The best booking plugins for WordPress

There are many different booking plugins for WordPress. The best options are those that have a good overview in the frontend and backend, automated reminders, and are high flexible.

In­form­a­tion from September 2022

Ideally, the purpose of a business website is not only to inform visitors, but also to fa­cil­it­ate the contact between customers and the company. This is why an in­teg­rated calendar makes sense for many business websites. WordPress offers numerous plugins for booking ap­point­ments, some of which are aimed at specific in­dus­tries and some that simply add a general and clear booking calendar to the WordPress page. We introduce you to the different options available to you when creating your WordPress site. By the way, you can use some of the options mentioned with WordPress al­tern­at­ives.

The in­di­vidu­al features of the different booking plugins for WordPress can vary. Nev­er­the­less, there are a few features that a good and practical WordPress booking calendar should bring to the table and that partly dis­tin­guish it from regular WordPress calendar plugins. These can be roughly divided into two groups: the functions that fa­cil­it­ate working in the backend and give the operator an overview, and those that provide added value for visitors.

• Filter: For a faster overview, it helps to be able to filter the ap­point­ment bookings on WordPress by in­di­vidu­al days, tasks, or people.
• Cus­tom­isa­tion options: For very specific business areas and offers, it is useful if the plugin can be cus­tom­ised. For this purpose, in­di­vidu­al days should also be able to be added or deleted from the offer.
• Sub­di­vi­sion: If different people work in your company, they should ideally be able to create, select, and customise in­di­vidu­ally. This way overlaps are avoided.
• Flex­ib­il­ity: Not a must, but a very useful feature is that many ap­point­ment booking plugins for WordPress are flexible. If you can place the calendar anywhere on your website and it also works with a WordPress menu plugin, you don’t have to com­prom­ise on the design.
• Security: Good WordPress booking plugins enable a smooth process, are reliable, and therefore prevent you from having to reset your WordPress site.
• Reminders and con­firm­a­tions: An automatic reminder function gives you ad­di­tion­al security and ensures processes run smoothly.

• Re­spons­ive Design: Many people now book ap­point­ments via their smart­phone, which is why it’s important for the WordPress booking plugin to work smoothly on all devices.
• Editing options: Being able to check, change, or cancel bookings saves your visitors annoying phone calls and therefore ensures they’re more satisfied.
• Optional payment function: Depending on the type of service, a direct payment option via the re­ser­va­tion plugin on WordPress can be helpful. For other ap­plic­a­tion purposes, it is better if this option can be disabled.
• Reminders and con­firm­a­tions: A reminder and con­firm­a­tion feature is also very useful for the people who use your services.

There are so many ad­vant­ages that good booking plugins for WordPress offer. First and foremost, being able to book ap­point­ments via WordPress takes a lot of work off your shoulders, sim­pli­fies processes, and enables better time man­age­ment. All your ap­point­ments are clearly prepared, and mistakes are noticed faster and can be quickly sorted out. Using WordPress to book ap­point­ments is also very helpful for a paperless office. You can also place special events prom­in­ently on your website. In addition, the whole process becomes much more pleasant for your visitors, since they can book ap­point­ments spon­tan­eously and in­de­pend­ently at any time.

Which booking plugins for WordPress are actually worth­while for your business? The following options are among the best solutions for busi­nesses. Here we present them in more detail.

Book­ing­Press offers users real-time ap­point­ment booking and much more. The high flex­ib­il­ity of the WordPress plugin is es­pe­cially good. For example, the ap­point­ment length, holidays and public holidays can be in­di­vidu­ally organized. Book­ing­Press is com­pat­ible with different payment features, com­mu­nic­a­tion tools and billing systems. The plugin also offers more than 32 add-ons. The in­teg­rated stat­ist­ics tools can give you an anytime overview of your business. Book­ing­Press’ detailed doc­u­ment­a­tion and video tutorials support you in any questions you may have. Plugin in­ter­faces and support are also available in multiple languages and the plugin is also developer-friendly so that it can be adapted to your needs.

