Affirm
Affirm is a large general-purpose buy-now-pay-later and installment lender that pays merchants up front and assumes default risk, used by some med spas through Zenoti and Stripe-based POS rather than built for aesthetics.

Aesthetics-built patient financing with no deferred interest
Cherry is the category leader for med spa patient financing: aesthetics-built, soft-pull, with true 0% plans and no deferred interest, fast up-front funding, and low transparent fees — the default choice to evaluate first.
Cherry is a buy-now-pay-later patient financing platform purpose-built for elective and aesthetic care, used by a reported 60,000+ providers across med spas, dermatology, dental, and cosmetic practices. Patients apply in seconds with a soft credit check that does not affect their score, see real-time offers, and split treatments into monthly payments ranging from six weeks interest-free up to 60-month terms. Qualified patients can access genuine 0% APR plans, while others see fixed rates from roughly 5.99% up to about 35.99% on amounts up to $50,000 (and higher for select product categories).
What separates Cherry from legacy healthcare credit cards is its structure: there is no deferred or retroactive interest, so a patient who carries a balance never gets hit with back-dated charges the way deferred-interest promotions work. The practice is paid in full up front, typically within one to two business days, and assumes no repayment risk. Merchant fees start around 1.7–1.9% and scale up for longer or 0% APR plans, with no setup or monthly fees. Native integrations with Aesthetic Record, PatientNow, and Zenoti make Cherry one of the easiest financing tools to embed directly into a med spa's existing checkout workflow.
Ideal customer
Med spas and aesthetic practices that want a patient-friendly financing option with soft-pull approvals, true 0% plans without deferred interest, and fast up-front funding that embeds into their existing booking and POS workflow.
Cherry is the patient-financing option most med spas should evaluate first. It was built for aesthetics rather than retrofitted from another industry, and with a reported 60,000+ providers on the platform it has the broadest adoption in the elective-care space. The core promise is simple: let patients say yes to a treatment today and spread the cost over time, without the front desk carrying any repayment risk.
The mechanics fit a busy aesthetic practice well. Patients prequalify in seconds with a soft credit check that doesn't touch their score, approval rates run around 90%, and the practice is paid in full up front, usually within one to two business days. Plans range from six weeks interest-free up to 60-month terms, on amounts up to $50,000 (higher for certain product categories).
Choose Cherry if you want a patient-friendly financing program that increases case acceptance without exposing the practice to risk, and you value an honest, deferred-interest-free structure you can explain to patients with a straight face. It is an especially strong fit for med spas already on Aesthetic Record, PatientNow, or Zenoti, where the integration makes financing a near-frictionless part of checkout. Confirm the exact merchant fee for the plan mix you expect to sell during onboarding.
By Med Spa Vendor Hub Editorial Team. Last reviewed June 29, 2026. Independent editorial review — how we score.
No setup fees, no monthly fees, and no cost to enroll. The practice pays a per-transaction merchant fee starting around 1.7–1.9% for standard plans, rising for longer-term and 0% APR plans. The practice is paid in full up front (typically 1–2 business days) and carries no repayment risk. Patients see 0% APR if qualified, otherwise fixed rates from about 5.99% up to ~35.99%, with no deferred or retroactive interest.
Interest-free / qualified 0% APR
0% APR (patient)
per transaction
Qualified patients get true 0% APR plans (from six weeks interest-free up to longer terms) with no deferred or retroactive interest. Merchant fee is higher on these plans.
Standard installment (patient APR)
5.99%–35.99% APR
per transaction
Fixed-rate monthly plans up to 60 months on amounts up to $50,000 for patients who don't qualify for 0%, priced by creditworthiness.
Merchant fee
from ~1.7–1.9%
per transaction
Practice merchant fee starting around 1.7–1.9% for standard plans, scaling up for long-term and 0% APR plans. No setup or monthly fees.
Pricing is researched from public sources and verified periodically; confirm current rates with the vendor.
Independent ratings from third-party review platforms, cited with sources. These are not our score.
Opening a med spa typically costs from the low six figures for a lean injectables studio to $500K+ for a device-heavy buildout. Here's a line-item 2026 budget walkthrough—equipment, injectables, buildout, legal, insurance, software, and marketing—plus the monthly burn and break-even math most guides skip.
A vendor-neutral guide to choosing patient financing for a med spa—covering why financing drives conversion, the six provider models, the deferred-interest trap, merchant economics, and how to match a provider to your patients.
Patient financing has no subscription - the practice pays a merchant discount fee (a % of each financed sale) and the patient pays APR or deferred interest. Here's a transparent 2026 breakdown of real merchant fees and patient rates by lender.
Affirm is a large general-purpose buy-now-pay-later and installment lender that pays merchants up front and assumes default risk, used by some med spas through Zenoti and Stripe-based POS rather than built for aesthetics.
Afterpay, owned by Block (Square), is a mainstream buy-now-pay-later provider offering interest-free Pay-in-4 on smaller purchases. Some beauty businesses and med spas use it for retail and lower-ticket services, but it is not a healthcare-built financing product for higher-ticket aesthetic procedures.
Alphaeon Credit is a purpose-built healthcare credit card for aesthetic, cosmetic, dermatology, and plastic surgery practices, offering deep aesthetics fit but carrying a deferred-interest model and strongly negative consumer sentiment.