8 Best Appointment Scheduling Software
Meaghan has provided content and guidance for indie retailers as the editor for a number of retail publications and a speaker at trade shows. She is Fit Small Business’s authority on retail and ecommerce.
Brigitte is a retail specialist and staff writer with brick and mortar management experience. She is versed in retail sales analysis, merchandising, and buying with an emphasis in retail sales and marketing across platforms. She has a BA in writing from Washington University, St. Louis.
This article is part of a larger series on Appointment Scheduling.
Appointment scheduling software lets clients schedule meetings, classes, or appointments on a business’s booking page or website. Service-based businesses like salons and gyms especially rely on appointment scheduling software to manage their calendar and get clients through the door. It is also useful for sales and marketing teams in B2B companies to allow clients to set meetings and view availability without the back and forth of phone calls or emails.
The best appointment scheduling software has user-friendly customer-facing booking tools and powerful calendar management functions at an affordable price point. Here we will take a look at the best appointment scheduling software options for your small business:
- Squarespace Scheduling: Best overall appointment scheduling software for small businesses
- 10to8: Best for communicating with customers
- Bookeo: Best for seasonal businesses needing to freeze their accounts
- SimplyBook.me: Best for a la carte features
- Picktime: Best for at-home consultants and educators
- Appointlet: Best for small sales teams, including SaaS startups, needing a robust affordable appointment scheduler
- Square Appointments: Best for solopreneurs, spas, and salons
- Chili Piper: Best for converting B2B sales leads
Appointment Scheduling Software Compared
Pricing Structure | Free Plan | Paid Plan Costs | Customization Capabilities | Calendar Integrations | Notification Type | Unlimited Appointments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tiers based on number of employee calendars and features | ✕ (free trial available) | $15–$50 per month | Great (signup page, calendar, messaging) | Google, iCloud, Outlook Calendars | Email (SMS with higher plan tiers) | ✔ (with all plans) | |
Tiers based on number of employee calendars, monthly appointments, and features | ✔ | $12–$50 per month (+ custom pricing for larger businesses) | Great (signup page, calendar, intake forms, messaging) | Google, Outlook, iCloud, Exchange | SMS, Email, Slack, and Facebook | Not included in any plan (custom quantities for large businesses) | |
Tiers based on number of employee calendars and monthly appointments | ✕ (free trial available) | $14.95–$79.95 per month | Great (signup page, calendar, and messaging) | Google, Outlook, iCloud, Exchange | Email and SMS | Not included in any plan (up to 2,000 appointments per month) | |
Tiers based on number of employee calendars, monthly appointments, and features | ✔ | $9.90–$59.90 per month | Great (signup page, calendar, and messaging) | Outlook, Google | Email and SMS | Not included in any plan (up to 2,000 appointments per month) | |
Free | ✔ | $9.99–$19.99 per month | Fair (booking form only) | Google, Outlook, iCloud, Exchange | Email and SMS (coming soon) | ✔ (with all plans) | |
Tiered based on features | ✔ | $10 per user, per month | Good (calendar) | Google, Office365 | Email | ✔ (with all plans) | |
Tiered based on number of employees | ✔ | $50–$90 per month (custom pricing for teams larger than 10) | Fair (booking website; not widget) | Google | Email and SMS | ✔ (all plans) | |
Tiered based on number of meetings and virtual meeting capabilities | ✕ | $45 per user per month user license fee + $225–$1,500 software subscription | None | Google, Office365, Outlook | Email and SMS | ✔ |
How We Evaluated Appointment Scheduling Software
To evaluate the best appointment scheduling software, we considered four main factors: price, appointment booking tools, back-office features, and an expert score. After looking at 15 different software options, we narrowed it down to our top eight based on these criteria.
While price is an important factor, all of the appointment scheduling software we explore in this article are extremely affordable, ranging from $0- $90 monthly. We found it more important to weigh appointment scheduling software based on its features for both your customers and your business, ease of use, customization capabilities, and whether the tool can grow with your business.
