8 WordPress Appointment Booking Plugins to Pay Attention to

The whole world is moving to the internet. A significant part of our lives is in it right now, including various areas. We buy, order food, and make dentist appointments online. So, now coming personally to a barber to make an appointment is an anachronism.

The WordPress appointment booking plugins exist for the developers to implement convenient functionality on their services-providers websites, where the visitors can choose the necessary services, specialists, and time slots in less than a minute.

Yet, picking an appropriate appointments plugin can be problematic due to its specifications and sometimes a vague feature list. I prepared the list of user-friendly WordPress appointment plugins that might suit you best.

Key Features for Booking Appointment Plugins

Before I jump into the list of appointment scheduling plugins, I will highlight some crucial features any decent appointment booking plugin needs to have. Consider this list carefully before choosing the tool to make sure you will deliver the best experience to your users.

• [ ]Customizable personalized calendar that you can place anywhere on the website, and the visitors can find and edit it easily.
• [ ]Responsiveness is a must to make appointments from mobile devices.
• [ ]Secure payment gateway, variable payment systems integrations, and unproblematic payment process.
• [ ]Smart notification system for both the customers and admins.
• [ ]Possibility to add multiple service providers to add and customize the staff members' personal pages.
• [ ]Front-end submission feature and Profile Builder for submitting appointments and allowing the visitors to adjust their online bookings.
• [ ]Filtering and search system.
• [ ]Custom fields to incorporate unique features or offerings into the booking system.
• [ ]Some extra functionality for more flexible appointment scheduling and management, e.g., buffer time, recurring appointments, multi-booking, etc.

It is hardly a complete list; I'm sure you can add features that you look for in booking appointment plugins, which cover the needs of your particular business.

In-depth Look at 8 WordPress Appointment Booking Plugins

JetAppointment

JetAppointment by Crocoblock is a powerful tool for building a website with services and providers and implementing online booking on an hourly basis. With a wide range of features, the JetAppointment plugin allows you to provide the end-user with everything they need for making an appointment: personalized provider’s calendar, clear time slots, customizable service fields, WooCommerce and various payment integrations, etc.

JetAppointment is compatible with Gutenberg and Elementor, so it’s up to you to choose the native WordPress editor or visual builder. Also, it delivers the content dynamically; yet, to guarantee it, you’ll need to install JetEngine — a dynamic plugin responsible for the complex website structure, Custom Post Types, Custom Fields, taxonomies, listings, Data Stores, and relations.

Inside the JetAppointment plugin, you’ll find:

• Functionality for adding multiple services and providers — all post relations are set automatically.
• Customizable calendars — get Availability Calendar and set specific labels, guarantee flexible appointment scheduling, add the custom time slots, synchronize the appointments with Google Calendar, and connect it with WooCommerce.
• Calendar or Timeline view — as an admin, you can define how the appointments will look on the backend; choose the most convenient for you.
• Flexible time slots management — set working hours, days off, buffer time, minimum time required before booking, recurring appointments, and many other things.
• Individual settings for specific prices and particular parameters your services might have, like appointment capacity to define the number of free slots.
• Detailed forms with notifications, calculation features, page breakers, etc.

The extensive Knowledge Base might help you solve some issues connected with JetAppointment setup and use. Anyway, you can book a Zoom call with the Crocoblock support agent to get professional assistance.

The price for the JetAppointment plugin starts from $19 per year for one website; yet, as I said before, you can’t enjoy the functionality to the full extent without JetEngine, so it is $26 more.

To use the plugin for unlimited websites, you’ll need to pay $93 per year.

All-Inclusive and Lifetime options are more flexible, so you can consider them as an alternative on the pricing page.

Also, you can count on the 30-day money-back guarantee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itZ-WsUSATY&feature=youtu.be

Booking WP

BookingWP offers a WordPress appointment plugin tailored with WooCommerce. You can configure flexible scheduling both for products and services, use payment options WooCommerce provides, set up smart notifications, and simplify the booking process. The plugin is easy to use and has a straightforward interface, so it’s not a big deal to get to the bottom and start to apply it right away. It’s suitable both for beginners and tech-savvy guys and provides enough flexibility in both cases.

Some features I liked the most:

• Flawless integration with Google Calendar. When we speak about appointment plugins, it’s always about calendars. You can use the functionality for charging money, so you can guarantee accepting payments and syncing everything with Google Calendar, which you can also sync from the website in a two-way manner.
• Full customization. You can adjust any tiny element and elaborate your booking system in the best way possible.
• Variety of integrations. Get the best from convenient integrations with Gravity Forms, WooCommerce Print Invoices, WooCommerce REST API, Extra Product Options, etc.
• Intuitive and effortless appointment management. You accept the received appointments, defining how the schedule will be filled up.
• Automated notifications. After the customers make an appointment, they automatically get all the necessary reminders.
• Specific settings. Customize pricing, appointment capacity, and time slots available for your schedule.
• Time management features. BookingWP provides a set of tools for adjusting appointments time: set windows between appointments, add lead times, enable multi-scheduling, etc.
• Shortcodes to incorporate booking forms on any website’s page.
• Dynamic features, such as CPTs, taxonomies, meta fields, and listings, are included.

