Best WordPress Booking Plugins Compared

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After thoroughly researching every well-known WordPress booking plugin, we determined that Bookly PRO is the best for most. Bookly PRO has customizable add-ons, a flexible model for any business type, and is super simple to use. These are the main reasons why it’s the top tool for most people needing a scheduling plugin.

The Best WordPress Booking Plugin for Most

Bookly PRO is best because it fits any business model, anyone can figure it out, and it has add-ons that can be used for customization. It has a clear, four-step booking process for customers. The product has everything most people need in a scheduling plugin, and it costs less than one hundred bucks. 

The Best WordPress Booking Plugin Options to Consider

1. Bookly PRO – Best for Most
2. MotoPress Hotel Booking Plugin – Best for Hotel and Vacation Rental Owners
3. Amelia – Best for Clinics, Gyms, and Spas
4. Booking and Appointment Plugin for WooCommerce – Best for WooCommerce Users
5. LatePoint – Best for Customer Interaction
6. BirchPress Scheduler – Best for Developer-Friendly Customization

When It Makes Sense to Invest Into a WordPress Booking Plugin

There are some obvious signs to look out for indicating you should invest into a WordPress booking plugin. If scheduling becomes too time-consuming, you’re paying an assistant too much just to keep track of your calendar, or customers keep forgetting about appointments, you should look into one. 

Scheduling appointments manually is a tedious task that should be outsourced. If you spend more than 30 minutes of your day speaking to customers about scheduling, you’re wasting precious time. You should be focused on improving the lives of your customers, not on scheduling appointments. 

Most people address this problem by hiring an assistant. Assistants can be costly, and if your assistant’s main responsibility is to schedule meetings, you may want to consider alternative options. There are booking tools that are free, and most can be purchased for under one hundred dollars.

Another huge advantage of a booking plugin is that most of them automatically remind your customers of appointments. This completely eliminates their need to remember on their own. If your business has at least one no-show per week, you should think about getting a booking plugin that has automatic reminders.

#1 – Bookly PRO — The Best for Most

When it comes to WordPress booking plugins, Bookly PRO is the best option for most people. It’s easy to set up, and it can be done in a matter of minutes. Even WordPress beginners will have no problem installing it. The plugin has over 30,000 active installs and is flexible enough to fit any business model. 

The plugin comes with full mobile integration. It can be customized with add-ons like waiting lists, chain appointments, special days, locations, special hours, staff cabinets, deposits, custom fields, coupons, recurring appointments, and group booking. It also has SMS and email notifications, so you don’t forget about appointments. 

Bookly’s WordPress admin panel is simple to use. It uses feedback-based development to eliminate bugs in the system, and it uses concise code with comments to help users. Customers can book appointments with different staff members, at different times, with any service, all from the same place. Bookings can be made on weekdays or weekends, day or night.

The default booking process consists of four steps. The customers first select a type of service and can request a specific employee. Next, they will select the dates and times that best suit their schedule. The third step is entering in contact details like name, phone, and email. Next, they select a payment method. Options include credit card, PayPal, or pay later locally. 

Bookly PRO costs a one-time payment of $89. If you’re unsure of which plugin is right for you, we recommend Bookly.

#2 – MotoPress Hotel Booking Plugin — The Best for Hotel and Vacation Rental Owners

If you need a booking plugin for your hotel or vacation rental, MotoPress Hotel Booking Plugin is your best option. This plugin is a fully integrated property management tool for rental property websites. It allows users to synchronize their bookings across multiple online travel agencies (OTAs), accept online reservations, and list unlimited services and accommodations. 

Anyone with rental properties including vacation rentals, hotels, hostels, and apartment agencies can use this tool. Accommodations can be fully customized by adding amenities like price, comments, description, bed size, sleeping capacity, and more. It lets users manage multiple properties and gives guests sorting options so they can find which best suits them. 

