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Online scheduling software has become a source of growth for businesses. They bring several benefits to businesses and customers.

In the first place, clients can book online 24/7. Having a booking system open around the clock brings in more revenue.

Clients also appreciate the fact that they are not imposed with a time constraint.

Second, clients prefer booking appointments online instead of by telephone. A third benefit is that the business can sync appointments to their Google calendars.

They can easily manage and update bookings. They also have all the booking information at their fingertips.

Businesses of all sizes recognize the benefits of online scheduling software. They have implemented them on their websites through plugins.

One popular system is the Bookly WordPress plugin. Bookly has a good reputation for customer support.

But people also have several complaints about it. The flaws of the Bookly WordPress plugin send some looking for an alternative.

There are other booking plugins. There are so many alternatives to the Bookly WordPress plugin that it can be overwhelming.

This article will discuss the best booking plugin alternatives. With the following list, you can find a booking plugin for WordPress websites that suits your needs.

Tips for Choosing a Booking Plugin

There are numerous WordPress plugin options available that automate the appointment scheduling process. However, not all of these booking plugins have the same features.

To pick the best appointment booking plugin for you, first, analyze the needs of the business. Then, look through the options below and pick out the one that fulfills your requirements.

When looking for an online scheduling software, look out for these features:

  • Simple, straightforward, and easy to use
  • Falls within the budget
  • Offers great customer support
  • Supports recurring appointments
  • Integrates with payment gateways
  • Integrates with online calendars
  • Sends automated notifications to remind and confirm appointments
  • Generates reading reports

And now, let’s segway the discussion to Bookly Pro. A lot of people know Bookly Pro and had experience with it so you might think that there’s no reason to look for alternatives to it.

Well, those people who had the experience of working with the Bookly plugin are also the ones that make it clear how good Bookly Pro is.

Thus, it’s better to look for alternatives than to use it and waste a lot of your time.

Alternatives to the Bookly WordPress Plugin

Amelia

Amelia is a powerful WordPress booking plugin that works flawlessly with WordPress sites of all kinds. It has a minimal, yet powerful appointment booking interface designed to ease your workflow, automate repetitive tasks, avoid double booking, and make appointment booking a breeze for your customers.

You can even have email notifications and SMS notifications so that nobody forgets about their appointment bookings.

In order to book an appointment, the complete user interaction takes a few clicks with this WordPress plugin. Moreover, with it you can accept payments via PayPal and Stripe, perfect for those who want to pay in advance to book appointments.

As a business owner, you can monitor KPIs in the WordPress dashboard and analyze other important data to keep a pulse on your business. Amelia is a straightforward, no-nonsense booking calendar plugin and an amazing option for those who want an around-the-clock solution for their WordPress site.

Amelia also has an Events Calendar module integrated within its features.

You can now automate your event bookings as well. To be more precise, it means that you will be able to schedule a single day, a multi-day, and also recurring events with Amelia.

Did we mention that you can manage multiple locations and that you have Google Calendar integration?

All of these and much more are under only one license, no add-ons are needed.

To test things for yourself, I’d suggest checking out the demos and seeing how things look on the front end as well as in the back end.

Medical/Health online booking page demo

A website of a demo private clinic, where a visitor can read about provided medical procedures and services, and schedule an appointment.

→ View Frontend Demo – Backend demo

Barbershop appointment booking page demo

A dummy WordPress website for Barbershops with online booking – a nice and easy implementation with the Bridge theme and the Amelia WordPress booking plugin.

→ View Frontend Demo – Backend demo

Fitness Gym / Yoga booking page demo

A pseudo Yoga/Gym online booking page where you can browse through possible Yoga classes, schedule individual or group training, and book a package of appointments.

→ View Frontend Demo – Backend demo

Spa/salon booking page demo

A dummy cosmetology website – look through different cosmetic procedures and treatments, pick an employee and schedule appointments.

