Free and Pro Plans
OpenChair offers two subscription tiers — Free and Pro — so you can start without commitment and unlock advanced features when you're ready to grow.
Overview
|
Free |
Pro |
| Monthly price |
$0 |
From $34.95 AUD / $24.95 NZD / £19.95 GBP |
| Transaction fees |
3.0% + $0.50 |
1.8% + $0.30 |
| Included SMS |
None |
200/month (AU/GB) · 100/month (NZ) |
| AI Sparks |
Pay-as-you-go |
Included monthly pool + pay-as-you-go top-up |
| Trial access |
— |
All new venues start on a 14-day Pro trial |
Note
Every new OpenChair venue begins with a 14-day Pro trial — no credit card required. You get full access to every Pro feature during your trial. At the end of the trial you choose whether to subscribe to Pro or continue on Free.
What's Included on Free
Free gives you everything you need to run your day-to-day operations:
- Calendar & bookings — create, edit, cancel, and manage appointments
- Online booking page — your public storefront for client self-booking
- Client management — profiles, history, notes, and contact details
- Services, packages, and products — full service menu management
- Checkout — in-person and online payment collection
- Hardware terminal — Stripe Terminal for card-present payments
- Deposit collection — require deposits for any service
- Gift card issuance — sell and redeem gift cards in person
- Automated reminders — SMS and email reminders sent to clients before appointments
- Basic revenue metrics — booking counts, revenue totals, and team performance summary
- Manual AI copilot — use Sparks (pay-as-you-go) to draft replies, get suggestions, and run one-off AI tasks
What's Included on Pro
Pro includes everything on Free, plus:
Scheduling & bookings
- Recurring bookings — set up repeating appointment series that auto-generate future bookings
- Smart Waitlist (AI gap-fill) — automatically offer cancelled gaps to waitlisted clients
- Resources — attach rooms, equipment, and other resources to services to prevent double-booking
- AI booking brief — AI-generated client preparation notes before each appointment
- AI add-on suggestions — service recommendations surfaced during booking
Intelligence & analytics
- Advanced Intelligence cards — deposit performance, portfolio insight, committed series revenue, payment method breakdown, waitlist recovery analytics
- AI narrative & forecasting — plain-English explanations of revenue trends and AI-generated business forecasts
AI & automation
- AI Concierge (autonomous) — handles client replies, fills scheduling gaps, and takes action on your behalf without you having to approve each step
- Business Memory — persistent AI memory of your venue's preferences, rules, and context
- Style Preview — AI-generated hairstyle visualisations to show clients their transformation before the appointment
- Service Audit — AI analysis of your service menu for pricing gaps and optimisation opportunities
- Client History Backfill — import and enrich historical client records with AI assistance
Communications (Engage)
- Dedicated SMS number — a permanent phone number for your venue's two-way client messaging
- Included SMS — 200 messages/month (AU/GB) or 100 messages/month (NZ); additional messages billed from your wallet
- SMS & email campaigns — broadcast marketing messages to client segments
- Loyalty programme — configure points, rewards, and expiry rules
- Birthday & rebooking automations — automated outreach triggered by client events
Team & operations
- Commission tracking — set and track commission rules per team member
- Weekly payouts — switch from standard (2-business-day) to weekly payout schedule
Multi-location
- Multi-venue — manage multiple salon locations from a single login, each with its own team, calendar, and AI Concierge
Payments
- Lower processing fees — 1.8% + $0.30 per transaction (vs 3.0% + $0.50 on Free)
- Gift card email delivery — send digital gift cards directly to recipients via email
- Bulk gift card generation — create gift card batches for promotions
Feature Comparison Table
| Feature |
Free |
Pro |
| Calendar & appointment management |
✅ |
✅ |
| Online booking page (storefront) |
✅ |
✅ |
| Client profiles & history |
✅ |
✅ |
| Services, packages & products |
✅ |
✅ |
| Checkout (in-person & online) |
✅ |
✅ |
| Hardware terminal (card reader) |
✅ |
✅ |
| Deposit collection |
✅ |
✅ |
| Automated reminders (SMS & email) |
✅ |
✅ |
| Basic revenue & booking metrics |
✅ |
✅ |
| Gift card issuance (in-person) |
