Booksy and Hayven are both booking software, but they are built around different ideas. Booksy is booking, payments and a marketplace for beauty and barber businesses in general. Hayven is made only for nail salons, runs beside the POS you already have, and is built around the front desk: check-in, walk-in turns, online booking, texts and calls nobody picks up.
The quick verdict: if you want new clients from a marketplace, payments in the same app and a price you can see today, Booksy is the better fit. If walk-ins are a big part of your day and you want to keep your POS, Hayven is.
We make Hayven, so read our side with that in mind. Every fact about Booksy on this page comes from Booksy’s own pages, checked on the date in the table.
Hayven vs Booksy at a glance
| Topic | Hayven | Booksy |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Nail salon software for online booking, check-in, Turns, texts and marketing. Runs beside your POS. | Salon and barber booking, payments and marketplace platform (BooksyBiz). |
| Made for nail salons? | Yes. Made only for nail salons. | Its site menu lists a nail salon software page, but the features are the same for every business type; no nail-only feature found. |
| Walk-in turns | Check-ins, walk-ins and online bookings land on one Turns board. Hayven suggests the next tech and shows why. | No walk-in turn list found. Waitlists are included. |
| AI answers missed calls | An optional add-on. When nobody picks up, Hayven’s AI answers in English, books on your calendar and texts the confirmation. | Beta, English and Spanish. Answers calls and books into your calendar. Not yet for appointments with No-Show Protection. Early sign-ups get it free for at least 12 months; no later price shown. |
| Online booking | Clients pick the service, add-ons, tech and time, with no account or password. | Yes. 24/7 online booking, unlimited bookings, no fee to clients. Website widget: copy the code from the "Your Website" tile and paste it into your site's HTML. |
| Deposits and no-show fees | No deposits. With no-show protection, clients save a card when they book and your desk decides whether to charge a no-show or late-cancel fee. Fees go to your salon’s own Stripe. | Yes. Deposits at booking, and cancellation or no-show fees charged to the card on file, set per service as a percentage of the price. You can charge them automatically or waive them; standard card fees apply. |
| Texts and marketing | Yes. Confirmation and reminder texts, plus promo texts to clients who agreed to them. Our marketing team can run your promos (optional add-on). | Yes. 2,000 free marketing texts a month and email marketing; confirmations and reminders are free. |
| POS and card payments | No. Hayven is not a POS: keep your POS for payments. | Yes. Card reader 2.49% + $0.10, Tap to Pay 2.49% + $0.20, mobile and keyed-in 2.69% + $0.30; no monthly processing fee. |
| Price | Pricing shared on a demo. | $29.99/mo + tax for one plan with all features; 14-day trial, no credit card needed; each extra team member $20/mo. |
| Marketplace fees | None. Hayven has no client marketplace. | Boost (optional) charges a one-time 30% fee on a Boost client's first visit, capped at $100. |
Where the table’s facts come from
- biz.booksy.com/en-us/pricing (opens in a new tab)
- booksy.com (opens in a new tab)
- biz.booksy.com/en-us/features/ai-receptionist-beta (opens in a new tab)
- biz.booksy.com/blog/a-new-booksy-widget-will-help-you-attract-clients (opens in a new tab)
- biz.booksy.com/en-us/features/no-show-protection (opens in a new tab)
Where Booksy is the better pick
- A marketplace (Boost) that brings in new clients.
- 2,000 free marketing texts a month.
- Payments built in, with Tap to Pay and low card reader rates.
- A published flat price ($29.99/mo base), so you can compare cost without a demo.
Where is Hayven the better pick for a nail salon?
Walk-in turns. Booksy’s pricing page lists waitlists. We found no walk-in turn list. In Hayven, check-ins, walk-ins and online bookings land on one Turns board. Hayven suggests the right tech and shows why, and your desk taps Start. Turns count by your own rules, and the Today report shows who Hayven suggested and who the desk picked. See the turn tracker.
Calls nobody picks up. Booksy lists “AI Receptionist” as a beta feature in English and Spanish. Early sign-ups get it free for at least 12 months, and no later price is shown. Hayven’s AI phone assistant is an optional add-on our team sets up for you. Your phones still ring first. If nobody can answer, or you are closed, it takes the call in English, books on your Hayven calendar and texts the client the confirmation. Anything else lands in your Inbox.
Keeping your POS. Booksy has payments built in, with card reader, Tap to Pay and keyed-in rates. Hayven takes no payments. Your POS keeps your card terminal, your merchant rates and your hardware, and Hayven hands your desk a ticket to ring up when the visit is done. See keep your POS.
Made only for nail salons. Booksy serves beauty and barber businesses in general, and we found no nail-specific feature. Hayven was made for how a nail salon runs: walk-ins and bookings in one line, two techs on one client, and turn rules that match your salon. Setup and support come in English and Vietnamese. The app itself is in English.
How do new clients find you: Boost or your own marketing?
This is the biggest difference, and it cuts both ways.
Booksy has a marketplace. With Boost, which is optional, Booksy can send you new clients. You pay a one-time 30% fee on a Boost client’s first visit, capped at $100. For a salon that needs new faces fast, that can be worth it.
Hayven has no marketplace. New clients come from your own Bio Page, your Google profile and a first-visit offer. If you add our marketing service, our team runs your Bio Page, your first-visit offer, your promos and your Google profile. The offer applies at check-in and is marked used when the visit is Done. See marketing.
| Booksy | Hayven | |
|---|---|---|
| Client marketplace | Yes, Boost (optional) | No |
| Fee on a new client | One-time 30% on a Boost client’s first visit, capped at $100 | No marketplace fee |
| Marketing texts | 2,000 free a month, plus email marketing | Promo texts to clients who agreed to them |
If you want clients you would never reach on your own, Booksy’s marketplace is the stronger tool. If you want clients who book with you directly, Hayven fits.
How do the prices compare?
Booksy publishes its price: $29.99/mo plus tax, billed monthly, with a 14-day trial. Each extra team member is $20/mo. Card reader payments are 2.49% + $0.10.
Hayven does not publish a price. We’ll walk you through pricing on your demo, with your own menu and team size. The AI phone assistant and our marketing service are optional add-ons. Your POS and merchant rates stay as they are.
If a published price decides it for you, Booksy wins this one.
Can I use Hayven and Booksy together?
Not in a way we’d recommend. Both take online bookings, and two calendars mean double entry at the desk. Pick one for booking. If you love Boost, keep Booksy. If turns and the front desk are the pain, move booking to Hayven.
How do I switch from Booksy to Hayven?
- Pick your POS. If you take payments through Booksy today, decide where you will ring up clients first.
- Book a demo with your real menu. We’ll walk through a salon day like yours and show the price for your team size.
- We set it up with you. Your techs, services and turn rules go in before day one.
- Ask how your clients and future bookings move over, and get the answer in writing before you pick a switch day.
- Share your new booking link on Instagram, Google and your Bio Page, and put check-in at the door.
Run your busiest day on it before you decide. That is the honest test for any front desk tool.