Why LakoTermin Does Not Offer a Free Plan
September 29, 2026
“Why don’t you offer a free plan?” It is a fair question, especially for an independent professional or a small salon where every recurring expense needs to earn its place. The short answer is that we want LakoTermin to be reliable appointment booking software, rather than a free product that stops being useful as soon as real day-to-day work begins.
A booking may look simple, but there is more behind it than a calendar. The system checks the professional’s schedule, service duration, breaks, time off, room availability and events in a connected calendar. It then sends confirmations and reminders, stores data, creates backups and remains available to clients around the clock. Some of those actions create a direct cost every time they are used.
That is why we chose transparent subscription pricing: Basic costs RSD 990 per month, while Professional costs RSD 1,490 per month. We do not display advertising, sell client data or move the real cost of the service somewhere less visible.
Free appointment booking software still has to be paid for
Every online service needs servers, databases, backups, security updates and support. LakoTermin also provides automatic content translation, calendar integrations, payments through Raiffeisen acquiring and fiscal receipts under Serbian law through FiskalAPI. These third-party services are not free.
WhatsApp reminders are the clearest example. LakoTermin sends them through Meta’s official WhatsApp Cloud API. Once a client has given consent, they can receive reminders one day and one hour before an appointment, including the time, service, salon name and a link to the booking. Meta charges for template messages, so every reminder creates a real cost for us.
A permanent free plan would force us to cap messages, remove the more expensive channels or cover the cost through advertising and data use. None of those options improves a salon’s working day. Reminders matter most when a client might forget an appointment, and advertisements do not belong between a business and its clients.
RSD 990 costs less than one missed appointment
The value of a subscription is easiest to compare with an empty slot that can no longer be filled. Published Belgrade salon price lists include examples such as a manicure at around RSD 1,600 and a men’s haircut at around RSD 2,000. These are real service-price examples, not claimed market averages for Serbia.
If a client misses a RSD 1,600 manicure, the lost revenue already exceeds the RSD 990 monthly price of Basic. The difference is even greater for a RSD 2,000 haircut. Automated reminders cannot prevent every no-show, but if they help preserve just one appointment in a month, the relationship between cost and value becomes easy to see.
This is not a promise that every business will see the same return. If you only handle a few appointments each month, a basic calendar may be enough. With a busy schedule, the price of salon booking software should be compared not only with a missed visit, but also with time spent messaging, possible double bookings and the value of an empty hour in a professional’s day.
What every LakoTermin plan includes
Both plans include the foundation needed for practical online appointment booking: a public booking page available 24/7, unlimited services, schedule management, reviews and an Instagram Stories builder. Add a service name and description once, and automatic translation prepares Serbian, Russian and English versions for your clients.
Email notifications continue to run alongside other channels. The @lakotermin_bot Telegram bot tells clients when a booking is confirmed, rescheduled or cancelled, and sends reminders one day and one hour before the visit. Owners receive notifications about new, moved and cancelled appointments. A guest can connect Telegram directly from the booking page, and messages arrive in the language of their account.
WhatsApp and Telegram also help verify phone numbers. Previously, a single mistyped digit could silently break reminders or send a message to the wrong person. With WhatsApp, the client sends a one-time code to us; with Telegram, the bot requests a contact verified by the client’s own account. A paid WhatsApp message is then sent only to a verified number.
A subscription funds product development as well as operation
LakoTermin released ten significant improvements over two weeks in September 2026. They illustrate where part of the subscription goes: into tools that solve practical problems for salons, professionals and their clients.
The appointment journal now uses a “day × professionals” grid, with a weekly view for an individual professional. Non-working hours, breaks, days off and busy periods from Google or iCloud calendars are clearly shaded. A booking can be dragged to a new time or another professional, while the system checks for conflicts before saving. Clicking an empty cell starts a new booking immediately. The grid also works on a phone.
The client database builds itself from existing and new appointments. Different formats of the same phone number are joined into one client record, which shows visit history, total spend, average bill, cancellations, tags and private salon notes. A blacklisted client cannot book online, while the salon can still create a booking for that person manually when appropriate.
One visit can now contain several services with the same professional, including within a recurring series of appointments. Shared resources solve a different scheduling conflict: if a studio has only one treatment room or one device, two professionals cannot reserve it for the same time.
Services have become more flexible too. A service can be free, use “from” pricing, include cleanup time after the visit or take the professional’s full working day. The schedule can reflect how the business actually operates instead of forcing the business to work around software limitations.
The salon storefront presents services as cards with photographs and detailed information. An FAQ tab can answer questions about parking, children or rescheduling policies, with automatic translation for clients. Owners choose an address such as lakotermin.rs/salon-name, and it can be displayed in Cyrillic for Russian-speaking visitors.
In the new Promotion section, the Stories editor can show available times across several days and add a price, offer and booking link. A QR poster for the salon is available alongside it. Templates are stored in the account rather than one browser, so they remain available on another device. Customers on paid plans receive these improvements without having to buy every feature separately.
Basic or Professional: choosing the right plan
Basic costs RSD 990 per month. It is designed for an independent professional or a small team: one company with up to two professionals. It includes core online booking tools and basic analytics.
Professional costs RSD 1,490 per month. It suits studios and growing teams, supports up to five companies and 30 professionals, and includes advanced analytics and reports.
Annual payment comes with a 10% discount. Basic costs RSD 10,692 per year, equal to RSD 891 per month when the annual amount is divided by twelve. Professional costs RSD 16,092 per year, equal to RSD 1,341 per month.
Why we offer a free trial instead of a permanent free plan
The strongest argument for a free plan is simple: “What if it is not right for my business?” Our answer is a 14-day free trial with no payment card required. Choose Basic or Professional and test the selected plan with your own schedule, services, clients and way of working.
During the trial, look at practical measures: how many clients booked for themselves, how many messages the booking page replaced, whether the calendar worked for your team and whether the reminder channels suited your clients. You can then make a decision based on your own results, with no obligation to continue.
A transparent price for software your business can rely on
LakoTermin has no free plan because we do not want essential features to become bait, reliability to depend on advertising, or client data to become the product. The subscription pays for messages with a direct delivery cost, infrastructure, backups, support, payment services and continued development.
Try LakoTermin free for 14 days, with no card required. Add your services, set up the schedule and connect notifications, then decide whether online booking saves more time and missed appointments than the subscription costs.