Short answer: The right booking system for a small UK business depends on where your bookings come from. Unavoidable CRM costs £29 a month for one user and takes bookings online, by text, by WhatsApp and by phone through its AI receptionist, then carries on to reminders, quotes, invoices and payment.
If you only need an online diary, Square Appointments has a free plan for one location and a Plus plan at £29 a month per location. Fresha charges per bookable team member and takes a commission on new clients it finds for you. SimplyBook.me prices by bookings a month. This guide compares all four, with prices checked on each company’s own pricing page in October 2026.
A booking system is any tool that lets a customer pick a time and puts that time in your diary without you typing it in. The basic version is an online booking page. The useful version also stops people forgetting (reminders), stops people not turning up (deposits or card details), and stops you losing the customers who never get as far as the booking page because they phoned instead.
That last point is where most small firms leak work. Plenty of customers still ring. If you are with a client, on a job or driving, an online booking page does nothing for the caller. So when you compare booking systems, ask three questions:
| Square Appointments | Fresha | SimplyBook.me | Unavoidable CRM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| How you pay | Per location | Per bookable team member | By bookings and providers | Per business |
| Entry price | Free for one location; Plus £29 a month per location | Independent $19.95 a month (one team member) | Free: 50 bookings, 1 provider; Basic $13.90 a month: 100 bookings, 5 providers | Solo £29 a month: 1 user, 1,000 contacts |
| Larger plans | Premium £69 a month per location | Team $14.95 a month per bookable team member | Standard $29.90 (500 bookings) and Premium $59.90 (2,000 bookings) a month | Team £149 (5 users), Agency £399 (unlimited users) |
| Text reminders | Text and email reminders on all plans | 100 free texts a month per team member, then $0.02 each | Sold separately: $8 for 100 SMS credits | Texts at the provider’s cost, about 4p to 5p each |
| Other fees | Online card payments 1.4% + 25p (UK cards) | 20% one-off commission on new marketplace clients (minimum $6); online payments 2.79% + $0.20 | Varies by add-on | No commission on bookings |
| Phone bookings | Not listed on its pricing page | Not listed on its pricing page | Not listed on its pricing page | AI receptionist answers and books calls, 10p to 15p a minute at cost |
| Free trial | Free plan | Not stated on its pricing page | 14 days, plus a free plan | 14 days, every feature, no card |
Square prices are from its UK pricing page. Fresha and SimplyBook.me showed their prices in dollars when we checked, so UK prices may differ; check their sites in your own region before you buy. SimplyBook.me prices shown are for monthly billing.
If all you need is an online booking page and reminders, one of these may be all you need.
Unavoidable CRM is not a consumer marketplace, so it will not send you new clients the way Fresha can. It is built for service businesses that already get enquiries and want to answer, book and get paid for all of them: trades, clinics, cleaners and tour operators.
Take a two-person cleaning or clinic business that takes 120 bookings a month and sends one text reminder per booking. On SimplyBook.me that volume needs the Standard plan at $29.90 a month, plus SMS credits at $8 per 100. On Fresha, two bookable team members on the Team plan cost $29.90 a month, with 200 free texts. On Square Appointments the free plan may cover it, with card fees on online payments. On Unavoidable CRM, the Team plan is £149 a month for up to five users, and 120 texts at about 4p to 5p each add roughly £5 to £6, paid to the provider. These are worked examples, not quotes.
So a booking-only tool is usually cheaper. The question is whether the CRM replaces other things you pay for or lose: missed calls, a separate invoicing app, or quotes that never get chased. Our guide to how much a CRM costs a UK small business sets out typical ranges.
Choose Square Appointments if you want a free or low-cost online diary for one location and already take card payments with Square. Choose Fresha if you run a salon or beauty business and want marketplace exposure, and you are happy to pay commission on new clients. Choose SimplyBook.me if your booking page is the centre of the business and you want lots of add-ons.
Choose Unavoidable CRM if many of your customers phone or message rather than book online, or if you want bookings, reminders, quotes, invoices and payment in one place. The simplest test is a week of real enquiries on the 14-day free trial. See pricing or the full comparison page.
Related: how to reduce no-shows at a clinic and CRM for a UK cleaning business.
Yes. Square Appointments has a free plan for a single location, and SimplyBook.me has a free plan for up to 50 bookings with one provider (October 2026). Free plans usually limit locations, bookings or features such as custom text messages.
Most do, but the cost varies. Square includes text and email reminders on all plans, Fresha includes 100 texts a month per team member, SimplyBook.me sells SMS credits separately, and Unavoidable CRM passes texts on at the provider’s price.
With most booking tools, a phone booking means you answer the call and type it in yourself. Unavoidable CRM includes an AI receptionist that answers calls and books the appointment for you, with minutes billed at cost, typically 10p to 15p a minute.
If bookings are your whole business and you invoice elsewhere, a booking tool may be enough. If you also quote, invoice, chase payment and follow up past customers, a CRM with bookings built in saves you running two systems.
Solo is £29 a month for one user, Team is £149 a month for five users and Agency is £399 a month for unlimited users. Every plan has every feature, and there is a 14-day free trial with no card needed.
14-day free trial, every feature, no card needed. From £29 a month per business.
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