What does spa software cost for a four-therapist Australian day spa?
Compare day-spa software costs for four therapists, including subscription, rooms, payments, payouts, messaging, packages and hardware.
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For one Australian venue with four bookable therapists and a non-bookable receptionist, OpenChair Pro is A$94.95 including GST per month. That is the subscription, not the complete operating bill. Card processing, applicable payout fees, paid usage and optional hardware are separate.
A useful software comparison starts with that distinction, then checks the plan needed for the spa's actual work. Rooms, prepaid treatments, memberships and gifts matter because the business needs more than four appointment calendars.
The OpenChair figures below were checked against the public pricing page and repository pricing configuration on 20 September 2026. Recheck the current Australian pricing before subscribing. This is a worked cost model, not a vendor ranking or an estimate of your monthly sales.
Define the venue before comparing subscriptions#
Our fictional example has four therapists who take appointments, three treatment rooms and one receptionist who does not take bookings as a provider. It operates from one venue and chooses monthly billing.
Count bookable people separately from login users and physical spaces. A receptionist who manages bookings is not necessarily a therapist who can be booked. A room needs scheduling capacity, but it is not a staff member.
For each provider, establish how that distinction affects the subscription. Check the required tier for treatment-room scheduling, forms, prepaid visits, membership benefits and relevant reports. A lower starting price for a plan that does not support the required work is not a like-for-like comparison.
OpenChair's Bookable Resources Scheduling, Prepaid Packages and Memberships sit within its Pro capability scope. Their specific scheduling and redemption limits still apply; purchasing the plan does not remove those conditions.
Calculate the four-therapist subscription#
OpenChair's Australian monthly Pro calculation is the active-venue base, including the first bookable member, plus the charge for additional bookable members, subject to the venue subscription cap.
| Subscription item | Monthly amount, including GST |
|---|---|
| Venue and first bookable therapist | A$34.95 |
| Three additional bookable therapists at A$20 each | A$60.00 |
| Non-bookable receptionist | No additional bookable-member charge |
| Three treatment rooms | No additional bookable-member charge |
| Pro subscription for this venue | A$94.95 |
The published Australian venue subscription cap is A$199 including GST per month. It caps the subscription component, not card processing, payouts, usage or hardware. Rooms do not become chargeable bookable people simply because their availability appears in the diary.
Annual billing is charged upfront for 12 months at 10 times the monthly subscription. For this unchanged four-therapist example, that is A$949.50 including GST for the annual term, equivalent to about A$79.13 per month. It is not a monthly instalment offer.
Use the pricing estimator for the actual venue and billing arrangement. Check changes to team size through the billing flow rather than assuming this fixed example covers every adjustment.
Keep card processing separate from the subscription#
The published Australian Pro rate is 1.8% plus A$0.30 per successful OpenChair-processed card payment. The pricing page applies that rate to online checkout, Stripe Terminal and Tap to Pay.
A percentage rate alone is not enough to calculate the cost. The fixed component also depends on how many successful payments take place.
Consider an illustrative A$200 treatment with a A$50 card deposit and a later A$150 card balance, both successfully processed by OpenChair at that rate. The deposit fee is A$1.20. The balance fee is A$3.00. Together they are A$4.20.
A single A$200 card payment at the same rate would be A$3.90. The A$0.30 difference comes from the second successful payment's fixed component. These calculations exclude payout fees and any separately applicable customer surcharge. They are arithmetic examples, not a recommendation about how much deposit to collect.
Do not apply the processing percentage again to the whole service value after already counting its deposit and balance payments. Model the actual money collected in each transaction.
Model the spa's purchase and redemption events#
A spa may collect money well before the treatment takes place. The fee review should follow those events rather than assume one appointment always means one card charge.
| Event | What to establish in the cost model |
|---|---|
| A client pays a booking deposit | The amount collected, payment method and applicable processing fee. |
| A client buys a prepaid treatment package | The purchase payment and processor; later visits may redeem entitlement rather than collect the service price again. |
| Someone buys a gift voucher | The original purchase payment; later redemption and any extra card payment are separate events. |
| A membership payment renews | The applicable recurring-payment terms, collection route and any billing charges. Confirm these explicitly. |
| The client pays a remaining balance or buys retail | The new amount collected and its payment method. |
| A refund, dispute or failed payment occurs | The provider's current treatment and charges, rather than an assumed reversal of every original fee. |
OpenChair's package guide and gift guide explain the difference between purchase and redemption. Do not treat a consumed credit as a new card payment unless money is actually being collected through that payment route.
