8 best appointment scheduling software in 2024 (2024)

Here's what we do when we want to buy something

• We set a budget, knowingly or unknowingly. Our perceived value of a product determines the upper limit.
• We narrow down the choices by looking for products that offer the maximum number of features within that budget.

Up until this point, it's a very logical process. Next, we enter the subjective areas, where we ask:

• Is the product reliable?
• Will we enjoy using the product?

Appointment scheduling software that are part of this study

• 1 Zoho Bookings
• 2 Square appointments
• 3 SimplyBook.me
• 4 Setmore
• 5 Calendly
• 6 Appointy
• 7 Acuity Scheduling
• 8 Sign In Scheduling (formerly 10to8)

A quick snapshot about each booking software solution

• 1 Zoho Bookings integrates well with Zoho apps, like CRM, Meeting, SalesIQ, Desk, Sites, and more. It offers the best personalization and branding options on the market, without pushing the user to use HTML and CSS coding. We want to make the product suitable for customer-facing teams. Our customer support channels include email, a community forum, and online help documentation.
• 2 Square Appointments is part of the Square platform, which offers software and hardware products for service-based businesses. It is a standalone product that can be used on its own or in conjunction with other Square products, such as Square Point of Sale and Square Invoices, to help businesses streamline their operations.
• 3 SimplyBook.me has a usage-based pricing model, which is different from all of the other scheduling software compared here. The vendor allows you to pick a specified number of features in each pricing plan. It supports customers by email, chat, and help documentation, and it offers a mobile app. The primary target audience is the health and wellness industry.
• 4 Setmore comes from a design-oriented parent company, and it shows. This vendor offers a strong mobile app, and the web app UI is one of the better ones on the market. Setmore supports customers with help documentation, email, and live chat assistance. Its pricing plan is one of the simplest.
• 5 Calendly needs no introduction. Its minimal user interface is the main attraction, and its community and support spaces are active. This system does not cover all appointment scheduling use cases (for example, classes). The mobile app and plug-ins make it easy to share your schedule.
• 6 Appointy covers many use cases in the service industry. Unlike other appointment scheduling apps, it has features that enable at-home services. It also offers many options for filtering out unwanted bookings. This vendor supports customers via email, chat, and help documentation. The app integrates with Square POS, has a mobile app, and offers custom development.
• 7 Acuity Scheduling is a flexible and versatile app that can meet many appointment scheduling cases. The primary audience is the spa and salon industry, and it offers a seven-day free trial. The help documentation is good, and the vendor supports customers by email and chat. Acuity Scheduling does not offer a free plan.
• 8 Sign In Scheduling (formerly 10to8) is another appointment scheduling software solution that is good for scheduling use cases. It offers a 14-day trial period and supports customers by email. Users have rated the app positively; however, it is not very strong when it comes to integrations.

How we conducted the study

Needs vs budget plot: We plotted 75 appointment scheduling features against the best plan each app can offer for $25. The appointment scheduling app that has the most features for $25 is the best value-for-money app.

Why did we choose $25? We've seen in reviews that people are happy to pay that much for a month to automate appointment scheduling. We have included Square Appointments as an exception (its base plan costs $29).

Quality of support: After we made the needs vs. budget plot, we took a trial of all these appointment booking apps. We interacted with their support staff and learned from their help documentation. Even if a product offers the best value for the money, you will have a hard time using it if it isn't reliable or customers aren't well-supported. It's usually better to pay more for another app.

User experience: Do you like your interaction with the appointment scheduling software? It could be the design, ease of use, navigation, consistency, or some other aspect of the app. In our study, there is a distinct group of apps that provide a better user experience than the rest.

Before declaring the results, let's go through some of the interesting findings from our study.

To pick the best appointment booking app, identify your needs first. Is scheduling just one part of your business, or is that the foundation of your business? For a sales manager looking to automate customer appointments with their team, Calendly or Zoho Bookings are the best options. Their features suit sales teams well, and sales managers don't have to spend the whole day setting up the app.

However, if you're in the service industry and your revenue depends on the appointments, you need to look at Setmore, Acuity, Appointy, Sign In Scheduling, Square Appointments, or SimplyBook.me.

Appointment scheduling software categorized based on customer needs

Calendly vs. Acuity Scheduling—finally, an answer!

Acuity's founder developed the app based on the requirements of his mother's massage practice. Calendly's founder was a salesperson. The influence is visible in the direction the two appointment schedulers take. Acuity has tried to cover almost every use case in appointment scheduling, while Calendly focused on sales and recruitment teams. That resulted in Calendly being able to manage everything without complicating things, whereas Acuity added a lot of features that can make it harder to use. Acuity can do all that Calendly can do, but Calendly can do everything that Acuity can do. However, Calendly can do what you want in a shorter amount of time than Acuity.

Takeaways for Zoho Bookings

The study has been beneficial for us. We've identified the following areas for growth:

• Marketing: We need to emphasize our strengths: personalization, branding, and the modern UI.
• Strategy: We will double our focus on the customer and candidate-facing teams.
• Support: We need to add people to our support team to provide the best resolution in the shortest possible time.
• Pricing: At $6 and $9 per user/month, Zoho Bookings is one of the most affordable appointment scheduling apps. We need to emphasize that in our marketing.

