The three options
| Booking platform | Branded app | Your own app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Software and often a marketplace shared by many businesses | The platform’s app template with your logo and colours | An app built around your business, under your name |
| Start | Days | Weeks | Usually 4 to 8 weeks |
| Cost | Monthly fee, sometimes a fee per new client | Platform fee plus a branded app fee | A fixed build price, then a monthly running cost |
| Features | The same as every other business on it | The same as the platform | Whatever your clients and team need |
| Your clients | Also see other businesses nearby | See your brand, on shared software | Only see you |
| Your data | Stored by the platform, export depends on it | Stored by the platform | Yours, hosted in the UK or EU |
When a booking platform is the right choice
If you are opening, testing a new location or still working out your timetable and prices, a platform gets you taking bookings within days. Marketplaces can also bring new clients who would not have found you otherwise. That is worth paying for while you grow.
Signs it is time for an app of your own
- Most of your bookings come from regulars, not from people discovering you on a marketplace.
- You pay for clients who were already yours, through new-client fees or commission.
- You run things the platform does not do: juniors and parents, fight nights, leagues, make-up lessons, a café, events.
- Your team works around the software with spreadsheets, group chats and manual reminders.
- You want to know your clients: who is drifting away, who books what, and how to bring them back.
Branded apps: the middle option
A branded app is the platform’s app with your name on it. It is quick and familiar, and it is often a good step up from a shared marketplace. Its limit is that it can only do what the platform does, for every business on it. If your business works differently, for example with junior classes, events or a café, a branded app cannot follow.
Using both
You do not have to choose one forever. A common approach is to keep a marketplace listing for discovery and move regulars to your own app, where there is no commission and the experience is yours. Your app can also connect to the platform where it allows, so availability stays in one place while you move over.
Moving over without losing anyone
- Export your clients and memberships from the current platform.
- Import them into your app, so members sign in and find their plan and credits waiting.
- Run both for a few weeks, with your app as the default for regulars.
- Tell members in person and by message, with a reason to switch, such as easier booking or a reward.
See it for your trade
We show what an app of your own looks like for gyms and studios, boxing and martial arts clubs, Pilates and yoga studios, salons and barbers and restaurants. For costs, see how much an app costs in the UK.
Questions
Yes, if it is easier than what they use today. Members download an app they will open every week: to book, see their next class and get reminders. Bringing them over in person, with a clear reason, works best.
Yes. Nothing changes for your members until the app is ready and tested. Then you move them over at your own pace.
No. Small, independent businesses often gain the most, because their way of working is what makes them different, and templates cannot follow it.
Want to see it for your business?
A 15-minute call is enough to see what an app of your own would do for you, and what it would cost.