In today’s digital and social media age, where time is the currency and convenience reigns supreme, having a functional 24/7 online booking is simply a must for service businesses that rely on appointments.
Whether you are a small business owner, a medical professional, a dentist, or even a consultant, providing your clients with a seamless, hassle-free way to book appointments with you can literally be a game-changer.
If you are using a WordPress-based website, then integrating a booking and scheduling plugin can be a viable and cost-effective option for enabling online booking on your website. These plugins can act like your virtual assistant, working 24/7 to manage bookings and appointments and update your availability in real-time.
Yet, despite its obvious benefits, with so many plugins available on the market, choosing the right one that fits your unique needs can be a daunting task. This is why, in this article, we will review 8 of the best booking plugins available on WordPress.
Without further ado, let us begin this guide right away.
Selecting the Best Plugins: How We Made Our Choice
With so many different booking and scheduling plugins available for WordPress, finding the ultimate gems to crown as our top 8 was certainly no easy feat.
We’ve combed through the market to carefully evaluate different plugins one by one with rigorous tests, and we’ve weighed the factors that truly matter.
How did we choose these top 8 WordPress booking plugins? Let’s dive into the factors that guided our choices:
- User-friendliness and ease of use
The booking plugin should be an easy-to-use solution, not a puzzle. We prioritized plugins that offer an intuitive interface, ensuring both your staff and your clients can use the online booking functionality effortlessly.
A smooth user experience is simply a must.
- Features
We evaluated the features offered by each plugin. We tested the must-have features like online booking, availability updates, automated reminders, and so on, but plugins that brought something new to the table — innovative features, unique functionalities, etc. that set them apart from the rest get plus points.
- Customization options
We focused on plugins that give you the creative freedom to customize the booking page and the booking process to match your brand identity. Your brand is unique, and the plugin should reflect this uniqueness.
- Integration with payment gateways
We chose plugins that offer seamless integrations with popular payment gateways, giving more options for your clients to pay for your service without friction.
It’s important for the plugin to facilitate easy-to-use but secure payment functionality.
- Mobile-friendliness
With more and more people now using their mobile devices to browse the internet (and book their appointments), mobile responsiveness is simply a necessity. We evaluated how easy it is to book appointments with the plugins on the go and tested the functionalities on as many devices (with varying screen sizes) as possible.
- Customer support
Even the smoothest, easiest-to-use plugins can encounter hiccups. We prioritized plugins with helpful and responsive customer support, ideally with 24/7 support.
Reliable customer support can be critical when there are any issues with your online booking, so this is a very important factor to consider.
- Integration
How easy is it to integrate the booking plugin with your existing online ecosystem? We evaluated the plugins’ integrations with popular marketing, accounting, and other tools.
- Scalability
Your business shouldn’t be stagnant and should grow with time, so your booking plugin must be able to follow your growth.
We focused on plugins that are built for growth. For example, the plugins should be capable of accommodating more appointments and clients when needed as you attract more clients.
- Reviews and reputation
We looked at the popularity of each plugin based on the number and positivity of reviews, number of downloads, active installations, and other related factors. We scoured the internet for feedback and reviews and prioritized plugins with positive feedback.
- Value for money
Booking plugins come at various prices, some are totally free, and some are totally expensive.
We understood that quality doesn’t always come with a hefty price, but instead, we evaluated the overall value and cost-effectiveness of each plugin. Even if a plugin is very expensive but does offer unique value not available anywhere else, we might recommend it.
Top 8 Booking Plugins for WordPress: Overview
Based on the criteria we’ve discussed above, our top eight picks for the best booking/scheduling plugins for WordPress are:
- Bookeo: Bookeo offers seamless WordPress integration, great customizability, robust analytics/reporting, and excellent online booking functionalities. The best value for your buck.
- Bookly Pro: a powerful booking plugin with a user-friendly interface and a wide range of features, including customizable booking forms, real-time availability sync, and integration with popular payment gateways.
- BirchPress Scheduler: is a very versatile WordPress booking plugin with multi-staff scheduling capabilities, the ability to create custom booking forms, and other innovative features.
- WooCommerce Bookings: extension of the popular WooCommerce platform, great for WooCommerce users. Offers extensive compatibility with various themes and extensions.
