I evaluated 13 forever-free scheduling software hands-on across 18 data points to find the best free appointment scheduling software for 2025.
5 Best Free Appointment Scheduling Software for 2025
This article is part of a larger series on POS Systems.
According to my evaluation, the best free appointment scheduling software for small businesses are:
- Square Appointments: Best overall
- Fresha: Best for beauty and wellness businesses
- Picktime: Best for multiple locations
- Appointlet: Best for video appointments and meetings
- SimplyBook.me: Best for businesses that want a booking website
The best appointment scheduling software allows clients to view your business calendar, self-book, and pay for appointments online. It will also help you, the business owner, manage these appointments, send automatic reminders, and market your services—ideally with no monthly payments or other costs.
Best Free Appointment Scheduling Software Compared
Our Score (Out of 5) | Notification Types | Monthly Appointment Limits | Number of Free Users | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4.34 | SMS and email | Unlimited | Unlimited |
 | 4.33 | SMS and email (must pay) | Unlimited | Unlimited |
 | 3.83 | Email (SMS with paid plans) | Unlimited appointments; 2 classes | 3 |
 | 3.70 | SMS and email (must pay) | Unlimited appointments; small classes | 5 |
 | 3.43 | Email (SMS with paid plans) | 50 | 1 |
Why You Can Trust Fit Small Business
I’ve been writing about retail-focused software for over two years. I’ve researched, evaluated, and tested dozens of software systems for a variety of specialized purposes (inventory management, ecommerce, point-of-sale, etc.) and industries (retail, restaurant, services, etc).
For this guide to the best free appointment scheduling software, I assessed the pricing, strengths, and standout features for each of the systems I recommended. Whenever possible, I also tested the systems myself to get a feel for their ease of use and functionality.
Retail Staff Writer at Fit Small Business
Square Appointments: Best Overall
Overall Score:
4.34 / 5
Pros
- Includes point-of-sale (POS) system, ecommerce platform, and payment processing
- Free automated SMS and email reminders
- Booking page integrations on website, Google, Facebook, and Instagram
Cons
- Free plan is for one location only
- No video appointment integration
- Only syncs with Google calendars; sync is only offered in paid plans
Overview
Who should use it:
Businesses that want unlimited logins and appointments and a strong set of back-office features (integrations, customer database, automated appointment reminders, etc.) without monthly payments
Why we like it:
Square Appointments lets you set up a webpage where clients can view your open time slots, book an appointment, and pay for their service. This webpage can even be linked to your social media accounts and integrated into your website. Every Square account also has a Square POS account, a website builder, and Square’s payment processing.
Square Appointments is our top pick due to its rich features, unlimited appointments and calendars, and easy-to-use interface. The program mainly lost points for its single location in the free plan, lack of video integrations, and limited calendar syncing options.
If you want to learn more about setting up your Square Appointments account so that you can start taking clients, check out our guide to setting up Square Appointments.
- Free: $0
- Unlimited calendars
- Mobile app
- Text and email notifications
- Plus: $29 per month per location
- Multilocation and class booking
- Google Calendar sync
- Cancellation policy
- Premium: $69 per month per location
- Resource management
- Advanced staff management
- Cost tracking
- SMS appointment notifications: While every one of our providers offers some kind of appointment notifications, Square includes SMS in its free plan.
- Square Assistant: Square Appointments’ text services also utilize Square Assistant, an automated messaging tool enabling 24/7 replies concerning appointment confirmations, cancellations, or rescheduling. Square Assistant is available even in the free plan.
- Booking page customization: Square has great customization options for your online booking page and allows you to design a page without any Square branding. You can customize the description, duration, and pricing of your list of services and choose how they will display (as a menu or calendar, for example) on your booking site.
Fresha: Best for Beauty & Wellness Businesses
Overall Score:
4.33 / 5
Pros
- Unlimited staff members and appointments
- Fresha Marketplace app for customers
- POS with inventory, supplier management, and reports
Cons
- No video appointment integrations
- Full appointment reminders only with paid plan
- No-show protection requires a paid plan
Overview
Who should use it:
Salons, gyms, and personal trainers will appreciate Fresha’s industry-specific tools and generous free plan.
Why we like it:
The free plan supports unlimited appointments, staff members, and locations. It also has unlimited email notifications and gives you a user dashboard and app where you can view and manage your appointments.
Overall, Fresha is a very popular and highly reviewed app in the beauty and wellness industries. It stood out from the competition in that, like Square, it includes POS and payment processing in its free plans. It lost points, however, because some of the features offered by other free software, such as automated reminders and no-show protection, are only accessible with the software’s paid plan.
Fresha’s pricing structure differs slightly from the rest. Unlike our other options that charge a flat monthly rate, Fresha offers a set of free, basic features and then charges per use of specific paid functions.
