A Timely alternative where the bill is a flat tier, not a headcount
Timely is booking and payments software for hair and beauty, and it has no marketplace and no commission. The honest comparison is the shape of the price: Timely charges per bookable staff member; BookMyVenue charges flat published tiers.
Timely has no marketplace and no commission
Say that first, because it is checkable and it is true. Clients book from the business’s own website, social profiles or a personalised booking link. Timely’s Reserve with Google page states it plainly: no marketplace listing required, no client fees, no commission.
Source: gettimely.com: Reserve with Google · observed 2026-09-15
Every AU plan card prints “No new client fees.” The pricing page lists no per-booking fee; the only fee block is card processing. Comparing Timely as if it were a marketplace would be a strawman. We won’t.
Source: gettimely.com/pricing (AU render) · observed 2026-09-15
The contrast is the shape of the price
Timely’s Australian pricing page (region control “Australia (exc GST)”) shows three plans (Build, Elevate and Innovate) priced per bookable staff member, per month. At one staff member that is $42 / $65 / $79 AUD. Part-time staff are billed at the same rate as full-time. A six-chair salon on Build therefore pays six times the one-staff price.
$42 AUD per staff / month
Build plan at 1 bookable staff, Australia (exc GST). Timely's own JSON-LD Offer lists price 42 with priceCurrency AUD for Australia.
Source: gettimely.com/pricing (AU render) · observed 2026-09-15
$65 AUD per staff / month
Elevate plan at 1 bookable staff, Australia (exc GST).
Source: gettimely.com/pricing (AU render) · observed 2026-09-15
$79 AUD per staff / month
Innovate plan at 1 bookable staff, Australia (exc GST).
Source: gettimely.com/pricing (AU render) · observed 2026-09-15
Per bookable staff member
Stepper on the AU pricing page: "How many bookable staff?"; each card prints "per staff / monthly". Part-time staff are charged at the same rate as full-time.
Source: gettimely.com/pricing (AU render) · observed 2026-09-15
$252 AUD / month
Build plan total at 6 bookable staff ($42 × 6), read off Timely's own staff stepper, Australia (exc GST).
Source: gettimely.com/pricing (AU render, staff stepper) · observed 2026-09-15
BookMyVenue publishes flat tiers. Our Team plan is $199 a month +GST for up to 6 bookable calendars; the headcount inside the band does not multiply the subscription. Every BookMyVenue number is on the pricing page.
What the bill does as you add chairs
Figures below were read off Timely’s own “How many bookable staff?” stepper on the AU pricing page, excl. GST. Build stays at $42 per staff and caps at 1–7 staff. Elevate and Innovate per-staff rates fall as headcount rises.
| Bookable staff | Build total | Elevate total | Innovate total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $42 | $65 | $79 |
| 2 | $84 | $118 | $144 |
| 3 | $126 | $171 | $209 |
| 4 | $168 | $224 | $274 |
| 5 | $210 | $277 | $339 |
| 6 | $252 | $330 | $404 |
| 7 | $294 | $383 | $469 |
| 8 | Not available (1–7 staff only) | $436 | $534 |
At 8 staff Elevate showed $436/month total, and at 13 staff it still showed $436/month total (same for Innovate at $534). We print what the stepper showed; we do not invent a “cap” beyond that.
Source: gettimely.com/pricing (AU render, staff stepper) · observed 2026-09-15
SMS is metered past an allowance
Timely includes SMS per staff per month: 100 on Build, 200 on Elevate, 350 on Innovate, then charges past the allowance. Targeted marketing SMS sits outside the allowance at the same rate, and is not available on Build.
100 SMS / staff / month
Build plan included SMS (excludes targeted SMS). Elevate 200, Innovate 350, per staff per month.
Source: gettimely.com/pricing (AU render) · observed 2026-09-15
12c per SMS
Excess SMS rate on all three plans on the AU pricing comparison table. Targeted campaign SMS is also 12c and sits outside the allowance.
Source: gettimely.com/pricing (AU render) · observed 2026-09-15
BookMyVenue includes SMS and email confirmations and reminders on every plan. SMS beyond the plan allowance is $0.15 a message +GST; published, not a credit balance you top up.
Side by side, on the published record
| Timely | BookMyVenue | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Own-site / social / booking-link widget; no marketplace listing required | Booking widget on your own website; no consumer marketplace |
| Commission / new-client fee | None published. "No new client fees" on every plan card | 0% commission on any booking, from any source |
| Monthly price shape | Per bookable staff member ($42–$79 AUD at 1 staff, excl. GST) | Flat tiers from $99 a month +GST |
| Six bookable staff (Build vs Team) | $252 AUD / month on Build (excl. GST) | $199 a month +GST covers up to 6 calendars |
| SMS past allowance | 12c per SMS on the AU comparison table | $0.15 per message +GST |
| Contract | No contracts, month by month; 14-day trial, no card | No lock-in; cancel when you stop needing it |
Figures observed 2026-09-15, sources linked per figure. Timely’s AU page shows prices excl. GST; ours are quoted +GST. We print nothing about a competitor that we can't source and date.
Where Timely is better than us
Timely has been shipping salon software since 2011, is owned by EverCommerce, and serves more than 28,000 hair and beauty businesses globally, with figures from its own AI info page (last updated November 2025). Deposits, stored cards and cancellation fees are included from the entry Build plan. Tap to Pay on a phone is free; in-salon terminals are one-off hardware costs. Phone support on Innovate is included; on Build it is a $30/month add-on. If what you need is a mature, salon-specialist stack with that hardware and payments depth already wired in, Timely is a strong answer, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
Source: gettimely.com/ai-llm-info-page and /pricing · observed 2026-09-15
$30 per month
Direct phone support on the Build plan comparison column. Included on Innovate.
Source: gettimely.com/pricing (AU render) · observed 2026-09-15