NipRound Research · data checked October 2026
Online booking is often treated as standard for barbershops. Our data suggests most UK barbers still don't use a booking platform that we can detect. They take bookings by phone, Instagram DM or as walk-ins.
We checked 8,036 UK barbershops listed on OpenStreetMap and, separately, 651 barbershops in Kent found through Google Places. This article sets out what we found, what the main platforms cost, and where the numbers fall short.
Key findings
- 9.0% of UK barbershops (720 of 8,036) had booking software we could detect. 91.0% had none we could detect. This is a minimum figure, not a full count (see Methodology).
- Booksy is the most common platform: 427 shops (5.3%). It is followed by Fresha with 147 (1.8%) and Nearcut with 95 (1.2%). Together these three account for 669 of the 720 shops with detectable software (93%).
- The figure is higher with fuller data. In Kent, where Google Places gave us a more complete list, 87 of 651 barbershops (13.4%) used detectable software.
- Kent's leading platforms differ from the UK picture. Nearcut (26) and Booksy (25) were roughly level, with Fresha on 14 and Setmore on 8.
- Uptake varies by region, from 12.1% in the West Midlands to 4.3% in the East Midlands.
UK: platform share
| Platform | Shops | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Booksy | 427 | 5.3% |
| Fresha | 147 | 1.8% |
| Nearcut | 95 | 1.2% |
| Wix Bookings | 13 | 0.2% |
| Square | 10 | 0.1% |
| Setmore | 10 | 0.1% |
| Others (Acuity, Timely, Treatwell, Calendly, SquadUp/Barberly, SimplyBook, Vagaro) | 18 | 0.2% |
| None detected | 7,316 | 91.0% |
| Total | 8,036 |
A further 1,917 shops in the "none detected" group had a Fresha profile that can't take bookings. These are listing-only pages, so we didn't count them as using Fresha.
By region
| Region | Shops | Booksy | Fresha | Nearcut | Other | Any software |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Midlands | 568 | 42 | 16 | 9 | 2 | 12.1% |
| East of England | 600 | 26 | 21 | 15 | 8 | 11.7% |
| Wales | 403 | 23 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 10.9% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 567 | 45 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 9.7% |
| South West | 708 | 43 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 9.6% |
| London | 1,147 | 75 | 15 | 7 | 11 | 9.4% |
| South East | 1,135 | 49 | 28 | 13 | 6 | 8.5% |
| North West | 965 | 55 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 8.4% |
| Scotland | 803 | 33 | 15 | 14 | 2 | 8.0% |
| Northern Ireland | 135 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7.4% |
| North East | 394 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 7.4% |
| East Midlands | 607 | 17 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 4.3% |
Booksy leads in every region. Fresha comes second in most regions, but Nearcut is level with it or ahead in Scotland, the South West, the North West and Northern Ireland. Every region has well over five shops. Four shops had no region recorded and are left out of this table.
Kent close-up
| Platform | Shops | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Nearcut | 26 | 4.0% |
| Booksy | 25 | 3.8% |
| Fresha | 14 | 2.2% |
| Setmore | 8 | 1.2% |
| Others (Wix Bookings, Acuity, SimplyBook, Square, Phorest, Timely, Slick) | 14 | 2.2% |
| None detected | 564 | 86.6% |
| Total | 651 |
What the main platforms cost
We took these prices from each provider's official UK pricing page on 30 October 2026. Prices change, so check the provider's page before you decide.
| Platform | Monthly price | Per-booking or new-client fees | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booksy | £40 + VAT, plus £5 for each extra team member | Optional "Boost": 30% of a new client's first visit (minimum £5) | https://biz.booksy.com/en-gb/pricing |
| Fresha | Independent £14.95; Team £9.95 per bookable team member (ex VAT) | 20% one-off commission on new clients from the Fresha marketplace (minimum £4); returning clients free | https://www.fresha.com/en-GB/pricing |
| Nearcut | "Free for You" £0, with the client paying a booking charge (£1.50 in Nearcut's example); or a quoted subscription with a 30-day trial | No commission | https://www.nearcut.com/pricing |
| Square Appointments | Free £0; Plus £29; Premium £69 (per location) | None listed; card fees from 1.75% in person | https://squareup.com/gb/en/appointments/pricing |
| Setmore | Free (up to 4 users); Pro shown as US$12 + US$5 per user on annual billing | None listed | https://www.setmore.com/pricing |
Card processing fees are extra on all of these platforms if you take payments through them. For a fuller, worked comparison see What booking software actually costs UK barbers.
What this means for barbers
- Online booking is still a way to stand out. With at least nine in ten shops in our sample showing no detectable booking software, a clear "Book now" button is not yet the norm.
- Platform choice is regional, not fixed. Booksy leads nationally, but Kent shows that a barber-focused tool like Nearcut can be just as common locally. Choose on fit and price, not on what's "standard".
- Discovery matters as much as software. 56.8% of the Kent shops' Google listings had no website link at all, so many shops that take bookings may still be hard for new clients to book. See Getting found on Google.
Methodology and limits
- Shop list. The UK figures cover 8,036 barbershops tagged on OpenStreetMap (OSM). The National Hair & Beauty Federation counted 19,976 UK barbershops in 2025, so OSM covers roughly 40% of them. The OSM sample may not be fully representative. For example, newer shops may be under-recorded.
- How we detected software. We checked every shop's website for booking links where it had one (727 shops). We also looked up every shop by name and town in the public directories of Booksy and Fresha. Only Fresha pages that take bookings were counted. Name matching was kept strict to avoid false matches, so some real users will have been missed.
- 9% is a minimum. Nearcut, Setmore, Square, Timely and similar tools have no public directory. We could only detect them from a shop's own website, and most shops in the sample don't have one. Treatwell blocks automated checks, so it is under-counted. "None detected" doesn't mean a shop has no online booking.
- Kent used Google Places for a fuller shop list (651 shops), checked in the same way. That helps explain why its figure (13.4%) is higher.
- Groups. We only report regional figures for groups of five or more shops. We don't publish anything that identifies an individual shop.
- Data. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the ODbL. Data checked October 2026.
Data downloads
Aggregated tables (no individual shops): uk_barbers_platform_share.csv, uk_barbers_by_region.csv, kent_barbers_platform_share.csv, competitor_pricing_2026-10-30.csv.
About this research
This research was carried out by NipRound, a new UK company building booking websites for barbers. We'll update these figures as our data improves. If you run a shop and want to share how you take bookings, we'd like to hear from you at nipround.co.uk.
Disclosure: NipRound sells booking software for barbers. We have reported competitors' prices from their own pages and linked every source.