→ View Frontend Demo – Backend demo

Consultant booking page demo

A pseudo Business Consultant / Coach / Lawyer website, where a customer can browse through provided consultancy and lawyer services and book an appointment.

→ View Frontend Demo – Backend demo

Hands down, this is the one you should pick from this list. Yet, you can check out the other options as well to see for yourselves why Amelia is #1.

 

WooCommerce Bookings

Main features of this plugin:

  • Email notifications and reminders
  • Syncs with Google Calendar

  • Can add WooCommerce integrations
  • Add payments
  • Customize pricing

  • Offer special promotions or weekend rates
  • Customize booking time

Who should use this Bookly alternative?

This plugin for WordPress sites provides a convenient way for clients and owners to manage schedules. It is great for those who want to show available and unavailable times.

It also allows WordPress users to put buffer times between appointments. Users can let customers make payments and customize the pricing options.

What makes this plugin great?

This plugin is developed by WooCommerce. So it integrates well with other WooCommerce plugins.

It also allows users to include different payment options.

Webba Booking

Main features:

  • Fully customizable booking form
  • 79 presets to help users set it up
  • Users can add custom fields on the booking form

  • Integrates with Google Calendar
  • Sends notifications

  • Supports online payments
  • Supports CSV exports

Who should use this online booking system?

This is a great plugin for those who want to send reminder notifications. It is also a good option for those who want their clients to pay online through PayPal.

The CSV export allows users to print out appointments.

What makes this Bookly alternative great?

This Bookly alternative is great because it includes 79 presets to allow for an easy and smooth setup.

Booking Calendar by WPdevelop

Main features:

  • Quick set up
  • Flexible time slots
  • Different date formats
  • Customizable calendar legend

  • Customizable cost
  • Advanced hourly booking
  • Integrates with Google Calendar

Who should use this plugin?

Booking Calendar is full of features that facilitate booking appointments.

It is best for those who want the setup to be very simple. It is also good for those who want every aspect to be customizable.

What makes this WordPress plugin great?

This plugin is great because it offers a great user experience and is extremely flexible. It is feature-rich, comes with a handy tool kit, and has quick access to many settings.

Hotel Booking

Main features:

  • Seasonal management
  • Customizable pricing

  • Supports payment processors
  • Syncs reservations through the site with popular travel channels via iCal

Who should use this plugin?

This booking system is for hotels, vacation rentals, villas, hostels, apartments, guest houses, and bed and breakfasts.

What makes this plugin great?

Hotel Booking is a fully functional plugin. It offers many tools to help businesses that make reservations.

The plugin helps manage all properties and creates beautiful listings for them. It syncs reservations with travel channels.

Booqable

Main features:

  • Request quotes
  • Embed products
  • Mobile friendly
  • Controls rental properties
  • Real-time availability
  • Advanced pricing

  • Built-in payments
  • Customizable design
  • Works with every WordPress theme

Who should use this booking plugin?

This Bookly alternative helps users manage rental properties. It provides everything a person needs to manage and make reservations for their properties.

What makes this plugin great?

Booqable is free when users sign up for Booqable’s rental software. It has many features to help with rentals.

It is easy to install and works right away after installation.

Vik Appointments

Main features:

  • Supports multiple employees
  • Add time slots
  • Displays pricing options

  • Option for event capacity
  • Service and employee availability

Who should use this booking plugin?

Anyone can use this Bookly Pro alternative plugin. It is best for those who need to create, schedule, and manage appointments.

It tailors to various businesses.

What makes this plugin great?

Vik Appointments provides a powerful solution to all scheduling needs. It allows clients to book appointments with ease for any business.

Booki

Main features:

  • Create unlimited booking projects
  • View project stats
  • View booking summaries
  • Offers single day-booking, multiple-day, or time slot bookings

  • Supports PayPal Express

Who should use this plugin?

Small businesses like salons, fitness coaches, etc., can use this plugin. It helps small businesses that provide services to manage and schedule appointments.

What makes this plugin great?

