Treatwell is the best-known beauty booking marketplace in Ireland and the UK — but that reach comes at a price: 35% + VAT of the first booking from every new client its marketplace sends you, on top of a monthly subscription. Barbify is the opposite model: a flat subscription, 0% commission, and a booking page you own. Here is how they compare for a barber in 2027.
Barbify vs Treatwell at a Glance
For an independent barbershop in Ireland:
- Pricing model — Treatwell: monthly subscription plus 35% + VAT of a new marketplace client's first booking. Barbify: flat subscription from €9.99/month, 0% commission
- Booking page — Treatwell: your shop hosted on treatwell.ie among competitors. Barbify: your own branded page on yourname.barbify.ie
- Who owns the client — Treatwell: the marketplace. Barbify: you — every client is saved to your own CRM
- Payments — Treatwell: through the marketplace. Barbify: your own Stripe, SumUp or Dojo, straight to your bank
- Reminders — Treatwell: marketplace notifications. Barbify: WhatsApp + email reminders included
The Commission Problem
Treatwell operates as a marketplace: clients browse all the listed salons and barbershops in their area, and Treatwell takes 35% + VAT of the first booking from each new client it brings you. Repeat bookings and bookings you take through your own channels carry no commission, but you also pay a monthly subscription (UK plans run from £9.99 to £59 a month), and online prepayments cost 2.5% + VAT. On a €30 cut, that first-visit commission is over €12.
Barbify never touches your booking revenue. You pay a predictable flat fee (from €9.99/month billed yearly) and keep 100% of what you charge. Optional deposits or booking fees to cut no-shows also go 100% to you, through your own payment account.
Your Brand vs Treatwell's Brand
On Treatwell, your booking page lives on treatwell.ie and your shop sits alongside every competitor in your area. The client remembers Treatwell, not necessarily you.
Barbify gives you your own branded page on your own subdomain. There are no competitors on it, and the client relationship stays yours — their details, their booking history, their preferences, all in your own CRM.
When Treatwell Still Makes Sense
Treatwell's advantage is discovery: it has a large existing audience browsing for appointments, which can bring genuinely new clients to a shop that is just starting out or wants extra city-centre exposure. If paying a commission for that reach is worth it to you, Treatwell can complement your own channels.
The catch is that you keep paying that commission on repeat visits from clients the marketplace introduced. Many barbers use marketplace exposure to get discovered, then move regulars onto their own booking page to stop paying commission on people who already know them.
Which Should an Irish Barber Choose?
Choose Treatwell if discovery from a large marketplace is your priority and you accept a commission on those bookings.
Choose Barbify if you want to keep your brand, own your client relationships, and pay a flat fee with 0% commission. For a barbershop with a steady base of regulars, Barbify almost always keeps more money in your pocket — you are not handing over a third of each new client's first booking to a marketplace.