Compared · 13 tools

Best sauna booking software in 2026

For a sauna business specifically, the best booking software in 2026 is Session: purpose-built for saunas (shared-capacity sessions, private hire, per-guest waivers, flexible start times) and the cheapest at scale (0.5% capped in your local currency - US$150, £100, €90, A$150). Periode is the strongest pick for unstaffed self-service saunas, and Fresha suits multi-service spas that want marketplace discovery. Generalist tools like Acuity work but treat a sauna as a 1:1 appointment.

Updated 25 September 2026

Prices read on each vendor’s own site

Written by the Session team - how we ranked

Bathers in a wood-lined sauna, one holding a birch whisk

Ranked on what a sauna needs

Shared-capacity sessions

Private hire

Per-guest waivers

Memberships and gift vouchers

Flexible start times

WHY SAUNAS ARE DIFFERENT

A sauna isn’t an appointment

A sauna is a shared space with capacity. The software problem is different, and it’s why generic schedulers get retrofitted awkwardly.

Tools built for saunas handle these natively. Tools built for salons or appointments can approximate some, but capacity, private hire and per-guest waivers are where the gap shows.

An appointment

One booking fills the slot

10:00-11:00

1 client, 1 practitioner

A sauna session

Four bookings share one slot, and two spaces are still for sale

10:00-11:00

10:00-10:30

30-minute booking

Couple (2)

Group (4)

Member (1)

Friends (3)

2 spaces left

Shared-capacity sessions

Sell N spaces in one time slot, not one appointment per booking.

Private hire

Flip the same slot to whole-venue exclusive booking.

Digital waivers

Signed at checkout, ideally one per guest, verified at check-in.

Memberships + gift vouchers

Recurring access, bundles and gift vouchers sold from the page.

Flexible start times

Customers choose how long they stay, such as 30 or 60 minutes, and overlapping starts share the same spaces.

AT A GLANCE

13 tools side by side

Every price is as published on the vendor’s own site on 25 September 2026. Where a vendor doesn’t publish it, we say so.

TOOL

Compare all-in, not headline rates

Percentage-only models keep rising with volume. A capped platform fee stops. Session charges 0.5% per paid booking, up to a monthly cap in your own currency (£100 in the UK, US$150 in the US, €90 in the eurozone), so the effective rate falls as a venue grows.

£100

the most Session’s fee can be in a month for a UK venue, however busy it gets

An illustration

Platform fee per month, in pounds

An example for a UK venue, by monthly card takings. Other currencies have their own cap.

£25

£100

£50

£200

£100

£400

£100

£600

£100

£800

£5k

£10k

£20k

£30k

£40k

Session: 0.5%, capped at £100

An uncapped 2% fee

Platform fee only - card processing is extra on every platform. The 2% line is a generic uncapped percentage for comparison. Session’s cap is US$150, £100, €90, A$150, C$140 or NZ$170, in your own currency.

THE RANKING

The tools, ranked for sauna businesses

1. Session

Best for saunas overall

Session is built exclusively for saunas and shared-capacity sessions. It handles multiple spaces in one slot, private hire, per-guest waivers signed by QR, memberships, gift vouchers, flexible start times and lengths, and a staff check-in page as standard.

Best for: community, mobile, barrel and commercial saunas that run shared sessions, private hire and memberships - with live venues in the UK, Ireland, the US, Australia and New Zealand, paid in local currency through Stripe.

0.5%

per paid booking, capped each month in your own currency: US$150, £100, €90, A$150, C$140, NZ$170. Free to set up, no subscription.

Pricing is the lowest at scale: free to set up, no subscription, 0.5% per paid booking capped at US$150, £100, €90, A$150…, plus standard card fees paid into the venue’s own Stripe account.

Trade-off: built for staffed/community sessions, not native unstaffed door-unlock + oven automation (integrates via webhooks/Zapier).

Get started free

See pricing

Leeds Community Sauna’s booking page on Session

A community sauna’s booking page on Session

Real booking pages on Session, including Leeds Community Sauna and OKR Sauna.

2. Periode

Best for unstaffed self-service saunas

Periode is sauna-specific with a Scandinavian design focus, strong in the Nordics and used by large UK operators. Its standout is built-in smart-lock and oven automation for unstaffed, 24/7 self-service - a genuine capability Session doesn’t do natively.

Pricing is a single all-in rate (in the UK, ~3.5%+20p on debit, higher on credit/international, no cap, SMS billed separately), which is simpler to read but uncapped at volume.

Best for: unstaffed self-service saunas, and operators in the Nordics.

Periode compared with Session

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Sauna only

REGION

Nordics / UK, 13 countries in all

PRICING

UK rate: all-in ~3.5%+20p (debit), 3.9% credit, 5.25% intl, no cap; SMS extra

Strong at

Smart-lock and oven automation for unstaffed, 24/7 saunas

Trade-off

An uncapped all-in rate that keeps rising with volume; SMS billed separately

3. BookSpot

Best for destination saunas selling to visitors

BookSpot is a Stockholm-built platform for saunas and activity operators, and its model is genuinely close to a sauna’s: real-time capacity control, shared sessions and private bookings side by side, customer self-reschedule (a paid add-on), and seasonal or peak pricing. It also integrates Igloo smart locks for unstaffed, self-service access - something Session does not do natively.

