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15 Best WordPress Booking Plugins (Free & Premium)

best wordpress booking plugin

Are you running a business that relies on scheduling appointments and providing services to clients? One of the best ways to optimize your time and make booking appointments more convenient for your clients is to install a WordPress booking plugin on your site.

As you probably already know if you have a WordPress site, WordPress is one of the best platforms to use for building a business website because it’s relatively easy to get the hang of, even if you’re new to web development. 

Despite the platform’s simplicity, there are virtually endless ways to customize WordPress by using different plugins to achieve the functionality you want. But it’s important to make sure you choose the best plugin for your needs, especially when it comes to booking appointments.

What to Look For in a WordPress Appointment & Booking Plugin

You may think that, at a glance, all WordPress booking plugins are pretty much the same. They add a calendar to your site that clients can use to search for open time slots and book appointments for services, right? 

While this is true, not all booking plugins are created equal. The best appointment booking plugins for WordPress have a variety of built-in features and tools that make them more than just any old booking calendar.

Here are some examples of what you should look for in booking and calendar plugins:

  • Responsive design
  • Individual, group, and multi-slot booking options
  • Google Calendar integration
  • Variety of online payment options
  • Customizable appearance
  • Notifications for confirmations and reminders
  • Multiple languages
  • Shared schedules

By choosing a WordPress booking plugin with the features above, you get tons of flexibility. So, even if your business is small and you only need very basic appointment booking functionality right now, your booking plugin is ready for you to scale up as your business grows.

The 15 Best WordPress Booking Plugins We Reviewed

We reviewed the following premium and free WordPress appointment booking plugins to make your decision easier:

  1. WEBBA Booking – most flexible WordPress booking plugin for service providers.
  2. Amelia – simple appointments and events booking plugin for service- and events-based businesses.
  3. The Events Calendar – WordPress calendar plugin for events-based businesses.
  4. Checkfront – WordPress booking software for making vacation reservations.
  5. Booked – very simple booking calendar for those who want something minimal and basic.
  6. WPForms – booking forms for anyone who wants to create their own custom form in WordPress.
  7. Bookly – open-source WordPress appointment booking software for all business types.
  8. WooCommerce Bookings – WooCommerce booking plugin for those who use other WooCommerce products.
  9. Simply Schedule Appointments – appointment booking plugin for consultants and small businesses.
  10. Booknetic – WordPress booking plugin for businesses that want to build a customer database.
  11. Salon Booking System – booking plugin intended for salons and other small businesses.
  12. Booking Calendar – very simple WordPress booking plugin for checking availability and making reservations.
  13. MotoPress WordPress Hotel Booking – property management booking plugin for hotels and other hospitality businesses.
  14. Sugar Calendar – simple, light-weight event calendar plugin for WordPress.
  15. BirchPress – customizable booking form that works with existing calendars.

1. WEBBA Booking

WEBBA is the best WordPress booking plugin because of its incredible flexibility and vast range of customization options.

WEBBA is specifically designed for service-based businesses and is full of features built to optimize your time and ensure your customers’ comfort and satisfaction.

If you’re selling a product or service and your website is built on WordPress, you really can’t go wrong by integrating the WEBBA Booking plugin for WordPress into your site.

With ways to customize the plugin’s appearance, a fully responsive design, multiple payment method integrations, customizable email notifications and reminders, and a wide variety of booking options, it’s no wonder WEBBA is the best Calendly alternative for websites.

Pricing for WEBBA Booking Premium starts at $89/year for a one-website pro plan. Or, you can get a lifetime one-site pro plan for $259. There are also three-website and five-website WEBBA Premium plans available.

If you just want most of the basic features you would need in an appointment plugin for WordPress, there’s also a free lite version of WEBBA Booking that you can upgrade to Premium later on.

WEBBA Booking Pros:

  • Built specifically for service providers
  • Appearance customization options
  • Fully responsive
  • Payment method options include Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce, and credit cards
  • Multilingual
  • Customizable email notifications/reminders
  • Different booking/scheduling options, including group booking and multiple time slot booking
  • Lots of support documentation on site
  • Integration with Google Calendar

WEBBA Booking Cons:

  • No two-site or four-site Premium plans
  • Free version has limited features

Who’s it for?

WEBBA is for anyone who runs a service-based business and wants to provide their customers an easy way to book appointments via their website with the option to make online payments at the time of booking. 

Examples of businesses that are ideal candidates for the WEBBA WordPress booking plugin include specialists of any kind, wellness and beauty service providers, medical service providers, activities companies, restaurants, education and lessons providers, and just about any other service-based business you can think of!


2. Amelia

amelia woocommerce booking & appointment plugin review

Amelia is a simple WordPress appointment booking plugin for service providers that has many of the features you need in a booking plugin for appointments and events.