Amelia is suitable for smaller and larger companies alike. Even the free basic version offers lots of useful features. For more options, the com­mer­cial version is re­com­men­ded. In addition to booking ap­point­ments at any time, Amelia has other useful features such as SMS no­ti­fic­a­tions, an ap­point­ment wizard, and in­teg­ra­tion with Woo­Com­merce or Google.

The WordPress booking plugin Booked is es­pe­cially user-friendly. Bookings can be displayed in different layouts and the tool is fully re­spons­ive. Multiple calendars are supported, and the booking plugin can be in­teg­rated into WordPress via shortcode or widget. Buffers between ap­point­ments are also taken into account with Booked. With a one-time fee of around £40, this WordPress ap­point­ment booking plugin is com­par­at­ively cheap.

Booking Calendar has been in de­vel­op­ment since 2009 and has steadily improved during this time. The ‘oldie’ offers a free basic version, which is more than enough for smaller stores and practices. In­stall­a­tion and use are very simple and intuitive. The calendar is not only flexible but can also be cus­tom­ised. Booking Calendar also offers a no­ti­fic­a­tion function via email and can be in­teg­rated with Google. The sig­ni­fic­antly more extensive com­mer­cial versions of the ap­point­ment booking plugin for WordPress start at around £63 per year.

Bookly also has a free and a paid plan. The latter requires a one-time fee of around £70 and offers ad­di­tion­al features. Bookly is a very user-friendly ap­point­ment booking plugin for WordPress and offers the pos­sib­il­ity to create and offer as many services as you want. Email and SMS no­ti­fic­a­tions are possible, as well as a flexible and in­di­vidu­al schedule design. Most payment systems can also be easily in­teg­rated. Due to its scope, easy handling, and com­par­at­ively low price, Bookly is a good solution for small practices, studios, and stores. The ap­point­ment booking plugin for WordPress is also available in twelve languages.

Bookme is a simple and user-friendly solution, which is not as extensive as some options from other providers but comes with most of the important functions. Prices and services can be easily created and also different booking options from group booking to Woo­Com­merce are possible. Con­firm­a­tion is done either manually or auto­mat­ic­ally. This WordPress plugin for booking ap­point­ments can also be syn­chron­ised with Google Calendar.

Bookmify is a top-per­form­ing ap­point­ment booking plugin for WordPress, is intuitive to use, and boasts numerous functions. You don’t need much prior knowledge to be able to use this WordPress booking plugin and it can be in­di­vidu­al­ised for your own needs. No­ti­fic­a­tions and reminders are sent auto­mat­ic­ally via email. This ap­point­ment booking plugin for WordPress is re­com­men­ded for many different busi­nesses.

Booknetic offers a reminder function via email, SMS, or WhatsApp. The WordPress booking calendar plugin is very clear and includes an in­teg­rated form generator. Besides Woo­Com­merce, Stripe and PayPal are also supported. Your customers can con­veni­ently manage, change, and cancel their ap­point­ments them­selves. Booknetic is in­teg­rated into the website with the handy drag-and-drop feature and offers an extensive reporting function for ap­point­ments, employees, and services. The ap­point­ment booking plugin for WordPress has a one-time cost of around £63.

For hair salons, nail salons, and similar busi­nesses, Salon Booking System is perfect. The booking plugin for WordPress offers more than 20 languages and also allows helpful customer feedback. The booking rules can be created in­di­vidu­ally by owners or pro­pri­et­ors, meaning they can benefit even more from the ap­point­ment booking plugin for WordPress. The setup and man­age­ment is very simple and no­ti­fic­a­tions for guests and employees are sent via email.

With a price tag of around only £22, Team Booking is one of the most af­ford­able WordPress booking plugins. Nev­er­the­less, this plugin has many useful features, such as the ability to integrate maps and create custom schedules for in­di­vidu­al employees. The only short­com­ing of Team Booking is that the plugin is not so easy to customise via code.

The Woo­Com­merce Bookings extension is highly re­com­men­ded es­pe­cially if you already work with Woo­Com­merce. It not only offers the option to add reviews, but also impresses with its easy payment pro­cessing. Although the premium version is com­par­at­ively expensive at around £200 for one domain, there is also a free basic version.