- Free: Unlimited appointments, employees, inventory, email notifications, and locations, POS system, appointment/calendar management tools, inventory management, reporting tools
- Paid features:
- Payment processing: 2.29% + 20 cents
- Fresha Marketplace app new client fee: 20% one-time commission (Minimum fee of $6 per client)
- Blast marketing: 8 cents per text; 2 cents per email
- SMS notifications: 20 free monthly texts; 2 cents per extra text
- Reporting capabilities: Fresha makes it easy to manage your salon or other beauty and wellness business with unlimited free reporting.
- Unlimited locations and users: Use one account to manage multiple locations. Additionally, Fresha supports your entire team with unlimited users and in-person appointment bookings.
- POS: Fresha allows you to set up payment types during checkout. The platform can add tips on checkout and set payment and discount types, staff commission rates, and voucher duration.
POS systems can do much more than accept payments and perform CRM functions. The best ones can also handle multichannel sales, manage inventory, generate reports, and more. See our list of the best POS systems for small businesses.
Picktime: Best for Multiple Locations
Overall Score:
3.83 / 5
Pros
- Email notifications in free plan
- Class/group booking options
- Intake forms and questionnaires included
Cons
- Need paid plans for SMS reminders
- Limited class bookings with free plan
- Cannot take attendance with free plan
Overview
Who should use it:
Salon or spa businesses with more than one location or that offer group classes
Why we like it:
Picktime offers a robust bank of free features, including a customer booking page, resource management, unlimited appointments, group bookings, and the ability to add booking forms, take deposits, generate invoices, accept payments online, and send automated email reminders.
The app mainly lost points for locking key features like SMS notifications, recurring bookings, and unlimited class bookings behind a paywall. You’ll also need to upgrade to the highest plan to get access for any more than three users.
- Free: $0
- 3 resources
- 2 locations
- 2 classes
- Starter: $4 per user, per month
- 3 resources
- 2 locations
- 5 classes
- Pro: $3 per user, per month
- 10 resources
- Unlimited locations
- Unlimited classes
- Multi-location access: Picktime supports multiple locations, with the free plan allowing you to manage appointments for two branches from the same dashboard. It can also detect your client’s location to find the nearest branch.
- Customer management: Quickly access your customer data for marketing promotions and discounts, leave customer notes for your staff, and import/export customer data from anywhere. Additionally, your customers can keep track of their upcoming appointments by creating their own Picktime account.
- Video, calendar, and payment processing integrations: Picktime has tons of integrations—some free and some only in a paid plan. Its free integrations include PayPal, Jitsi, Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, iCloud Calendar, and Exchange. However, if you are a paid subscriber, you can also integrate with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Zoom, and GoToMeeting.
Appointlet: Best for Video Appointments & Meetings
Overall Score:
3.70 / 5
Pros
- Video integrations available in free plan
- Lots of integrations for payment collection, reminders, CRM, marketing, and more
- Google and Office 365 calendar sync
Cons
- Lacks no-show protection
- Must pay for appointment reminders
- Only 5 users in free plan
Overview
Who should use it:
Businesses that want lots of integrations or rely on video chat for bookings, client interaction, and other services
Why we like it:
While Appointlet locks a few of its features (such as automated reminders) behind paid plans, it still contains several useful tools in the free subscription. You’ll get unlimited appointments, video meeting integrations, scheduling links, and double-booking protection. If you upgrade to paid plans, you’ll gain access to larger groups and classes, greater intake form customization, automated meeting reminders, additional integrations, and more.
- Free: $0
- Groups of up to 5 attendees
- Integrations for video chat and sales tools
- Unlimited appointments
- Premium: $10 per member, per month
- Approve or decline specific participants
- Automated meeting reminders
- Unlimited class size
- Enterprise: Custom quote
- Priority customer support
- Advanced security measures
- Quarterly account reviews
- Robust meeting and scheduling tools: Appointlet’s meeting and scheduling tools are nuanced and feature-rich. You can share meetings via a single link, cancel and reschedule (and have your attendees notified via email), add a scheduling page to your website, and prevent last-minute bookings.
- Integrations: Appointlet includes integrations for CRM such as Salesforce and Hubspot; project management tools like Monday and Airtable; and payment collection like Stripe and PayPal.
SimplyBook.me: Best for Businesses That Want a Booking Website
Overall Score:
3.43 / 5
Pros
- Booking website and widget in free plan
- Classes and group bookings in free plan
- Custom features and marketing tools
Cons
- Limited users and appointments in free plan
- Payments and deposits only available in paid plans
- SMS reminders only available in paid plans
Overview
Who should use it:
Businesses that want to quickly and easily create a booking website or add a booking widget to an existing site
Why we like it:
SimplyBook.me includes a website builder, personalization tools, and a set of themes and templates to help you craft and modify your own booking website just the way you want it. These tools are available in the free plan. The software also allows for class and group scheduling, video chat, customer databases, and payment processing.
However, SimplyBook.me requires paid upgrades for many of its features, including additional appointments and users, payment links, recurring payments, accounting, SMS reminders, and POS tools.