The plugin has a variety of different views you can choose from, including event calendar view, catalog view, and calendar and list views. You can also customize forms to allow for booking any service or employee or just a specific one.

A notable feature of Amelia is that you can bundle services to allow customers to book packages at a discounted rate. However, this is only available in the Pro and Developer plans, which are for multiple sites.

Amelia Pro plans start at $79/year for an annual one-domain Basic subscription and $199 for a lifetime one-domain Basic subscription. There is also a free lite version available to download.

Amelia Pros:

  • Integration with Google Calendar and Outlook calendar
  • Accepts different payment options
  • Plenty of customization options

Amelia Cons:

  • Free version has limited functionality
  • No two-domain plans 
  • Basic one-domain plans don’t come with option to bundle services

Who’s it for?

Amelia is for service- and events-based businesses, including yoga instructors and studios, gyms and personal trainers, doctors and healthcare providers, automotive repair businesses, salons and barbershops, and photographers.


3. The Events Calendar

the events calendar wordpress calendar plugin

The Events Calendar is a WordPress calendar plugin designed specifically for events-based businesses. 

There are lots of handy features for events-based businesses, like the events calendar view, the ability to sell tickets and collect RSVPs, and event promotion/marketing tools.

The Events Calendar is not designed for service providers, so its features aren’t suited to service-based business WordPress sites.

The free version of The Events Calendar has the most essential features, but the Pro plan offers more customizability and functionality. Pro plans start at $99/year for one site and go up to $799/year for unlimited sites.

The Events Calendar Pros:

  • Designed specifically for booking events
  • Tools for promoting and selling tickets to events
  • Can manage event RSVPs/registration

The Events Calendar Cons:

  • Not built for service-based businesses
  • No two-site Pro plan
  • Free version doesn’t have lots of the event-specific features

Who’s it for?

The Events Calendar is for all types of events-based businesses, including event venues and promotion companies.


4. Checkfront

checkfront wordpress booking plugin

Checkfront is a piece of WordPress booking software built for making vacation reservations for accomodations, activities, rentals, and tours.

If you have a business in the travel industry, you’ll appreciate the ability to collect payments and waiver signatures at the same time guests make reservations for your products and services.

Checkfront also has 50+ integrations with other apps and services to make running your business even easier.

A downside of the platform is that there is no fully free version, although there is a 21-day free trial. Paid plans start at $42/month (billed annually) for a one-year, solo-operator/small business plan. You can also choose to pay month to month, which costs $49/month for the same plan.

Checkfront Pros:

  • Designed for experience-based businesses
  • Can collect payments and waiver signatures at time of booking
  • Automates vacation product and service booking procedures
  • 50+ integrations

Checkfront Cons:

  • Not made for other service-based businesses
  • Free version is only a 21-day trial

Who’s it for?

Checkfront is ideal for any business that offers experiences, such as vacation accommodations, tours, equipment rentals, and guided activities.


5. Booked

booked wordpress appointment booking plugin

Booked is a minimalistic WordPress calendar plugin that offers just the most basic functionality you need.

If you’re just looking for a simple WordPress booking plugin that’s easy to set up and you don’t need much in the way of customization options, Booked is something you can get up and running very quickly. 

Booked integrates with WooCommerce for accepting payments, but that’s the only payment integration it has.

The Booked app costs $49 (one-time fee) with 6 months of support included, or you can extend support to 12 months for $16.50.

Booked Pros:

  • Super simple and easy to use
  • Has basic scheduling features
  • Accepts WooCommerce payments
  • Works with Apple calendar and Google Calendar

Booked Cons:

  • Very limited customizability and functionality
  • No different plans available for added features
  • No lifetime support

Who’s it for?

Booked is for anyone who just wants to get a simple appointment booking calendar up and running fast on their WordPress site, and doesn’t anticipate needing any additional customization or feature options in the future.


6. WPForms

wpforms bets wordpress booking plugin

If you already have a good handle on using WordPress, one option you have to make your own WordPress booking plugin is WPForms.

You can select from various WPForms templates to speed up the process. For example, you could use the WordPress salon appointment booking plugin template if you have a beauty salon of some type.

There are different ways you can customize your booking form after you select a template, and adding it to your site is easy to do by embedding it on any page you want.

The downside of using WPForms as your appointment plugin for WordPress is that the process is very manual. And, besides payment integrations, there are not really any extra features of these forms to speak of. On the bright side, WPForms are totally free.

WPForms Pros:

  • Premade templates for specific business types
  • 100% free
  • Payment integrations with Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.net

WPForms Cons:

  • Lots of manual work involved
  • Customization is basic

Who’s it for?

WPForms booking forms are good for anyone who is comfortable working in WordPress and doesn’t mind building a form from scratch themselves.


