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When Booksy charges the new client fee, which bookings its Boost terms leave out, and how to set up your own channels so you pay only for clients who found you in Booksy's marketplace.
2026-09-24 · 5 min read
What you get
• When Booksy counts a new client as a Boost client, and what that costs at four prices
• Seven clients and routes that Booksy's US terms and help pages leave fee-free
• Five setup steps and four traps
Apply in: 20 minutes · Saves: fees on clients who found you on their own
Not sure which clients came from Booksy and which came from your own Instagram? Send me a note and I'll help you sort it out.
Ask me about your siteWhen does Booksy charge the new client fee?
Only when Boost is on and a new client books their first visit in the Booksy app. The new client fee is a one-time 30% of that first visit, at least $10 and at most $100 per client (Booksy's US pricing page and Boost terms, checked October 5, 2026).
With Boost off, Booksy charges no fee for new clients; you pay the subscription only. After the first visit, later visits carry no fee. The first visit works out like this at four prices (price, Boost fee, what you keep):
First visit price
Boost fee
What you keep
$25
$10 (the minimum)
$15
$80
$24
$56
$150 (Booksy's example)
$45
$105
$400
$100 (the cap)
$300
Booksy's US pages don't say whether tax is added to the fee. Its help page bases the fee on the base price without add-ons, its pricing page on "the total cost of their first visit", so check your Boost report.
Which bookings don't carry the fee?
The ones that came through your own channels: your unique link, the widget on your site, your Instagram button and clients already in your list. Booksy's US Boost terms and help pages list the clients and the booking routes that don't count toward the fee.
• clients already in your Booksy client list • clients who say they are returning when they book • bookings you add yourself • your unique link (business-name.booksy.com) • your Booksy widget on your website • your Instagram Book Now button, routed to your Profile Link • your link on business cards and in texts
Wherever clients find you on their own, point them to one of these routes. If a client lands on your general profile in Booksy's search, the app asks whether it's their first visit with you. Of 36 one-person podology (foot care) practices in Poland without their own website, checked in their public Google profiles on September 24, 2026, 8 took online bookings through a platform, 6 of them through Booksy.
A button or widget on your site is a fee-free route. I build the site myself with AI, for free, and you pay only while you use it. Online booking is part of the Studio plan; I don't charge per booking or per client, and the button can open your Booksy link, so you can stay on Booksy.
- Up to 15 pages
- Everything in Starter
- Online booking
- Unlimited changes (new features quoted first)
- Advanced SEO
- Analytics dashboard
- Priority support
- 1 design refresh / year
First month free - you pay from month two, and only if you keep the site. Other plans on the pricing page; no build fee on any of them.
How to set up fee-free bookings: 5 steps
Start with your unique Booksy link and put it everywhere clients find you outside Booksy's search: your site, your Instagram, your Google profile and your business cards.
1. Copy your unique link (business-name.booksy.com) and send it when a client texts you to book. 2. On your site, add a button with that link or the Booksy widget. Whoever runs your site puts it in. Booksy doesn't help with the install. 3. Route your Instagram Book Now button to your Profile Link, as Booksy's own help page advises. 4. In your Google Business Profile, add your unique Booksy link as a booking link and mark it as the business's preferred link. 5. Add every regular who books by phone or walks in to your client list, since clients already in that list don't count as Boost clients.
Where does the fee still show up?
The fee shows up in four situations: a client who books in the app before you add them, a no-show you don't mark, switching Boost off, and a client who answers that it's their first visit. Check your new Boost clients report and file a claim within 7 days after the billing cycle ends.
Booksy decides whether a client is a Boost client at the moment they book, and switching Boost off doesn't cancel fees on bookings made while it was on. No-shows, cancellations and changes to services can be marked only on the appointment day; later changes are ignored and the fee stays.
One stylist on Reddit (r/hairstylist, October 2025) wrote that, at first, Booksy counted clients who had found them on Instagram as Boost clients. If a booking came through your own link, widget or client list, file a claim in the app. Don't underprice services or mark false no-shows, because Booksy's terms call that manipulation and let Booksy charge the fee on the real price.
When is Boost worth it?
When new clients find you in Booksy's search. Booksy says Boost gives your profile better visibility in its marketplace. If clients know you from Instagram, referrals or Google but book through Booksy's search, you pay for a visit you would have had anyway.
Pull your report for the last three months and do the math: how many new clients came from Booksy's search, and how many through your own channels.
FAQ
Does switching Boost off stop the fee right away?
Not for bookings already made. You can deactivate Boost in the app at any time, but Booksy still charges the fee for bookings made before you switched it off.
Is a client who books from Google a Boost client?
It can be. Booksy's US Boost terms don't list Google among the fee-free routes. Put your unique Booksy link on your Google profile as the booking link and mark it as preferred.
Sources
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