hello@kootenaymade.ca
Castlegar, BC. Serving the Kootenays and beyond.
10 min
Key takeaways
- Pick the system built for what people book: a person, a room, a seat or a piece of gear.
- Jane and Fresha showed prices in CAD in September 2026. Acuity and Calendly bill in US dollars.
- Square Appointments is free for one location, with 2.8% plus 30 cents on online card payments (September 2026).
- Most systems can sit inside your own page as a pop-up or an embedded calendar.
- Keep the website and the domain in your name. The booking tool can change. The address people know should not.
On this page
What is the best online booking system for a small business in Canada?
The best one is built for what your customers book. Clinics lean to Jane, which prices in Canadian dollars. Salons and barbers lean to Square Appointments, Fresha or Booksy. Tours and rentals need Checkfront or a system like it. Consultations fit Calendly or Acuity. Then check one thing: can the booking sit on your own website?
This guide is for a small business anywhere in Canada that takes appointments or reservations. I read every price below on the vendor’s own page on September 23, 2026, from here in the Kootenays. Prices change often, so the sources at the end link each page.
How do the booking systems compare on price?
Most start free or under $40 a month for one person. Costs climb with staff, locations and bookings. Jane and Fresha show Canadian dollars. Acuity and Calendly bill in US dollars. Square and Booksy show prices on Canadian pages without a currency label.
SimplyBook.me showed its prices in CA$ when I opened the page from Canada. Checkfront notes its pricing may vary by region and currency. Card processing is separate from the subscription on every one of them.
| What is being compared | Price, checked September 2026 | Built for |
|---|---|---|
| Square Appointments | Free for one location. Plus is $35 and Premium $85 a month per location. Online card payments 2.8% plus 30 cents. | Salons, barbers and studios that also sell at a counter |
| Jane | CAD $54 a month for one practitioner and 20 appointments a month. Practice is CAD $79 and Thrive CAD $99. More practitioners cost extra. | Health and wellness clinics |
| Acuity Scheduling | US$16 a month billed yearly, or US$20 month to month, for one calendar. Up to 6 calendars is US$27 or US$34. | Solo practitioners and small teams with set appointment types |
| Calendly | Free plan. Standard is $10 a seat a month and Teams $16, both billed yearly, with no currency shown on the page. Card payments start on Standard. | Consultations, estimates and meetings |
| SimplyBook.me | Free for 50 bookings a month. Basic is CA$15 a month billed yearly, or CA$18 month to month, for 100 bookings. Standard is CA$40 month to month. | Small teams that want to pay by booking volume |
| Fresha | Independent is CA$29.95 a month. Team is CA$19.95 per bookable team member. New clients from the Fresha marketplace carry a one-time 20% fee, CA$6 minimum. | Salons, barbers and spas |
| Booksy | $29.99 a month plus tax, and $20 a month for each extra staff member up to 14. | Barbers and salons |
| Checkfront | $99 a month plus a 3% fee on online bookings. No fee on bookings you take offline. | Tours, rentals and activities with seats or gear to sell |
The subscription is the number people compare. The fees per booking and per text message are the numbers that grow.
Does the booking live on your own website?
It can with almost every system here. There are three levels. A plain link sends the visitor to the booking company’s page. A pop-up opens the calendar over your page. An embed puts the calendar inside your page. The last two keep the visitor on your own address.
- 01
A link out
Your button sends the visitor to the booking company’s page. It is the fastest setup. The visitor leaves your site at the moment they decide, and the page they land on looks like every other business on that system.
- 02
A button that opens a pop-up
The booking opens over your page. The visitor stays on your address, with your photos and prices right behind the calendar. Calendly documents both a pop-up button and a pop-up text link.
- 03
A calendar built into the page
The booking form sits inside your own page, beside the service it books. This is the smoothest path for a visitor. Square, Calendly, Acuity, SimplyBook.me and Checkfront all publish embed code for it.
Here is how each system documents it, checked September 2026.
- Square Appointments
- A booking button, a QR code, or a booking widget embedded in your existing site, on every plan. Square also offers its own booking website.
- Jane
- Book Online buttons and links that paste into any website. The booking itself happens on Jane.