- Calendly: a simple and easy-to-use plugin with easy appointment setup, integration with various calendar solutions, and a simplicity-focused user interface.
- Amelia: the modern interface is Amelia’s highlight, but it also offers a wide range of features, including the ability to manage multiple locations and services, as well as flexible pricing based on employee count.
- Simply Schedule Appointments: a very simple booking plugin with a straightforward setup, but also offers decent customizability and a wide variety of features like the ability to handle group bookings.
- Start Booking: a simple and conversion-optimized plugin that offers a variety of features, including the ability to support multiple locations and different staff members, as well as integration with various popular payment gateways.
Below is a comparison chart with an overview of the key features and differences of the mentioned top 10 booking plugins for WordPress.
| Key Features | Integration | Customization | Availability Sync | Payment Gateways | Group Bookings | Pricing | |
| Bookeo | – Seamless WordPress integration | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Varied Plans |
| Bookly Pro | – User-friendly interface | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Paid | |
| BirchPress Scheduler | – Multi-staff management | ✓ | ✓ | Paid | |||
| WooCommerce Bookings | – Extension of WooCommerce | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Paid | ||
| Calendly | – Simplicity in setup | ✓ | Freemium | ||||
| Amelia | – Modern interface, multi-location support | ✓ | Paid | ||||
| Simply Schedule App. | – Straightforward setup | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Freemium | ||
| Start Booking | – Simplicity and conversion focus | ✓ | ✓ | Paid |
As we can see, each plugin on this list has its own strengths and weaknesses, and what’s important is to find a plugin that properly aligns with your business’s needs and objectives.
In the next section, we will dive into the detailed reviews of these 8 plugins, so you can discover the perfect match to revolutionize your business’s online booking and appointment management process.
Bookeo is our champion, earning its place at the top of this list, and not without its reasons.
It is a very versatile booking plugin for WordPress with a plethora of features and an intuitive user interface, allowing businesses to streamline their appointment management and elevate client experiences when booking their appointments.
Key Features
- Seamless integration with WordPress: Bookeo seamlessly integrates with WordPress. Easy to set up and use to ensure a cohesive and smooth user experience for both your staff and your clients.
- Customizable booking widgets: you can custom-tailor the booking process to match your business’s brand identity and style. Custom booking widgets can be added to your WordPress pages, making it easy for customers to book appointments without needing to leave your page.
- Versatility in appointment types: Bookeo supports a variety of appointment types, from one-off appointments to recurring bookings to group bookings. This makes Bookeo a versatile solution for businesses that need to provide a variety of appointments.
- Robust reporting and analytics: Bookeo is beyond an online booking tool, but is also a solution for insightful data analysis. Offers robust reporting and analytics features, so you can gain valuable insights into popular services, peak times, booking trends, and more.
Pricing
Bookeo doesn’t disclose its price, and you’ll need to contact them to get a free custom quote. Free trial available.
Our Verdict
Bookeo isn’t just a plugin but rather a comprehensive online booking, appointment management, and scheduling solution that can propel your service business to the next level.
Bookeo offers seamless integration with WordPress on top of its wide range of features and comprehensive analytics, making it a versatile solution that offers a lot of value for businesses of all sizes.
With its custom pricing plan, Bookeo offers a flexible pricing structure that caters to your unique needs to ensure it’s a cost-effective solution for your business.
Our best of the best in this list, Bookeo ensures convenience, efficiency, and top-notch user experience to help you grow your business.
Bookly Pro is a powerful and versatile scheduling/appointment booking plugin for WordPress that offers various cutting-edge features.
Focused on providing an optimal experience for the business, staff, and clients alike, Bookly Pro is an ideal solution for businesses of all types and sizes.
Key Features
- User-friendly interface: Bookly Pro offers an intuitive interface that is designed with simplicity in mind. Easy to set up and use, so managing your bookings and schedule becomes a breeze, even for not very tech-savvy users.
- Customizable booking forms: Bookly Pro allows you to easily tailor your booking forms to suit your brand identity, so you can capture specific client information that aligns with your needs and objectives.
- Real-time availability sync: real-time availability update ensures that potential clients always see what times are available, up-to-the-minute.
- Automated reminders: send automated reminders via SMS or email, eliminating the need for manual follow-ups and reducing no-shows. Also, a great way to improve your client satisfaction.
