waivers.tattoo vs Booksy: $29.99 a month and $20 for each artist, or $50 a year for your tattoo shop

Booksy is $29.99 a month plus $20 for each artist after the first, so a 3-artist tattoo shop pays $69.99 a month before tax. Ours, waivers.tattoo, is $50 a year for the whole shop. I make it, so read the pages rather than me. Every claim below about Booksy links to Booksy's own page as it read on 2026-10-29.

What does Booksy do well?

Booksy puts everything in one subscription. Its pricing page lists unlimited bookings, waitlists, memberships, gift cards, Reserve with Google and "Custom Forms & Liability Waivers" under one price, and it says "Appointment confirmations and reminders are always free." Its clients have an app of their own to book, rebook and pay. For a barber or a salon that books all day, it is a lot of tool for the money.

Its business site is written for that trade: the industries its own menu names are barbers, hair and nail salons, brows and lashes, braiding, tanning, beauty pros, massage and spa.

What does a tattoo shop pay on Booksy, and what does it pay here?

Booksy's pricing page says it in one sentence: "Booksy costs $29.99 per month, plus $20 per month for each additional team member (+ tax)." So 1 artist is $29.99 a month, and 3 artists are $69.99, which is $839.88 a year before tax. A mobile or keyed-in card payment is 2.69% + $0.30. With Boost turned on, a new client the marketplace brings costs a "One-time 30% fee based on the total cost of a Boost client's first visit with you, up to a maximum of $100".

Here, your booking page comes with your waivers.tattoo account: $50 a year for the whole shop, or $5 a month. No artist adds a fee, no client carries a commission, and the year covers unlimited waivers, your link page at yourshop.L.tattoo and 1,000 emails a month to your clients. Your first 10 waivers are free.

How does a tattoo client book?

On Booksy, a client can book in a browser without the app, its customer app page says, and its profile page answers whether they need an account: "Yes. Clients need to enter and verify their contact details to complete a booking."

On your booking page, they need no account. Your client picks the artist, or any artist, then the session, a day and a time from your hours, writes one line about the idea, and leaves a name, a phone number and an email. You choose "Ask first", where you confirm each request, or "Book straight in". They get an email with Add to calendar and a link to cancel, and you get one for every booking.

How does the deposit hold the time?

On Booksy, you set "which services require a Deposit or Cancellation Fee, and the % of the service cost to be charged," its no-show page says, and it promises "Charge a deposit at the time of booking, and we’ll automatically apply it to the total service charge at checkout." A percentage needs a price on the service first.

Here, the deposit is a fixed amount you set on each session, with no service price needed, and the time is held while your client pays it on your deposit page. It lands in your shop's own Stripe balance the moment they pay, and Stripe sends it to your bank every week once you add one. Your client pays our $3.99 fee by default and your share carries Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ and 50¢ toward payouts: a $100 deposit costs your client $103.99 and leaves $96.18 in your balance. Pay the $3.99 yourself if you want your client to pay exactly the deposit. If a no-show disputes a deposit we collected for you, we answer the dispute with the policy they ticked.

Who keeps the client, and what does the form ask?

Your waiver form puts every tattoo and piercing client on your client list, with their visit history. Each one gets your thank-you with your aftercare sheet, and the ones who tick the box to hear from your shop get the review ask and the emails you write. The list exports as a spreadsheet any day.

Booksy's forms are yours to set up. Ours asks your state's questions already: we read the tattoo and piercing rules of all 50 states and DC and wrote what each asks into the form: the ID, the health questions, and a parent or guardian where your state and you allow minors. Your state's page has the rule's words. This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. Your local health department has the final word. Ask them, and bring your records.

What do you keep, and what do you give up?

You keep a booking page where "Any artist" and every artist's own link come with the shop, an artist's Google Calendar blocking their times both ways, and a feed for Apple Calendar or Outlook.

You give up Booksy's free text reminders and its waitlist. You give up a card on file with a cancellation fee charged to it, Boost and the marketplace, and the Booksy app your regulars may like. And Reserve with Google: here your booking page is a link you paste where your clients look.

How do you switch your booking link in one sitting?

1. Set up your shop, or sign in.
2. Open "Links", then "Bookings", and turn on your booking page with "Ask first" or "Book straight in".
3. Set your hours and your sessions, and each session's "Deposit" and amount.
4. Under "Deposits", press "Start taking deposits", give your legal name and tick the terms.
5. Each artist presses "Link your Google Calendar" from their own sign-in.
6. Swap your Booksy link in your bio for yourshop.bookings.tattoo, or for your L.tattoo page, whose "Book now" opens it.

Let Booksy finish the appointments already on it, and the new ones land on yours.

On Booksy a tattoo shop pays for each person on the calendar. Here the whole shop is $50 a year, and your clients book without an account.