At the top of our list is Squarespace Scheduling, which we consider the best appointment scheduling software for any small business. Squarespace Scheduling offers all the features you could need, ample customizations, a user-friendly interface, and three affordable, scalable plans.
Click through the tabs in the box below to view our full scoring criteria.
15%
Pricing
40%
Appointment Booking Tools
20%
Back-Office Features
25%
Expert Score
15% of Overall Score
We gave more credit to appointment scheduling software that gives you unlimited appointments, offers multiple affordable plans, and doesn’t lock you into a long-term contract so the tool can grow with your business. Companies that only offer demos are penalized compared to those that offer a free trial or free plan.
40% of Overall Score
Some of the most important features of a scheduler include a booking page for customers, calendar syncing for your staff members, and the option to offer class or group appointments. We also considered whether there’s no-show management and intake form features.
20% of Overall Score
By far, the most important back-office feature of an appointment scheduler is its automation—especially for communication with customers. We heavily rewarded software that offers automated reminders via email and text. Certain businesses need payment processing integrated with appointment software, so we considered that, along with other integrations. A customer database is a nice bonus, but we didn’t score that too highly as many businesses already use a customer relationship management (CRM) platform they like.
25% of Overall Score
The top considerations in our expert score are ease of use (for the customer especially) and the customization available for each scheduler. Although we considered price in the overall score, we also looked at what you get for what you pay, scoring each scheduler based on its overall value.
*Percentages of overall score
Squarespace Scheduling: Best Overall Appointment Scheduling Software
Overall Score:
4.63 / 5
What We Like
- Unlimited appointments
- Easy to use
- Rich customization features
What's Missing
- No free plan
- Text reminders only available with higher-tier plans
Pricing
All Squarespace Scheduling plans include unlimited appointments and services. You can also pay for your Squarespace Scheduling plan annually instead of monthly and save from 6%–10%.
- Emerging ($15/month): One staff login, automated email reminders
- Growing ($25/month): Six staff logins, automated text reminders, subscriptions & gift cards
- Powerhouse ($50/month): 36 staff logins, multiple time zones for multiple locations, remove scheduler branding, custom API, HIPAA compliance
Squarespace Scheduling is our top pick for appointment scheduling software. It earned a 4.36 out of 5 based on our scoring, with easy website integrations for even non-Square sites, great customer management tools, and a seamless interface. Square mainly got docked for its pricing and lack of no-show management tools, however it is a robust system that we love for small businesses.
With the Square website widget, customers can view your calendar, services, and availability right on your website and make appointments without having to call or work with you directly. They can also pay for everything when they book. From there, appointments will show up on your and your clients’ personal calendars. Additionally, your booking calendar will automatically update your availability, so you are in no danger of double booking.
Every step of the process is also fully customizable with its Powerhouse subscription. With this plan, you can customize your booking page, calendar, and all your intake forms to fit your branding and provide a seamless customer experience. Squarespace Scheduling also allows you to upsell your customers while they are making appointments with checkout add-ons like gift cards and class packages as well as options to tip in advance.
Squarespace Scheduling Features
- Supports classes and group appointments
- Accepts digital gift certificates
- Allows you to sell subscriptions and memberships
- Offers payment plans
- Saves customer payment information for recurring payments
- Supports multiple time zones
- Customization and branding
- Tipping option in scheduler
- Upsell add-ons to clients when they’re paying
- Video, CRM, and invoicing integrations
- Robust list of integrations
What Squarespace Scheduling Is Missing
As much as we like all the Squarespace Scheduling features, it lacks a free plan and the paid options are a bit pricey, although they do offer good value for what they provide. Additionally, Squarespace Scheduling can only support up to 36 individual calendars, so if you need to accommodate a larger staff, 10to8’s custom Enterprise plan would be a better option.
