Is Bookka cheaper than Timely?

For a salon with staff, usually by a wide margin, because Bookka does not charge per head. For a solo operator the gap is smaller — Timely Build is A$42 against Bookka’s A$39 — and if you take a lot of money online, Bookka’s 1.3% platform fee can make us the more expensive option. The worked total in the table above is for a five-person salon; run your own team size against the per-head prices and you will see where it turns over.

Does Timely charge commission on new clients?

No, and that is a genuine point in its favour. Timely has no consumer marketplace, so there is no new-client fee of the kind Fresha (20%) and Booksy (30%) charge. Bookka does have a marketplace and also charges no commission on it.

What does Timely do better than Bookka?

Client record keeping. Consultation forms, stored client photos and documents, waitlists and pricing tiers by staff skill and seniority are deeper in Timely than in Bookka. If those are load-bearing for your salon, that is a reason to stay.

Can I move my clients and services across from Timely?

Yes. Export your clients from Timely, send us your service menu, and we will set up services, prices, hours and team for you before you go live.

What does Bookka charge on payments?

About 1.7% + A$0.30 to Stripe plus a 1.3% Bookka platform fee online — roughly 3% all in — and no Bookka fee at all on in-person payments, just Stripe’s terminal rate. Payments land in your own Stripe account.

Compare booking platforms / Timely

A Timely alternative for Australian salons

Timely charges a solo rate plus A$53 to A$65 for every extra person, and its cheaper plans cap out at one and seven staff. Bookka is A$39 or A$69 flat — see what your salon would pay on each.

Start freeSee the comparison

Switch if

Your Timely bill goes up every time you hire, and you are on Elevate or Innovate mainly to get marketing and loyalty.

Stay on Timely if

You lean on consultation forms, client photos and staff-skill pricing tiers. Timely’s clinical-style record keeping is deeper than Bookka’s, and a team of eight or more gets Timely’s flat price anyway.

How the two price lists differ

Timely is a good product with a pricing model that punishes growth in a specific way. Elevate is A$65 a month on your own and A$53 for every person after that, so a five-person salon pays A$277 and a seven-person one A$383 — and Build, the cheaper plan, simply stops being available once you pass seven people. At eight it switches to a flat A$436, which is better than the per-head maths but a long way past A$69.

Bookka is A$39 a month for up to five people and A$69 for up to twenty, and the number does not move when you hire. Marketing campaigns, loyalty, gift cards, an online shop and the social scheduler are in the plan rather than gated behind a higher tier.

Where Timely is genuinely stronger: consultation forms, client photos and documents, and pricing tiers by staff seniority. If your salon runs on that kind of record keeping, Timely is deeper than Bookka and you should weigh that properly. Timely also has no consumer marketplace, which means no new-client commission — a real point in its favour against Fresha and Booksy.

Why salons leave Timely

The reasons people actually give, in the order they tend to give them.

Every hire is A$53 to A$65 a month: Elevate is A$65 solo and A$53 for each extra person; Innovate is A$79 and A$65. A six-person salon on Elevate pays A$330 a month. Bookka is A$39 for five people and A$69 for twenty.
The cheap plans run out: Base is one person only. Build stops at seven. So growing past seven people forces you onto Elevate or Innovate whether or not you wanted the features, and every Timely plan stops at nineteen.
Marketing campaigns need a higher tier: Targeted SMS campaigns are an Elevate-and-above feature, then A$0.08 a text. Bookka includes 200 texts on Business and 500 on Executive, plus 500 or 2,000 marketing emails, and the campaign tools are on every paid plan.
Online card rates are the highest of the Australian-priced platforms: TimelyPay is 1.85% + 30c online. Bookka is Stripe’s 1.7% + A$0.30 plus a 1.3% platform fee — higher all in online, and lower in person, where Timely charges 1.59% + 5c and Bookka charges nothing on top of Stripe’s terminal rate.
No online shop, social scheduler or ads manager: Timely manages stock levels but has no customer-facing shop, no social post scheduler and no advertising manager. Bookka has all three.

Bookka and Timely, line by line

Every figure below comes from the pricing Timely publishes itself, read on 2026-10-01. Where they publish nothing, this says so rather than guessing.

