Nail Pricing Guide: How to Price Gel, BIAB, Acrylic and SNS Services
How to price nail services from your own time and costs: gel polish, BIAB, gel extensions, acrylic and SNS, infills and removals, and clear prices online.
In this guide
Nail menus are long. Gel polish, builder gel, gel extensions, acrylic and dip powder each come with infills, removals, lengths and designs, and every one of them needs a price that pays for the time it takes.
This guide shows how to put a price on each service from your own time and costs, how to handle infills and removals, and how to show prices so a client knows what they will pay before they book.
Why this guide has no average prices
We set out to publish what Australian nail businesses on Bella charge, as the lash pricing guide at /guides/lash-pricing-guide does for lifts and tints. Bella publishes a typical price only when at least 10 businesses list a service, so that no single business's price can be picked out. No nail service reaches that number yet, so there are no averages here, only the method.
The quickest market check is still the one you can do today: look up five nail businesses near you on their own booking pages and note what they charge for the same service at the same length.
How to price a nail service
- 1Add up what a week of running your desk costs: rent, power, insurance, software, consumables and what you pay yourself or your technicians.
- 2Divide by the hours you actually book in a week, not the hours you are open. That is your cost per booked hour.
- 3Add the margin you want, as an amount an hour.
- 4For each service, multiply that hourly rate by the time it takes, then add the product it uses.
An example, not a recommendation
Your costs come to A$1,800 a week and you book 30 hours: A$60 a booked hour. Add A$20 an hour of margin and every hour at the desk needs to earn A$80. A 45-minute gel polish manicure is then A$60 plus about A$3 of product, so A$63. A 75-minute builder gel overlay is A$100 plus about A$5, so A$105.
Work out the time from your own appointments, not from the menu. If BIAB overlays regularly run 20 minutes over, the price should carry those 20 minutes.
Infills and removals
- •Price an infill below a full set, for a stated window such as two or three weeks, and say when it becomes a new set.
- •Decide whether removal of your own work is included in a new set or charged separately, and write it on the menu either way.
- •Price removal of another salon's product as its own service, because it takes longer and you cannot see how it was applied.
- •Keep a short repair or single-nail service for the client who breaks one nail between appointments.
Length, nail art and add-ons
Length and design change the time a set takes, so they belong in the price before the client books, never as a surprise at the end.
- •Set length as a choice on the service (short, medium, long), each with its own price and time.
- •Price nail art by tier or per nail, and say which on the menu.
- •Offer French, chrome or a removal as extras the client chooses when they book.
In Bella, service variants give one service several prices and durations, such as short, medium and long, and service add-ons let a client add nail art or a removal when they book online (add-ons are on the Professional plan).
Check your prices against your area
- 1Note what five businesses near you charge for the same service at the same length.
- 2Check whether their price includes removal, and compare like with like.
- 3Place yourself on purpose: close to them if you compete on convenience, above them if your skill, products or results justify more.
- 4Review prices once a year, and tell regular clients before a rise.
The salon pricing guide at /guides/salon-pricing covers cost-based pricing and price rises in more depth.
Show prices clearly on your booking page
- •Where a price depends on length or design, set it as the starting price with "From" in front, so the client sees the lowest price and why it can change.
- •Use pricing tiers when senior and junior technicians charge differently for the same service. See /features/pricing-tiers.
- •Ask for a deposit on long appointments, such as a full set with art. Deposits and cancellation policies work on every plan.
Frequently asked questions
What do nail salons in Australia charge?
Bella does not publish a figure for nail services yet: it publishes a typical price only when at least 10 Australian businesses on Bella list a service, and no nail service reaches that today. For a quick benchmark, check five businesses near you on their own booking pages for the same service at the same length.
How should I price an infill?
Below a full set, for a stated window such as two or three weeks, priced from the time it takes at your hourly rate plus the product it uses. Say on the menu when an infill becomes a new set.
Should nail art be included in the price?
Show it before the client books: as a tier, a per-nail price or an extra they choose online, so the price they see is the price they pay.
Key takeaways
- ✓Bella publishes typical prices only when at least 10 businesses list a service, and no nail service reaches that yet, so this guide gives the method rather than averages.
- ✓Price each service from your cost per booked hour, your margin, the time it really takes and the product it uses.
- ✓Put infills on a stated window, and say on the menu how removals are charged.
- ✓Make length and nail art part of the price before booking, with variants and add-ons.
- ✓Compare with five businesses near you for the same service at the same length.
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Last updated: 2026-11-01