Booksy is the best-known booking app in the region, but it is not always the right choice for a salon in Serbia. For some salons it pays off, for others it does not.
It is a good product and it does what it promises. The question is whether you need everything you pay for. Salon owners keep asking us the same thing: "I pay for Booksy, does it make sense?" The answer depends on the size of your salon, your city, and where your clients come from.
Agendo is our product, so we have a stake in this. That is why we will say plainly what Agendo does not do.
What Booksy offers
Booksy has two sides. For clients there is the Booksy app (a marketplace) where people look for a hairdresser, nail technician or massage therapist nearby, check reviews and photos, and book. For owners there is Booksy Biz, the business management tool.
Booksy Biz includes:
- a calendar with schedules per staff member, breaks and days off;
- online booking through your marketplace profile and through a link you can put on Instagram;
- a client database with visit history and notes;
- automatic SMS and push reminders;
- prepayment and card acceptance in add-on plans;
- promotions, gift cards and marketing campaigns in the pricier plans.
The biggest advantage is the marketplace. If you are in a city where people really open Booksy to find a new stylist, you get clients you would not have had otherwise. That is what you pay for, since everyone has a calendar today.
How much Booksy costs in 2026
Price depends on the number of staff, because Booksy charges per team member plus a plan. A rough range (prices are approximate, in euros, per staff member per month):
| Plan | Approx. price | What it usually includes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | about 25-30 EUR | calendar, online booking, client database, basic reminders |
| Pro | about 40-50 EUR | everything in Starter plus more marketing tools and reports |
| Premium | 60 EUR and up | advanced marketing, payment processing, priority support |
Treat these numbers as a guide, not a price list. Booksy changes plans, discounts and pricing by market, and in some countries SMS messages and extra staff are billed separately. Check exact prices for Serbia on the official page: booksybiz.com/pricing.
The math is simple. One stylist on Starter pays about 30 EUR a month, about 360 EUR a year. A salon with four stylists on the same plan pays about 120 EUR a month, over 1,400 EUR a year.
When Booksy makes sense
Sometimes Booksy is the right call and there is no reason to switch.
Large chains in cities with strong marketplace traffic get the most out of it. If you run several locations in London, Warsaw or Vienna, where many people pick a stylist through the app, Booksy brings in new clients every month and the subscription pays for itself through those bookings.
The same goes if you actively use promotions, win-back campaigns, gift cards and prepayment, and they bring in money. You are paying for tools you use.
A third case is clients who already have Booksy on their phone and book only through it. If most of your revenue arrives that way, leaving means risk with no clear gain.
If you recognize yourself in any of these, stay on Booksy. Switching to save a few tens of euros is pointless if you lose clients.
When Booksy gets too expensive
Another group of salons pays more than it gets back.
A hairdresser who works alone and gets clients through referrals and Instagram uses the calendar and reminders, and nothing else. The marketing plan, reports and promotions sit untouched while 30 EUR goes out every month. For 360 EUR a year, a solo professional could buy new equipment.
A salon with 3-5 staff easily passes 100 EUR a month. Billing is per person, so the bill grows with every hire. Add up everyone's subscription and it comes to 1,200 EUR a year or more. Ask yourself how many new clients Booksy brought you in the last six months and whether they were worth that money.
Outside Belgrade, marketplace traffic is low. In Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac and smaller towns, far fewer people search for a stylist in the Booksy app than in Western capitals. If your new clients come through referrals, Instagram or Google Maps, the marketplace you pay for mostly sits idle.
A quick test: open the booking source report in Booksy. If most bookings came through your direct link rather than the marketplace, you are paying for a tool you could have for free.
A free alternative for the Serbian market: Agendo
Agendo is our product, so read this section with that in mind. It is a free online booking service built for salons and solo professionals in Serbia.
Agendo has:
- a journal and calendar per staff member;
- online booking through a link, a website widget and the Telegram bot @agendo_chatbot;
- a CRM with visit history, notes and client segments;
- free reminders in Telegram and web push;
- an interface in Serbian, Russian and English with automatic translation, which helps if you serve foreigners and expats;
- client database import from CSV or Excel, including a Booksy export.
Agendo lacks what Booksy has:
- a marketplace sending you new clients. Clients come from you;
- SMS reminders. Reminders go through Telegram and web push, which works well only if your clients use those channels;
- a Booksy-style toolkit for campaigns and gift cards.
If you need any of that, Booksy remains the better choice. If a calendar, booking, CRM and reminders are enough, there is no reason to pay.
How to move your data from Booksy to Agendo
Losing the client base is what people fear most when switching. Clients transfer in a few minutes.
- In Booksy Biz, open settings and find the client export. You get a CSV or Excel file with names, phone numbers and emails.
- In Agendo, open the Clients section and choose CSV import.
- Map the columns (name, phone, email) and confirm. Agendo detects duplicates, so you do not need to clean the file first.
Services and staff are moved by hand, because the structure differs between systems. For a three-person salon that takes roughly 10-15 minutes: enter your service list with duration and price, and create staff profiles with working hours.
Do not shut Booksy down right away. Run both calendars side by side for a week or two, put the new link in your Instagram bio, and cancel the subscription once bookings start arriving through the new system.
Marketplace: Booksy vs your own page + Instagram
The most common argument for staying on Booksy is the marketplace. It deserves a serious look, because it is the one thing that is hard to replace.
Most salons in Serbia get clients three ways: referrals, Instagram and Google Maps. The marketplace is a side channel for them. In about 90% of cases your own setup is enough:
- a salon page in Agendo with services, prices, staff and a booking button;
- a QR code on the receipt and on the mirror in the salon, leading straight to that page;
- a link in your Instagram bio and a "Book" button on the profile;
- a tidy Google Business profile with the same link.
For a client who already knows you or saw you on social media, this works like a marketplace: open the link, pick a time, done. You will not get random people browsing an app, but in most Serbian cities there are not many of them anyway.
If you are in central Belgrade, with heavy competition and clients who choose by in-app ratings, the math may differ. Try both routes and measure.
FAQ
Is Booksy a bad product? No. The calendar is reliable, and the marketplace is a real advantage in cities with strong traffic. The price hurts those who do not use the marketplace.
How much exactly does Booksy cost in Serbia? Prices vary by plan, staff count and market, and change often. Check booksybiz.com/pricing.
Can I move my clients from Booksy? Yes. Export your client list from Booksy settings as CSV or Excel and import it into Agendo.
Is Agendo really free? Yes. The calendar, online booking, CRM and reminders in Telegram and web push are free.
What if my clients do not use Telegram? Reminders also arrive as web push notifications. We do not have SMS yet, so if SMS is essential to you, that is a reason to stay on Booksy.
Can I use both systems at once? During the switch you can, but watch for double bookings. It is best to make one calendar the main one and use the other only for checking.
How long does the switch take? Importing clients takes minutes. Entering services and staff for a three-person salon takes about 10-15 minutes.
If you want to try it, create an account at agendo.work, import your clients and compare it with Booksy on your own bookings.