Apart from the features mentioned above, this plugin allows users to send invoices. Clients receive these invoices via email to make offline payments.

Appointment Booking Calendar

Main features:

  • Different time slots
  • Email notifications to confirm appointments
  • Google Drive exports
  • Ability to print booking lists
  • Captchas

Who should use this plugin?

This plugin is great for various fields. This includes, but is not limited to, medical consultations, education, events, and transportation.

What makes this plugin great?

This plugin has a free version and a premium version. The free version has many useful features.

If users want to offer online payment options to their clients, they need to go with the premium version.

Booked

Main features:

  • Add unlimited calendars
  • Front-end calendar with widget or shortcodes
  • Fully responsive
  • Customer profile options
  • Customer appointment manager
  • Guest booking
  • Lifetime updates

  • Some add-ons included
  • Integrates with WooCommerce for payment options
  • Front-end agents

  • Calendar feeds

Who should use Booked?

Booked is a great option for anyone who needs a customizable booking form.

What makes this plugin great?

It simplifies the booking process. It lightens the load of business owners and tailors to various industries.

Booking Calendar by WpDevArt

Main features:

  • Manages both appointments and reservations
  • Stores information in the WordPress database

  • Tailors to many businesses

Who should use this WordPress plugin?

A wide range of businesses can use this plugin. It is easy to install and use and it comes with a lot of features.

It is a very popular booking plugin with over 40,000 installs.

What makes this plugin great?

This is a multipurpose plugin. The premium version has everything needed to manage online bookings and reservations.

It stores booking information in the WordPress database. This means that users do not need a third-party account.

Bookme

Main features:

  • Multipurpose
  • Different prices
  • Customizable fields

  • Many booking types like group bookings, add to cart, consultant, free, default, and WooCommerce booking
  • Sends SMS notifications via Twilio API

  • Multiple payment processors such as PayPal and Stripe

Who should use this booking system?

This booking system is flexible and is for use by various business types. This includes beauty salons, fitness centers, medical centers, and educational institutions.

What makes this plugin great?

The customizable fields and features make it a great option as a WordPress plugin.

Book an Appointment Online Pro

Main features:

  • Google Maps integration
  • Sign up forms

  • Automated email notifications to confirm appointments
  • 10 different booking modules

Who should use this booking form?

This booking form is great for anyone who needs to have all their appointments in one place. It is also a good option for those who need to prevent overbooking and double bookings.

What makes this plugin great?

It integrates with WooCommerce to give users several payment gateways. These gateways include PayPal, Stripe, 2checkout, and more.

It also displays services in ten different ways. This provides customers with different booking options.

WP Simple Booking Calendar

Main features:

  • Simple
  • Flexible

  • Shows availability of rental items
  • Free

Who should use this WordPress booking plugin?

This WordPress booking plugin shows the availability of homes, apartments, offices, bed and breakfasts, or equipment for rent.

What makes this plugin great?

This is a simple but flexible plugin.

It allows users to create booking calendars. These calendars show the availability and booking details.

Users can use shortcodes or widgets to embed the calendar on a webpage or post.

BirchPress

Main features:

  • Built-in form editor
  • Shortcodes
  • Integrates with Google Calendar

  • Integrates with iCal
  • Customized emails

Who should use this plugin?

BirchPress is a plugin that suits the needs of various businesses. It allows them to schedule appointments and accept online payments.

It also sends notification emails. The emails can be customized for reminders, notifications, cancellations, or changes.

This feature facilitates the booking process. It also prevents users from having to use a different email marketing service.

What makes this plugin great?

This plugin has a built-in editor that allows users to customize WordPress booking forms with ease. It also uses shortcodes to embed the booking form and calendar into a webpage or a post.

It integrates with online calendars allowing users to view and manage their schedules.

Calendarize it! for WordPress

Main features:

  • WPBakery Page Builder
  • Event tickets with WooCommerce integration
  • Eventbrite tickets
  • External event sources
  • Payment options

  • RSVP events

Who should use this plugin?

