INTENTIQ vs Pabau, Fresha & Nymo
An honest comparison for UK aesthetic clinics. Every platform here is good at something — the right choice depends on whether you’re running a salon, a general clinic, or a CQC-regulated aesthetic practice.
The clinic software landscape in 2026
Nine of the tools UK aesthetic clinics look at — and what each one really is. Prices are quoted from each vendor’s own site (August 2026).
| Product | Price (2026) | What it really is |
|---|---|---|
| Faces Consent | Free (deposit fees ~1.8%+VAT) | Consent forms + basic booking |
| Fresha | ~£10–15/user/mo + 20% new-client fee | Salon & spa booking marketplace |
| AESORI / ANS | £25/mo flat (scales to ~£245) | Aesthetic booking + light EMR |
| Aesthetic Record | $12–19/user/mo + $199–399 setup | US-origin injector EMR / charting |
| Clinicminds | from €160/mo | EU aesthetic EMR |
| Pabau | £49–53/user/mo +VAT | Multi-site clinic management + EMR |
| Square / Vagaro | £0–69/mo | Generic appointment booking |
| Radar / RLDatix / Access | £1,000–£20,000+/yr (demo-only) | Enterprise NHS / care-home GRC |
| INTENTIQ™ | £175 Solo • £250 (inc 3 logins) | CQC governance operating system for aesthetic clinics |
All INTENTIQ prices inc VAT; Standard includes 3 staff logins, extra logins £40/mo. Competitor prices as publicly listed, Aug 2026.
The governance gap
Booking and EMR tools handle appointments and charts well. But a CQC-registered clinic has to evidence governance — and this is where the cheap tools stop. Here is what each one actually provides.
| CQC-readiness capability | Faces | Fresha | ANS | Aesthetic Record | Pabau | INTENTIQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Booking & client records / EMR | Part | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Digital consent forms | ✓ | Part | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Complaints register (SLA-tracked, Reg 16) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Basic | ✓ |
| Duty of Candour workflow (Reg 20) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Incident & accident reporting | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Basic | ✓ |
| Scored risk register & assessments | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| SOP / policy management + read & sign | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Clinical audits + CAPA (Reg 17) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | Charts | Charts | ✓ |
| CQC regulation mapping (Regs 3–20A) | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Training & competency matrix | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| DPIA / SAR / data-breach registers | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Duty of Candour, Speak Up & Statement of Purpose | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ present • Part / Basic / Charts = limited or workaround only • ✗ absent. Pabau is the only booking tool with any governance features — and still lacks Duty of Candour, a risk register, SOP version control, CQC mapping and a competency matrix.
Why nothing else fits
CQC-registered aesthetic clinics fall into a gap. The affordable tools do bookings but no governance. The tools that do governance are built for NHS trusts — demo-only, and priced for organisations 100× your size. INTENTIQ is built in that gap.
Feature comparison
✓ Included ~ Partial / add-on — Not offered. Based on publicly available information (July 2026); vendors update frequently — verify current specifics with each provider.
Where each platform fits
One of the most feature-rich clinic platforms available, used across many countries and clinic types — a strong, mature product. For a UK aesthetic clinic the trade-offs are per-user pricing that grows with your team, and a broad general-medical focus, so CQC-specific aesthetic governance can need configuration or add-ons rather than working out of the box.
Excellent for appointments, online booking and marketing, with a freemium entry point. It’s built around beauty and wellness businesses rather than regulated medical practice — so clinical records, traceability and CQC governance aren’t its focus. Great front-of-house; not a clinical or compliance system.
A genuine UK competitor built for aesthetic clinics, covering consultations, prescribing, consent and inventory with expiry/batch tracking. A fair option to evaluate alongside INTENTIQ. Where we differ is our end-to-end CQC governance framework, built-in LMS, and the patient wellness / Ageless By Design methodology layered on top.
Frequently asked questions
Honest answers to the questions clinics ask us most when comparing platforms.
Is INTENTIQ better than Pabau for a CQC-registered clinic?
For a CQC-registered aesthetic clinic, yes — because INTENTIQ was built around CQC regulation from day one. Pabau is a strong, mature booking and EMR platform, but its compliance features are add-ons rather than a structured governance framework. INTENTIQ gives you an 18-module CQC audit framework, MHRA injectable traceability, a risk register, safeguarding log and version-controlled SOPs as standard. If you mainly need diary and marketing tools, Pabau is a fair choice; if you need to prove compliance to an inspector, INTENTIQ is purpose-built for it.
Does Fresha do CQC compliance?
No. Fresha is a free-to-use salon and spa booking platform funded by payment processing and marketing fees. It has no CQC governance framework, no clinical note templates mapped to regulations, and no injectable batch traceability. It’s excellent for filling a diary in a beauty salon, but it isn’t designed for regulated medical aesthetics.
What is the cheapest CQC-ready clinic software in the UK?
INTENTIQ is £250/month flat (or £225/month billed annually), with everything included and no per-user fees. Tools like Pabau and Nymo can look cheaper on the headline price but charge per practitioner, so costs rise as your team grows. Because INTENTIQ bundles governance, LMS, traceability and patient journeys into one flat price, it is usually the most cost-effective option for a compliance-serious clinic with more than one or two users.
Do I have to hold stock to use the injectable traceability?
No. INTENTIQ supports a named-patient, prescription-based model — you can log products, batch numbers and expiry against each patient without holding bulk stock. Full MHRA traceability is captured at the point of treatment, which is a cleaner CQC position than managing a physical inventory.
How hard is it to switch from Pabau, Fresha or Nymo?
Our onboarding team stays alongside you through the move with a structured 11-step checklist and a realistic timeline agreed around your clinic’s size and how much historic data you want to bring over. You can upload your own policies, consent forms and templates so the platform is configured from day one. We’re honest that switching any core system takes care — we plan it to protect your clinic from disruption rather than promising an unrealistic overnight move.
Where INTENTIQ™ is different
We were built from day one around CQC regulation for UK aesthetic medicine — not adapted from a salon or general-practice tool. Governance, MHRA safety-notice monitoring, injection mapping, traceability, a built-in training LMS and patient wellness journeys live in one platform, on simple flat pricing rather than per-seat fees. We’re not the right fit for a beauty salon — and we’ll say so. For a compliance-serious aesthetic clinic, that focus is the whole point.
See it for your clinic
Book a 30-minute walkthrough. We’ll be honest about whether INTENTIQ is the right fit for you.