Enterprise DNA

Timely alternatives

Timely alternatives for NZ and Australian businesses

Timely: US$26 to US$47 per bookable staff member per month, about A$42 to A$79 locally.

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  • check_circleYour data in a database you own
  • check_circleOpen source, no lock-in
  • check_circleBuilt and run by Enterprise DNA

The options

What people compare Timely with

Timely charges US$26 to US$47 per bookable staff member per month (about A$42 to A$79 on the local card), which puts a 10-chair salon on the middle plan at roughly US$4,700 a year before texts and payment fees. Owners look for an alternative once they realise every chair they fill adds another line to that bill, the reports show only what the vendor decided to chart, and years of client and colour records sit behind an export they would need to leave.

Often compared

Kitomba

A salon and spa booking system based in New Zealand, often mentioned alongside Timely by NZ businesses.

Often compared

Shortcuts

A salon and spa booking system based in Australia, often mentioned alongside Timely by Australian businesses.

Yours to own

Salon for Claude Code

The open-source salon and spa management system that is just a database and Claude Code. Built around your business, with your Timely data brought across.

See how it works

How to choose

How to choose a Timely alternative

  1. 1

    What the bill is tied to

    Timely's rent runs per bookable staff member, per month, per tier, so every apprentice who starts taking clients adds another line. Check whether a tool prices by seat, by location, or another way entirely, because that decides how the bill grows as your business does.

  2. 2

    Whether your records stay yours

    Years of client visits, colour formulas and appointment history can sit inside a vendor's cloud, reachable only through their export tool. Ask whether you could take everything you have recorded and run it somewhere else tomorrow, without asking anyone's permission first.

  3. 3

    Whether it fits your own rules

    Consultation forms, colour checks and reporting often sit one plan up from where you started, and upgrading reprices every staff member at once. Ask whether the tool bends to how your salon actually works, or asks your salon to bend to it.

  4. 4

    What switching actually involves

    Moving means exporting your client list and appointment history, then rebuilding anything that lived in free-text notes, such as colour formulas, by hand. Ask what the export gives you, what it leaves out, and how long the rebuild will realistically take.

The option that fits

Own the version built to fit your salon

Salon for Claude Code is the option that fits your business instead of asking it to fit a plan. Enterprise DNA builds it around how your salon actually runs, brings your client and appointment history across from Timely, and runs it for you afterwards. You pay one setup fee, then a monthly retainer, with no per-seat pricing to watch as you add chairs. A free version exists if you would rather run it yourself.

  • check No per-seat pricing as you add chairs.
  • check Your records live in a database you own.
  • check Enterprise DNA runs it for you after setup.
Get your version built

Make it yours

Design your own Timely replacement

Everything starts from the open-source base. Then it gets your name, the parts you run, your rules and your data from Timely. Try it here, and we build the real one.

2. What it runs

3. Make it fit

4. Your colour

Your business · your Timely replacement Your version
YB Your business

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Answered from your own database

Build my version

We build it from the open-source base, bring your Timely data across and run it for you.

Questions

Timely alternatives, answered

Is there a free way to try this before paying anything? expand_more

Yes. The free version is open source under an MIT licence, so you can run it yourself with no account and no fee. Enterprise DNA's paid work is building the version around how your salon runs, bringing your Timely data across, and running it for you afterwards.

What happens to our client and colour formula history when we leave Timely? expand_more

Your client list and appointment history import from Timely's own exports. Colour formulas usually sit in free-text notes, so the top clients' mixes get brought across by hand, about twenty minutes per stylist, and from then on every formula lives in a database you own, printable as a record card.

Do clients still book online if we move away from Timely? expand_more

In the free version, bookings are taken by phone or at the till and typed in as one sentence. An online booking page that clients use themselves, writing straight into the same records, is something Enterprise DNA builds into your version.

Will card payments and text reminders still work after we switch? expand_more

Your card terminal keeps taking payments exactly as it does now. This system holds the record of what was sold, by whom and for how much. The free version drafts reminders and recalls as short messages for someone to send, and automatic sending with consent rules built in is a customisation Enterprise DNA can add.

Done comparing? Own the one that fits.

30 minutes with Sam. Bring what Timely costs you a year and how you run. We show you what your own version looks like, and if it is a fit, we build it and bring your data across.

Get your version built

Done paying for Timely?

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