Membership billing deserves its own check. Confirm the exact recurring-payment charges rather than copying the ordinary checkout rate into every line of a spreadsheet without checking. A membership entitlement, a booked appointment and a completed card payment are different records.
These are operational cost questions, not advice about accounting recognition, GST credits or the legal treatment of vouchers.
Include payout fees as another line#
Card processing and paying funds out to the venue are separate events. OpenChair's current Australian pricing disclosure states a Stripe payout fee of 0.25% plus A$0.25 each time venue funds are paid out.
A useful estimate needs both the amount paid out and the number of payouts. Do not add the fixed payout component once per appointment: its event is the payout, not the booking.
Check the actual payout arrangement before forecasting the bill. Payments recorded through a separate external EFTPOS provider have that provider's own processing and settlement terms; they should not automatically be included in an OpenChair-processed card volume.
The OpenChair checkout guide distinguishes external-card recording from creating a Stripe charge. Recording a payment in the order does not mean OpenChair processed the funds.
Count messages and AI usage in their own units#
Under the standard Australian allowance policy, four bookable members receive 200 SMS segments, 4,000 emails and 2,000 Sparks per monthly billing period. These are separate allowances. Existing venues should check their recorded policy in Plan & billing.
A long SMS may use more than one segment. Do not model 200 segments as a promise of 200 messages of any length. Transactional and campaign SMS share the relevant allowance.
The published Australian overage rates are A$0.10 per SMS segment and A$0.002 per email. Eligible AI work uses Sparks, with one Spark worth one local cent. A Spark allowance does not pay for SMS delivery.
Included allowances reset each billing period. Wallet funds carry forward, and automatic top-up requires the owner to enable it. Estimate each usage category separately rather than adding all three allowances into one notional messaging budget.
This article does not estimate how many reminders or campaigns your spa will send. Use your own expected volumes, message lengths and configured workflows.
Separate booking commission from payment fees#
OpenChair charges zero booking commission on bookings made through an OpenChair storefront. Card-processing fees still apply.
For a marketplace-based comparison, establish which bookings attract an acquisition fee and under what conditions. Do not apply a new-client marketplace rule to all appointments unless the provider's current terms actually say that.
A spa receiving most bookings from its website, Google, Instagram and referrals may weigh direct-booking costs differently from a new business buying access to marketplace demand. Compare the cost with the source of those bookings, without assuming either model is right for every venue.
Include hardware and required setup in the decision#
List the devices the team will use, the payment arrangement and any required extras. A supported phone-based Tap to Pay setup differs from a shared tablet with a reader. An existing external EFTPOS terminal has its own contract and integration limits.
Do not buy hardware on the assumption that any phone, tablet or reader will work. Confirm the supported model and software before purchase. Hardware prices are not included here because the appropriate setup has not been selected.
Keep migration or assisted setup charges separate too. Confirm what can be transferred, the agreed work and any costs before treating a quoted subscription as the full switching cost.
Build the comparison around one consistent scenario#
Use the same four-therapist venue for every quote. Record the required plan, subscription, rooms, access-only staff, processing events, payouts, messaging, memberships, add-ons and hardware. Mark an unconfirmed charge as unknown rather than zero.
Only calculate a total operating bill after adding your transaction amounts, successful payment counts, payout schedule and expected usage. A precise-looking total built on missing assumptions is less useful than a clear subscription subtotal with the remaining inputs visible.
Use OpenChair's pricing alongside the Wellness workflows to check the cost against the work your spa needs. New customers can start a 14-day Pro trial with no payment card required. A paid Pro subscription does not start automatically.