10to8: Best for Communicating With Customers
Overall Score:
4.61 / 5
What We Like
- Customer messaging through the 10to8 signup calendar
- Free option for up to two employees and 100 monthly appointments
- Highly customizable
What's Missing
- Limited appointments for most plans
- Only supports six employee calendars for non-custom plans
Pricing
10to8 offers five plans for you to choose from based on the number of calendars you need, your monthly appointment volume, and the features you desire. You can also pay for your 10to8 plan annually instead of monthly and save 20%.
- Free: 100 appointments per month, two staff logins, no custom branding or phone support
- Basic ($12/month): 100 appointments per month, two staff logins, and custom branding
- Grow ($25/month): 300 appointments per month, three staff logins, custom branding, custom texts
- Bigger Business ($50/month): 300 appointments per month, six staff logins, custom branding, and custom texts
- Enterprise (custom quote): Bigger Business plan + custom number of appointments and calendars, HIPAA-compliant tools, onboarding, phone support
10to8 also offers a unique messaging feature where clients can send you direct messages straight from the 10to8 calendar on your website. This makes it easy to ask questions and maintain an open line of communication between you and your clients.
Even with the free plan, you get intake forms, can sync with the most popular calendars, and can accept payments online through the scheduler. It also integrates with video software, making this an incredibly flexible appointment booking system.
In our evaluation, 10to8 scored 4.61 out of 5 because it hits almost all the marks for an excellent appointment scheduling system (with the exception of offering unlimited appointments). There’s no long-term commitment required—you can choose a month-to-month option, but you’ll save more with an annual contract.
10to8 Features
- No-show alerts
- Integrates with all the top calendars
- Accept payments with PayPal, Stripe, and SagePay UK
- HIPAA compliance option
- Works with multiple time zones
- Includes customer management
- Customizable booking page/widget
- Branding customization available at Basic level
- Automatic text, email, Slack, and Facebook reminders available
What 10to8 Is Missing
As mentioned above, none of 10to8’s plans offer unlimited appointments. It’s the main feature holding 10to8 back from a nearly perfect score. If you need unlimited appointments, consider several of our other recommendations, including Squarespace Scheduling and Appointlet.
Bookeo: Best for Seasonal Businesses
Overall Score:
4.53 / 5
What We Like
- Automated email and text reminders for customers and staff
- Free 30-day trial
- 15 payment processors available
- Can freeze account when not servicing
What's Missing
- Limited monthly appointments
- No free plan
- SMS reminders cost extra
Pricing
Bookeo offers four plans for you to choose from that all include their basic menu of features. Pricing is based on the number of staff logins and appointments per month.
- Solo ($14.95/month): One staff login, 200 appointments per month
- Small ($29.95/month): Three staff logins, 1,000 appointments per month
- Standard ($39.95/month): 20 staff logins, 1,000 appointments per month
- Large ($79.95/month): 40 staff logins, 2,000 appointments per month
One of the standout features that makes Bookeo ideal for seasonal businesses is that you can freeze your account during the offseason—you can’t book appointments but you only pay 30% of your monthly fee. Though most solutions on this list have a free plan, Bookeo is the only one that has a freeze option. This is ideal for larger businesses that need many appointments and/or logins during their busy seasons and want to retain customer and appointment information year-round.
With its unique freeze feature for season workers, Bookeo earned a 4.53 out of 5 in our scoring, primarily gaining points for its payments processor integrations and appointment scheduling features. Bookeo fell short in terms of pricing however, with many premium features bearing an extra cost.
Bookeo includes all the basic features you’d need from a scheduler such as a booking page, intake forms, and no-show management, and you can accept payments online. It syncs with all the popular calendars, and you get a client database.
Bookeo offers three different types of appointment scheduling software: Appointments, Classes & Courses, and Tours & Activities. They are similar, with just a few minor differences.
