theCut alternative for walk-in shops
Looking for a theCut alternative for a walk-in shop? Here's how NextUp Walk-in compares on price, texts and what's included, and when theCut might suit you better.
| Feature | NextUp Walk-in | theCut |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Walk-in: $29/month for your first location, $19 for each additional one. Pro, with appointments: $59 and $39. 3 team members included per location, then $10/month each | Pro $25/month for a barber (Free is $0); the owner’s Shop account is $0/month |
| Free plan or trial | Free plan: 1 location, 1 team member, 50 check-ins a month (every app included, no texts), no card needed; paid plans have a 14-day trial with every Pro feature | Yes: Free for barbers at $0 and a $0 Shop account for owners; a 30-day Pro trial, no card |
| Texts | We pay for your first 500 a month, plus 250 for each extra location; then $0.03 each (text alerts coming soon) | Text appointment updates on Pro; push and email on Free |
| Online payments | Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ online, plus NextUp Walk-in's 0.5% card fee (at most $1 a payment, never on tips). Your clients pay no booking fee | 2.75% on its pricing page, through Stripe; standard deposits are free and instant deposits cost 1.5% |
| Where clients book | No marketplace: your booking page, link, emails show only your business, with no ads for other shops | Clients can find and book barbers near them in the theCut app; on Free, a new client found there costs $10, and it is included on Pro |
| Built for | Shops that take walk-ins and bookings: barbershops, salons, tattoo, auto service, repair, grooming | Barbers and barbershops: booking, mobile pay and an app where clients find barbers |
theCut figures are from theCut's pricing page, as of Oct 24, 2026. Also from theCut’s payments page (standard and instant deposits), as of Oct 24, 2026. Prices change, so check theirs for today's. theCut is a trademark of its owner; NextUp Walk-in isn't affiliated with it.
What you get with NextUp Walk-in
- Customers join from a QR code or your link on their phone: no app, no account
- Their place and wait, live on their phone (opt-in text alerts coming soon)
- A now-serving TV Display for your waiting area
- A Door Tablet for walk-ins without a phone
- A Staff Screen to call, start and finish visits
- A best time to come today, each person’s own wait, and family tickets for a parent and kids
- Customer screens in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and Chinese
- On Pro: online booking and a team calendar, with email reminders and deposits
- Checkout in cash, by pay link, with a saved card or on a Stripe card reader
- Your services and prices, and who each customer asks for
- Your trade's own words, your logo and colors
- Insights: busiest days and hours, waits, top services
- Online tips tracked for each person, and on Pro, booth rent and suite rental collected for you
- A read-only link so ChatGPT, Claude and other AI assistants can look up your live wait and hours
- Passkey sign-in: Face ID, fingerprint or device PIN
- Runs in any browser on a phone, tablet, computer or streaming stick, or in the NextUp app for Apple TV, Roku and Fire TV
When theCut might fit better
Honestly: theCut may suit you better if you want new clients from theCut’s app, where people search for barbers near them, or each barber keeps their own book on a free plan. NextUp Walk-in’s Pro plan has online booking, reminders and deposits too, but no marketplace: your booking page shows only your business.
NextUp Walk-in’s Pro plan runs the walk-in line and the appointment book together, with checkout, your client list and email campaigns, priced per location.
Compare other waitlist appsWhat taking payments really costs
The card rate is one line of the bill. The rest is the subscription, fees for each person on your team, and anything added on top of each payment. NextUp Walk-in is priced per location with 3 team members included at each, then $10 a month for each one after. It takes tips, bills, deposits, no-show fees, packages and memberships through Stripe, with Stripe's own fee and NextUp Walk-in's capped 0.5% card fee on top, never on tips.
theCut’s pricing page lists 2.75% for card payments. NextUp Walk-in passes through Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ online and adds its 0.5% card fee (at most $1 a payment, never on tips), so card payments cost more on NextUp Walk-in.
- Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ for a card payment online or 2.7% + 5¢ on a card reader, 0.8% by bank (at most $5)
- NextUp Walk-in's card fee: 0.5% of a card payment, at most $1, and never on tips or rent
- No booking or convenience fee for your clients: they pay the price on your menu
- Team pay statements and payroll export: what each person is owed, less rent and advances
Capped at $1
On top of Stripe's processing fee, NextUp Walk-in's fee is 0.5% of a card payment, never more than one dollar ($1). A $200 service and a $2,000 package carry the same $1 NextUp Walk-in fee.
Tips stay yours
NextUp Walk-in never charges a fee on tips. Only Stripe's processing fee applies, and you choose whether the tip or the business covers it.
Not on everything
Cash, gift-card redemptions, store credit you spend and booth rent carry no NextUp Walk-in fee. It only ever applies to card payments.
No booking fee
Your clients pay no booking fee to book with you online.
Questions about theCut
Is NextUp Walk-in cheaper than theCut?
As of Oct 24, 2026, theCut's pricing page lists Free at $0 and Pro at $25 a month for a barber, a $0 Shop account for owners, and 2.75% on card payments. NextUp Walk-in's Walk-in plan is $29 a month for the first location and $19 for each additional one, and Pro, with online booking and deposits, is $59 and $39, with 3 team members included per location. At the rates each publishes, card payments cost more on NextUp Walk-in: Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ online, and NextUp Walk-in's card fee is 0.5% of card payments, never on tips, at most $1 a payment, on top of Stripe's processing fee. NextUp Walk-in also has a Free plan: $0 a month for 1 location, 1 team member and 50 check-ins a month, with no card needed. The 14-day trial has every Pro feature. A card is needed to start, but nothing is charged until the trial ends.
Does theCut handle walk-ins?
theCut is built around booked appointments. Its pricing page says shop owners can create appointments for their barbers and “quickly assign walk-in clients to available team members”. NextUp Walk-in is built around the walk-in line itself: customers join from a QR code at the door or your link, follow their live place in line on their phone with no app to download, walk-ups without a phone use the Door Tablet, and a TV in the shop shows who is up next. On Pro, booked appointments sit beside the line.
How does NextUp Walk-in decide who gets the next walk-in?
In the order customers joined the line. Each customer picks a team member or “Anyone” and sees that person’s wait, only people on duty are called, and for an “Anyone” walk-in the Staff Screen suggests who is free soonest. NextUp Walk-in doesn’t keep a turn count today, so a shop that shares walk-ins by straight rotation keeps that tally itself.
Try it on a Saturday
14 days free, with every Pro feature. Set up a location in about two minutes.