Chacho vs Booksy: what to choose for your business in the Canaries

Booksy is the best-known booking app in the Canaries. But behind that fame is a model designed so every business ends up looking the same — same storefront, same template, you as one more number among thousands. Chacho.app starts from the opposite idea: every business is unique, has its own identity, and deserves to keep it. Here's an honest comparison, with real figures, no small print.

Local businesses in the Canaries are going digital right now — and most default to Booksy simply because it's the name they know. The problem is that once you're inside a platform, switching is harder than it looks: your clients, reviews and history stay there. That's why it's worth looking closely at where you start, before you start.

If you're weighing up digitising bookings for your salon, barbershop or wellness centre, Booksy is naturally the first name that comes to mind — it's the global app, the one with the most advertising. But for a local business in the Canaries, with its own name, face and style, there are several things worth checking before deciding.

The comparison, point by point

*chacho.app invoices €29–39 net from Germany; the 7% IGIC is self-assessed by the client (reverse charge). Booksy comparison with 3 staff: €34.99 + 2×€8 + 21% VAT = €61.70/month · biz.booksy.com/es-es.

The point almost nobody looks at: you're one more number

Booksy is, above all, a marketplace: when someone searches "salon near me" in the app, several businesses appear together — including your direct competitors, right next to your profile, all with the same template, the same format, the same cards. It doesn't matter if your business has been in the neighbourhood for twenty years or has its own aesthetic: on Booksy it looks exactly the same as the one next door. And if you want to stand out above them, there's a "Boost" system where Booksy can keep up to 30% commission on the new clients it brings you.

And one more thing: your own website

Booksy only gives you a profile inside its marketplace, next to your competitors, on a fixed template you can't customise. With the Reservas + Web plan, on top of your booking page, you get a website with your own design, your traffic and your domain — and that independence opens doors a rented profile will never give you: from selling your own products to renting out ad space down the line.

We cover this in more detail — with numbers — in this article →

And it's not just money: it's also your clients' privacy

To book through Booksy, your clients have to download yet another app and hand over their phone number. We reviewed Booksy's own privacy policy (booksy.com/privacy.html): through their app they also collect device ID and precise location, and the policy itself states your data may be used to "display relevant advertising" and shared with third parties for "ad measurement" and marketing messages.

With chacho, booking works directly in the browser — no app, no extra account. We only ask for what's needed to manage the appointment: name, email and phone. Nothing else, and nothing gets passed on to third parties for advertising purposes.

What about Booksy's reviews? Watch the conflict of interest

Reviews are often used as a sales argument — "look how well rated it is" — and that makes sense, other clients' opinions matter. But on Booksy those reviews live inside the same platform that charges commission on every new client and decides which businesses to feature via "Boost". It's the same company evaluating, charging and deciding visibility at once — a structural conflict of interest that genuinely independent platforms, like Google or TripAdvisor, don't have, because they earn nothing from you booking with any particular business.

That doesn't mean Booksy's reviews are fake — but it's worth taking them with a pinch of salt, and giving more weight to reviews on truly independent platforms, where nobody charges commission for better placement. And honestly, the best reputation is still the oldest one: word of mouth. A client recommending you to a friend is worth more than a hundred stars inside an app that's also your vendor.

When does Booksy make sense?

To be fair: if you depend mainly on new people discovering you by searching "salon" in an app, Booksy's marketplace can give you visibility your own link won't give you on its own. It's a real trade-off, not one we're ignoring.

When does chacho.app make more sense?

• You already have regular clients and want them to book easily, without going through someone else's marketplace.
• You care about Spanish-first support and someone local who understands your business (not a centralised call centre).
• You want to know exactly what you'll pay each month, with no surprise variable commissions.
• You'd rather your client data be yours, exportable, without depending on a global platform.
• You want a website with your own design and traffic, not a generic profile inside a marketplace.
• You'd rather build your reputation on truly independent sites (Google, TripAdvisor) and word of mouth, not inside the same app that charges you commission.