Guide to online appointment scheduling tools
Ever wondered which is the best free online appointment scheduling software, or the best calendar scheduling tool to use in your online businesses?
It feels like the vast majority of online business owners choose either Acuity Scheduling or Calendly, but I've done some digging around to find out what other options come recommended.
And I've dived in to find out more about what they cost, and what they do or don't include in their various price plans.
WHAT IS THE BEST FREE ONLINE APPOINTMENT SCHEDULING SOFTWARE?
Almost all of the tools I looked at include a free plan of some sort, but most have fairly onerous restrictions. Let's start with the two most common platforms:
Acuity Scheduling offers unlimited appointments and unlimited appointment types on their free plan, so would be a good choice if you wanted to schedule lots of different types of meetings (eg calls with different names, different lengths, etc) and had a large number of meetings each month.
The downside is that you don't seem to get a lot else! No reminder emails, no time zone conversion for clients, no payment options, no way of embedding it in your own website, and no option to add your own logo or to customise their booking page with your own branding. It doesn't even sync to your calendar, so the main benefit it brings is to save you time by preventing the back-and-forth of arranging meetings.
Calendly on the other hand, also has unlimited appointments, but limits you to a single appointment type. They do however include calendar syncing and the ability to embed their scheduler into your website. They also send email notifications, but these aren't customisable.
Again, you can't accept payments on Calendly and you are stuck with their branding, but if you only want to set up one type of free meeting, then this feels like a good option.
In terms of other free options, here are another four platforms that might be worth considering:
- 10to8 is a UK-based company whose free plan includes payments via Stripe, making it a great choice if you want to charge for a service as you schedule it. You are limited to 100 appointments per month and can't remove the 10to8 branding, but all the other basics such as a reminder email, timezone management, calendar syncing and email support are included.
- Bookafy is one of the few free options that allows some custom design elements such as colours and fonts on your booking page, so you can make it feel a bit more like your brand. It doesn't include calendar syncing or payments, but you do get unlimited appointments and appointment types, and access to all their support options. They also have non-customisable email reminders set up ready to go.
- Schedulicity appears to be aimed more at service-based businesses with physical locations and limits you to 10 appointments per month, but does include payments via its Schedulicity Pay (charged at 1.99%). They have made everything in their paid plan completely free until 1 July to help during the current coronavirus situation, so if you want to try out all its features, now would be a good time.
- SimplyBook.me offers a free plan with 50 appointments per month, unlimited appointment types, customisable confirmation and reminder emails, and some rich design options. They don't offer payments and you can't customise their booking links, but their free tier includes one 'custom feature'. This allows you to choose one of over 50 extras features such as calendar syncing, SMS and advanced email notifications, branding options, etc.
So, as with most products, there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer, but if you are clear about your priorities, there should be something that meets most, if not all of your needs.
WHAT IS THE BEST IF YOU'RE HAPPY TO PAY?
Having talked about the free plans, let's have a look at the paid plans, beginning again with the ones that get talked about the most:
Acuity Scheduling has an entry level 'Emerging Entrepreneur' plan at $15/mo or $165/yr which feels like it does pretty much everything that most solopreneurs with an online business would need. This includes calendar syncing, reminder emails, adding your logo and colours, the ability to edit the booking page text, and the ability to take payments via PayPal, Square or Stripe.
Beyond this is their 'Growing Business' plan at $25/mo or $275/yr. This allows you to sync six calendars and send SMS reminders, and supports additional payment types such as memberships and packages, but it will still say 'Powered by Acuity' on your scheduler.
Calendly starts with its 'Premium' plan at $10/mo or $96/yr. This includes unlimited appointment types and the ability to sync two calendars and customise email notifications. It also removes the Calendly branding from your booking page and allows you to direct meeting attendees to your own link after they've made their booking. So, while it doesn't include integrated payments, this does mean that you could send them off to a payment page (although you'd have to manually check they'd paid before having your session with them!).
To get integrated payments via Stripe or PayPal and the ability to add custom colours when embedding the scheduler on your website, you'd need the Calendly 'Pro' plan. At $15/mo or $144/yr this is comparable in price to the entry-level Acuity plan, but with a few additional features such as customisable SMS notifications.
Looking at paid plans from some other appointment scheduling tools, I found the following:
- 10to8 offers a 'Basic' package for $12/mo or $115/yr. This still limits you to 100 appointments per month, but allows you to use your own domain, send a confirmation and one reminder via SMS, and add your logo and image to the booking page. It also removes the 10to8 branding and allows payment via PayPal or SagePayUK, as well as Stripe. For $25/mo or $240/yr, their 'Grow' plan includes 300 appointments per month and phone support. You can also edit the sender and text of the notifications, and vary them by service type. With a 30-day free trial (longer than most others), 10to8 feels like something worth exploring further.
- Book Like A Boss have two plans that don't accept payments ('Espresso' at $9/mo or $90/yr and 'Mocha' at $12/mo or $120/yr) and two plans that accept payments via Stripe, Square or PayPal ('Cappuccino' at $19/mo or $190/yr and 'Latte' at $29/mo or $290/yr). In both cases, you can't remove the Book Like A Boss branding in the cheaper plan, but can in the more expensive one, which also includes custom domains and fully customisable booking pages. All plans include up to five email or SMS notifications, and all but 'Espresso' give you access to priority support.
- Bookafy has the cheapest paid option on this list that includes payments (this time via Stripe or Authorize.net). Their 'Pro' plan is $9/mo or $84/yr and also includes website integration, customised email reminders and one SMS reminder. This means that it covers all the most important features missing from its free plan.
- ScheduleOnce doesn't have a free plan, but its cheapest paid plan does include everything that you might need. It costs $15/mo or $162/yr, providing you with custom notifications via email and SMS, fully customisable branding and payments via PayPal.
- Schedulicity has a paid plan that starts at $20/mo for unlimited appointments, but then charges extra for additional functionality. For example, different appointment types, SMS notifications and payments via Strip or Square are each charged at $5/mo.
- SimplyBook.me offers a 'Basic' plan at $9.90/mo or $99/yr with 100 appointments per month, and a 'Standard' plan at $29.99/mo or $299/yr with 500 appointments per month. As with their free plan, you use 'custom features' to add additional functionality and can choose up to three extras on the Basic plan and eight on the Standard plan, including payments via Paypal or Stripe. This allows you to create a solution that includes exactly what you need.
- Timetrade gets the final mention due to its 90-day free trial period and low costs. At $6.50/mo or $78/yr it is the cheapest tool on this list, but its focus is purely on meeting scheduling and it doesn't include any options to take payments. That said, it does include a booking page with custom branding, the ability to embed buttons into your website, and confirmation and 24-hour reminder emails.
Phew! There's a lot of information there, so I've summarised it all into a handy table that you can download and keep until the time is right.
You can download the Calendar / Appointment Scheduling Tool Pricing Guide here.
NOW IT'S YOUR TURN: BE AN ANGEL REVIEWER AND SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE
To help everyone work out which calendar or appointment scheduling software is right for them, Angel Rated needs reviews of the tools you are currently using, or have previously tried. So, do please take two minutes to review any of the products mentioned above.
This is the best way to not let your knowledge and experience go to waste, and to give back to the Angel Rated community.
If you'd rather see all the options in one place, then head on over to Angel Rated and you can sort and filter all the tools listed to find the one that's just right for you.
And if you're using something that's not on this list, then I'd love to hear from you so that I can get it added.