your own numbers. We work out Fresha's monthly bill from its published prices, and ours as Stripe's card rates plus our flat monthly price, and show every line of both. The figures start on an example counsellor.
You would keep
CA$716 a year
That is CA$59.70 a month, 30.8% less than Fresha.
- Fresha, per month
- CA$194.07
- With us, per month
- CA$134.37
Rates as of September 2026. Fresha can change its prices. With us means Stripe's published Canadian card rates, paid to Stripe, plus our CA$29 a month. Card reader optional for deposits and no-show fees. For in-person tap checkout, Stripe readers from about CA$79 (Bluetooth) or CA$419 (countertop, S700).
How we calculated this
LineFreshaWith us
Software subscriptionFreshaCA$29.95CA$29.95 (Independent plan)With usCA$29.00CA$29 Founding 50 price, locked 24 months, for the whole team
Card fees, in personFreshaCA$135.362.29% + CA$0.20 on CA$5,525.00 across 44.2 paymentsWith usCA$74.75Stripe, paid to Stripe: 23.4 Interac taps × CA$0.15, plus 2.7% + CA$0.05 on CA$2,600.00 of credit across 20.8 payments
Card fees, onlineFreshaCA$28.762.79% + CA$0.20 on CA$975.00 across 7.8 paymentsWith usCA$30.62Stripe, paid to Stripe: 2.9% + CA$0.30 on the same payments
New-client commissionFreshaCA$0.0020% of the ticket (minimum CA$6.00) × 0 new clientsWith usCA$0.000%, never charged on any booking, including a first booking
Total per monthCA$194.07CA$134.37
Savings = Fresha's total minus ours = CA$59.70 a month, times 12 = CA$716.40 a year. We assume 85% of card volume is taken in person and the rest online, that 45% of it is Interac debit in person at CA$0.15 a tap, and that the number of payments is card volume divided by your average ticket.
What this does and does not include
- Fresha's prices are the ones on its own pricing page as of September 2026, and it can change them. Check fresha.com/pricing before you decide anything.
- Fresha says its 20% new-client fee applies only to clients who first find you on its marketplace, and that returning clients pay nothing. Enter only the clients you would expect Fresha to count. Fresha also says the fee has a maximum cap that its pricing page does not state, so on large tickets we may overstate it.
- We leave out Fresha's per-tap surcharge, text messages beyond the free allowance, premium support, add-ons and terminal hardware. Every one of those makes Fresha dearer, so leaving them out favours Fresha.
- Taxes are excluded on both sides. Payout timing, chargebacks and your bank's own fees are not modelled.
- The savings estimate uses Stripe's published Canadian card rates (2.7% + CA$0.05 in person, CA$0.15 flat for Interac debit, 2.9% + CA$0.30 online), paid to Stripe directly; we make nothing on card payments. It is modelled on a typical Toronto card mix (45% Interac debit in person, the rest credit), so your real Stripe bill will differ with your own mix. Rates read from stripe.com/en-ca/pricing in September 2026; check the page before you decide.
- Card reader optional for deposits and no-show fees. For in-person tap checkout, Stripe readers from about CA$79 (Bluetooth) or CA$419 (countertop, S700).
- We launch in Toronto first. The savings estimate is modelled with Stripe's Canadian rates, in Canadian dollars. UK and US figures reuse the same Canadian model and the same subscription number in local currency as an indication only. Fresha's UK prices are unverified: we could only read them on two competitor sites.
Questions from counsellors
Something else? Ask us on the switch form and a person will answer.
Keep what you earn.
Start your own booking page, or ask us to move you over from Fresha. A named person replies on WhatsApp, usually within the hour during business hours.