- Free: $0
- 50 bookings
- Booking website builder and widget
- Mobile admin app
- Basic: $9.9 (annual pricing: $8.25)
- 100 bookings
- Basic client app
- Payments, deposits, and tips
- Standard: $29.9 (annual pricing: $24.9)
- 500 bookings
- Branded client app
- User access control
- Premium: $59.9 (annual pricing: $49.9)
- 2,000 bookings
- Refunds and recurring payments
- Remove SimplyBook.me branding from sites
- Accounting integrations
- Booking website builder: Create a booking website for your business using SimplyBook.me’s tools. You can customize the site by adding your business logo, curating image galleries and background colors, choosing between various pre-made templates, and sharing on Instagram. You can also accept bookings straight from your website.
- Business enhancements: SimplyBook.me includes several features that make it easier to run your business and attract new customers. You can set up a custom domain name, add Facebook profile information, issue event tickets and gift cards, cancel and reschedule appointments, and sync Google Calendar to the software.
What to Look for in Free Scheduling Software
As you are examining the options, here are a few of the key features you should consider when looking for the best free appointment scheduling software.
- Customer booking options: Look for solutions that let customers book in person and through your website. Another thing you can look for is whether the solution has a corresponding marketplace app where customers can discover and book as well.
- No-show protection: You should look for tools to protect your time, including the ability to take deposits and administer no-show fees or penalties.
- Booking, calendar, and location limits: An ideal solution will include unlimited bookings, calendars, and locations. If you can’t find a free solution that offers that, be sure to choose one that can support you now and then scale as you grow.
- Payment processing: Be sure customers can pay for their appointments online when they book and in person so they can choose based on their preferences.
- Calendar management options: The best free scheduling software will include an app and an online portal where you can manage your calendar, view events, and make changes.
- Integrations: Many service industries need specific tools that are only available via third-party integrations, so you want to choose a solution that is compatible with third-party solutions either via an API or an app integration.
- Calendar syncing: Be sure that appointments made through your booking page or in-store sync with your personal calendar, whether that be Google, Outlook, iCloud, etc.
- Appointment notifications: The best solutions will send you and your customers automatic appointment reminders via text and email.
- Resource management: If you have rooms or supplies that need to be booked out with your appointments, be sure to use a solution that includes resource management.
- POS and ecommerce capabilities: If you want to sell any products, be sure that you find a solution with a POS system or an ecommerce store.
How We Evaluated Free Scheduling Software
To evaluate free appointment scheduling software, we looked carefully at all of these features. Noting which are available for free versus which require a premium upgrade. The last thing you want is to get all set up and then find out you need to pay a monthly fee to access one essential feature. We also evaluated each software’s quality, ease of use, and customer support.
Square Appointments was our top scorer with a 4.34 out of 5 as its final score. It offers nearly every feature we looked for and works for unlimited users—all for free.
Click through the tabs below for our detailed evaluation criteria.
30%
Free Plan Limitations
30%
Appointment Booking Tools
20%
Back Office Features
20%
Expert Score
30% of Overall Score
A free plan means nothing if you can’t use it. We favored plans that don’t make you pay for their most useful features. We also considered whether they limited the number of users or appointments you can book.
30% of Overall Score
Tools evaluated include a page where customers could make their own appointments and fill out intake forms or questionnaires, options for classes, selecting specific groups of employees, and syncing with calendars. We also considered video chat integration for virtual meetings.
20% of Overall Score
Can you take payments through the software itself? Does it integrate with other software? Are there appointment reminders or a customer database for marketing? We considered all of these capabilities.
20% of Overall Score
In addition to our own evaluation of the features and value, we looked at reviews from actual users posted on trusted review sites for software. Every calendar software we considered had excellent reviews—4 out of 5 stars and higher—on Capterra and/or G2.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Click through the questions below to get answers to some of your most frequently asked appointment scheduling software questions.
Appointment scheduling software provides a platform where businesses can manage their appointments and clients to make new appointments. Many appointment scheduling software will also process payments so that customers can pay when they book.
Appointment scheduling software work by providing an online booking page where customers can view your business’s schedule and book appointments based on your availability. Then, your schedule updates as new appointments are made and customers receive notifications to remind them of their appointments as the time approaches. Good appointment scheduling software will also include payment processing so that you can collect payments.
Appointment scheduling software allow you to stay on top of your schedule, give customers an easy way to make appointments, streamline your operations, and automate your appointment notifications.
Appointment scheduling software is used by all types of businesses that rely on appointments. That means anything from a salon to a therapist, to a gym, to a spa. There are countless applications.
Bottom Line
Appointment scheduling programs make it easy for you and your clients or coworkers to manage your schedules and book appointments and meetings without the hassle of the back and forth. There are a ton of great free options available for appointment scheduling apps, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Our top pick for free appointment scheduling apps is Square Appointments for its range of features, ease of use, and free offerings.