How it is calculated
The tool works out what you actually pay:
Real monthly cost = monthly fee + (total payment-fee rate × monthly revenue collected)
The yearly figure is that times twelve. "Share of revenue" expresses the result as a percentage of what you collected. If you take bookings but not payments, leave revenue at 0 and the comparison reduces to the monthly fee.
The payment fee is usually two fees
The field says "total payment fee" because in most cases it is not one number:
- Card processing itself — paid to the payment provider. In Japan this runs in the high-3% range for domestic cards.
- Whatever the booking system adds on top — anywhere from nothing to several percent, depending on the plan.
Enter the sum of both for each system. If a pricing page advertises "no fees", check whether that refers only to their own cut or genuinely includes card processing — it is almost always the former.
Why the crossover point matters
A low-monthly, high-rate plan and a high-monthly, low-rate plan swap places depending on your revenue. At low volume the difference in monthly fee dominates; as revenue grows, the difference in rate takes over.
Crossover revenue = (difference in monthly fee) ÷ (difference in rate)
A ¥0/month plan at 6.6% against a ¥5,000/month plan at 3.6% crosses at 5,000 ÷ 0.03 ≈ ¥166,667. Past roughly ¥167,000 a month, the free plan is the expensive one. Neither pricing page tells you that.
When one plan is lower on both the fee and the rate, no crossover exists — it wins at every level, and the tool says so instead of printing a number.
What this does not include
This compares recurring cost only, not total cost of ownership. Not included:
- Setup or onboarding fees
- Paid add-ons and per-seat charges
- Annual-billing discounts
- How refunds and chargebacks are treated
- Consumption tax
When a service discounts annual billing, enter the discounted monthly equivalent.
If you want to plug in SailLab
For reference. Payment collection is available on Standard and above.
| Plan | Monthly (excl. tax) | Total payment fee |
|---|---|---|
| Free / Light | ¥0 / ¥1,000 | No payment collection |
| Standard | ¥1,500 (¥1,200 annual) | 3% + Stripe ~3.6% = ~6.6% |
| Professional | ¥2,800 (¥2,240 annual) | 0% + Stripe ~3.6% = ~3.6% |
Standard and Professional have identical features; the only difference is the commission. The fee gap is ¥1,300 and the rate gap is 3%, so they cross at 1,300 ÷ 0.03 ≈ ¥43,333. Above roughly ¥43,000 of monthly booking revenue, Professional is the cheaper plan. Put it through the tool above.
For choosing a booking system on more than price, see choosing a booking system for a service business.