BookingWP sets the following prices:

• Single site — $89 per year
• Five sites — $129 per year
• Twenty-five sites — $299 per year

The subscriptions imply you are getting free updates and support. There are no unlimited websites option or Lifetime plans; yet, the renewal is 50% off.

Also, I didn’t find any mentions of a money-back guarantee on the website, so probably, BookingWP doesn’t provide one.

BirchPress

BirchPress is a WordPress appointment plugin for online booking. It is a comprehensive tool that helps to create a booking system on your website effortlessly. Allow your visitors to make appointments, book some reservations, or easily personalize the schedule and calendar. Besides, it is synced with other popular calendars, like Google Calendar, iCal, or Outlook. Use it to build any type of appointment website, e.g., spa salon, fitness center, medical center, car rental website, etc.

The key features you might also like:

• Email notifications system. Your customers will get automated notifications and reminders for booked, shifted, or canceled appointments.
• Payment system integrations. Allow the visitors to pay with PayPal or credit card. Also, BirchPress supports WooCommerce payment gateways.
• Multiple services. You can add different services for the appointments; yet, the plugin doesn’t allow adding multiple providers.
• Appointment management. BirchPress provides the functionality to set working hours and days off, configure buffer time, and define appointment capacity.
• Message Settings for form submission. Use the ready-made text for appointment submission messages, or create a custom one.
• As for dynamic features, BirchPress includes Custom Post Types and Post Relations.

The subscription plans are as follows:

• Personal — $99 for one website per year;
• Business — $199/year for one website;
• Business+ — $249/year for one website.

One-year support and updates are guaranteed for all these pricing plans. The full list of the features each subscription includes is available on the official website.

BirchPress also provides a one-month money-back guarantee.

Amelia

The Amelia WordPress appointment plugin is a nice solution for those wanting to add multiple services to the website. The best thing about Amelia is that it is a highly customizable tool. Imagine you launched a car repair business. Your customers can plan stuff like tire and oil replacement, brakes repair, and other services you offer. As a developer, you can customize it so that the visitors choose a specialist to service their car, depending on availability. At the same time, Amelia has the payment systems integrated, so it’s easy to ensure a safe and easy payment process.

The features I liked the most:

• Easy installation and maintenance. You don't need to be a tech-savvy guy or have coding skills to run it. You can install Amelia on your WordPress website in just a few clicks.
• Elaborated admin panel. The dashboard provides the instruments to check and measure KPIs with graphs, tables, or charts. With it, you have a better understanding of your performance.
• Fully customizable booking calendar. You can choose colors, fonts, and other elements that match the design of your website.
• SMS notifications. Convenient feature for the customers to get reminders on their smartphones.
• Flawless Google Calendar synchronization and WooCommerce integration.
• Flexible scheduling. Configure days off, working hours, block holidays for making appointments, set specific dates, etc.

You can buy the Amelia WordPress appointment plugin annually or purchase a Lifetime license. The prices are as follows:

• Basic plan — $79/year for one website
• Pro — $119/year for three websites
• Developer — $249/year for unlimited websites

The subscriptions imply getting annual premium support and updates.

The Lifetime licenses prices are:

• Basic — $199 for one domain
• Pro — $399 for three domains
• Developer — $589 for unlimited domains

You get lifetime premium support and regular updates.

Also, Amelia provides a 15-day money-back guarantee for the new subscriptions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F739sM0qzr0&feature=youtu.be

Bookly PRO

Bookly Pro is one WordPress appointment booking plugin that is fully customizable and responsive. Bookly Pro allows you to build any website, providing services, like a medical centre, spa salon, hair studio, beauty bar, etc. You can add multiple providers and assign individual prices and time slots available for each of them.

The plugin offers a simple booking process for the users; they need to take only four steps to make an appointment: pick the service and the appropriate option, select date and time, insert personal details and pay. With Bookly Pro, you can accept payments or deposits to avoid non-appearance.

Some useful features of Bookly Pro:

• Intuitive and easy-to-use plugin with a sleek design. No coding skills are required; everything is clear on the backend and frontend.
• Possibility to add multiple services and providers. Each provider may have individual time and price settings.
• Google Calendar integration — supports multiple calendars.
• Smart notifications. The customer will get reminders via email and SMS.
• Multi-booking for booking several appointments and grouping them.
• Flexible time and appointments settings. Define buffer time, appointment capacity, allow the customers to schedule recurring appointments, etc.
• WPML compatibility — to make the booking process comfortable for any language speaker.

