Every booking system's website says roughly the same thing: easy, powerful, loved by salons. None of that helps you choose. What helps is asking each tool the same handful of blunt questions and watching which ones get a straight answer. Here are the six we'd ask — the ones that decide whether you're still happy with your choice in two years, not two weeks.
We make Suddenly Sorted, so read us with that in mind. But these questions are worth asking of everything — including us. We've also done the honest homework on the big names for you: Timely, Fresha and Kitomba, each compared fairly.
1. What does a busy month actually cost me?
Not the headline price — the real bill. Some tools charge a flat monthly fee. Some charge per staff member. Some take a commission or fee per booking, especially bookings from "new clients" or from their marketplace. On a flat fee, your best month is your cheapest month per booking. On commission, your best month is your most expensive.
- Ask: "If I doubled my bookings next month, what would my bill be?"
- Ask: "Do you ever take a cut of a booking — new client, marketplace, anything?"
- Ask: "What costs extra? SMS reminders? Extra staff? Card processing?"
Get the answer in writing, in NZ dollars. (Ours: free plan, paid from $29/month NZD, no commission ever — it's all on the pricing page.)
2. Who owns the client — you or the platform?
This is the question that hurts most later. On some marketplace-style platforms, the person who books is, in a real sense, their user: they hold the relationship, they market to her, and she may see your competitors listed right next to you. Your regular of six years becomes a lead the platform can re-sell.
- Ask: "Can I export my full client list and booking history, any time, for free?"
- Ask: "Will you ever email or advertise to my clients?"
- Ask: "Do my clients see other salons when they book with me?"
Anything other than "yes, never, no" deserves a very close read of the terms.
3. Who answers the enquiry I didn't see?
Most systems are calendars: superb at holding a booking once it exists, silent when someone actually has a question. But bookings start as enquiries — "do you do balayage on curly hair?", "how much is a skin fade?", "can I get in Saturday?" — and a lot of them arrive at night, on weekends, or mid-client when you can't answer. A calendar doesn't reply. A booking form doesn't reply. She books whoever replies first.
This is the newest question on the list, because until recently no software could answer it. Now some can — an AI receptionist that answers messages in plain language and takes the booking in the same conversation. Whatever you choose, at least ask: "What happens to a question that arrives at 9pm?" We wrote about how much lands in that window in what after-hours bookings tell you.
4. Does it work if I don't have a website?
Most booking software quietly assumes you have somewhere to put the booking button. If you don't — and a huge number of NZ salons, barbers and home clinics don't — you're suddenly shopping for a website builder too, on top of the booking tool. Ask whether the tool gives you a proper public, bookable page of its own, good enough to be the link in your Instagram bio and on your Google listing. (This is exactly why Suddenly builds you a bookable microsite from your Google listing details — more on that trade-off in website vs Google listing.)
5. How long is setup, and where is support?
Be honest about your appetite here. A full management suite is a project: migration, training, new habits at the till. That's worth it if you need the whole engine room, and a burden if you only needed bookings answered. Ask for the real setup time in hours, not "easy!". Then ask where support sits — when your booking page breaks at 8am on a Saturday, is there a human in your timezone, or a ticket queue on the other side of the world?
6. What do I keep if I leave?
The unglamorous one, and the best test of a company's character. Every tool is lovely on the way in; the difference shows on the way out. Before you sign up, find out what leaving looks like: can you export clients, history and upcoming appointments in a usable format? Is there a lock-in term? Does your booking link — the one printed on your cards and pinned in your bio — die the day you cancel? A tool confident you'll stay makes it easy to go.
How we answer them (briefly, since you'll ask)
- Cost: free plan, paid from $29/month NZD, no commission ever, no card to start.
- Ownership: not a marketplace — your clients, your data, exportable, no competitor listings.
- After hours: Sally, an AI receptionist, answers messages and books 24/7 in the same conversation.
- No website: we build you a bookable microsite from your Google listing details.
- Setup & support: about five minutes to live; made and supported in New Zealand.
- Leaving: your data exports; no lock-in games.
If you're a barber, beauty therapist, or run a spa or clinic, the /for pages show how that plays out for your kind of week. And if a full back-office suite is genuinely what you need, our comparisons of Timely and Kitomba say so plainly.
The honest bottom line
Don't choose on feature lists or free trials alone. Ask the six questions, in writing, and pick the tool that answers all of them without a wobble. The right software should cost a predictable amount, leave you owning your clients, cover the hours you can't, work with the web presence you actually have, take minutes not weekends, and let you leave whole.
See how we answer all six
Flat NZ pricing, no commission ever, and a receptionist who covers the hours you can't. Free plan, no card, about five minutes to set up.
Founder, Suddenly Sorted · Auckland, NZ