In short
- Treatwell is a marketplace plus booking software. Treuli is a salon-owned loyalty system. Different problems, no direct competitor.
- Treatwell charges 35 % commission on every first-time booking through the marketplace. Returning customers are 0 %.
- Treatwell has no salon-specific loyalty program. "Treatwell Rewards" is platform-wide (points redeemable at any Treatwell salon), not tied to your brand.
- Treuli hosts in Germany and provides the data processing agreement (DPA) signed digitally. Treatwell hosting location is not publicly documented.
- Recommendation: new salon → Treatwell for reach. Established salon → Treuli for customer retention. Large salons → both in parallel.
At first glance it looks like a classic head-to-head: Treatwell, the big salon marketplace across DACH, versus Treuli, the German loyalty system with a booking add-on. But anyone looking closer quickly notices that this is not an "either/or" question. Treatwell and Treuli solve two completely different problems. This comparison clears up the misunderstanding, puts the real costs side by side and shows when each tool, or the combination of both, is the better choice for your salon.
Who is Treatwell?
Treatwell is by far the best-known online marketplace for hair, beauty and wellness bookings in the German-speaking region. The company has been operating since 2008 (originally as "Wahanda"), has been renamed several times and is now based in Berlin as Treatwell DACH GmbH (HRB 142124 B, Amtsgericht Charlottenburg). The parent company is Treatwell Ltd. in London. Per older sources in industry press, around 3,500 partner salons in Germany and roughly 20,000 across Europe are connected, Treatwell does not publicly disclose a current verified figure.
The core product is the marketplace model: customers search treatwell.de for salons in their city, filter by service and date, and book online. For that the salon pays twice: a monthly SaaS fee for "Treatwell Connect" (39 €/month basic without POS, 49 €/month Advanced including TSE-compliant POS, plus a one-off 99 € setup) and on every first marketplace booking of a new customer a 35 % commission. Returning customers are commission-free. On top of that: 2 % online-payment fee, terminal fees of 0.79 % + 0.20 € per transaction and a TSE POS add-on for 7.50 €/month. The studiolution comparison calculates a real total spend of around 266 €/month for a typical salon. A pure SaaS option without marketplace listing is not officially offered separately.
Who is Treuli?
Treuli is a multi-tenant loyalty platform from Germany, built for salons, cafés, bakeries and any local business that wants to tie returning customers to its own brand. The core: customers scan the QR code on their receipt (TSE-signed in DE, RKSV in AT), land in a Progressive Web App without installing anything and collect points toward rewards. Those who want to save the customer card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet get the point balance updated live via push. New in Treuli: a booking module (39 €/month add-on available on every plan, included in Enterprise) that publishes appointments directly on the salon website, without marketplace listing, without commission.
Treuli hosts verifiably in Germany, provides a digitally signed DPA and only runs salon-owned loyalty programs: a customer who collects with you is tied to your salon name, not to a platform. More on the hair-salon page and the pricing page.
The central misunderstanding
The question that comes up in almost every salon team is: "Are Treatwell and Treuli competitors?" The honest answer: no, not directly, at least. Treatwell solves the problem "How do I get new customers?" through a DACH-wide booking marketplace. Treuli solves the problem "How do I keep customers who have already been with me tied to my brand long term?" through a dedicated, salon-specific point program.
Anyone who does not separate these two functions cleanly pays Treatwell 35 % on new customers and still loses the customer relationship to the platform, because Treatwell offers no lever to turn the new booker into your own returning customer. This is exactly where Treuli comes in: the customer relationship AFTER the first booking belongs back to the salon. And anyone who adds the Treuli booking module can handle the first booking commission-free, at least for all customers who don't come via the Treatwell marketplace.
