The clients you earned should belong to your business
We're a small team building for small businesses. The people who built their livelihoods with their hands deserve software that's actually in their corner.
Why Askie Exists
The idea for Askie started with a salon owner in East Vancouver. She spent seven years building a loyal clientele one relationship at a time, every client earned through great work and genuine care. Her Google reviews were strong, her work was beautiful, and she knew her clients by name.
Then she looked closely at the booking marketplace her business ran on. When her own loyal clients went to rebook, the platform showed them other salons too. And when those clients came back to her, she was charged a fee for the booking. She had done the work of earning the relationship. The platform was charging her rent on it.
Askie exists to help small businesses own their livelihoods again. We build software for the owners who are tired of being treated like inventory, and who are ready to take full ownership of their own customer relationships.
“The salon owner wasn't the customer anymore. The salon owner was the inventory.”
What happened to her wasn't a glitch or a bad support experience. It's what the marketplace model is built to do. That difference is worth understanding.
Two Models, Two Sets of Incentives
Marketplace software and independent business software can look similar on the surface. The difference is who benefits when your business grows.
The customer relationship
On a marketplace
The platform sits between you and your clients and controls the communication.
With Askie
You talk to your clients directly. Askie is the tool, not the middleman.
Where the booking happens
On a marketplace
Your clients book inside a shared marketplace experience that looks the same for every business.
With Askie
Your clients book into your own branded flow, under your name.
Competitor exposure
On a marketplace
Shared discovery can put other businesses in front of your clients while they book with you.
With Askie
Askie does not place competitors anywhere in your booking path.
Your data
On a marketplace
What happens to your customer data depends on the marketplace’s rules.
With Askie
Your business data belongs to you. You can export it any time, and it serves your business only.
How the software gets paid
On a marketplace
Pricing can include per-seat fees, paid placement, or commission on bookings.
With Askie
Priced on completed appointments. No seat fees, and no Askie commission on bookings.
Where this leads
On a marketplace
The longer you stay, the more your business depends on the platform.
With Askie
The longer you stay, the stronger the channels and relationships you control become.
There's a lot more to say about how the marketplace model works. We wrote it all down here.
Doing Right by Small Businesses
These aren't mission statements. They're commitments you can check us against.
No marketplace. No competitor promotion.
We will never build a discovery tab that shows your competitors to your clients while they're rebooking. Every booking link you share leads to your business and nowhere else. The clients you send to Askie stay yours.
Your business data belongs to you.
We process your client information on your behalf, as your software. We don't use one business's customer data to market another business, and we never list your clients on a marketplace. What you build in Askie serves you.
Export your data any time. No negotiation.
Your client list, appointment history, and business records export in a portable format whenever you want them. Leaving Askie doesn't require a phone call, a retention offer, or a waiting period.
No Askie commission. No per-seat fees.
Pricing is based on completed appointments, with all features included on every plan. Add staff without buying another seat. When your team grows, your software bill doesn't punish you for it.
Honest about what we can't do.
If Askie isn't the right fit for your business right now, we'll tell you. And if something important changes, like pricing or terms, you hear it from us directly before it happens, not from a buried clause in an update.
Run the Business You Own, in One Place
Owning your client relationships only matters if the tools you use every day reinforce that ownership. So Askie is built around the whole working day, not just the booking.
Get booked directly
A branded booking page your clients reach from Google, Instagram, your website, or any link you share. No app to download. No account to create.
How direct booking worksKnow and serve your clients
Client profiles build automatically from every appointment. History, preferences, and notes are there the next time they walk in.
How the client database worksRun the day-to-day
Calendar, staff availability, service pricing, reminders, and rebooking invites. The admin that used to eat your evenings runs itself.
See all featuresBuild your reputation
After every appointment, happy clients get a direct path to a Google review. Your public reputation grows on a platform you control, not on a marketplace profile.
How review collection works
Where Askie is going
This part is direction, not a list of shipped features. We're building toward Askie acting like a business partner who happens to be software: spotting slow periods before they hurt, suggesting when to nudge a client who's overdue, and helping with the pricing and promotion decisions owners usually have to make alone.
Booking was the starting point. Helping you run the whole business is the goal.
Pricing That Doesn't Punish Growth
How software charges you tells you whose side it's on. Commission models earn more by taxing your success. Per-seat models earn more when you hire. We priced Askie so that we only do well when your calendar fills up.
You pay for completed appointments
Your plan is based on the appointments that actually happen. Cancelled and no-show appointments don’t count toward your allowance.
Unlimited staff on every plan
Add a new stylist without buying another software seat. Hiring should feel like growth, not a billing event.
All features on every plan
No feature gating, no premium tier that holds the good tools hostage. Every plan gets everything.
No commission. Ever.
Askie takes no cut of your bookings. Standard third-party payment processing fees still apply, but none of them are ours.
Plans, appointment allowances, and overage details are all published on our pricing page.
Who Askie Is Built For
We're not trying to be the right fit for everyone. It comes down to how you want to build your business.
Best for:
- •Independent salons, spas, and barbershops that want a direct relationship with their clients
- •Businesses with existing demand, or owners committed to building demand through their own channels
- •Teams that care about owning their data, their brand, and their client conversations
- •Owners currently paying commission on customer relationships they built themselves
Not a fit for:
- •Businesses whose main goal is marketplace-generated discovery — if you need a marketplace to find your first clients, that's a legitimate need Askie doesn't serve
- •Chains, franchises, or enterprise operations with complex multi-location needs
- •Buyers whose needs are genuinely better served by a different product — and if that's you, we'll say so
Not sure which side you land on? Give us a shout and we'll tell you honestly.
Mayank
Founder, Askie
I built Askie because I believe software should be on the owner's side. For years, I watched platforms lure small business owners in with convenience, then quietly take more and more once they became dependent.
Askie is built for the business owner who wants to be in control. I'm committed to honest pricing, data ownership, and never building a marketplace that puts your competitors in front of your clients.
We're Built in Canada. We're local enough that you can ask to meet for coffee, we price in Canadian dollars, and we understand the unique challenges of the Vancouver market.
I'm a small business owner building for small business owners. We have the same stakes.
Ready to take control of your bookings?
Book a 20-minute call with Mayank. No sales pitch — just a conversation about whether Askie is the right fit.
Book a 20-minute callNo commission. No marketplace. No middleman. Just honest software for your business.