The 13 Best WordPress Plugins for Booking and Appointments for 2024

The 13 Best WordPress Plugins for Booking and Appointments for 2024

Would you like to make it easy for your customers to book appointments and reservations directly on your website?

With a WordPress booking plugin you can create a fully functional system for scheduling appointments, registrations and reservations.

We have listed the best WordPress booking plugins that are easy to use, affordable and feature-rich.

Importance of Using Appointment Plugins

As a business owner, it is important to find different ways to make your job easier and improve the user experience for your visitors. One of the best ways to achieve this is to use booking and appointment plugins.

These plugins simplify the planning process and make it easy for customers to book appointments online themselves.

On the other hand, you don’t have to manually add your customers to available appointments, which can quickly become overwhelming as your business grows.

Here are more reasons to use booking plugins.

  • Convenience for customers: With booking plugins, customers can easily and conveniently book their preferred time slots online.
  • Automation: These plugins automate the scheduling process and reduce the need for back-and-forth communication to find the best time.
  • Booking around the clock: Customers can book appointments at any time, eliminating the need to manage bookings manually.
  • Efficiency: By automating bookings, you can better manage your resources and optimize your calendar for productivity.
  • Improved customer experience: Providing an easy booking experience increases customer satisfaction and makes them more likely to come back.

What to look for in a booking plugin

The reality is that not all scheduling plugins are created equal. Each is designed for a different user base and has unique tools to serve them.

Therefore, choosing the right booking plugin can have a significant impact on your business. Here are the key features you should consider:

  • Integration with other tools: The plugin should integrate seamlessly with your existing WordPress tools such as CRM systems, payment gateways and calendars.
  • Reminders and Notifications: A good appointment plugin will notify you and your customers of upcoming appointments, reducing the chances of no-shows.
  • Booking analysis: Look for a scheduling plugin that analyzes booking trends and peak times and provides insights to help you make informed decisions.
  • Customizability: The booking plugin should be customizable to match your brand’s look and feel and provide users with a personalized experience.
  • Ease of use: A user-friendly interface ensures that both you and your customers can easily navigate through the booking process.
  • Mobile-friendly design: It should work seamlessly on mobile devices and allow customers to book appointments on the go.
  • Multi-user support: If your company has multiple employees or locations, make sure the plugin supports multiple users.

Best booking and scheduling plugins

As you can see, depending on the company, there are different things you should consider before choosing a booking plugin.

That’s why we tested every tool on this list ourselves.

This ensured we found the right booking plugins for our diverse reader base. We installed these tools in various projects to see the features offered, ease of use, and customization properties.

Additionally, we searched for various unbiased reviews to see what other users of the plugins think about them. This helped us collect reliable third-party information for more practical analysis.

We understand that you may not have time to go through the entire list. That’s why we’ve provided a table below that lists the top three plugins and lists their main features and prices.

🥇 1st choice

🥈2. Choice

🥉3. Choice

Prices: Free plugin available. The Pro plan starts at $49.50/year.

Prices: Free plugin available. The Pro plan starts at $49.50/year.

Prices: Starting at $79/year.

  • Users can submit their own events
  • You can sell event tickets
  • Easy to manage events on WordPress

Read more “

  • Numerous booking-related templates
  • Payment and email marketing integrations
  • Pre-filled form fields

Read more “

  • Has a built-in calendar view
  • Offer team management tools
  • Easy integration with Google Calendar

With that in mind, let’s rank the best booking plugins for WordPress.

1. Sugar calendar

Homepage of the sugar calendar

Sugar calendar is the best booking and scheduling plugin because it offers the flexibility to manage all aspects of the appointment process. What sets it apart is its ability to create highly customizable calendars tailored to the unique needs of each website.

For example, Sugar Calendar allows you to schedule group events or manage multiple recurring events.

You can easily schedule events daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly. You can also quickly create events that span multiple days to help your users plan better. This makes it convenient to keep track of long events without having to manually update the calendar.

Event editor

Additionally, the plugin allows you to specify time zones and end times when creating a booking calendar. This ensures events are planned accurately no matter where your customer is located.

But with so many scheduling options, Sugar Calendar wants to make sure you can manage them easily.

It allows you to set up specific event categories to keep everything organized. You can display these categories in different colors to make it easier for your users to see what they are looking for.

