When your aesthetic clinic outgrows salon booking software

Fresha is a well-made booking platform for salons and beauty businesses. Aesthetic clinics have different regulatory needs: medical consent forms, clinical records, before-and-after photos, and the kind of record-keeping that CQC guidance expects. Aesta is built for exactly that.

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Aesta is new — now onboarding our founding clinics

At a glance

Aesta vs Fresha, side by side

A fair look at where the two differ. Fresha is excellent at salon bookings; Aesta is built for the clinical side of an aesthetic practice.

AestaBest for aesthetic clinicsFresha

Built for✓UK aesthetic & skin clinics, including clinical record-keeping✗Salon and beauty booking; not designed for medical practice

Medical consent forms✓Built-in, clinic-grade consent management✗Not within scope; Fresha is a booking tool

Clinical records✓Full patient records with treatment history✗Not within scope; designed for beauty appointments

Before-and-after photos✓Stored securely against the patient record✗Not a feature of a salon booking platform

CQC-style record-keeping✓Designed to support the standards UK clinics are held to✗Not applicable to a salon booking product

Pricing✓One flat monthly price, whole team includedFree for bookings; charges on product sales and paid features; check their current plans

Patient-data privacy✓Encrypted before it reaches our database, even we can’t read itData shared within a booking marketplace; check their current privacy terms

The short version: Fresha is a well-made booking platform that works well for salons and beauty businesses. It was not built for medical record-keeping, consent management or CQC-style clinical documentation. Aesthetic clinics that need those things need software built for clinical practice, not salon bookings. That is Aesta.

Compared on each product’s public positioning and information as of July 2026. Software changes often, so please check Fresha’s current features and pricing before you decide. “Fresha” is a trademark of its owner and is used here for comparison only.

The clinical difference

What aesthetic clinics need that salon tools do not cover

Medical consent and records

UK aesthetic clinics are expected to capture formal written consent before treatment, keep detailed clinical notes, and store that record for the right period. Fresha is a booking platform; that side of practice is outside its scope entirely.

Before-and-after photo management

Before-and-after photos are central to an aesthetic clinic’s clinical and medicolegal record. Aesta stores them securely against each patient record, not in a general gallery or a third-party app.

Private by design

Patient records are encrypted before they reach our database, so only your clinic can open them. You are not sharing clinical data with a beauty marketplace or a booking network.

Moving from Fresha? We do it for you.

Switching is the part everyone puts off. With Aesta a real person handles the move from start to finish, so your clinic day is not interrupted and nothing is left behind.

Switch from Fresha, free

✓ We collect from your current records and diary
✓ We bring across patients, histories, consent and photos
✓ We check every record before you start
✓ You open your new diary, ready for the first patient

Aesta is new, and honest about it

We are a fresh product, now onboarding a small group of founding UK clinics. No fake reviews, no borrowed logos, no invented numbers. What you get as a founding clinic:

✓ Your price held for life
✓ Free done-for-you migration
✓ A direct line to the team
✓ First say on what we build next

Questions

Moving from Fresha to an aesthetic clinic system

Is Aesta a good Fresha alternative for an aesthetic clinic?

Fresha is excellent at what it does: salon and beauty bookings. If your aesthetic clinic needs medical consent forms, clinical records, before-and-after photos and CQC-style record-keeping, those are not things Fresha was designed for. Aesta was built specifically for that clinical side of an aesthetic practice.

Why would an aesthetic clinic move away from Fresha?

Most aesthetic clinics start with a booking tool and outgrow it when they need to capture formal medical consent, keep detailed clinical notes, store before-and-after photos, and demonstrate the kind of record-keeping that CQC guidance expects. Fresha is designed for salons, not medical practice, so those features are simply outside its scope.

How do I move my data from Fresha?

You do not have to do it yourself. When you join, a real person on our team brings your patients, histories, consent forms and before-and-after photos into Aesta for you, and checks every record before you start. Nothing is lost or retyped.

Is my patient data safe?

Patient records are encrypted before they reach our database, so they stay readable only by your own clinic, not by us or anyone outside your practice. Aesta is built to support the record-keeping standards UK clinics are held to, including CQC.

When can I start?

Aesta is in early access and onboarding a small group of founding clinics now. Apply and we will look at how your clinic works and get you set up, with migration included.

A calmer way to run your clinic

See if Aesta fits your clinic. Applying takes two minutes, with no fees and no obligation to join.

Apply to the Founding Cohort