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Updated · 2026

coil vs Booksy. Flat monthly vs a percentage take.

Booksy is horizontal salon-booking software. Barbers, hair, lash, brow, nails, and tattoo studios all rent the same tool. Their pricing model is the give-away: $29.99/mo for the base + 2.49–2.69% on every transaction + $0.10–$0.30 per-transaction fee + $20/mo for each additional seat. coil's pricing is flat: $59/mo solo, $49/chair in a shop and $392/mo at most, with zero cut on deposits, tips, or balances. At any realistic processing volume, a tattooer pays more on Booksy than on coil, and the savings widen as the shop grows. The bigger difference, though, is that coil is tattoo-specific. Booksy treats you like a hair salon.

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The honest read

  • coil is flat. Booksy is monthly plus a cut.

    Booksy keeps 2.49–2.69% of every deposit, tip, and balance you take through the platform. coil keeps zero. On $5,000/mo in card volume, that's roughly $135/mo Booksy collects on top of subscription. That's more than twice coil's whole bill.

  • coil is built for tattooers. Booksy is built for everyone.

    Booksy's inquiry form is a salon-booking form. coil's asks about body location, references, size, color preference, and budget, and routes by discipline (tattoo vs piercing). Aftercare, consent, deposit math, and review flow are all built for ink.

  • Booksy has a bigger consumer marketplace.

    Booksy invests heavily in its consumer-side discovery app. coil's /discover is much smaller. If marketplace traffic is a primary acquisition channel for you, Booksy still has the scale.

The price difference.

 CoilBooksy

  • Solo artist · entry

    $59/mo$29.99/mo

  • Card processing on deposits + tips + balances

    Booksy takes a cut of every charge in addition to subscription. coil routes through Stripe Connect direct to the artist.

    Stripe standard+ 2.49–2.69%

  • Per-transaction fee

    Stripe standard+ $0.10–$0.30

  • Additional seats / chairs

    coil bills 8 chairs at most, so a shop pays $392 a month at most. Booksy bills every additional seat on top of the base subscription.

    $49/chair, free from chair 9+ $20/seat

  • Total at $5,000/mo card volume, 1 seat

    Booksy: $29.99 + 2.6% × $5,000 = ~$160 + per-txn. coil: $59 flat.

    $59/mo~$165/mo

  • Cut taken on client payments

    0%2.49–2.69%

Feature by feature.

 CoilBooksy

  • Public artist site + URL

    YesYes

  • Custom domain

    coil ships custom domains on every plan.

    PartlyNo

  • Consumer marketplace / discovery

    Booksy's marketplace is large. coil's /discover is small.

    PartlyYes

  • Tattoo-specific inquiry form

    coil asks body location, refs, size, budget. Booksy's form is salon-generic.

    YesNo

  • Stripe-Connect deposits direct to your account

    Booksy's payment processing routes through Booksy; the cut is built into the flow.

    YesNo

  • Aftercare SMS drip

    YesNo

  • Digital consent + signed waivers

    YesNo

  • Healing photos checked for you

    YesNo

  • Style-fit read and a quote suggestion from your past jobs

    YesNo

  • Cancellation waitlist: texts your top five, first deposit wins

    YesNo

  • Healed-photo reward and touch-up credits

    YesNo

  • Two-stage drawing deposit

    YesNo

  • Apprentice bookings wait for your approval

    YesNo

  • Your page and clients go with you if you change shops

    YesNo

  • Site built from your photos or Instagram

    YesNo

  • A business phone number for every artist

    YesNo

  • Consumer-side mobile app

    NoYes

  • Roster + commission splits

    YesPartly

When Booksy fits you better

If your primary acquisition channel is Booksy's consumer marketplace (meaning a meaningful share of your bookings come from clients who found you by browsing the Booksy app), that traffic is worth what you pay for it. Some neighborhood barbershops and salon-adjacent tattoo studios in larger cities do well on it. If you've never gotten a single client from the Booksy marketplace, you're paying a 2.5%+ cut for a feature you don't use.

When coil is the right call

If your clients find you through Instagram, word of mouth, or your existing site, coil is the cheaper and tattoo-specific tool. The flat-monthly math saves $100+/mo immediately at modest card volume, and the healing photo checks, cancellation waitlist, healed-photo reward, drawing deposit and apprentice approvals are all built for tattooers. Booksy offers none of them. And if you move shops, your page and clients go with you.

Questions

What people ask.

How much does Booksy actually cost vs coil?
Booksy charges $29.99/mo + 2.49–2.69% + $0.10–$0.30/txn + $20/mo per additional user. coil charges $59 solo, $49 a chair in a shop, flat, with zero cut on payments, and chair 9 and up are free. At $5,000/mo in card volume, Booksy ends up at ~$165/mo for a single user; coil stays at $59/mo. The gap widens with volume and seats.
Is Booksy's marketplace worth the cut?
Depends on whether you've ever booked a client off it. If you have, the 2.5%+ is buying real lead-flow. If your bookings all come from IG and word-of-mouth, you're paying for a feature you don't use.
Does Booksy have an aftercare SMS engine?
No. Booksy ships appointment reminders. coil ships a discipline-aware aftercare drip (day-of, day-3, day-14, six-week for tattoos; longer cadence for piercings), plus optional tip, touch-up, healed-photo and next-piece texts you switch on when you want them.
What do coil's healing photo checks do that Booksy can't?
A client texts your coil number a photo of their healing tattoo at 11pm. coil reads the photo. Anything that looks wrong comes to you with the photo attached, and calm replies to the healthy ones go out only if you switch that on. Booksy has no equivalent.
Can I migrate from Booksy to coil?
Yes. Drop in a few photos and coil builds your site in about a minute. Connect Instagram after and new work shows up on its own. Client lists and past sessions can be imported from a CSV. The fastest path is running both side-by-side for a month and seeing which one is doing more work for you.
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