This feature allows you to set up display options to allow users to filter and view events based on categories, making it easier for them to focus on specific events. For a quick overview, you can also view the main calendar with all events displayed.

Manage calendars

Another reason Sugar Calendar is a top choice is its seamless integration features. First of all, you can connect it to both Stripe and WooCommerce.

E-commerce integration allows you to sell products online. The payment gateway allows you to receive money directly on your WordPress site.

These connections allow you to monetize your events by selling tickets directly through your website. This makes it easy to turn your website into a hub for free and paid events with Sugar Calendar.

Sugar calendar woocommerce connection

Aside from the payment gateway and eCommerce integrations, this booking plugin syncs with Google Calendar. This ensures that your users never miss an event as they can access it directly in their daily calendar.

Additionally, connecting with WPForms and other popular form builders allows you to collect leads and manage event submissions efficiently. This makes it easier for users to interact with your events while providing you with valuable data to grow your mailing list.

Highlights:

  • Simple admin interface
  • Multiple calendar widgets
  • Fully localized and ready for translation
  • Allow users to submit their own events
  • Sell ​​and manage event tickets
  • Integrates with Google Calendar, iCal, WooCommerce and other tools

Check out the latest sugar calendar review here.

Start the sugar calendar today!

Prices: Free plugin available. The Pro plan starts at $49.50/year.

2. WPForms

wpforms homepage

WPForms is one of the most powerful and versatile plugins for creating booking and appointment forms on WordPress. It features a user-friendly interface and a variety of features that streamline the booking process.

Firstly, it is packed with features aimed at businesses that want to take advantage of:

  • Appointments
  • Reservations
  • Event registrations
  • Room bookings
  • Travel bookings
  • Personal service bookings
  • Online session slots
  • …and more.
Booking templates in WPForms

WPForms includes over 1,800 pre-built templates for almost every type of business. As a result, you will find appointment and booking forms for patients, dentists, veterinarians, hair salons, hotels and more. You name it, you will find it.

All you need to do is choose the right template to get started. Then use the visual drag-and-drop builder to easily customize the form to suit your brand.

WPForms drag and drop builder

Plus, each template is mobile-friendly, so your form will look great on any device. This means your users can make a booking quickly and conveniently from their phone.

One thing we really like about WPForms when it comes to bookings is its ability to easily collect different and accurate types of information.

The drag-and-drop form builder allows you to customize the form template to include different fields that match the event. You can add fields like name, booking time, date, number of participants and more.

This flexibility ensures that you can prepare effectively for each appointment, making your workflow smoother and more organized.

Beyond information capture, WPForms integrates with many top email tools like Constant Contact, Drip, GetResponse, AWeber, and more, making it easier to manage your communications. You can easily add customer emails to your mailing list as you collect bookings, ensuring you maintain a strong connection with your audience.

wpforms email integrations

These email marketing tools connections are particularly beneficial for companies looking to expand their reach and maintain customer relationships.

For better communication, you can also send notifications to you and your users after submitting a form. This ensures that everyone stays updated without any additional effort on your part.

WPForms also stands out because it offers flexibility in scheduling appointments. The plugin allows you to configure different types of bookings, such as: B. in person, by telephone or online.

Users appreciate the ability to choose their preferred time and date, and you can even add options for them to choose time slots that are most convenient for both parties. This level of customization ensures that the planning process is straightforward and user-friendly.

However, because you can use WPForms to collect sensitive information, it also improves user experience and security.

Using Ajax, the plugin ensures that forms load quickly and efficiently without having to reload an entire page. You can also set up conditional logic so that the user only sees certain fields based on their answers.

Additionally, WPForms offers country-specific filters, keyword filtering, and easy-to-set-up spam protection to ensure the safety of your submissions.

recaptcha in wpforms

These features overall improve the overall user experience while protecting your data.

The best part is that you can add your WPForms booking form anywhere on your website using a shortcode or WordPress blocks. You can also create a new booking page using the drag-and-drop form builder.

For businesses that need to collect payments through their booking forms, WPForms easily integrates with payment processors like PayPal and Stripe, making it a comprehensive solution for all your scheduling needs.

As you can see, WPForms offers a fairly extensive list of features to help you with bookings.

WPForms gives you a centralized list of options to view, edit, delete, and add notes to each appointment. However, the only thing WPForms lacks is an integrated calendar view for managing appointments.

However, you can connect to Zapier and then integrate it with Google Calendar to automatically add your events to your calendar.

