First 50 tattooers · 3 months free · code FOUNDER
Coil vs Venue.
Free for you. 10% for them.
Venue is booking software built around flash: upload a sheet, open a flash day, let clients grab a slot and pay. It's free for the artist because the client pays a 10% booking fee on every deposit and payment. Coil is a flat bill to the artist and free to the client, and it covers the rest of the loop Venue stops at: consent, aftercare, healing photos, the waitlist, the tip, the touch-up, and a shop's roster. If your business is flash events, look hard at Venue. If your business is custom work and repeat clients, that's coil.
The honest read
Venue is free for the artist and 10% for the client.
No subscription. Every deposit and payment carries a 10% fee paid by the client. A $200 deposit costs them $220. Venue says a subscription can lower that; the amount isn't published.
Coil is $29 flat and the client pays nothing.
Your client sees your price. Coil never adds a fee and never takes a cut. Stripe's own card rate is the only other cost, same as anywhere.
Venue is a flash machine. Coil is the whole day.
Flash days, conventions, multi-studio events: Venue is built for the drop. Coil is built for the custom piece: inquiry to deposit to consent to aftercare to review to the next one.
The price difference.
- What the artist pays$29/mo$0
- What the client pays$010% of every deposit and paymentVenue's fee is charged to the client at checkout.
- A $200 deposit, from the client's side$200$220
- Ten $200 deposits a month$29 from you, $0 from clients$0 from you, $200 from clientsSomeone pays either way. On Venue it's the person getting tattooed.
- Cut on tips0%10% to the client
- Shop with several chairs$49/chair, 2-chair minimum$0
- Card processingStripe standardStripe, handled by VenueVenue pays out through Stripe; first deposit takes up to 5 business days.
What ships on each side.
- ✓ Ships◐ Partial
Your own site at your own address
Venue gives you a booking link. Coil gives you a full site built from your photos.
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Flash upload and claims
- ◐ Partial✓ Ships
Flash days and event booking
Venue's strongest feature. Coil has a convention capture page and a guest-spot blast, not an event storefront.
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Custom inquiry form (placement, refs, budget)
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Clients pick their own time
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Deposits by card
- — Doesn't✓ Ships
Affirm at checkout
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Deposits by Venmo, Cash App, Zelle or PayPal
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Reminders before the session
- ✓ Ships✓ Ships
Client chat
Coil: a real business phone number, texts land in your studio inbox.
- ◐ Partial✓ Ships
Chargeback protection on deposits
Coil uses Stripe's standard dispute process.
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Digital consent form with state rules
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Aftercare texts on a schedule
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
AI reads healing photos
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Cancellation waitlist that texts itself
- ✓ Ships◐ Partial
Tip link on the day
Venue prompts tips at checkout with a 10% fee to the client.
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Touch-up credits
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Healed-photo reward
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Reviews on your page
- ✓ Ships◐ Partial
Shop roster, commission splits, payout sheet
Venue supports multi-studio booking; it isn't a shop back office.
- ✓ Ships— Doesn't
Apprentice mode
- ✓ Ships◐ Partial
Your address and clients stay yours if you leave the shop
If you sell flash by the sheet, run flash days, travel to conventions, and want a slot grid clients can claim and pay in a minute, Venue is built for exactly that and it costs you nothing to try. If your clients are fine paying 10% on top for the convenience, and plenty are for a $100 flash piece, the free-for-you model is hard to argue with. Nothing stops you from running Venue for events and coil for everything else.
When coil is the right call
If your work is custom, your clients come back, and a $600 deposit with a $60 fee stapled to it would make you wince on their behalf, coil is the one that costs them nothing. If you want the consent form, the aftercare texts, the healing photo replies, the waitlist and the touch-up handled, that's coil; Venue stops at the booking. And a shop can't run on Venue. Coil runs the roster, the splits and the payout sheet.
What people ask.
- Does Venue take a cut?
- Venue charges the client a 10% booking fee on every deposit and payment, including tips. The artist pays nothing unless they choose a subscription to lower the client fee. Coil charges the artist a flat monthly bill and the client nothing.
- Can coil run a flash day like Venue?
- Coil has a flash sheet with claims and a convention capture page, but not an event storefront with a slot grid. If flash events are the core of your business, Venue does that better today.
- Can I use both?
- Yes. A lot of artists would: Venue for the drop, coil for the custom book, the consent form, the aftercare and the shop. Put your coil address in your bio and link Venue when an event is live.
- Does Venue handle consent or aftercare?
- Not on its feature list. Venue covers booking, deposits, reminders, chat and events. Consent forms, aftercare texts, healing photo replies, touch-up credits and reviews are coil features.
- Are these prices current?
- Checked September 2026 against Venue's own site: free for artists, a 10% booking fee paid by the client on deposits and payments, with an optional subscription to reduce it. Coil is $29 solo, $59 pro, $49 a chair for shops. Both can change; check before you decide.
Try coil free.
Drop in a few photos. Coil builds your site and shows it to you before you pay a dollar. No card up front.
Drop a few photos · no card needed · see it before you pay