AppBuild.diy or MeetScarlet: build your app yourself, or have it built for you.
For a salon, barbershop, tanning salon, studio or club that wants its own booking app without building it, MeetScarlet is the better pick: our team sets up your services, staff, prices and memberships, moves your clients over and publishes the app, while AppBuild.diy is a do-it-yourself builder at $0, $49 or $99 a month. Both publish under your own Apple and Google accounts. We make MeetScarlet; every AppBuild.diy fact here comes from its own pages, read November 12, 2026.
Which should you pick?
Who wrote this: the team that makes MeetScarlet. We compare from each vendor's own public pages, read on November 12, 2026, not from a hands-on test of the rival. Where a vendor does not publish something, we say so rather than guess.
Pick MeetScarlet if you'd rather not build an app. Our team enters your services, staff, prices, memberships and packs, imports your client list, and publishes your iPhone and Android apps under your own accounts; you run the business from an admin made for bookings, with a walk-in line for barbershops, beds and minute plans for tanning salons, class waitlists and spot maps for studios, and courts with split payments for padel clubs.
AppBuild.diy may suit you if you want to build a general-purpose app yourself, for the lowest monthly price, and booking is only one part of it.
Why businesses pick MeetScarlet over AppBuild.diy
- Built for you: our team sets up your booking, memberships and client list; AppBuild.diy gives you a builder and a setup wizard to do it yourself
- Booking software first: a staff admin, check-in, memberships and packs, deposits and a walk-in line, made for appointment and class businesses; AppBuild.diy is an app builder with templates for restaurants, shops, churches, podcasts and more
- A walk-in line for barbershops with a wait estimate; AppBuild.diy's barbershop page mentions walk-in shops only for loyalty stamps
- A public help center at docs.meetscarlet.com; AppBuild.diy's support page is a contact form
Side by side
| AppBuild.diy | MeetScarlet | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free up to 10 app users; $49 a month or $299 a year up to 1,000; $99 a month or $499 a year unlimited (app users counted per rolling 7 days) | $349 a month, or $499 on MeetScarlet Pro |
| Setup | None charged: you build the app in its no-code editor; its team submits it to the stores | Our team sets it all up: $999 on monthly billing, free on yearly |
| Store app | Included in every plan, under your own Apple and Google accounts | Included in every plan, under your own Apple and Google accounts |
| Card payments | Through your own Stripe account | Through your own Stripe account; 1% of card payments on top of Stripe's fees |
| If you stop paying | Its terms say published apps may be removed from the app stores | Your app listing is in your own accounts; you can export your client list any time |
From appbuild.diy/pricing, /terms, /barbershop-apps, /tanning-salon-apps and /support, read November 12, 2026.
Questions
Straight answers. Anything else, ask us on a demo.
How much does AppBuild.diy cost? #
Free for up to 10 app users, $49 a month or $299 a year for up to 1,000, and $99 a month or $499 a year for unlimited app users, on its pricing page read November 12, 2026.
Who builds the app on AppBuild.diy? #
You do, in its no-code editor; its team submits the app to the App Store and Google Play under your own developer accounts. With MeetScarlet, our team sets up your booking and publishes the app for you.
Is this comparison independent? #
No. We make MeetScarlet and recommend it to businesses that want their booking app built and run for them. Every AppBuild.diy fact comes from its own pages, dated.
Keep reading
- Tanning salonsA tanning salon app under your own name: clients book beds, see which bed levels their plan covers, and use unlimited or minute packs. Set up for you.
- What a branded booking app costsA line-by-line first-year cost for a branded booking app: subscription, setup, Apple and Google developer fees and card processing, with MeetScarlet as the example.
- White-label booking appA white-label booking app puts your own name on the App Store and Google Play. MeetScarlet builds and brands yours, from $349 a month plus 1% of card payments.
- Switching booking softwareSwitching to MeetScarlet: your client list imported from a CSV, web app live within days, store apps 4 to 6 weeks after your Apple and Google accounts are ready.