Feature matrix head-to-head
| Feature | Treuli | Treatwell |
|---|---|---|
| Preismodell | 39 €/Monat Buchungs-Add-on (jeder Plan, im Enterprise inklusive) · 0 % Provision | 39–49 €/Monat + 99 € Setup + 35 % Neukunden-Provision |
| Marketplace-Zugang (treatwell.de Listing) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Eigenes salonspezifisches Loyalty-System | ✅ | ❌ |
| Provision auf Neukunden | 0 % | 35 % auf Erstbuchung via Marketplace |
| E-Mail-Reminder | Unlimitiert | Unlimitiert |
| SMS-Reminder | ❌ | Inklusive (Menge nicht öffentlich) |
| Kasse/POS integriert | Nein (liest TSE-QR externer Kassen) | Ja (Advanced-Tarif, inkl. TSE) |
| White-Label / Markenpräsenz | Voll (Salon-Marke) | Treatwell-Marke (Kunde bucht auf Plattform) |
| DSGVO-Hosting transparent | 🇩🇪 Deutschland (AVV inklusive) | [nicht öffentlich dokumentiert] |
| Kundendaten-Eigentum | Ausschließlich Salon, Export jederzeit | Geteilt mit Plattform |
| Antwortzeit Support | E-Mail + In-App, werktags innerhalb von 24 h | E-Mail, laut Nutzerberichten 4–5 Tage |
| Vertragsausstieg | Monatlich kündbar, Selbstbedienung | Laut Nutzerberichten mühsam (Account-Manager-Retention) |
| Apple Wallet / Google Wallet | ✅ | ❌ |
| QR-Scan Loyalty-Integration | TSE-QR vom Kassenbon | eVoucher-Scan in Treatwell-App |
Price comparison
| Item | Treuli | Treatwell |
|---|---|---|
| One-off setup fee | 0 € | 99 € |
| Monthly SaaS fee (base) | 0 € Free plan · 39 € Starter · 99 € Business | 39 €/month (Connect Basic, no POS) |
| SaaS with POS | Not integrated (Treuli reads the TSE-QR of external POS systems) | 49 €/month (Connect Advanced, incl. TSE) · +7.50 €/month TSE add-on |
| Booking module | 39 €/month add-on (available on every plan, included in Enterprise) · 390 €/year · 0 % commission | Included in the SaaS tariff · 35 % commission on first booking of a new customer via marketplace |
| Payment fees | None (Treuli does not process payments) | 2 % + VAT on online prepayment · 0.79 % + 0.20 € per terminal transaction |
| Real total cost for a typical salon | 0–99 €/month (loyalty) · + 39 € booking module if needed | ~266 €/month per studiolution comparison including commission |
Treatwell commission example: 50 new customers per month via the marketplace × 60 € average ticket × 35 % = 1,050 €/month extra to Treatwell. At 100 new customers that is already 2,100 €/month in commission alone, on top of the SaaS fee. This maths only kicks in when the customer actually comes through treatwell.de; your own returning customers booking directly with the salon are commission-free.
The Treuli booking module in detail
The Treuli booking module is an add-on (activatable on every plan, already included in Enterprise) and costs 39 €/month or 390 €/year. What it can do: your own booking widget on the salon website, staff and service management, appointment calendar, automatic email confirmation, automatic email reminders and buffer times between appointments. The important part: automatic point awards via Treuli as soon as an appointment reaches status "completed". The customer books directly on the salon website, pays on-site as usual and collects loyalty points at the same time.
What it deliberately does NOT do: marketplace listing on an overarching platform (the customer relationship stays with the salon), SMS reminders (email and in-app push only), integrated payment handling inside the booking flow (payment still runs at the salon till as before), POS with TSE (Treuli reads the TSE-QR from your existing till). This deliberate restriction keeps the add-on lean and causes no follow-up costs. Anyone who wants an integrated TSE till simply keeps their existing till and connects it via QR-scan with Treuli.
