Square Appointments locks you into their payment processing and hardware. Baluu gives you the freedom to run your business your way — appointments, classes, and courses without the "Square tax."
✓ No hardware lock-in • ✓ GDPR-native • ✓ Cancel anytime
Square is fantastic for coffee shops, but for service businesses it's a trap. They force you to use their payment processing, their card terminals, and their ecosystem. Baluu is platform-independent. We focus on building the best booking software for European service businesses, with powerful tools for complex courses and events that Square simply can't handle.
Square treats everything like a product. Baluu treats it like an experience.
| Feature | Square Appointments | Baluu |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | 🔒 Required (Square Reader) | 🔓 Optional / flexible |
| Payment Processor | 🔒 Square only | ✅ Stripe (industry standard) |
| Business Type | Retail & salons | Classes, courses & events |
| Data Hosting | 🇺🇸 USA | 🇪🇺 Europe (GDPR) |
| Multi-Day Courses | ❌ Difficult setup | ✅ Native support |
| Website Integration | ❌ Limited customization | ✅ Full white-label embed |
Square is built for the US high street. Baluu is built for the European studio. We understand VAT-compliant invoicing (including reverse charge) and data privacy that meets GDPR standards. Don't let a US retail giant dictate how you handle local compliance.
Square struggles when bookings get complicated. If you need to sell a semester-long course, a membership with credits, or a ticketed workshop, Square feels clunky. Baluu was built to handle complex bookings effortlessly.
When you use Square Appointments, you are sending your data and your money to a Silicon Valley giant subject to the US CLOUD Act. This allows US authorities to access data stored on American servers, even if it belongs to a European citizen.
Baluu is different. We are a proudly independent European business with real people working across the UK, Portugal, Spain, and Lithuania.
We do not just follow GDPR because we have to; we follow it because we live here. We understand your market, your values, and your timezone because we share them.
Flexible payments, white-label booking, and GDPR-native hosting.