Bookeo Features
- Integrates with Google, iCloud, and Microsoft 365 calendars
- Color-code services in your Bookeo calendar
- Staff availability management
- Automated staff email and text notifications of appointments
- Automated email and text reminders for clients
- Customizations with all plans
What Bookeo Is Missing
As we briefly mentioned above, many of Bookeo’s features are considered premium and come at an extra cost. Although Bookeo offers SMS messaging, it charges credits for each one (as low as $0.09 each). It also doesn’t offer a free plan, and appointments are limited based on the plan you choose. For unlimited appointments, try Squarespace Scheduling or Appointlet, and for a free option, Picktime will be your best bet.
Despite a high overall score, Bookeo earned one of the lowest scores in the pricing category due to its lack of free plan and caps on monthly appointments. Many of the other appointment scheduling software we evaluated offer a free base plan and unlimited appointments, including Square Appointments and Appointlet, both of which earned perfect marks for pricing.
SimplyBook.me: Best for a la Carte Features
Overall Score:
4.41 / 5
What We Like
- Free plan available
- Unlimited added features on top-tier plan
- Booking site and widget for all plans
- Social media integrations
What's Missing
- Limited appointments on all plans
- No iCloud or Exchange calendar integrations
- Many basic features only available as “custom features”
Pricing
SimplyBook.me offers four plans whose price is based on monthly appointments volume (bookings), staff logins, and number of features you can select. All plans come with a booking site and website widget. You can also pay for your SimplyBook.me plan annually instead of monthly and save 17%.
- Free: 50 bookings, five staff logins, a single custom feature
- Basic ($9.90/month): 100 bookings, 15 staff logins, three custom features, coupons and gift cards, and a POS system
- Standard ($29.90/month): 500 bookings, 25 staff logins, eight custom features, and HIPAA compliance feature
- Premium ($59.90/month): 2,000 bookings, 50 staff logins, unlimited custom features, and scheduler branding removal
SimplyBook.me is a basic appointment scheduling software with a unique pricing structure. Each plan comes with a widget and booking page plus a set number of staff logins, bookings, and custom features. With Simplybook.me, you get to select the custom features that you want—whether that be intake forms, appointment reminders, or social media integrations—it is up to you and what features you think will be most helpful for your business.
SimplyBook.me doesn’t require a long-term commitment, but you’ll get a better price if you opt for an annual contract. It has almost every feature you could want from an appointment scheduling tool (including multiple integrations, calendar syncing, client reviews on your booking site), and you can accept payments through the scheduler. With all this, SimplyBook.me earned 4.41 out of 5 in our evaluation with deductions mainly coming from its limited calendar integrations and add-on feature costs.
SimplyBook.me Features
- Customize your booking site, including custom CSS options
- Add custom services
- Display client reviews on booking site
- Dozens of payment processors allowed
- Facebook and Instagram booking
- Issue tickets
- Intake forms and SOAP notes
- Accept payments and deposits online
- Google My Business integration
- Send promotional offers to loyal customers
- Video meetings
- Administrative management app
What SimplyBook.me Is Missing
SimplyBook.me doesn’t offer unlimited appointments, unlike Squarespace Scheduling and Appointlet. Additionally, some features that other appointment scheduling software treat as basic are labeled “custom” and you have to choose carefully which features you want because you’re limited—unless you opt for the top-tier plan. For a similarly feature-rich scheduler that doesn’t gate the majority of its features, try 10to8.
Picktime: Best for At-Home Consultants & Educators
Overall Score:
4.22 / 5
What We Like
- Free plan available
- Includes intake forms and group/class bookings
- Integrates with multiple video software
- Accept payments through software
What's Missing
- Missing appointment reminders, among other features
- No widget customizations
- No HIPAA compliance
Pricing
Picktime offers three different plans that scale with the number of employees it can support and the features it offers:
- Free Plan ($0/month): Supports three staff members and two locations, two class bookings, unlimited appointments, online bookings page, email notifications, payment processing with PayPal
- Starter Plan ($9.99/month): Everything from the free plan, supports five team members, five classes, payments with Stripe and PayPal, email reminders, recurring bookings, two-way calendar sync
- Pro ($19.99/month): Everything in the starter plan, supports 20 team members and unlimited locations, packages, vouchers, discounts, customizable emails
Picktime is an appointment scheduling software that can work well for almost any type of business, but thanks to its many calendar and appointment management tools, it’s excellent for at-home tutors, consultants, and designers. You can set up recurring appointments and run reports for multiple locations. Plus, you can send custom intake forms to clients who book with you.
