Top 5 Bookly Alternatives: Better & Cheaper Options in 2024
Why do people choose the Bookly plugin for appointment scheduling on WordPress? It’s a simple yet powerful solution that can boast of great design, smooth scheduling, and powerful booking rules under the hood, which makes it one of the most chosen WordPress booking plugins out there.
But there are exceptions to every rule, just as there might be a few reasons why you want to say ‘no’ to Bookly and switch to an alternative scheduling software. What are they?
- Bookly appears to be too expensive for some businesses, customers need to pay for almost every essential feature by purchasing extra add-ons, potentially leading to a total cost exceeding $1,000.
- Customers need to pay for every payment gateway they want to integrate for booking payments.
- Limited design customization abilities for Bookly forms.
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BookingPress – Affordable Bookly Alternative
BookingPress is an effective and affordable booking WordPress plugin that operates very similarly to Bookly, offering just as vast an array of features, integrations, and service upselling opportunities, but without a need to pay extra every time.
How it works
Just like Bookly, it helps you add a step-by-step booking form to your WordPress, with optional steps (e.g. the number of people or a choice of location), manage booking and staff shifts, and fully automate notification sending, through email and SMS. You can, by the way, build a form with your preferred fonts, colors, and overall appearance.
Pros:
- Limitless booking forms, appointments, and staff members.
- Many features you are charged for in Bookly, are totally free in BookingPress, for instance, recurring appointments, service extras, or waiting lists.
- 17+ payment gateway integrations included into any of your chosen pricing plans.
- Free integrations with popular third-party apps.
- Group bookings and custom appointment duration selection.
- Many features focused on improved marketing, such as online tipping and dynamic discounts.
Cons:
- No lifetime plan.
Integrations: WooCommerce, Zapier, Skrill, Google Calendar, Mailchimp, WhatsApp, Google Analytics 4, Zoom, AWeber, Klarna, PayPal, Stripe, Square, RazorPay, 2Checkout, Elementor, WPBakery, and more.
Cost: plans start at $79 per year / free version available.
Amelia – Powerful Alternative to Bookly
Amelia offers a robust alternative to more expensive options like Bookly, providing a comparable feature set at a fraction of the cost.
How it works
Similarly to Bookly, Amelia allows you to build step-by-step forms for appointment booking with mobile-friendly forms. You can customize the form design, set up notifications, and enable clients to track their appointments and payments in personal accounts.
Pros
- In addition to appointments, you can sell events that involve group bookings.
- A big community of users ready to help faster with various issues.
- Powerful cabinet for staff to manage bookings.
- Easily cancel and reschedule appointments.
- Many third-party integration and marketing features.
Cons
- Very limited free version.
Integrations: WhatsApp, Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, Apple Calendar, WooCommerce, Zoom, Google Meet, WooCommerce, PayPal, Stripe, Mollie, Razorpay.
Cost: plans start at €79 per year / free version available.
Simply Schedule Appointments – Beautiful Booking Forms
Installed on more than 30K websites, this is one of the best Bookly alternatives that adds a good-looking scheduling wizard to your WordPress website. It’s a user-friendly plugin that works very similarly to Bookly. It will make it easy to schedule appointments, classes, or meetings, including the usage of group bookings, minimum booking times, and blackout dates.
How it works
There is a built-in setup wizard that allows you to quickly place a booking form on your site – or embed booking calendars using traditional shortcodes / WordPress blocks. The booking calendar works flawlessly on all devices.
Pros
- Simple setup, intuitive interface, and familiar booking flow on your website.
- The plugin is highly customizable with color and layout controls.
- Support for group and event booking.
- Integrated with many popular form and page builder plugins.
Cons
- Some advanced features, like Google Calendar sync and payment integrations, require paid plans.
Integrations: Elementor, Google Calendar, Mailchimp, Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, Twilio, Gravity Forms, Formidable Forms, Google Analytics, MemberPress, Zoom, Google Meet, The Events Calendar, Project Panorama, LifterLMS, Webex, Facebook Pixel.
Cost: start at $99 per year / free version available.
Pinpoint – Free Bookly Alternative
The Pinpoint booking system is a powerful WordPress plugin that lets you add a color-coded availability calendar with daily pricing and place a booking form next to it. Very simple yet makes it suitable for any business from service scheduling to hotel room bookings.
How it works
ALT: Pinpoint front-end
It allows clients to schedule appointments directly on your website through a user-friendly and responsive booking calendar. Your clients will be then able to book days, nights, hours or hour intervals.
Pros
- The AJAX-powered calendar allows clients to make reservations without page refreshes, which is very seamless for users.
- Easily manage discounts, taxes, fees and coupons.
- Quickly tailor the calendar’s appearance, functionality, and booking options to fit your site’s design.
- Add, edit, cancel, or reject bookings directly from the calendar.
- View reservations in a list or calendar format, and even print or export them in various formats.
- Works with platforms other than WordPress.
Cons
- The free version restricts you to one calendar and may lack some advanced features.
Integrations: WooCommerce, iCal, PayPal, Stripe, WePay, 2Checkout, Authorize.Net, Braintree, ICEPAY and Mollie.
Cost: start at $70 per year / free version available.
WP Booking Calendar – Simple Availability & Booking Calendar
This easy-to-use booking system for WordPress websites is a calendar first. It allows you to display calendar availability, receive bookings from visitors, and manage them in the WP dashboard.
How it works
It basically allows you to set up and add an availability calendar for every service you provide. You can insert the booking form using WordPress blocks, widgets, or shortcodes, and define available dates with just a few clicks.
Pros
- Suitable for beginners and experienced users.
- Very flexible availability management that supports full-day bookings, time slots, and events.
- Accept payments through various gateways (Stripe, PayPal, etc.).
- Customize booking forms, email templates, calendar appearance, and more.
- Import and export events for two-way sync using Google Calendar.
- Many free features.
Cons
- Limited design options.
- Focus on the calendar rather than booking forms.
- Only yearly subscriptions.
Integrations: Google Calendar, Stripe, PayPal, Zapier, WooCommerce, Skrill, Mailchimp, WhatsApp, and more.
Cost: plans start at $79 per year and offer advanced functionalities / free version available.
Conclusion: Why Use Bookly Alternatives?
Bookly is a popular appointment booking WordPress plugin, but its pricing structure might not suit every business, some advanced features or integrations important for business may also be lacking. For businesses seeking a cost-effective option with essential and advanced features included, such alternatives as BookingPress, Amelia, Simply Schedule Appointments, and some other solutions can bring value to your service business management – and budget. What’s more, you can test all these Bookly alternatives free of charge using their free versions!
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