✅ |
✅ |
| Manual AI copilot (Sparks pay-as-you-go) |
✅ |
✅ |
| Recurring bookings (series) |
❌ |
✅ |
| Smart Waitlist (AI gap-fill) |
❌ |
✅ |
| Resources (rooms & equipment) |
❌ |
✅ |
| Custom forms & waivers |
❌ |
✅ |
| Multi-location management |
❌ |
✅ |
| Advanced Intelligence analytics |
❌ |
✅ |
| AI narrative & forecasting |
❌ |
✅ |
| AI Concierge (autonomous) |
❌ |
✅ |
| Business Memory |
❌ |
✅ |
| Style Preview |
❌ |
✅ |
| Service Audit |
❌ |
✅ |
| Client History Backfill |
❌ |
✅ |
| Dedicated SMS number |
❌ |
✅ |
| Included SMS |
0 |
200/mo (AU/GB) · 100/mo (NZ) |
| SMS & email campaigns |
❌ |
✅ |
| Loyalty programme |
❌ |
✅ |
| Birthday & rebooking automations |
❌ |
✅ |
| Commission tracking |
❌ |
✅ |
| Weekly payouts |
❌ |
✅ |
| Gift card email delivery & bulk generation |
❌ |
✅ |
| AI booking brief & add-on suggestions |
❌ |
✅ |
| Included Sparks (AI credits) |
❌ |
✅ |
| Transaction fees |
3.0% + $0.50 |
1.8% + $0.30 |
Trial Access
All new OpenChair venues start with a 14-day Pro trial. During the trial:
- Every Pro feature is fully accessible — no restrictions
- No credit card is required to start the trial
- Your Sparks wallet is pre-loaded with a $5 trial credit to cover pay-as-you-go AI usage
At the end of the trial, you can subscribe to Pro or continue on Free. If you choose Free, Pro-only features become inactive — but all your data is preserved. If you later subscribe to Pro, your recurring series, forms, resources, and other Pro-only content become active again immediately.
Founding Member Programme
Venues accepted into the Founding Member Programme receive a 180-day Pro trial with communications (SMS) included. Founding Member status is by invitation only.
Past-due grace period
If a Pro subscription payment fails, OpenChair keeps your Pro access active while Stripe retries the charge (typically up to 7 days). Update your payment method in Settings → Billing to avoid any interruption.
Subscription Pricing
Pro is priced per seat (billable team member), with a monthly cap so your bill never grows beyond a set maximum.
| Region |
Monthly from |
Per additional seat |
Monthly cap |
| Australia |
$34.95 AUD |
$20.00 AUD |
$199 AUD |
| New Zealand |
$24.95 NZD |
$20.00 NZD |
$199 NZD |
| United Kingdom |
£19.95 GBP |
£10.00 GBP |
£99 GBP |
To subscribe, go to Settings → Billing → Subscribe to Pro. Billing is managed through Stripe — subscription changes and cancellation are available at any time from the Billing page.
Tip
The monthly cap means a large team pays the same as a smaller one once the cap is reached. A 10-seat AU salon pays $199/month — the same as a 15-seat salon.
Transaction Fees
OpenChair processes customer payments through Stripe. The all-in processing fee covers Stripe's fee and OpenChair's platform fee combined — there are no separate charges.
| Plan |
Online payments |
In-person (terminal) |
| Free |
3.0% + $0.50 |
3.0% + $0.50 |
| Pro |
1.8% + $0.30 |
1.8% + $0.30 |
The fee saving on Pro can offset a meaningful portion of the subscription cost at typical transaction volumes.
Troubleshooting
| Issue |
Solution |
| I had access to a Pro feature yesterday but it's locked today |
Your 14-day trial has ended. Go to Settings → Billing and subscribe to Pro to restore access. All your data from the trial is intact. |
| I upgraded to Pro but a feature still looks locked |
Refresh the page or sign out and back in — your browser may have cached your previous plan status. If the issue persists, contact support. |
| I can't set up a dedicated SMS number |
SMS provisioning requires Pro. Go to Settings → Billing → Subscribe to Pro, then return to Settings → Communications to provision your number. |
| What happens to my recurring series if I don't upgrade? |
Active series stop generating new future bookings. Existing bookings are unaffected. If you subscribe to Pro later, the series becomes active again and future bookings resume. |
| My payment failed — will I lose Pro access immediately? |
No. OpenChair keeps Pro access active while Stripe retries the charge (up to ~7 days). Update your payment method at Settings → Billing before the retry window closes. |
| Can I cancel Pro at any time? |
Yes. Go to Settings → Billing and cancel. Access continues until the end of the current billing period. Your data is preserved indefinitely — you won't lose client records or history. |
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Last updated: April 2026