The Bookly plugin offers a free and paid version. The free one is a bit limited — for instance, you can’t accept online payments if you have such a subscription. Yet, the Pro version is priced reasonably — you only pay $89 for a lifetime license. Constant customer support is paid too, so you will be obliged to pay extra if you need some personal assistance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUOFclQNVfU&feature=youtu.be

Booknetic

One more appointment booking plugin on my list is Booknetic. It also offers flexible scheduling settings, effortless online booking automation, and appointments customization. It is a feature-rich plugin, so you can easily fit it into any business niche and adapt it to any website you want to launch. Also, no coding knowledge is required; backend and frontend are easily understandable. Booknetic features various integrations that help to optimize the booking appointments even more and implement a smooth workflow.

The features I liked in Booknetic:

• Multi-device compatibility. You can be sure that your appointments and booking form will look nice on any device.
• Convenient drag-n-drop builder. Self-explanatory thing, no confusion with complicated interfaces in the process of creating a perfect booking panel.
• Reporting panel feature. It gives a comprehensive overview of your business statistics. You can see the most profitable ones, compare the services, and check the busiest providers.
• Calendar synchronization — no double bookings.
• Full-time settings control. Configure working hours, breaks, days off, buffer time, etc.
• Multi-service and multi-providers. You can add unlimited services and providers to your website.
• Secure payment gateways. Booknetic uses PayPal, Stripe, WooCommerce payments, and other safe payment systems.
• Automatic notifications. You can send reminders even through messengers, like WhatsApp.
• Signing up with Facebook or Google.

The regular Booknetic license for one website costs $79. You pay once and get the lifetime subscription, lifetime updates, and only 6-month customer support. The extra months need to be paid.

Booking Calendar

Booking Calendar is probably the oldest appointment booking calendar for WordPress. However, the plugin is still evolving and developing its quality and features set. Apart from booking appointments, you can also set hotel reservations or use the plugin for rental services for daily bookings. This plugin is responsive; it has sleek code, so everything is clear on the front end and back end. Also, Booking Calendar allows inserting shortcodes to place a booking form whenever on the website.

Some useful features inside:

• Sync with Booking.com, Airbnb, and TripAdvisor. This feature extends Booking Calendar functionality; your visitors can access the places to stay right from your website.
• Automated notifications. The customers get notifications about booking or cancellation and reminders via email.
• Control panel. The clean dashboard where all appointments are stored and easily manageable.
• Timeframe functionality. It allows you to set a timeframe open for a particular number of days. So, you can receive some double bookings and then disable this functionality to decide which appointment to accept.
• Time settings. It gives the possibility to block some days or time slots throughout the year.

The core plugin is free and has all the necessary features the business might require. However, you can upgrade it to other plans for more websites for multi-sites (up to 5) and multi-users. Honestly, the pricing system of the Booking Calendar is quite confusing, along with the sales information. Probably, you won’t need to figure out which features each plan includes, and it’ll be enough for you to use a core plugin.

Still, you can always ask technical support for help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR5pdYVkLhI&feature=youtu.be

Simply Schedule Appointments

Simply Schedule Appointments is one more decent WordPress booking appointment plugin on my list. As the developers stated, it’s an easy and elegant appointment solution for your website, which guarantees effortless setup and flexible scheduling. It is also customizable, so you can easily match your calendar’s appearance to a website’s design. Simply Schedule Appointments allows configuring notifications and reminders, provides secure payment gateways, and integrates with automation tools, like MailChimp.

Other features you might want to consider:

• Compatibility with the popular visual builders — use Simply Schedule Appointments with Elementor, Beaver Builder, or Divi.
• Simple installation wizard — you’ll need only five minutes to install and configure your first appointment instance, using a step-by-step guide.
• Integration with 15+ useful tools — like already mentioned MailChimp, Gravity Forms, LifterLMS, and many others.
• The free version is really decent — if you don’t need to accept payments online or provide group booking, the core plugin will be enough to meet your business requirements.
• High-class support that is constantly evolving. They also provide direct Zoom calls to solve any technical issue you might have personally.

Simply Schedule Appointments plugin offers three pricing options:

• Plus Edition — $99/year for one website
• Professional Edition — $199/year for one website
• Business Edition — $299/year for one website

All plans offer one-year technical support and regular updates. You can consider each plan on their pricing page and choose the features you need the most.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oNNvSfX89c&feature=youtu.be

Wrapping Up

That’s it for my short WordPress appointment review. Yes, it’s too much information to consume and comprehend. However, don’t rush things and don’t try to choose the necessary plugin right away. Take some time to research, test customer support, and consider pricing policy in detail. And, of course, review your business requirements carefully to pick the plugin that will suit them best.

If you have some more plugins to add, don’t hesitate to share your alternatives with me.