- Acuity Scheduling
- Embed the whole scheduler, add a booking button, or add a booking bar across the top of your site.
- Calendly
- Three embed types: inline on the page, a pop-up text link, or a floating pop-up button.
- SimplyBook.me
- A booking widget for your site, or its own booking website on every plan.
- Fresha
- A booking link from its link builder, for a button on your site. Fresha states it does not charge its new-client fee on clients who find you through your own website.
- Booksy
- A booking widget for your website and your Facebook page. Clients pick a service, a time and a staff member inside it.
- Checkfront
- Four embed options: a catalogue, a single product, the full booking widget, or a Book Now button.
The difference matters most on marketplaces. Fresha and Booksy both run marketplaces where customers browse many businesses at once. Fresha charges a one-time 20% fee, CA$6 minimum, on new clients from its marketplace. Fresha’s pricing page says clients who find you through your own website carry no new-client fee. A marketplace can bring in strangers. Your own site is where the people who already know your name should land.
Every extra screen between wanting and booking loses someone. How booking friction costs local service businesses shows where those screens usually hide.
Which booking system fits a salon, clinic, trade or lodge?
Salons and barbers fit Square Appointments, Fresha or Booksy. Clinics fit Jane. Trades that book a fixed visit fit Calendly or Acuity. Lodges, tours and rentals need software that counts rooms, seats or gear, like Checkfront for tours and rentals.
- Salon or barber
- Square Appointments, Fresha and Booksy are built for chairs, stylists and deposits. The software handles the calendar. A salon or barber website that books covers the pages a first-time client reads before they pick a time.
- Clinic or practitioner
- Jane prices in Canadian dollars and handles charting and reminders, with insurance billing as an add-on. Most clinics keep it. Why clinics keep Jane and add their own website explains how the two work together.
- Trades and estimates
- A calendar suits a fixed visit, like a furnace service or a free estimate. Calendly’s free plan or Acuity will do it. A job that needs photos and a description first is often better served by a short quote form.
- Lodge, tour or rental
- Rooms, seats and gear are inventory, so a calendar of time slots is the wrong tool. Checkfront sells tours, rentals and activities. A lodge with rooms needs a system built for lodging, and direct bookings on a small lodge website covers that side.
- Coach or consultant
- Calendly or Acuity. Both take payment at booking on a paid plan, and both embed in a page.
What will a booking system really cost each month?
Add the subscription at your real staff count, then the card fees, then text messages. For a three-chair shop, Fresha’s Team plan comes to CA$59.85 a month. Booksy comes to $69.99 plus tax. Both figures are before card fees, at September 2026 prices.
The Fresha number is three team members at CA$19.95. The Booksy number is $29.99 for the first person and $20 for each of the other two. Square Appointments Plus is $35 a month per location.
Card fees come next. In September 2026, Square charged 2.8% plus 30 cents on an online payment. Fresha charged 2.79% plus CA$0.20. Booksy’s Canadian pricing page listed no card rate, so ask before you sign. Fresha’s Team plan includes 100 automated reminder texts a month per team member, then charges CA$0.03 each. Marketing texts are CA$0.08. Read the fee table before you turn on deposits and reminders.
How do I choose a booking system and set it up?
Start from what people book, not from a feature list. Shortlist two systems built for it. Price both at your real staff count. Then trial each one on a test page of your own site, and book, change and cancel an appointment from your phone.
- 01Write down what people book: a service, a person, a room, a seat or a piece of gear. That list picks the family of software.
- 02Shortlist two systems built for that family. Read each one’s own Canadian pricing page, and note whether it bills in CAD or USD.
- 03Add up the monthly bill at your real staff count, plus card fees and any text message charges.
- 04Start a free trial and put the booking on a test page of your own site. Try the link, the pop-up and the embed.
- 05Book, change and cancel an appointment from your own phone. Read every email and text the customer gets.
- 06Keep your website and your domain in your own name. The booking system plugs into the site. You can swap it later and keep the address people know.
What does the website around the booking cost?
The booking system handles the calendar. The website does the work before it: the services, the prices, the people and the reasons to pick you. A site of your own carries that work, whichever booking system you plug in.