Availability calendars are color-coded to show customers when they can book. They must enter check-in and check-out dates, but fields like the number of adults and children can be made optional. One customer can also book multiple accommodations with one booking placement.  

MotoPress has a Dynamic Season Pricing feature that lets users regulate pricing depending on the time of year. For example, a cabin owner in Telluride, CO can charge double the rental price during the winter months. Users can also create different price points depending on the length of a guest’s stay. 

The relevant features offered here are endless, and it’s clearly the best for rental property owners. This product costs a one-time payment of $89 for a single website and $199 for unlimited sites. However, if you create a MotoPress membership, you will get the Hotel Booking Plugin for free. MotoPress memberships cost $249 annually or a one-time payment of $699. 

#3 – Amelia — The Best for Clinics, Gyms, and Spas

Amelia is the perfect WordPress booking plugin if you run a clinic, gym, or spa. It can also be used for law consultants, repair centers, and beauty salons. It is a 24/7 automatic booking service that lets customers book appointments and pay online. The plugin has a custom services schedule that lets users customize breaks and working hours for each employee. 

It’s great for the businesses mentioned above because customers can book recurring appointments. They can choose daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly appointments so customers don’t have to keep coming back to your website. In one visit to your website, customers can book a monthly spa appointment, semiannual dentist appointment, or weekly gym session. 

Booking fields can be fully customized to include necessary information with checkboxes, text areas, and more. This will allow a fitness trainer to see things like weight, exercise background, and fitness goals before a session. Doctors can use this information to see symptoms, and masseuses can add massage preference options. 

Amelia lets users create one-off events like meetups, conferences, or classes. Its dashboard lets users track key performance indicators (KPIs) for helpful business insights. It lets users manage multiple locations and allows customers to schedule group appointments. Users can add buffer times to ensure employees have time to prepare between appointments. 

Targeted features like these are why Amelia is our all-around favorite booking plugin for businesses like clinics, gyms, and spas. This product costs a one-time payment of $59, which is rather inexpensive compared to some competitors. Amelia comes with a 15-day money-back guarantee. 

#4 – Booking and Appointment Plugin for WooCommerce — The Best for WooCommerce Users

Booking and Appointment Plugin for WooCommerce is perfect for WooCommerce users who are in need of a booking plugin. It implements with users’ stores and lets them make any product bookable. This includes product types like composite, bundled, grouped, variable, simple, and subscription. 

The plugin lets customers view booking details during every step of the checkout process. Customers can schedule rentals, overnight bookings, full-day bookings, and regular appointments. Users can set up automatic reminder emails, set special prices for weekdays, and set booking time based on availability. Bookings can be fully exported to Google Calendar.

This doesn’t have jaw-dropping features that are unique from other WordPress booking plugins. However, it’s seamless integration with WooCommerce and the ability to make bookable products are excellent benefits for WooCommerce users. 

This product has three plans, and you pay for one-year licenses. The Starter plan costs $119 per year and has core features for a single store. The Business plan for five stores costs $199 per year and includes rental, seasonal, and recurring add-ons. The Enterprise plan for unlimited stores costs $249 per year and includes partial deposits, multiple time slots, and ticket add-ons. You can check out the Booking and Appointment plugin here.

#5 – LatePoint — The Best for Customer Interaction

If you need a WordPress booking plugin that allows you to interact with customers more than most, LatePoint could be a great fit. Its Customer Cabinet lets customers reach out to users by sending messages before appointments. Users can even create automatic Zoom meetings for booked appointments. 

LatePoint has a quick three-step installation process, and a setup wizard can speed it up further. Booking steps can be arranged however the user would like. If you’d like the customer to select the agent before the service, simply drag and drop them into place. Steps can also be removed if they aren’t needed. 

Dashboards are set up for each individual employee, letting customers access their schedule availability and contact information. Employees can use the dashboard from their mobile devices to confirm appointments and organize their schedules. Employees can message employees before appointments to ask for documents, information, or preferences. 