Picktime earned a 4.22 out of 5 in our evaluation for its bevy of features to help you manage clients, staff, appointments, and payments. We love the program’s completely free plan (in fact it’s our top scorer for best free appointment scheduling software) and unlimited appointments for all plans. Lack of SMS appointment reminders for clients is a major shortcoming, although Picktime says SMS capabilities are pending. The app also lost points for not protecting against no-shows and customization limitations.
Picktime Features
- Supports two locations in one dashboard
- Includes custom intake forms
- Recurring appointment reminders
- Customer management feature
- Rich integrations
- Payment processing and invoicing
- Voucher and discount notifications
- Customers can leave on-page reviews
What Picktime Is Missing
As much as we like Picktime, it’s a new scheduler that isn’t quite done yet. Some vital features for any business that relies on appointments are missing, including appointment reminders and client reviews. These features are promised soon, but in the meantime, you can get these features from SimplyBook.me.
Appointlet: Best for Small Sales Teams
Overall Score:
4.18 / 5
What We Like
- Affordable plans for sales teams
- Unlimited appointments (all plans)
- Pooled availability (paid plans)
- Add booking link to your site, emails
What's Missing
- No text appointment reminders
- Payment through scheduler on paid plans only
Pricing
Appointlet has two very affordable monthly plans. You can also pay for your Appointlet plan annually instead of monthly and save 20%.
- Free: Unlimited appointments and meeting types, calendar syncing, customize your booking site, video integrations, booking notifications, unlimited staff logins
- Premium ($10/user/month): Free plan + remove scheduler branding, automated email reminders, pool availability, Zapier integration, payment through the scheduler
Appointlet is a great scheduling software for startup sales companies. It offers a free plan, and its single-paid plan is affordable for small sales teams. On the paid plan, you can set up pooled availability, so a prospect gets more available times from which they can choose on your booking site. It also makes it easy to book meetings for your team with pooled availability scheduling.
In our evaluation, Appointment earned a 4.18 out of 5. With custom intake forms that you can send to clients in advance, Appointlet makes it easy for sales and marketing teams to gather information about prospects before an appointment for lead scoring, and then book it with the appropriate salesperson or account exec. The scheduler integrates with popular video software, so it works well for demo meetings. With the payment integration, it can also work for service-based businesses. Appointlet lost points due to lack of deposit and no-show management.
Appointlet Features
- Add your logo to the booking page
- View reports on meetings, types of meetings, status, etc.
- Create private meetings (paid plan)
- Customize appointment confirmations (paid plan)
- Payment through Stripe (paid plan)
What Appointlet Is Missing
Appointlet lacks a few features that could make it more well-rounded. There’s no automated text feature (you have to use a Zapier integration to do it), and it’s lacking no-show management, which is vital for a lot of service-based businesses. If you need those features, consider Squarespace Scheduling.
Square Appointments: Best for Solopreneurs, Spas & Salons
Overall Score:
3.80 / 5
What We Like
- Free for one user
- Includes automated email and text reminders (all plans)
- Included POS system and customer database
- Works for classes, group appointments
What's Missing
- Only syncs with Google calendars
- No video integrations
- No intake forms
Pricing
All Square plans include every feature, price depends on number of users:
- Individual: Free
- Two to five users: $50/month
- Six to 10 users: $90/month
- 10+ users: Custom pricing
Square Appointments is made for the solopreneur. There’s zero commitment, and it is the only software on this list that comes with a built-in point-of-sale (POS) system and credit card processing. You can accept payments online or in person, require credit cards or pre-payment with online booking, and send invoices.