I build websites that put your booking inside your own pages. The Trailhead is $2,000 once, or $500 at signing and 12 payments of $142 ($2,204 total) on Own It Monthly. A business that wants bookings, memberships and payments in one owned system, usually replacing the booking subscription, is an Empire build. That starts at $10,000 and is billed by milestone.
For a salon or barbershop, salon and barber website design shows what that build includes. I am based in Castlegar, BC, and I work with businesses anywhere in Canada and beyond.
Sources and further reading
- Square Appointments pricing, Canada
Read September 23, 2026, Canadian page with no currency label. Free $0 for one location, Plus $35 and Premium $85 a month per location. Online 2.8% plus 30 cents on every plan. Website button, QR code and booking widget on every plan.
- Set up online booking with Square Appointments, Square Support Canada
Read September 23, 2026. Booking button, embed code, booking flow URL and advanced widgets for an existing website.
- Jane pricing
Read September 23, 2026, in CAD. Balance CAD $54 a month for one practitioner and 20 appointments, Practice CAD $79, Thrive CAD $99.
- Adding Book Online buttons to your website, Jane
How Jane’s booking buttons and links go on any website.
- Acuity Scheduling plans
Read September 23, 2026. All prices in USD. Starter $16 yearly or $20 monthly, Standard $27 or $34, Premium $49 or $61.
- Calendly pricing
Read September 23, 2026, no currency shown for these plans. Free, Standard $10 and Teams $16 a seat a month on yearly billing. Stripe and PayPal payments from Standard up.
- Calendly embed options overview
Inline, pop-up text and pop-up widget embeds.
- SimplyBook.me pricing
Read September 23, 2026, shown in CA$ when opened from Canada. Free, Basic CA$15 yearly or CA$18 monthly, Standard CA$33.33 or CA$40, Premium CA$66.67 or CA$80.
- Fresha pricing
Read September 23, 2026, in CA$. Independent CA$29.95 a month, Team CA$19.95 per bookable team member. 20% one-time marketplace fee on new clients, CA$6 minimum, and none on clients from your own website.
- Booksy pricing, Canada
Read September 23, 2026, Canadian page with no currency label. $29.99 a month plus tax, $20 a month per extra staff member up to the first 14.
- A new Booksy widget will help you attract clients, Booksy
Booksy’s booking widget for a website and a Facebook page.
- Checkfront pricing
Read September 23, 2026. $99 a month plus a 3% online booking fee, with no fee on offline bookings. The page notes pricing may vary by region and currency.
- Online booking widget, Checkfront
Four embed options: a catalog widget, a product widget, a booking widget, or a Book Now button.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free online booking system in Canada?
Square Appointments is free for one location, and Calendly and SimplyBook.me both have free plans. SimplyBook.me’s free plan covers 50 bookings a month. Square charges 2.8% plus 30 cents on online card payments. All checked September 2026.
Which booking systems price in Canadian dollars?
In September 2026, Jane and Fresha showed prices in CAD. SimplyBook.me showed CA$ when opened from Canada. Square and Booksy showed prices on Canadian pages without a currency label. Acuity and Calendly price in US dollars, so the Canadian cost moves with the exchange rate.
Can I put online booking on my own website?
Yes. Every system in this guide lets you link to it from your site, and most offer a pop-up or a calendar you can embed in a page. The embed keeps the visitor on your own address while they book.
Does Fresha charge a commission?
Only on new clients who find you through the Fresha marketplace: a one-time 20% fee, with a CA$6 minimum, as of September 2026. Fresha says returning clients never carry the fee, and neither do new clients who find you through your own website or social profiles.
What booking system should a clinic in Canada use?
Most clinics use a system built for health care, because it handles charting too. Jane is one, priced from CAD $54 a month for a single practitioner in September 2026. The clinic website sits in front of it and links to the booking.
Related pages
- Salon and barbershop websites
- Wellness and clinic websites
- Adventure operator websites
- Web design across British Columbia
- Web design for Canadian businesses
Kootenay Made Digital
I build websites, local presence, and calm AI setups for Kootenay small businesses. Plain language, published prices, and clear work that makes you easier to find and easier to choose.