7. Bookly

bookly woocommerce booking & appointment plugin

Bookly is open-source booking software for WordPress that can work for many different business types. It’s free to download, with the option to add-on Pro features for a one-time fee of $89 (with 6 months of support).

The free version of Bookly has all the basic scheduling features you would need, including but does not allow you to accept payments. Bookly Pro is compatible with PayPal and WooCommerce.

Bookly Pros:

  • Basic plugin is free and has essential features
  • Pro add-on is only $89
  • Easy to set up

Bookly Cons:

  • Basic plugin doesn’t have payment integrations
  • Free version has no support

Who’s it for?

Bookly is good for small- to medium-sized businesses in many industries.


8. WooCommerce Bookings

best woocommerce booking plugin review

WooCommerce Bookings is a booking plugin built by WooCommerce, so it’s naturally one of the WooCommerce Booking plugins for WordPress that people consider when they use WooCommerce for payments.

However, the plugin itself is very basic and lacks lots of essential features that many users need. It’s also hard to use and requires a lot of manual work just to figure out how many bookings you have and who has paid.

There is a free version of WooCommerce Bookings with limited functions, but the paid full version costs $249/year, which is very expensive for what you get.

WooCommerce Bookings Pros:

  • Integrates with the WooCommerce ecosystem

WooCommerce Bookings Cons:

  • Missing a lot of essential features
  • No overview to see how many people are booked/how many have paid
  • Bad support
  • Lots of bugs
  • Paid version is overpriced

Who’s it for?

WooCommerce Bookings is for businesses who use other WooCommerce products and want a WordPress booking plugin in the same ecosystem, but there are much better options out there for managing appointments, schedules, and payments that also integrate with WooCommerce.


9. Simply Schedule Appointments

Simply Schedule Appointments wordpress booking plugin

Simply Schedule Appointments is geared towards consultants and other types of small businesses that would generally email back and forth with clients to schedule appointments.

The plugin allows for individual, group, and team scheduling. It can work well for sole-proprietor businesses or businesses where you need to schedule appointments at a time that works for multiple team members.

Simple Schedule Appointments also has integrations with a lot of other platforms that small businesses use, like Zapier and Mailchimp, so it can improve your workflows in other areas.

This WordPress booking plugin will run you from $99 for the Plus Edition to $299 for the Business Edition for a one-site, annual subscription. There are also lifetime and multi-site pricing plans and a free Basic Edition with limited features.

Simply Schedule Appointments Pros:

  • Lots of integrations, including PayPal and Stripe for payments
  • Group, Individual, and Team scheduling options

Simply Schedule Appointments Cons:

  • Free version has no calendar integration or other integrations

Who’s it for?

Consultants and small businesses who want to avoid emailing back and forth to schedule appointments.


10. Booknetic

Booknetic booking plugin wordpress

Booknetic is a WordPress booking plugin that offers a highly customizable booking widget as well as many other features, including reports to help you identify what services are selling best.

The app also automatically collects and stores customer data, building you a customer database that you can refer to and filter for insights about your customers.

Booknetic costs $79 for a lifetime license. However, you have to pay extra for certain integrations and add-ons that you may want, such as PayPal, Stripe, and coupons.

Booknetic Pros:

  • Customizable booking widget
  • Reports and customer database
  • Various add-ons and integrations available
  • Lifetime license for a one-time payment

Booknetic Cons:

  • No free version
  • Only 6 months of support
  • Integrations and add-ons cost extra

Who’s it for?

Booknetic is for businesses in different industries that value customer data and want to draw insights from the services booked and their returning customers.


11. Salon Booking System

Salon Booking System

Salon Booking System is an easy-to-use WordPress booking plugin intended specifically for salons and other similar small businesses, such as barber shops, spas, hairdressers, and  more.

Salon Booking System’s features include the abilities to generate coupons and discount codes, build a customer database with reservation histories and customer stats/notes, and accept online payments via Stripe, Paypal, and other payment platform integrations.

The pricing for Salon Booking System starts at €69 per year for the Basic plan, and goes up to €399 a year for the Unlimited plan. Note that the Basic version displays a link to the Salon Booking System website on your booking calendar. There is also a free version available, without many important features.

Salon Booking System Pros:

  • Ideal for salons and similar small businesses
  • Lets you build a customer database to keep track of clients
  • Multiple payment integrations available
  • Can create coupons and discount codes
  • Offers plans for agencies and larger businesses as well

Salon Booking System Cons:

  • Integrations are mainly just for payments and SMS messaging
  • Free version doesn’t allow payments or access to the mobile app and add-ons

Who’s it for?

Salon Booking System is for salon owners and other small business owners who want a WordPress booking plugin that helps them book appointments, take payments, track customers, and boost sales.


12. Booking Calendar

Booking Calendar

Booking Calendar is a very simple WordPress booking plugin that allows you to easily receive and manage reservations. The interface is clean and simple, and allows visitors to your site to quickly check availability and make a reservation.