Pricing and features: Timely compared with Bookka
Timely	Bookka
What it costs
Base subscription
A$65.00/moElevate · on your own, then A$53.00 each, or A$436.00 flat from 8 people	A$69.00/moExecutive — flat, whatever the team size
Each extra staff member
+A$53.00/moevery additional person, up to 19 on Elevate	Includedup to 20 on Executive, then A$14.95/mo
Each extra location
Not publishedTimely does not publish per-location pricing; its plans are priced by team size.	Included2 on Executive, then A$19.95/mo
New-client marketplace fee
Not offeredTimely has no consumer marketplace, so no new-client commission either	Includedno commission, ever — the marketplace is included
Card processing (online)
1.85% + A$0.30international cards 3.00% + 30c	1.7% + A$0.30 + 1.3%Stripe plus the Bookka fee — about 3% all in, paid into your own Stripe account
Card processing (in person)
1.59% + A$0.05Tap to Pay or a Timely terminal	0% Bookka feeonly Stripe's terminal rate, 1.7% + A$0.10
What is an extra
Your own booking website
IncludedMini website and social booking links, from Build up	IncludedBooking page and marketplace profile included — not a custom-domain website
Email and SMS marketing
A$0.08Targeted SMS campaigns (Elevate and above) · per use · Reminders are included per person; campaigns need Elevate, then A$0.08 a text	IncludedQuota included, then $10 per 100 texts
Social media scheduling
Social media booking links and a mini website, but no post scheduler	IncludedIncluded, with AI-written content
Loyalty program
IncludedClient loyalty is a listed feature	IncludedBookka Rewards, included
Gift cards
Not publishedNot named on the pricing page or in the per-plan feature lists.	IncludedIncluded on every plan
Online shop with shipping
Stock management from Build up, but no customer-facing online shop	IncludedIncluded, on your booking page
Xero accounting sync
Not publishedTimely lists accounting integrations outside its pricing page and publishes no price for them.	IncludedNative, included on Executive
Business analytics and reports
IncludedReporting on every plan	IncludedIncluded
Google and Meta ads manager
Not offered	IncludedIncluded on Executive
AI booking assistant
Not offered	IncludedIncluded on Executive, with $10 a month of credit
Monthly software costWhat each provider bills for a six-person business at one location, running marketing, loyalty, gift cards and an online shop, on Bookka Executive: subscription, add-ons and any message top-ups. Card processing and commission are counted separately, because they scale with takings rather than with the software.
A$339.68/moTimely Elevate with the add-ons needed to match · card processing 1.85% + A$0.30	A$69.00/moBookka Executive A$69.00 · no commission, ever · card processing 1.7% + A$0.30 + 1.3%

Comparison reviewed October 2026 from publicly available information; features and pricing may change. Figures are as published by each provider, excluding taxes and card processing unless noted. Timely is a trademark of Timely Limited. Bookka is not affiliated with Timely.

Where these figures came from (2 sources)

gettimely.com — read 2026-10-01
gettimely.com — read 2026-10-01

The part a price list cannot show you

The table can only compare what you can buy on both sides. These come with Bookka Executive and Timely does not offer them at all, so they never appear as a line — and they are the ones that decide whether a client books again.

Keeping clients coming back

The cheapest booking is the one from someone who already knows you. These are the tools that make a first visit into a regular.

AI booking assistant: Included on Executive, with $10 a month of credit

Bringing new people in

Being found, being chosen, and being talked about — without paying a commission on the people it works on.

New clients from the marketplace: No commission, ever
Google and Meta ads manager: Included on Executive

Start free

On Bookka Executive, $69 a month. See both plans.

Moving across from Timely

You do not have to pick a day and jump. The overlap is the point.

1
Export what you have
Pull your client list out of Timely and send us your service menu — a screenshot of the price list is enough. You do not need to tidy it first.
2
We set it up for you
Services, prices, durations, opening hours and your team, entered and checked before you go live. You look at it and tell us what is wrong.
3
Run both, then switch the link
Keep Timely going while appointments already in it play out. When you are happy, point your booking link, Instagram and Google profile at Bookka. Nothing gets cancelled and rebooked.

Timely and Bookka, answered

Still curious? Get in touch — we reply fast.

Timely prices per team member, ex GST: Base is A$9 for one person only, Build A$42 solo and A$42 for each extra person up to seven, Elevate A$65 solo and A$53 each after, and Innovate A$79 and A$65. From eight people up, Elevate becomes a flat A$436 a month and Innovate a flat A$534. Timely renders these from a currency selector, so the figures here were read from its own published region price table on 1 October 2026.

Comparing a few at once?

Most people shortlisting booking software are weighing two or three. See all of them side by side.