For more information, see this article on integrating WPForms with Google Calendar.

Highlights

  • Easiest form creator with over 1,800 templates
  • Payment and email integrations
  • Centralized booking management in the WordPress dashboard
  • Autocomplete address field
  • Instant notifications and page redirects

Check out the latest WPForms review here.

Get started with WPForms today!

Prices: Free plugin available. The Pro plan starts at $49.50/year.

3. Start booking

Start booking

Start Booking is one of the best booking and planning plugins due to its versatility and ease of use. It allows users to easily manage different types of sessions, including one-on-one appointments or group classes.

Additionally, you can adjust class sizes, set available times, and even assign specific teachers to each session. This makes it an extremely practical booking plugin for different business needs. This allows Start Booking to maximize all your resources by ensuring that no booking slot goes unused.

You can integrate your booking system if you already use Google Calendar.

Your customers can view and select a bookable service at a glance on your booking page. After selecting a service, they will be asked to select the best date and time. The checkout flow then captures all of your customer’s essential information and stores it securely in the Start Booking system.

For more convenience, this planning plugin has a reminder function. This allows you to send manual or automated reminders to customers, ensuring everyone stays informed and engaged.

In addition, Start Booking offers personalized payment options.

You have full control over when you receive payments, before, during or after the course. This gives you flexibility that fits your business model. To support payments directly at events, Start Booking easily integrates with Stripe. Therefore, you can accept credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, and more through this payment gateway.

You can even easily receive tips or add coupons, providing an improved user experience for customers and admins.

Highlights

  • Create a fully customizable and streamlined booking flow
  • High speed and performance
  • Integrated calendar view
  • Comprehensive customer profile and preference management
  • Integrates with Google, Stripe, Zoom and Mailchimp

Get started with Start Booking today.

Prices: Starting at $79/year.

4. Bookish

Bookly appointment plugin for WordPress

Bookly stands out as a booking plugin thanks to its many automation functions. Firstly, it has multiple automated event notification systems including SMS, voice and WhatsApp. This ensures that Bookly meets customers’ communication preferences.

You can send customized email and SMS notifications to further improve the user experience. This means customers receive clear, tailored communication that fits your company brand and needs.

Additionally, the powerful notification system helps inform customers, minimize missed appointments and reduce administrative burden.

Bookly also excels at team management.

It syncs with Google Calendar to easily manage schedules and ensure everything is up to date. This allows your users to plan their events easily and conveniently.

Additionally, it offers an easy-to-use system that allows you to create separate profiles for each team member. You can then assign different prices for services to each team member and allow them to manage their schedule independently.

This precise control ensures that everyone on your team can manage their workload while maintaining an organized and efficient booking system.

Additionally, Bookly integrates smoothly with PayPal Express Checkout, making the payment process as hassle-free as possible for users.

Bookly is compatible with the WPML plugin, so you can create a multilingual online booking website without any coding experience. It also manages your customer base effortlessly by providing an unlimited, sortable and searchable customer list.

You can also extend the core functionality of the plugin by using add-ons. These add-ons allow you to add coupons, custom fields, group bookings, chain appointments, and recurring payments.

Highlights

  • Fully customizable booking form
  • Built-in filters, sort by and search options for booking list
  • Import and export to CSV
  • Unlimited service list and employees
  • Synchronization with Google Calendar

Get started with Bookly today.

Prices: Regular license starts at $89.

5. Birch Press

Birch Press

BirchPress is one of the best booking planner plugins that allows service businesses to schedule bookings and accept payments online.

With BirchPress, booking forms can be easily created using the built-in form editor and then embedded into your pages via shortcodes.

It syncs with your online calendars like Google Calendar and iCal so you can quickly view your appointments and availability.

BirchPress also lets you send customized emails to your customers when an appointment is booked, rescheduled, or canceled. You can also remind your customers of an upcoming appointment without having to use another email marketing service.

This WordPress scheduling plugin comes with PayPal payments. For more payment options, you can integrate your website with WooCommerce.

The BirchPress plugin also has thousands of features and hooks, making it one of the most developer-friendly WordPress appointment plugins.

Highlights

  • Sync with existing calendar
  • Import and export appointments and availabilities
  • Accept online payments with PayPal
  • WooCommerce integration
  • Developer friendly with action hooks and filters

Get started with BirchPress today.