Booking Calendar is pretty straightforward and includes all the basic appointment booking features you might need. The notifications system is through email and you can manage reservations via the admin panel. There are also various payment system integrations.

One-time pricing for Booking Calendar starts at $47.40 for a single-site plan for personal use, and goes up to $389.40 for a multi-user single-site plan. Unfortunately, there are currently no multi-site plans available.

Booking Calendar Pros:

  • Simple, intuitive interface
  • Can work for many different business types with basic booking needs
  • Has payment integrations
  • Email notification system
  • Easy-to-navigate admin panel

Booking Calendar Cons:

  • Only offers single-site plans
  • May be too basic for businesses with more advanced booking requirements

Who’s it for?

Booking Calendar is for any business owners who want a straightforward, no-frills reservation system with all the basic appointment booking functionality for a single website.


13. MotoPress WordPress Hotel Booking

 MotoPress WordPress Hotel Booking

The MotoPress WordPress Hotel Booking plugin is an all-in-one property management booking plugin for hotels and other hospitality businesses, such as vacation rentals, apartment agencies, hostels and more.

MotoPress WordPress Hotel Booking lets you list unlimited accommodations, including rooms and whole properties, and take reservations for them. The plugin has different pre-made themes designed for hospitality businesses, making it easy to pick a look that suits your site.

MotoPress WordPress Hotel Booking costs $99 for a single site and $199 for unlimited sites. After one year, users pay half the initial price to renew their license subscription to the plugin for another year, but only if they want to continue receiving updates and support.

MotoPress WordPress Hotel Booking Pros:

  • Built specifically for hospitality businesses
  • Supports unlimited listings of accommodations
  • Single-site and unlimited site plans make it easy to choose a plan
  • Allows payments through PayPal, 2Checkout, Braintree, Stripe, and Beanstream/Bambora gateways
  • Has pre-built themes to fit different types of hospitality business sites

MotoPress WordPress Hotel Booking Cons:

  • Have to renew the license subscription annually to continue receiving updates and support (half the original price)
  • Not intended for use with non-hospitality businesses
  • Some users have reported bugs and support issues

Who’s it for?

MotoPress WordPress Hotel Booking is for any hospitality business that rents accommodations by day, regardless of the size or type of accommodations they offer.


14. Sugar Calendar

Sugar Calendar

Sugar Calendar is an event booking calendar plugin for WordPress that is lightweight, yet full of useful features for events-based businesses. The platform has a simple admin interface, a customizable front-end display, and various options for event listings.

For example, Sugar Calendar allows custom date formatting, including different time zones, and lets users set up repeating and recurring events. The plugin is also translation ready and offers a range of different add-ons that can be used to expand on its features.

Sugar Calendar costs $49 per year for the Personal plan, which works for a single site. Pricing goes up to $199 for the Professional plan, which works on unlimited sites. There’s also the Ultimate plan, which is available for a one-time payment of $449. All Sugar Calendar plans include all the core features.

Sugar Calendar Pros:

  • All the plans offer all core features
  • Available for one site or multiple sites
  • Built specifically for event management businesses

Sugar Calendar Cons:

  • Geared only towards events-based businesses
  • May need various add-ons to get the functionality you want

Who’s it for?

Sugar Calendar is for any events-based business that needs a simple and light-weight event calendar plugin for WordPress with many useful features.


15. BirchPress

 BirchPress

BirchPress is a booking form that can be embedded on WordPress sites. It works with existing calendars, such as Google Calendar, iCalendar, and Outlook calendar. You can customize the form with different fields to suit your appointment booking needs.

Additionally, BirchPress lets you accept online payments from credit cards and PayPal. It also has WooCommerce integration for other payment gateways.

BirchPress is developer-friendly, meaning it can be customized to add functionality using original code, without the need to change any of the core code.

Pricing for BirchPress starts at $99 for a Personal one-site license and goes up to $249 for a Business one-site license. Licenses offer support and updates for one year, and can be renewed annually. There is also a free version of BirchPress available.

BirchPress Pros:

  • A very customizable booking form
  • Works with all the popular calendars
  • Developer friendly

BirchPress Cons:

  • Have to purchase a license for each site you want to use it on
  • May be hard to get all the functionality you need without coding it in

Who’s it for?

BirchPress is for anyone who wants a simple, customizable booking form that works with their existing business calendar and can be embedded in their WordPress sites.


Our Conclusion on the Best WordPress Booking Plugin

After reviewing tons of different plugins and coming up with this list of the 15 best premium and free WordPress booking plugins, we can say with confidence that WEBBA Booking is still our favorite.

If you’re a service provider and have a WordPress website, we are certain that WEBBA’s flexible features will save you time and make your customers’ lives easier.

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