This plugin is for those who need a WordPress booking system that is easy to edit, with lots of features to suit various needs.

What makes this plugin great?

This plugin comes with a Visual Composer editor. It includes many features and add-ons so that users can tailor it to their specific needs.

It is a popular plugin with over 11,000 installs.

WordPress Hotel Booking plugin by MotoPress

Main features:

  • Integrates with any WordPress theme
  • Suitable for hotels and vacation rentals

  • Manages all booking information in one spot

Who should use this appointment plugin?

This is the tool of choice for hoteliers and vacation rental homes.

What makes this plugin great?

This appointment plugin is great because it manages every detail of rental properties or hotels. It includes the description, amenities, images, and more.

It keeps all the listing content, bookings, billing data, and client information in the same place.

Booknetic

Main features:

  • Fully automates the booking process
  • Customizable
  • Add booking steps

  • Add bookings to employee calendars
  • Live form builder
  • Add locations

  • Customize the design
  • Change the color scheme
  • Responsive

Who should use Booknetic?

This plugin works well for any business. Especially those that want to completely automate and customize the booking process.

It is a premium plugin with a modern and responsive design.

What makes this a great plugin?

This is a good plugin because it has many options to tailor the booking forms to the needs of the business. It also has a live form builder so customizing the forms is easy.

Simply Schedule Appointments

Main features:

  • Easy to use
  • Completely customizable
  • Sends notifications via text message and email

  • Accepts online payments via PayPal or Stripe
  • Has many integrations

Who should use this plugin?

This plugin is perfect for small businesses. This includes consultants, yoga instructors, lawyers, and coaches.

What makes this plugin great?

This plugin is completely customizable to match the look and style of a website. It’s also a good alternative to Bookly Pro.

It integrates with many platforms. Some platforms include Mailchimp, Gravity Forms, and Twilio.

It also integrates with drag and drop WordPress page builders. These include Elementor, Divi, and Beaver Builder.

Start Booking

Main features:

  • Integrates with Google Calendar
  • Starts by allowing visitors to view and book a service on a bookable calendar
  • Prompts visitors to select a date and time

  • The checkout flow collects the necessary information
  • The information is stored within the booking system

Who should use this plugin?

This plugin works for any business that wants a seamless booking experience. It lets clients book 24/7.

What makes it a great plugin?

This plugin offers a bookable calendar, checkout flow, and integration with Google Calendar. These features provide a great booking experience for clients and owners alike.

Ending thoughts on these booking plugins

There are lots of booking plugins in here, and I’m sure that you’ll pick at least one of them.

Yet, if you still want to go the Bookly Pro way and pay lots of money on addons, you must have other questions like the following:

How do I use Bookly in WordPress?

First, you install the plugin. Then, go to the Bookly menu from the WordPress dashboard and start customizing the booking experience for your users.

What is the difference between Bookly and Bookly Pro?

For starters, the price. Bookly is free, while Bookly Pro starts at $89 if you don’t consider any addons that you’d need for your website. Then, in the premium version, there’s a multitude of features that aren’t limited anymore, like they are in the free version.

What is included in Bookly pro?

Not enough, if you ask me. If the Pro version would be a solid plugin, it wouldn’t need so many addons that make you spend hundreds for various functionality. Amelia, for example, has everything for one fixed fee. No extra charges.

How much is Bookly pro?

$89. And that’s just the standard fee from which you’re starting. If you want PayPal and Stripe payments, that’s $58 more. SMS reminders? Another $10 fee. And there are countless other addons that you need to pay for which are free within the Amelia plugin price.

 

If you enjoyed reading this article with plugins better than Bookly Pro, you should check out this one about how to avoid double-booking appointments.

We also wrote about a few related subjects like alternatives to the Booked WordPress plugin, Team Booking plugin, photography booking appsbest appointment scheduling softwarebest group scheduling appstop appointment reminder apps, and important features that an appointment booking app must have.