Prices: Starting at $99/year.

6. Booking calendar

The 13 Best WordPress Plugins for Booking and Appointments for 2024

The Booking calendar Plugin is a multipurpose plugin that allows you to manage both appointment and reservation bookings from your WordPress site.

This appointment plugin is extremely easy to use and has numerous features tailored to a wide range of businesses.

Since all bookings and settings are stored in your WordPress database, you don’t need a third-party account to manage bookings. However, if you want to import feeds from third-party sources like Airbnb, Booking.com, HomeAway, TripAdvisor, etc., you can easily do that too.

Your booking forms and calendars are responsive. This means they look great on all devices such as desktop, mobile or tablet.

The best part is that it supports a variety of online payment gateways including PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net and more.

Highlights

  • User-friendly frontend and backend interface
  • Works with all versions of WordPress and popular WordPress themes
  • Approve book requests instantly
  • Activate/deactivate general terms and conditions
  • Add booking times, user permissions, page redirects and more with the Pro version

Start booking calendar today.

Prices: Free version available. The premium plugin starts at $60.

7. WP Simple booking calendar

wp simple booking calendar

WP Simple booking calendar might be the right booking calendar solution for you if you’re just looking for a simple WordPress scheduler plugin shows your customers availability your holiday home or hotel.

With the free version of this schedule plugin, you get all the basic features you expect from a booking calendar plugin. For example, you can display a booking calendar widget that shows availability and also accepts bookings through a user-friendly interface with multilingual support.

Remember that this plugin does not allow you to accept online payments, but requires you to accept payments offline.

The premium version allows you to easily sync your booking calendars with third-party vacation rental apps like Airbnb, Booking.com and Flipkey. Any changes made to your website booking calendar are automatically reflected in your third-party accounts in real time.

Highlights

  • View availability dates and legend
  • Simply user friendly interface
  • Responsive and mobile friendly
  • Backup/restore calendar and data

Get started with WP Simple Booking Calendar today.

Prices: Free version with limited features. The premium version starts at $39.

8. OptinMonster

Optinmonster homepage

OptinMonster is the most powerful lead generation plugin for WordPress. You can use it to create campaigns like popups, slide-ins, floating bars, and more to encourage visitors to book an appointment or schedule a session with you.

This gives them easy access at any time while browsing your website. No need to search for your booking form page. OptinMonster also has powerful campaign triggers and audience targeting rules.

You can display booking options based on the user’s location, interests, and actions on your website. Instead of a generic booking form, you can dynamically change the campaign depending on which page the visitor is on.

This plugin does not work as a standalone solution for creating bookings and online appointments. Instead, you need to pair it with a form builder like WPForms. You can then embed your booking form using shortcodes and create impressive campaigns to increase conversions and signups.

Highlights

  • 50+ templates and a drag-and-drop builder for easy customization
  • Numerous email integrations
  • Exit-intent technology to recover abandoned users
  • Retargeting and follow-up campaigns

Check out the latest OptinMonster review here.

Get started with OptinMonster!

Pricing: Starting at $9/month with 14-day money-back guarantee.

9. The events calendar

The event calendar

Events Calendar is a booking plugin designed for online and offline events, ticketing and scheduling. It is a complete solution to manage any event from start to finish.

The plugin features an events calendar that allows users to book appointments for your events. You can select a date and time frame for your event and confirm your booking online.

You’ll need to integrate your bookings into your main event calendar and your scheduled times will appear in a calendar view.

With this plugin you can create multi-day and recurring events and even list your availability. It is ideal for conferences, retreats and other events.

Highlights

  • Integrates with Gravity formsElementor, Mailchimp and more
  • Automatically create a WordPress user account when someone makes an appointment
  • View your availability by day, time and appointment type
  • Add custom fields to collect the information you need

Check out the events calendar review here.

Start with the events calendar.

Prices: Starting at $149/year.

10. Impressive shapes

impressive shapes

Formidable Forms is one of the best form builders for WordPress. You can create all types of forms, including booking forms.

Additionally, the plugin integrates with booking and event software, which includes Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Acuity Scheduling, Todoist and Simply Schedule Appointments.

It has date picker options for date fields so you can choose the dates that can be selected.

Once the user books an appointment, you can send an email autoresponder. You can also schedule email alerts and SMS alerts to be sent to users to remind them of their appointments.

