Kiri vs Square Appointments
Square Appointments has a genuinely free plan for a single location with unlimited staff, with $49 or $149 a location a month for the Plus and Premium tiers. It has no consumer marketplace, so clients still have to find you. Kiri is free too, and its job is exactly that: being found. The two pair well.
The facts, in one table.
| Kiri | Square Appointments | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | $0 to list, with no subscription. A full booking system is planned as an opt-in add-on at $20 a month plus $10 per staff member; the free listing stays either way. | Free plan for one location with unlimited staff. Plus $49 a location a month, Premium $149 a location a month, 30-day trial on paid plans. |
| Fees on bookings | None. No commission on bookings and no fee for new clients. | None. Square has no marketplace, so there is no commission on clients. |
| Contract | None. No card on file; leave whenever you like. | Billed monthly per location; no annual term shown. |
| Online booking | Booking requests: the client picks a service, stylist and time, and you accept or decline in Kiri Studio. | Instant self-booking through a Square booking site, with Google and Instagram integrations. No-show fees and cancellation policies on Plus and above; deposits available. |
| How clients find you | Every portfolio photo becomes a style page people find by searching the cut. Salon pages are marked up for Google and AI search, and listed in Kiri city guides for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco so far. | None built in. No consumer marketplace; clients find you through your own channels. |
| Website or profile page | A salon page with menu and prices, team, portfolio, hours, reviews and HairSalon structured data, at kiri-me.com/stylists/your-salon. | Free Square Online site and booking page. |
| Payments and POS | Not handled. You keep collecting payment in the salon. | Square’s point-of-sale and hardware, which is the reason most salons choose it. |
| Text reminders | Not yet. Text reminders are part of the planned booking system. | Automated reminders free; custom text reminders on Plus. |
| Setup | Done by the Kiri team from your Instagram, website or Google listing. You review before it goes live. | Self-serve. |
Where Square Appointments wins
- A real free tier with unlimited staff, instant self-booking and reminders.
- The best point-of-sale and hardware in the group, with payments built in.
- Deposits, no-show fees and card on file on paid tiers.
- If you already take Square payments, the calendar and the till are one system.
Where Kiri wins
- Discovery: Square brings no new clients; Kiri exists to bring them, through style pages, city guides and search.
- Built for salons: menus by stylist, portfolios, team pages and HairSalon structured data.
- Setup done by the Kiri team.
- Also free to list, with nothing to set up on your side.
You can run both.
Kiri is not a point-of-sale and does not try to be one. This is the easiest pairing on the page. Square runs the calendar and the till; Kiri brings new clients and hands you the request. Accept the Kiri request, book it in Square, take payment in Square. Both free.
Square Appointments fits best
When you already take payments on Square and want a free scheduler in the same system, and you do not expect the software to bring clients.
Kiri fits best
Solo stylists, small teams and salons of any size that want new clients to find them by the work they do, a page built to rank for their name and area, and booking requests without paying a platform for the privilege.
Asked before switching.
- Is Square Appointments really free?
- Yes, for a single location with unlimited staff, as of November 2026. The Plus and Premium tiers add features such as no-show fees and custom text reminders at $49 and $149 a location a month.
- If Square is free, why add Kiri?
- Because Square does not bring clients. It has no consumer marketplace and your booking page only ranks for your own name. Kiri turns your portfolio into pages people find by searching the style, lists you in its city salon guides where it has one and sends the booking request to you, all free.
- Does Kiri integrate with Square?
- Not directly today. A Kiri booking request arrives in Kiri Studio; you accept it and add it to Square like a phone booking. Payment is taken in Square as usual.
Sources
- Square Appointments pricing page
- Square community: no-show protection complaints
- Capterra reviews of Square Appointments
Square Appointments prices and terms are theirs and change. We quote their public pages as of November 9, 2026; check the current page before deciding. Kiri is not affiliated with Square Appointments.
Keep Square Appointments. Add Kiri.
Send us the form today. We build your page, you check it, and booking requests start coming in beside whatever you already run.