Treatwell Rewards vs. salon-owned loyalty
Treatwell offers a point program called "Treatwell Rewards". The mechanic: customers collect 3 points per euro on online bookings and 1 point per euro on bookings made directly at the salon. Accumulated points convert into Treatwell vouchers, redeemable at any salon listed on the Treatwell platform. Sounds like a loyalty program. From the perspective of an individual salon it is not, at least not a brand-ledloyalty program.
The difference is fundamental. With Treatwell Rewards the customer is tied to the Treatwell brand, they collect "for Treatwell" and can redeem the points at the competitor around the corner, as long as that competitor is also a Treatwell partner. With Treuli the customer only collects for the salon they have actually visited. They recognise the salon brand, receive emails and wallet push updates with the salon logo and redeem rewards only at that salon. That is the difference between "marketplace loyalty" and "brand loyalty". For long-term return rate and customer lifetime value, brand loyalty is markedly more effective.
Customer-data ownership
Who "owns" the customer relationship? With Treatwell the answer is: shared. The customer has a Treatwell account, the email address belongs to Treatwell, marketing communication flows primarily through the platform, and Treatwell decides when a customer is booking as a "new customer" and therefore triggers a 35 % commission. Criticism from user reports (studiolution, erfahrungen.com, Capterra): customers who return after a booking pause are sometimes reclassified as "new customers" in billing, triggering commission again.
With Treuli the answer is unambiguous: customer data belongs exclusively to the salon. You can export all data (name, email, point balance, transaction history) as CSV at any time. You communicate via email and wallet push under your own brand name. No intermediary, no reclassification, no downstream commission. If you one day sell the salon or switch the software, you take the customer base with you.
When Treatwell is the better choice
Be honest with yourself: if your main problem today is "I urgently need more new customers, and fast", Treatwell is hard to beat at this specific task. The platform has real marketplace traffic, people actively looking for a salon in their city end up on Treatwell. No loyalty software in the world can conjure new customers out of thin air; a marketplace can.
The 35 % commission on the first booking is expensive, no question, but it can pay off economically when the once-commissioned new customer turns into a returning customer you serve commission-free afterwards. This is exactly where the risk lies: without your own loyalty system tying the new customer to your brand, they will book again through Treatwell next time. You may not pay 35 % then, but you remain dependent on Treatwell featuring your salon prominently in search results. In short: Treatwell is the right tool for the new-customer problem. Nothing more, nothing less.
When Treuli is the better choice
Treuli is the better choice as soon as at least one of these applies to you: you already have returning customers and want to actively retain them, not lose them to a platform. You want transparent DE hosting with DPA. You don't want to pay commission on any booking. You want your customers to communicate under your brand name, receive wallet passes with your logo and redeem rewards only with you.
Particularly interesting: Treuli can run in parallel with Treatwell. You keep Treatwell as a new-customer acquisition channel (and pay the 35 % knowingly as a marketing budget), but as soon as the new customer has been in once, you onboard them into your Treuli loyalty program via the TSE-QR scan on the receipt. On the second visit they collect points for your salon, on the fifth treatment they receive a reward bearing your logo, and they have a real reason to book directly with the salon instead of through Treatwell. Mathematically: the more new customers you convert into returning customers via Treuli, the faster the Treatwell commission pays itself back.
Conclusion
Treatwell and Treuli are not competitors, they are two different tools for two different problems. Our recommendation by salon type:
- New salon without a returning base: Treatwell, to quickly gain first-time customers via the marketplace. Treuli can be added later, once the base is in place.
- Established salon with a returning base: Treuli, to finally bundle the existing customer base under your own brand, GDPR-clean and commission-free.
- Large salon with high throughput: both in parallel, Treatwell for new-customer routing, Treuli for returning-customer loyalty. The combination makes Treatwell more economical and protects the customer relationship long term.
Getting started with Treuli takes five minutes: register for free, try the Free plan, then activate the booking module as an add-on or upgrade to Enterprise (booking module included) when you need it. If you want to compare more broadly, the big 2026 provider comparisonlines up eight more loyalty tools in direct context.