Venue & Settings
Your Storefront on the FREE Plan
Last updated 19 May 2026
Your Storefront on the FREE Plan
When your venue is on the FREE plan, your public storefront renders with a neutral, vanilla theme. None of your branding is deleted — it's paused. The moment you upgrade to PRO, everything restores.
Where to see it: visit your public storefront URL (e.g.
openchairpro.com/your-slugor your custom domain) while on FREE.
TL;DR
- FREE storefronts use a vanilla theme: white background, charcoal accent, system fonts, no logo, no hero image.
- Your branding (colours, logo, hero, custom domain, fonts, custom OG) is preserved indefinitely and restores instantly on upgrade.
- A small "Powered by OpenChair" footer appears at the bottom of every storefront page on FREE — including custom domains.
- Your storefront stays online and bookable. Customers can still book, pay, and check in.
What changes on FREE
The vanilla theme is a deliberate styling decision — clean, neutral, intentional-looking. The goal is "look like a default, not look broken or punitive."
| Element | PRO | FREE |
|---|---|---|
| Background | Your colour palette | #ffffff (white) |
| Primary accent | Your brand colour | #171717 (charcoal) |
| Text | Palette-derived | #0a0a0a (near-black) |
| Fonts | Your Google Font selection | System font stack (no Google Fonts fetch) |
| Custom logo | Rendered in header | Hidden |
| Hero image | Rendered above services | Hidden |
| OG share card | Your branded card (logo + colours) | Default OG card (logo-free, neutral) |
| Favicon | Your venue logo | Default OpenChair favicon |
| Custom meta title / description | Your settings | Default per route |
| "Powered by OpenChair" footer | Hidden | Visible |
| Custom domain | Works, branded | Works, vanilla |
| Robots / search indexing | Your setting | Your setting (preserved) |
What doesn't change:
- Services list, prices, durations
- Team members visible on storefront (subject to the 1-staff FREE cap)
- Storefront URL and routing
- Booking flow, deposit collection, gift-card purchase
- Customer self-service (My Bookings, manage / cancel links)
What's preserved
All of your customisation is preserved server-side. None of it is deleted on downgrade. The instant you upgrade, the storefront re-renders with everything intact:
- Custom palette and theme
- Logo and hero image (still uploaded, just hidden)
- Custom domain (still connected, still routed)
- Google Font selection
- Custom OG card configuration
- Meta title and description
- Powered-by footer visibility flag
"Powered by OpenChair" footer
A single-line text footer appears at the bottom of every storefront page on FREE:
Powered by OpenChair
The link points to openchairpro.com. The footer uses small muted styling — a thin top border, centred, small grey text. It's deliberately understated.
This footer appears on every storefront route on FREE, including:
- Main booking page
- Service detail pages
- Team and staff profile pages
- Gift card purchase page
- Reviews page
- Privacy and terms pages
It also appears on custom domains while on FREE. Upgrade to remove it on every surface.
The OG card and social shares
When someone shares your storefront URL on Instagram, WhatsApp, iMessage, Slack, Facebook, or LinkedIn, the platform pulls an Open Graph image to show as a preview. On PRO this is your branded OG card (logo + theme colours + venue name). On FREE, it's a vanilla default.
Cache window: the OG image is regenerated on a 7-day window. After you upgrade, social platforms may still show the vanilla OG card for a few days until the cache refreshes. You can force a refresh on most platforms by re-sharing the URL through their debugger:
- Facebook Sharing Debugger — paste your URL and click "Scrape Again"
- LinkedIn Post Inspector — same idea
- Twitter/X uses a similar cache, refreshable via re-post
Why we kept it neutral
Some platforms use a "broken" or aggressive style on downgrade (think faded watermarks, large red banners, intrusive upsells on the customer-facing surface). We deliberately don't. The vanilla theme is what Stripe Checkout or any minimal SaaS would look like — it stays bookable, stays professional, and lets the salon decide on their own timeline whether to upgrade.
The signal to upgrade lives inside the app for the owner, not on the public storefront for customers.
SEO meta tags on FREE
The storefront's <title> and <meta description> revert to defaults when on FREE:
| Tag | PRO | FREE |
|---|---|---|
<title> |
Your custom title or "{Venue} | Book online" | Default per-route title |
<meta name="description"> |
Your custom description | Default per-route description |
<meta name="robots"> |
Your setting | Your setting (preserved) |
| Open Graph image | Your branded OG | Default OpenChair OG |
| Twitter card | Your settings | Default |
Robots is preserved. Downgrading to FREE doesn't deindex your storefront from Google. The reasoning: "we shouldn't deindex venues when they drop to FREE — that's worse UX than respecting the prior choice."
What customers see
Customers visiting your FREE storefront see a clean, neutral booking page. They can:
- Browse your services and prices
- See your team (up to 1 active member on FREE)
- Pick a time, enter their details, and book
- Pay a deposit if you require one
- Buy a gift card
- Submit a review post-visit
- Access "My Bookings" via the magic-link in their confirmation email or SMS
The customer journey is intact. Only the visual presentation is neutralised.
Common mistakes
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| My logo is gone and I'm on PRO | Refresh the page; try an incognito tab. Confirm you're not still in a trial-ending grace period (check Settings → Plan). |
| Custom domain shows "Powered by OpenChair" | You're on FREE. Custom domains still show the footer on FREE. Upgrade to PRO to remove it. |
| OG card on Instagram is still vanilla after upgrade | Up to 7 days for the OG cache to refresh. Use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to force a re-scrape on Instagram (and Facebook). |
| Storefront looks broken to my customer | If they're reporting genuine breakage (404, blank page, broken booking flow) rather than just visual changes, contact support — that's a bug, not a tier feature. |
| Fonts look wrong / different from what I designed | On FREE, Google Fonts don't load. The page uses system fonts (San Francisco on iOS/Mac, Segoe UI on Windows, Roboto on Android, etc.). This is by design — it keeps the page fast and lightweight. |
| Booking page is white-on-white with my branding hidden | That's the vanilla theme. It's expected on FREE. To restore your full branding, upgrade to PRO. |
FAQ
Why does my storefront look different on FREE?
On FREE, the storefront renders with a vanilla theme — white background, charcoal accent, system fonts, no custom logo or hero image. Your branding isn't deleted; it's paused. Everything restores instantly when you upgrade to PRO.
Will my custom domain stop working?
Your custom domain keeps working on FREE — visitors can still book through it. The storefront on the other end renders in the vanilla theme until you upgrade. The 'Powered by OpenChair' footer appears on the custom domain too while you're on FREE.
What changes for my customers visually?
Theme reverts to neutral (white background, charcoal text, system fonts). Your logo and hero image are hidden. Google Fonts don't load — keeps the page snappy. Default OG and favicon are used. A 'Powered by OpenChair' footer appears at the bottom of every page.
Will Google de-index my storefront?
No. Your robots setting is preserved across the tier change — we won't deindex you for downgrading. SEO meta description and title strip to defaults, but the page stays indexable.
How long does the default OG card stay cached?
Up to 7 days. The OG image is regenerated on a 7-day window. After upgrade, you may see the previous vanilla OG card on social shares for a few days until the next regeneration.