june 2026

how to ditch the platforms that eat ur profits

every month u pay $30 here, $60 there, $150 over there. booking platform. website builder. scheduling tool. payment processor. it adds up to hundreds of dollars a month — before u've made a single sale.

and then they raise their prices. and then they change their algorithm. and then ur locked in because moving to a new platform means rebuilding everything from scratch.

here's a breakdown of what ur actually paying for — and what u can replace with a single website.

what ur actually paying for

let's get specific. here are the platforms most small businesses are stuck paying monthly:

barbers & salons

• Vagaro — $30-85/month. online booking + client management
• Booksy — $30/month. booking only
• Square Appointments — $0-69/month. booking + payments
• GlossGenius — $24-48/month. booking + marketing

restaurants & bars

• Toast — $69-165/month. online ordering + POS system
• ChowNow — $150-199/month. online ordering
• Square for Restaurants — $60+/month. ordering + POS
• DoorDash Storefront — fees per order. adds up fast.

literally everyone

• Wix — $16-49/month. website builder. u're locked in.
• Squarespace — $16-49/month. website builder. same lock-in.
• Shopify — $29-299/month. e-commerce platform. monthly forever.
• GoDaddy — $10-25/month. hosting + builder. slow. clunky.
• Calendly — $12-20/month. simple scheduling. $20/month for a calendar.

add it up. a barber using Vagaro ($65/mo) + Wix ($29/mo) + Square for payments (fees on every transaction) is burning $94/month minimum before a single haircut. that's over $1,100 a year — just to exist online.

what u actually need

for most small businesses, the list is short:

a website. one that shows who u are, what u do, and why someone should pick u. custom domain. looks professional. works on phones.
a way for people to contact u. contact form. phone number. email. at least one obvious path.
online booking or ordering. a form that lets customers schedule appointments or order takeout — built directly into ur site. no separate platform needed.
SEO basics. so people searching on google can actually find u.

that's four things. not four platforms. not four subscriptions. one site that does all four.

how much u save

let's do the math:

• barber: Vagaro ($65/mo) + Wix ($29/mo) = $94/mo → $1,128/yr. replaced by one $300 site.
• restaurant: Squarespace ($29/mo) + ChowNow ($150/mo) = $179/mo → $2,148/yr. replaced by one $300-600 site with online ordering built in.
• shop: Shopify ($79/mo) + booking app ($15/mo) = $94/mo → $1,128/yr. replaced by one $600-900 site + Stripe (free).

a catperson site pays for itself in 3-6 months. after that, it's pure savings. no one raises the price next year. no one changes the algorithm. u own it. it's urs.

how to cancel each one

Vagaro: account settings → billing → cancel subscription. export ur client list first — they don't make it easy to leave.
Booksy: settings → subscription → cancel. ur calendar data stays in the app but u lose access after cancellation.
Wix / Squarespace: billing → cancel plan. warning: ur site disappears. u need a new one BEFORE u cancel.
Shopify: settings → plan → deactivate store. u can pause for $9/month or cancel completely.
Calendly: account → billing → cancel. the free tier still works for basic scheduling.
Toast: Toast is a full POS system with hardware, payment processing, kitchen displays, and inventory. a website can't replace all of that — and it shouldn't. what a website CAN replace: the separate Squarespace site ur paying for, plus the online ordering platform ur running on top of Toast. for the Toast contract itself — contact support. early termination can be expensive. document everything.

"setup a new website BEFORE u cancel the old one. the worst mistake is cancelling wix and having no site for two weeks."

what about Toast? (the honest answer)

Toast is a full POS system — hardware, payment processing, kitchen displays, inventory management. a website can't replace all of that, and it shouldn't. if ur running a busy kitchen, u need something that handles orders at the counter and sends tickets to the line.

what a website CAN replace: the separate squarespace site ur paying $29/mo for. the online ordering platform ur using on top of toast. the booking widget. the menu display. one site handles all the customer-facing stuff. toast handles the behind-the-counter stuff. they work together — one doesn't replace the other.

"ur website and ur POS are different tools for different jobs. they can replace the five other subscriptions stacked on top."

i'm working on open-source alternatives

restaurants shouldn't be locked into expensive proprietary POS systems. i believe the future is open-source — ur data, ur hardware, ur choice. i've created my own fork of the kitchenasty repo, an open-source kitchen display system. it's a side project right now — something i chip away at between client builds. no promises. no timeline. just open-source work in public because i think it matters.

what u move to

one custom site. booking form built in. contact form built in. photo gallery or portfolio. online ordering if u need it. optional e-commerce with Stripe (free, just transaction fees). custom domain included. SEO built in. no monthly fees. no lock-in. u own the domain. u own the site. u own the data.

if something breaks — which it very likely can — u text me directly. not a support ticket. not a chatbot. me.

📖 related reads:
how much should a small business website cost? →
why every st. louis business needs a website →