- Integration with payment gateways: Bookly Pro offers integration with popular payment gateways like PayPal or Stripe, so you can accept payments for your bookings securely and promptly. On the other hand, it offers clients flexibility in paying for your services.
Pricing
$89 for a regular license (one-off price.)
Our Verdict
Bookly Pro is a feature-rich and powerful booking plugin for WordPress, suitable for businesses of all sizes. It has a straightforward interface, making it easy to setup and use for both your staff and your clients.
However, some of Bookly Pro’s features are only available in its higher-priced plans, and some users reported performance issues with large booking volumes.
In most cases, however, Bookly Pro is a good option to consider, especially for small and medium-sized service businesses.
BirchPress Scheduler is about flexibility.
It is a versatile booking and scheduling plugin with features like custom booking forms and the ability to manage multiple staff members’ availability, among other features.
A good option for businesses that need more versatility and customization in managing complex schedules and multiple staff members.
Key Features
- Managing multiple staff members’ schedules: one of BirchPress Scheduler’s standout features is its ability to create separate schedules for each staff member. You can easily check which staff is available, and when. This is a very useful feature for businesses that offer different services and/or multiple service providers.
- Customizable booking form: BirchPress Scheduler offers the ability to customize booking forms to match your brand identity and requirements. Easily change the look and feel of your custom form, add more fields, and even integrate with other tools and plugins as needed.
- Automated email notifications: sending automated notifications to keep both staff members and clients in the loop, minimizing no-shows.
- Two-way Google Calendar sync: with BirchPress Pro, you can integrate with Google Calendar so your appointments will be automatically added to your calendar. This is a great feature to help you prevent double booking by keeping track of all your appointments in one place.
Pricing
Starting from $99/year.
Our Verdict
Overall, BirchPress Scheduler is a cost-effective but powerful booking plugin for WordPrace, with some unique features like the ability to manage multiple staff members’ schedules in one place.
However, BirchPress Scheduler is a bit limited when it comes to analytics and reporting, so it might not be the best choice if in-depth reporting/analytics is a requirement for your business.
WooCommerce plugin is a dynamic extension of the renowned WooCommerce plugin, an eCommerce plugin for WordPress. So, this Bookings plugin will seamlessly integrate into the WooCommerce ecosystem, making it an ideal choice if you are already using WooCommerce to power your site.
Key Features
- WooCommerce ecosystem: seamless integration with your existing WooCommerce-powered website. Comes with a familiar interface and features if you are already using WooCommerce. Compatible with WooCommerce’s vast library of themes and extensions.
- Versatile bookings: WooCommerce Bookings supports both single and multiple-day bookings. Very versatile, and you can use it to facilitate bookings on services that require multiple days (i.e., rentals.)
- Reporting: detailed reporting so you can easily track your bookings and performance.
- Multilingual support: multi-language support means you can use it to facilitate appointment bookings for clients from all around the world.
Pricing
$20.75/month (billed annually at $249)
Our Verdict
WooCommerce Bookings is a comprehensive and versatile scheduling plugin with a wide range of features and integrations. Ideal for businesses of all sizes, especially if you are already using WooCommerce to power your website.
Yet, WooCommerce Bookings isn’t the easiest to set up and use, so be prepared to invest some effort to make the most of its capabilities.
Calendly is a free booking and scheduling plugin for WordPress, designed with simplicity in mind.
Despite being a free tool, however, Calendly offers a pretty decent set of features paired with its user-friendly interface.
A good choice for service businesses of all sizes that just want to add online booking to their websites without a fuss.
Key Features
- Simplicity and ease of use: Calendly’s main highlight is its simplicity and ease of use. Setting up online booking becomes a breeze, and clients can book their appointments easily, even for those who aren’t very tech-savvy.
- Integration: despite being a free tool, Calendly offers seamless integration with various calendar platforms (i.e., Google Calendar) and email marketing tools (Outlook, iCloud, etc.)
- Automated reminders: the ability to send automatic confirmation emails and reminders, minimizing the need for manual follow-ups and reducing no-shows.
Pricing
Free
Our Verdict
Calendly is a great option for those seeking a no-frills, totally free solution to facilitate online booking on their WordPress websites.
Despite being a free tool, it is still quite powerful and versatile, especially with its integration with various calendar platforms and marketing solutions.