Appointment notifications and reminders can be sent to customers through email or SMS. When someone schedules an appointment, they have the option to receive an automatic confirmation text. Later on, they will receive a reminder text of their upcoming appointment. 

These types of features make LatePoint stand out as our favorite booking plugin for customer interaction. However, it’s worth noting that LatePoint is only intended for small businesses. 

LatePoint costs a one-time fee of $79 for its product. This comes with free future updates and six months of support from Osetin, who typically responds to issues within one business day. If you’d like extended support for twelve months, you must pay an additional fee of $27.75. 

#6 – BirchPress Scheduler — The Best for Developer-Friendly Customization

BirchPress Scheduler is a customizable WordPress booking plugin with developer-friendly features. Without touching the core code, developers can create their own custom functionalities. These include thousands of filters, action hooks, and functions they can use. Its booking forms are also highly customizable. 

BirchPress Scheduler syncs directly with existing calendars like Outlook, Android, iPhone, iCal, or Google. It allows users to set up automatic emails that are sent when a customer cancels, reschedules, or books an appointment. These will also serve as reminders leading up to appointments. This product integrates with WooCommerce and takes credit cards and PayPal. 

BirchPress Scheduler has three plans, and each payment is only for one site. The Personal plan costs $99 and includes reminder emails and one year of support and updates. The Business plan costs $199 and includes custom booking forms and PayPal integration. Business Plus costs $249 and includes WooCommerce integration.

Like the Booking and Appointment Plugin for WooCommerce, BirchPress Scheduler doesn’t have many flashy features. Also, it would be nice to see a plan that allows users to integrate the plugin on more than one site. However, BirchPress Scheduler is a great WordPress booking plugin for developers who want extra customization options without needing to code. 

Methodology for Choosing the Best WordPress Booking Plugins

Before you purchase a WordPress booking plugin, you need to understand what criteria to look for. These will give you a better idea of scheduling plugin winners versus ones you should stay away from. 

Booking Form Customization

A decent WordPress booking plugin gives users the ability to customize their booking forms. Even with a niche-specific scheduling plugin, users’ businesses have different needs and scheduling preferences. You want a plugin that allows you to customize what’s on the booking form and remove what isn’t needed. Allowing you to choose the order of steps is a bonus!

Customer Ease of Use

Customer ease of use might be the most important factor in a booking plugin. This is relevant to businesses of all types. If a customer has a frustrating scheduling experience, he or she may call you instead or decide not to schedule at all. This completely eliminates the need for a booking plugin. Look for plugins that have simple booking and request a demo if offered. 

Payment Options

To save time, purchase a booking plugin with included payment options. You want to purchase one that at least takes credit cards, and PayPal is nice to have as well. This will allow customers to get this process out of the way and cut down check-in times. This is not a must-have, especially for cash-only businesses. 

Add-Ons and Integrations

Plugin add-ons and integrations allow users to further customize the booking experience. Add-ons like coupons, recurring appointments, and custom fields will create a smoother scheduling process. Integrations with software like Google Calendar and WooCommerce are also helpful. This criterion completely depends on the business type and customization needs. 

Automatic Alerts

Automatic alerts are not a requirement for all businesses, but they are extremely helpful. Automatic alerts make sure your employees and customers stay up to date on appointments and changes to them. Email and text reminders ensure no one forgets about a scheduled appointment and are a great way to keep customers informed. 

Summary

An effective WordPress booking plugin saves time and simplifies appointment scheduling. Make sure to look at booking form customization, customer ease of use, payment options, add-ons, and automatic alerts before making a decision. 

While Bookly PRO is the best for most, you should look into MotoPress if you own a hotel or vacation rental. BirchPress allows for developer-friendly customization, and LatePoint has plenty of customer interaction tools. If you’re looking for WooCommerce integration, check out its Booking and Appointment Plugin. For gyms, clinics, and spas, Amelia is your best option.