$2.35 from the client on every booking. $35/mo from you, 30% of a new client's first visit (cap $50), and "Smart Pricing" surcharges on your busiest hours. Here's what the platform takes from both sides of your chair — including when the marketplace genuinely earns it.
StyleSeat figures checked October 2026 against StyleSeat's own pages: cost guide and help center. Spot an update? hello@takingclients.com.
| StyleSeat | TakingClients | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $35/mo | $0 — Pro is $12/mo (free for your first year if you sign up by Dec 31, 2026) |
| What your clients pay | $2.35 per booking, on top of your price — their money, charged under your name | $0 — never a booking fee. Your prices and your deposit are the only money that moves |
| New-client fee | 30% of a new client's first visit, capped at $50, when the marketplace introduces them | None, ever. No marketplace — clients you bring are yours free |
| Surge pricing | "Smart Pricing" adds up to 5.5% (cap $16.50) to high-demand times | Your prices are your prices. Nothing moves unless you move it |
| Getting paid | $50 minimum balance before payout | Payouts ride Stripe's rails — no minimum balance to hit |
| When a no-show fee is disputed | Their help center: StyleSeat "does not have the power" to mediate disputed fees between you and the client | The deposit was paid before the slot confirmed — nothing to mediate. A bank dispute meets a one-tap evidence packet: policy, timestamp, booking IP |
| Built for | Discovery marketplace — your profile sits in a catalog next to your competitors | Ink and hair only: your own page on your own link, deposits as the default, nobody else's chair one tap away |
If you're building a book from nothing, a marketplace that charges 30% per introduced client can genuinely beat paying for ads — a $100 first visit costs you $30, once, only when it actually books. But check the skew in StyleSeat's own numbers: they report an average of $1,904/year in new-client revenue per pro against a median of $633, with the top tenth around $5,354 (their blog). If you're in that top slice, the fees may pay for themselves. TakingClients sends you zero clients — it's built for the pro whose book already fills from Instagram and word of mouth, where every marketplace fee (yours and your clients') is a tax on demand you created.
Assumptions, in the open: this compares the platform take beyond card processing, because StyleSeat doesn't publish its processing rate — so card processing is excluded on both sides (ours is ~2.9% + 30¢; add it yourself to either column if you find theirs). StyleSeat at $35/mo plus 30% of your average ticket (cap $50) per marketplace introduction; Smart Pricing surcharges not counted — they depend on demand. TakingClients at our 1% platform fee; subscription $0 (the free year covers Pro through Dec 31, 2026 signups; $12/mo after if you keep it).
Imported contacts are never texted automatically — SMS consent belongs to the client and the exact number they opted in with, and starts fresh when they book. Your sender reputation (and the law) stay clean.
From their own pages: $35/mo from you, $2.35 per booking from your clients, 30% of a new client's first visit (cap $50) when the marketplace introduces them, and Smart Pricing surcharges up to 5.5% (cap $16.50) on high-demand times. The card-processing rate isn't published.
Yes — $2.35 every booking, on top of your price. It doesn't show up in your books, but your clients see it under your name. Here, booking is free for them: your prices and your deposit are the only money that moves.
Yes — CSV import if you can pull one, or we'll move the book for you from whatever you have. Texting consent starts fresh, on purpose.
StyleSeat's help center says it "does not have the power" to mediate disputed fees between you and the client. Here there's no after-the-fact fee to fight about: the deposit was paid before the slot confirmed, and a bank dispute meets a one-tap evidence packet — the policy they agreed to, the timestamp, the booking IP.
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