A little limited when it comes to customization and branding, but with it being free and easy to use, Calendly still deserves consideration.
Amelia boasts a modern, contemporary user interface on top of a powerful set of features.
With its sleek design, Amelia brings a touch of simplicity and modernity to online booking and appointment management.
Key Features
- Modern interface: Amelia’s key highlight is its contemporary and visually pleasing user experience. Comes with an intuitive layout, offering an optimal user experience for both staff members and clients alike.
- Support for multiple locations and services: you can use Amelia to facilitate bookings for different businesses or departments. A great feature for businesses that offers a variety of services or those with multiple locations.
- Customizability: fully customizable design, so you can tailor the booking page to align with your branding or add features according to your needs.
Pricing
Starting from $72/year
Our Verdict
Overall, Amelia is a sleek-looking and user-friendly booking and scheduling plugin for WordPress, with user-friendliness as its main selling point.
With its support for multiple locations and services, it’s also an ideal solution for businesses that offer a variety of services or those with multiple branches.
Not the most affordable and not the best when it comes to Theme compatibility, but still one of the best booking plugins available today.
Simply Schedule Appointments is a booking and scheduling plugin for WordPress that is both straightforward and customizable. It comes with an array of features suitable for various types of businesses, seamless handling of appointments, and great customization options.
In short, Simply Schedule Appointments offer a streamlined, user-friendly experience that caters to businesses of all types and sizes.
Key Features
- Service provider management: Simply Schedule Appointments allow you to easily create and manage different service providers. Keep track of who in your staff is available and when allowing clients to book specific providers with ease.
- Two-way sync with Google Calendar: seamless integration with Google Calendar, so your appointments will be automatically synced. Changes made on your Google Calendar will also automatically update the plugin. You simply don’t need to worry about double-booking anymore.
- Customizable booking forms: Simply Schedule Appointments shines in customization. Easily create booking forms that align with your branding and are tailored to your business’s specific needs.
Pricing
Starting from $99/Year
Our Verdict
Simply Schedule Appointments is a simple, user-friendly, yet powerful solution to enable online booking and appointment management for your business. Easy to set up but comes with a versatile set of features, making it ideal for both beginners and experienced users.
Start Booking is a booking plugin for WordPress that emphasizes conversion optimization and seamless user experience.
A worthy contender for businesses of all types and sizes seeking an easy-to-use but effective booking solution.
Key Features
- Simplicity: Start Booking is designed as a simple and easy-to-use booking solution, ensuring that both staff members and clients can enjoy a streamlined experience.
- Conversion optimized: designed with an emphasis on conversion optimization to minimize friction during the booking process.
- Support for multiple staff members and locations: despite being designed with simplicity in mind, Start Booking can adapt to your expanding needs with its ability to cater to multiple staff members/service providers and multiple locations.
Pricing
Starting from $79/year
Our Verdict
Start Booking is a versatile, powerful, but easy-to-use booking plugin for WordPress, making it suitable for businesses of all types and sizes. At its core, Start Booking is about crafting a conversion-driven experience that will benefit both your business and your clients.
However, while simplicity and ease of use are its strong suit, Start Booking doesn’t offer much customization, which might be worth considering.
Nevertheless, a strong contender for businesses looking for a simple and cost-effective solution.
Wrapping Up and Final Recommendations
As we explored the top 8 booking and scheduling plugins for WordPress, it’s clear that each solution we’ve reviewed has its unique benefits and features to streamline your business’s online booking experience.
Thus, choosing the best of the best out of them is admittedly a daunting ask.
For the sake of this guide, however, our ultimate pick goes to:
- Our ultimate pick: Bookeo shines as our ultimate choice with its comprehensive, all-in-one features and seamless integration with popular solutions. Cost-effective, and simply the best in every category we’ve evaluated.
Collaboration capabilities cater perfectly to marketing agency workflows.
- For those on a budget: Calendy is a free plugin that still offers a pretty decent set of features. Limited in customization (and branding opportunities), but it will do its job if you only want a reliable online booking.
While Bookeo emerged as the winner for its extensive features and specialization for various types of businesses, we encourage you to explore your own needs first before making your choice. Each plugin may offer unique features or benefits that suit your business’s or client’s needs.
We hope this guide can help you choose the perfect solution for your business, streamline your online booking, achieve better appointment management, and grow as a business.