Which is the best appointment scheduling software?

The best appointment scheduling software is Acuity Scheduling, as it provides the most features under $25.

The eight best appointment scheduling software, ranked

• 1 Acuity Scheduling
• 2 Sign In Scheduling (formerly 10to8)
• 3 Zoho Bookings
• 4 Calendly
• 5 Appointy
• 6 Setmore
• 7 Square Appointments
• 8 SimplyBook.me

If Acuity is the best, why would companies go for any other appointment schedulers?

Sometimes, it's easier to work with a simpler product with fewer features. Plus, another product could have better support for a company's needs.

Quality of support

All the appointment scheduling apps have good help documentation, community forums, and email support. The real differentiator is live chat support. Zoho Bookings, Calendly, Acuity Scheduling, Setmore, Appointy, and SimplyBook.me offer live chat support. Among them, Setmore is the app that always responded to questions in the promised time frame: under five minutes. SimplyBook.me and Appointy also respond well during their work hours. It is hard to evaluate the quality of email support and the community forum, because that varies for every individual; meanwhile, response times and 24/7 live chat support are clearly measurable benefits.

User experience

One of the positive aspects of Zoho Bookings, especially when compared to these more senior apps, is its UI. Since it's newer, it has a fresh feel and adheres to latest UX standards. Except for Zoho Bookings, Calendly, and Setmore, we found it difficult to navigate the apps. The other appointment scheduling apps are feature-rich, but it took a lot of effort to set them up. Our sample case was to set up a scheduling app for our sales team and while all appointment schedulers were capable, the speed of setup and the learning curve determined our experience. The time to "go live" can be a common denominator when it comes to measuring the overall user experience.

It is hard to offer many features and great UX at the same time. Each appointment scheduling software solution has its priorities and plans. Calendly has chosen to keep it simple, offering a straightforward UI and support (live chat for more than 10 users). Setmore and Zoho Bookings have covered more use cases than Calendly, and the UI for each app is clean and easy. Square Appointments has managed not to overwhelm users, even when you activate paid modules like Square Inventory and Teams.

Putting budget, support, and UX together

Setmore and Calendly are the most balanced appointment scheduling tools. If we had to pick one of them, we would choose Calendly for the slightly better, minimalistic UI, and overall market standing.

Our ranking of the apps in terms of automated appointment scheduling for our sales team

• 1 Calendly
• 2 Zoho Bookings
• 3 Setmore
• 4 Acuity Scheduling
• 5 Sign In Scheduling
• 6 SimplyBook.me
• 7 Appointy
• 8 Square Appointments

How to get started with an appointment scheduling software for your business

We've given you answers from a few different points of view. Here are some final thoughts.

If you need an appointment scheduler to automate your sales, hiring, or customer calls, go for Zoho Bookings or Calendly. These are simple appointment scheduling apps, and you can fully evaluate them in a few days.

Sign up for a 15-day free trial of Zoho Bookings

If you're in the service industry, start with Acuity Scheduling and Sign In Scheduling. Acuity offers only a seven-day trial, whereas Sign In Scheduling has a 30-day trial period.

If you need live chat support, check out Appointy. Try SimplyBook.me if you want a-la-carte pricing.

Go for Setmore if your feature requirements are not exhaustive, and you just need a simple, user-friendly appointment scheduler for your service business. Square Appointments is a great choice if you are already using Square for your other needs (like Square POS).

Do you want to discuss your appointment scheduling requirements with us?

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Comparison table for the best appointment scheduling software

Skip the table and return to reading the findings

Scroll right to see how they compare

Optional: In the Standard Plan, you can only opt 8 of these features in Simplybook.me's custom feature list.

We included Square Appointments instead of Appointlet. Square started appearing more on the first page of Google and has expanded its reach outside of US.

Zoho Bookings has moved to the third place with new feature additions and SimplyBook.me has reduced the number of users/providers included in their Standard Plan from 25 to 15.

Meeting polls, staff booking pages, customized booking pages, and appointment reports were included in the list of features.

Acuity Scheduling and Sign in Scheduling (formerly 10to8) retained their first and second positions with a few additional features.

In this update, we considered Calendly’s $16 Teams pricing plan. They released their meeting poll feature, CRM, and email marketing integration, which moved them up to the third position.

Appointy secured more points in the feature updates and maintains the fifth position, while Setmore slid from fourth to sixth place.

Simplybook.me revised their pricing plans to be more user-friendly. In this update, we considered their Standard plan, which is now priced at $24.90. Earlier, when it was $29.90, our study also included their Basic plan at $9.90. They added 20+ features to their custom feature list, but Standard users can only choose eight of these options, compared to three in their Basic plan. Even with these new features, they still finish last on the list.

Zoho Bookings moved to a per-user pricing model in July 2021, so its position changed from sixth to third in this update.

Acuity Scheduling and Sign in Scheduling (formerly 10to8) retained their first and second positions.