Time nobody pays for
Cleaning, phone calls, ordering stock, training and gaps between appointments are working time no client pays for. The billable share is where most calculations go wrong: count it over a normal week instead of estimating it.
Free tool
Salon price calculator for hair, beauty and nail services
Work out the price of one service from your fixed costs, your own pay and the hours you really bill — for hairdressers, barbers, and beauty, nail and tattoo studios.
- Free
- No sign-up
- Nothing you type leaves your browser
Price calculator
Changes the examples and which reduced VAT rates are offered, never your figures.
Sets the currency and the VAT rates on offer.
The calculation
- Price = hourly cost × duration + materials, plus your profit mark-up, plus VAT. Enter your figures and every step appears here with your numbers.
Calculated in your browser. Nothing you type is sent or stored.
How the calculator works
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Your hourly cost
Fixed costs, your own pay and any staff wages for one month, divided by the hours you actually bill to clients. This is what each billed hour has to bring in just to break even.
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The price of the service
The hourly cost times the minutes the service takes, plus the materials it uses, plus your profit mark-up on both. That is the net price.
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The price on your list
VAT on top if you charge it, then rounded up to a figure you would print on your price list. Rounding up adds profit; rounding down gives it away.
What price calculations often leave out
Your own pay
Dividing costs by hours without a salary for yourself calculates the price of working for free. Enter what you need to live on, before income tax, including your pension and the National Insurance or other contributions you pay yourself.
Materials that never reach the client
Colour left in the bowl, a gel that dries out, a cartridge opened and not used. Weigh or count what a service really uses for a week, leftovers included, instead of dividing the pack price by the number of uses printed on it.
VAT
If you charge VAT, part of every price goes to the tax authority. Set your prices without it and the VAT comes out of your own takings on every service. If you charge none, choose 0% and your net price is the final price.
Rounding
Round the final price up to a figure that looks deliberate on your list. Rounding down a little on every appointment of a day quietly gives away the profit you just calculated.
Last year's figures
Rent, wages, energy and product prices move, and a price calculated once goes stale with them. Recalculate when one of your costs changes, and at least once a year.
Guides on pricing
The calculation, step by step and with the trade-specific questions.
Once your prices stand
The online booking page in Salon Wizard shows your services with their price and duration, so clients see both before they book.
Questions about pricing salon services
How do I calculate the price of a salon service?
Start from your hourly cost: fixed costs, your own pay and any staff wages for a month, divided by the hours you bill to clients. Multiply it by the minutes the service takes, add the materials it uses and your profit mark-up on both, and add VAT if you charge it. The calculator on this page does these steps with your own figures and shows each of them.
What hourly rate does a hairdresser or beauty salon need?
No single figure fits every salon, because rent, pay and billable hours differ from business to business. The first step of the calculator works out your own hourly cost from your figures. It prints no recommended amount: a number taken from another salon would price your services on that salon's costs.
Do I count processing time, such as colour developing?
Count the time a service takes you or your chair. If you work on another client while a colour develops, only your hands-on time belongs in the duration; if you wait, the whole time does. Count the billable hours in step one the same way, or the two halves of the calculation will not match.
Does the profit mark-up apply to materials too?
In this calculator it does, because materials are bought, stored and paid for before any client pays for them, and a product that spoils is your loss. The mark-up is added to working time and materials together.
Do I have to add VAT to my prices?
If your business charges VAT, VAT is part of every price a client pays, and the rate depends on your country and sometimes on your trade. Many countries let small businesses below a turnover limit charge no VAT; then you choose 0%. Where your country's rates have been checked at the tax authority, the calculator offers them as buttons; otherwise you type your rate. Your accountant can confirm which one applies to you.
Should I round my prices?
Round the final price up, to a figure you would print on your price list. The calculator shows the exact price and the price rounded up to a whole currency unit side by side.
Are my figures saved or sent anywhere?
No. The calculation runs in your browser: nothing you type is sent to us or stored, and the page sets no cookie for it.