What separates it from everything else on this list is distribution. BookSpot pushes availability to OTAs like Viator and GetYourGuide, so a sauna selling to visitors can be found and booked through the same channels as local tours and experiences. Payments run through Adyen. Pricing is not published - there is a 7-day trial and you talk to them.

Best for: destination and tourist-facing saunas that want OTA distribution, or unstaffed venues that need door automation. If your customers are mostly local regulars and you would rather the money landed straight in your own Stripe account, that distribution layer is overhead you do not need.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Partly

REGION

Nordics / EU

PRICING

Not published; 7-day trial; Adyen card fees

Strong at

OTA distribution (Viator, GetYourGuide) and Igloo smart locks

Trade-off

Pricing not published; money runs through Adyen rather than your own Stripe account

Also worth a look

Each is strong for a particular kind of venue.

4. Wunderbook

Best for multi-vertical operators

Wunderbook covers saunas alongside gyms and pilates/yoga studios, so it suits operators running more than just a sauna. Free to set up with memberships, waivers, group bookings and vouchers.

Its funding model puts a ~2% fee on the customer’s booking (uncapped), so the cost sits with your customers rather than you.

Best for: operators running a sauna as part of a broader gym/studio business.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Partly

PRICING

Free setup; ~2% fee added to the customer’s booking

Wunderbook compared with Session

5. BrightCore

Fitness & wellness operators

BrightCore serves fitness and wellness operators including saunas across Ireland and the UK, with session bookings, private hire, gift cards and memberships.

Best for: wellness/fitness venues that also run saunas.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Partly

PRICING

Free plan; Core €83/mo (billed 6-monthly, excl. VAT) with a branded app included

6. Fresha

Best for multi-service spas wanting marketplace reach

Fresha is a salon and spa platform with a paid subscription (from £14.95 a month in the UK) and a large consumer marketplace for discovery, plus scheduling, payments, staff management and client history. It’s not sauna-specific - a sauna is modelled as a service/appointment - but the marketplace exposure is a real draw for spa-style venues.

Best for: multi-service spas that want marketplace bookings and don’t need shared-capacity sauna sessions.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Not sauna-specific

PRICING

UK pricing: from £14.95/mo (£9.95 per team member on Team); card fees + 20% commission on new marketplace clients

7. EasyWeek

Simple generalists

EasyWeek is a general-purpose, multi-industry online booking platform with a sauna landing page. Straightforward scheduling and payments; not sauna-native.

Best for: operators who want a simple, cheap generalist and don’t need capacity/private-hire logic.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Not sauna-specific

PRICING

Free tier (30 bookings); ~$8-33/mo + card fees

8. StudioDock

Bookable rooms with upsell focus

StudioDock focuses on bookable private spaces and rooms with strong at-checkout upsells (add-ons, bundles, gift cards). Broader than saunas.

Best for: private-room venues prioritising add-on revenue.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Not sauna-specific

PRICING

€40.83-71.17/mo billed annually (€49-89 monthly), also billed in USD or GBP; 0% platform fee + card fees

9. Acuity Scheduling

The generalist most saunas start on (and outgrow)

Acuity (Squarespace-owned) is a polished appointment scheduler: a simple subscription, website + booking in one place, group classes with capacity, packages and cancellation policies. But it is appointment-first - no native private-hire-of-a-shared-room, lengths that share a room’s spaces or per-guest waivers, refunds run through your payment processor rather than in-app, and multi-location is separate calendars.

Best for: a simple, cheap starting point, especially if you also want a Squarespace website - a good place to begin that many saunas outgrow.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Not sauna-specific

PRICING

From ~$20/mo, no free plan; + card fees

Acuity compared with Session

10. Zipper

Best for sauna and cold plunge studios wanting an all-in-one studio suite

Zipper (Zipper Athletics, Inc.) is studio management software with a dedicated set-up for sauna and cold plunge studios: timed session and bay bookings with capacity limits, recovery memberships and session packs, intro offers, SMS and email automation, a lead-tracking CRM, and a branded app and website on every plan. Its Hotwords feature renames the studio vocabulary (“class” to “session”, “instructor” to “guide”) across the booking experience.

Pricing is a subscription: Starter US$118/mo, Studio US$254/mo and Growth US$424/mo (billed annually), with a 1% platform fee on payments on Starter and 0% on higher plans, plus Stripe card fees. Its pricing page also lists CAD, AUD, GBP and EUR.

Best for: studios that want booking, a branded app, website and marketing automation in one subscription - it’s stronger than Session on the website and marketing bundle.