All you pay is a transaction fee of 2.6% plus 10 cents each time someone pays for services using a debit or credit card. The only reason to upgrade to a paid plan is if you need more than one login (and you’ll get slightly lower payment processing fees).
All of Square’s products are popular—and Square Appointments is no exception to that rule. Aside from the robust free plan for individuals, Square offers all the basic features you would expect of a scheduler for service-based businesses. It easily scored 3.8 out of 5 in our evaluation, with its losses coming from its lack of video integration and intake form capabilities.
Square Appointments is also our top choice for the best salon and spa POS system.
Square Appointments Features
- Accept deposits for no-show protection
- Attachments allowed on verification and confirmation emails
- Automated email and text reminders
- Supports recurring appointments
- Add booking to Facebook, Instagram, and Google
- Flat-rate and tiered commission structures for team members
- Tip management
- Mobile booking app
What Square Appointments Is Missing
The only reason Square Appointments is farther down on this list is because it isn’t great with integrations. It connects all of its own products, but there’s no video software integration; if you need this, take a look at Picktime—it’s also free. Appointlet also offers video chat integration.
You also have to use Square payment processing, whereas SimplyBook.me integrates with many payment processors, which is ideal if you already have a merchant account.
Another drawback of using Square Appointments is that it syncs only with Google Calendar. If you need a scheduler that syncs with Outlook or Apple, try 10to8.
Chili Piper: Best for Converting B2B Sales Leads
Overall Score:
3.73 / 5
What We Like
- Add meeting times directly to emails
- Notifications when a client hasn’t picked a time
- Powerful integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot
What's Missing
- Complexity of Concierge plans may be overwhelming
- Users report occasional lagging
- Pricey paid plans
Pricing
Chili Piper offers two plans. You can also pay for your Chili Piper plan annually instead of monthly and save 33%.
- Instant Booker: Designed for instant scheduling through email and personal booking pages. There are three plans ranging from $22.50–$37.50 per user, per month.
- Concierge: Designed for booking demos and other appointments through web forms. Plans are $45 per user, per month, plus a flat monthly fee of $225–$1,500.
Chili Piper offers two distinct appointment scheduling solutions for businesses: Instant Booker and Concierge. Instant Booker can be useful for any individual who needs to book appointments with clients and comes at a much lower price tag. Concierge, on the other hand, works best for sales and marketing teams that need to meet with B2B sales leads and convert them into clients.
Chili Piper offers unique clients scheduling features that will help you stay on top of your clients and convert more leads. First, one thing that we haven’t seen from any other appointment scheduling software is that you can embed your available times and dates into your Chili Piper emails. You still get a booking page, but the one-click scheduling saves even more time than other solutions and avoids making your clients have to open new tabs to make an appointment. Chili Piper also alerts you when sales leads haven’t responded and will prompt you to communicate with them and will send clients reminders for upcoming appointments to reduce no-shows.
Chili Piper scores 3.73 out of 5 in our evaluation because it lacks a few features small businesses might need including intake forms and payment processing.
Chili Piper Features
- Two solutions: Concierge (webform scheduling) and Instant Booker (appointment scheduler in email and booking link)
- Book appointments with suggested times in emails
- Integrates with Google and Microsoft 365 calendars
- Automated email and text reminders (all plans)
- Includes meeting buffers and notifications
- Seamless integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot
- Round-robin routing available
What Chili Piper Is Missing
Chili Piper supports a very limited number of payment processors (compared to Bookeo’s 15). Additionally, Chili Piper is not as user-friendly as the other options and is much more expensive than the other plans on this list.
Bottom Line
When it comes to choosing the best appointment scheduling software, you have to consider what’s best for your type of business. There are excellent options for salons, freelancers, tour companies, and B2B businesses. As long as you have at least a booking page and calendar syncing, you can make it work.
The overall best appointment scheduling software for any business type is Squarespace Scheduling. It gives you all the basics you would expect from a powerful scheduler, plus it offers affordable plans for every stage of a business’ growth.