Trade-off: a monthly subscription however quiet the month, and it’s a class-and-studio platform adapted to saunas; its sauna page doesn’t mention waivers or private hire.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Partly

PRICING

Subscription from US$118/mo (billed annually); 1% platform fee on Starter, 0% on higher plans; + Stripe fees

11. Tonttu

Best for bathhouses running a front desk and staff rota

Tonttu calls itself an operating system for bathhouses and sauna studios: a shared-room booking engine that models party sizes and overlapping groups, front desk and walk-ins, POS with gift cards and store credit, CRM with digital waivers built into check-in, staff scheduling, analytics and an in-app AI assistant.

Pricing is a subscription listed from $89 a month for one location (Hearth), $149 for up to three locations (Bathhouse) and from $500 per location for franchises. Its site doesn’t state the currency or any card-processing fees.

Best for: bathhouses that want booking, POS, front desk and staff scheduling in one system - it’s stronger than Session on in-person POS and staff rotas.

Trade-off: a subscription per location, and memberships aren’t mentioned on its home page.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Sauna only

PRICING

From $89/mo (currency not stated); $149 up to 3 locations; franchise from $500/location

12. SaunaFlow

New sauna-specific platform, pricing not yet published

SaunaFlow is a new sauna-specific platform with communal, private and whole-site bookings in one flow, capacity rules per sauna and per session, pricing by person, by sauna or whole-site, Stripe-powered checkout for bookings and memberships, membership tiers, gift cards and revenue and occupancy reporting.

Pricing isn’t published yet (its site says pricing is coming soon) and it runs a waitlist.

Best for: operators happy to try an early product - its booking model (communal, private, whole-site) is close to Session’s.

Trade-off: no published pricing to compare yet, and waivers aren’t mentioned on its site.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Sauna only

PRICING

Not published (“coming soon”); Stripe checkout

13. Heat

Best for automated, unstaffed saunas in Norway

Heat is a sauna booking system and CRM from Bergen, Norway, built around automation: a smart lock grants access at booking time, electric heaters warm up before guests arrive and payment is taken in the booking flow, with upsells (towels, hats, equipment), member management, analytics and email, SMS and push messaging.

Pricing is from 990 NOK a month plus a 1.99% transaction fee.

Best for: self-service saunas that want lock and heater automation out of the box - it’s stronger than Session there.

Trade-off: a monthly subscription on top of a percentage fee, priced in Norwegian kroner.

SAUNA-SPECIFIC

Sauna only

PRICING

From 990 NOK/mo + 1.99% transaction fee

“The customer journey is much smoother than something like Acuity, especially for a sauna business where sessions, capacity, memberships, check-ins and operational details all matter.”

Ross M

Sauna operator, switched from Acuity

5 countries

Live venues in the UK, Ireland, the US, Australia and New Zealand

HOW WE RANKED

Written by a vendor, so here’s the method

We make Session, and it ranks first. Where another tool is stronger for a kind of venue, the entry says so.

Criteria

The five things a sauna needs, above, weighted over general scheduling features.

Sources

Each vendor’s own website and pricing page, read on 25 September 2026.

Prices

As published. “Not published” means the vendor doesn’t list it.

Updates

Re-checked when a vendor changes its pricing or features.

Common questions

What is the best sauna booking software in 2026?

For a sauna business specifically, Session is the best overall - it’s built only for saunas (shared-capacity sessions, private hire, per-guest waivers) and the cheapest at scale (0.5% capped at US$150, £100, €90, A$150…). Periode is best for unstaffed self-service; Fresha for multi-service spas.

Is there free sauna booking software?

Session and Wunderbook are both free to set up with no subscription; you pay only per-booking/card fees. Fresha charges a monthly subscription, plus payment fees and a commission on new marketplace clients. Acuity has no free plan.

Do I need sauna-specific software, or will Acuity work?

Acuity works if you treat each booking as a 1:1 appointment. If you sell multiple spaces in one session, offer private hire, or need per-guest waivers, a sauna-specific tool (Session, Periode) handles those natively rather than as workarounds.

What’s the cheapest sauna booking software?

At scale, Session is typically cheapest because its platform fee is capped in your local currency, whereas percentage-only models (e.g. Periode’s all-in rate, Wunderbook’s customer-side fee) keep rising with volume. Compare all-in (platform + card processing), not headline rates.

What software do UK community saunas use?

UK community and mobile saunas commonly use Session (sauna-specific, UK-based, capped fee); Periode is used by some larger operators; Wunderbook and generalists like Fresha and Acuity also appear.

What sauna booking software works in the US, Australia or New Zealand?

Session works in any country: each venue charges in its own currency with its own timezone and tax label, and card payments go into the venue’s own Stripe account. It’s used by mobile and community saunas in the US, Australia and New Zealand as well as the UK, with a fee capped at US$150, A$150 or NZ$170 a month. EasyWeek and Fresha are international generalists; Wunderbook and Periode are European.

Booking software built for saunas

Free to set up. 0.5% per paid booking, capped each month in your own currency.

Get started free

See how Session works

Session vs Periode

Session vs Wunderbook

Session vs Acuity

How saunas run in 2026

Last updated: 25 September 2026. Written by the Session team (sauna booking specialists).