All forms are responsive and automatically resize to fit any device, so your booking form looks great for all users.

Formidable Forms also makes it easy to manage form entries and export the data when needed.

Check out the latest Formidable Forms review here.

Start with Formidable Forms.

Prices: Starting at $39.50 for the Basic plan.

11. Amelia

Amelia

Amelia is a simple yet powerful automated booking plugin for WordPress. It acts as your assistant to automate interaction with customers. You can schedule appointments, schedule events, and more.

This booking system allows your users to create bookings and even make payments online 24/7.

The plugin is suitable for service providers and business owners such as lawyers, gyms, spas, private clinics and repair centers, to name a few.

Highlights

  • Booking, rescheduling and cancellation features
  • Customizable designs
  • Insightful admin panel and admin calendar view
  • Step-by-step booking wizard
  • Find booking widget
  • Email and SMS notifications

Start with Amelia.

Prices: Offers a free plugin. The Pro plan starts at $49 per year.

12. Event schedule

Event schedule

Events Schedule is a booking plugin designed for events and courses. There are 12 display styles so you can create a booking system that perfectly suits your brand and goals.

You can create an image carousel along with a schedule of your events or classes. You can even add a daily agenda to your sidebar.

The plugin is ideal for online course websites and websites with a long list of available events. Users can apply filters to easily find the courses or events they are looking for.

The event schedule supports repeating events, but there is no option for multi-day events.

Highlights

  • Simple visual builder
  • Google Maps integration
  • SEO friendly
  • Fast and powerful

Start with the event plan.

Prices: Regular license starts at $39.

13. Seed Prod

Seedprod homepage

Seed Prod is the best landing page builder for WordPress. This is useful if you want to create your own booking and appointment page.

There are over 300 beautiful templates and a visual drag-and-drop builder to create a central landing page to send all interested traffic to.

With SeedProd, you can add countdown timers, giveaways, opt-in forms, and more to your site to optimize it for conversions.

You can also put your website in Coming Soon and Maintenance modes and display custom booking pages. This means you can schedule appointments even when your website is under development.

SeedProd comes pre-integrated with WPForms. There is a contact form block in the page builder that allows you to select any form you create with WPForms. This makes embedding appointment forms into your WordPress landing page incredibly easy.

In addition, SeedProd integrates with WooCommerce. This means you can allow visitors to book their slots and make payments directly from your landing page.

Highlights

  • Email and WooCommerce integrations
  • Subscriber management with visual data
  • Responsive, mobile-friendly pages
  • Built for speed and performance
  • Developer friendly with CSS and custom scripts
  • Integrated spam protection

Check out the latest SeedProd review here.

Get started with SeedProd today!

Prices: Offers a free version of the plugin. Pricing for the Pro plan starts at $39.50 per year.

There you have it! That’s our roundup of the best booking plugins for WordPress. If you’re still not sure which one is best, we’ll give you our verdict next.

What is the best booking plugin for WordPress?

After comparing the best booking plugins, our top three options are:

  1. Sugar calendar
  2. WPForms
  3. Start booking

Our first choice is Sugar calendar. It allows you to quickly add new events, edit events, and view event posts in a monthly, weekly, or daily calendar. You can also easily display your events calendar on your website using multiple event calendar widgets. Plus, you can collect payments for appointments directly from your WordPress site.

WPForms is next in second place. This allows you to create a simple booking form, but is the most versatile option. It works for any business, event, service or WordPress website. No matter what type of appointment you want, we’ve found WPForms has a solution.

It is rich in features for creating and managing appointments. The only thing we miss is the built-in calendar view, but like many other plugins on this list, you can sync it with Google Calendar and add all your events automatically.

In this article, you will learn how to create a booking form using WPForms.

We also recommend Start booking and rank it third. It offers you a fully-fledged appointment system for your company. Start Booking has a calendar view and easy customer management. Additionally, users can book single and multiple appointments together.

No matter your services, the plugin is packed with great features to help you manage appointments online and grow your business.

We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress booking plugin. If you have any further questions, check out the FAQs below.

FAQs: Best WordPress Booking Plugins

Which is the best free booking plugin?

Sugar Calendar is the best free booking system in WordPress. It offers a user-friendly interface for event management, scheduling and reservations. Although it is primarily an events calendar plugin, it has amazing booking features and integrates well with other plugins for more functionality. It allows you to place a calendar anywhere on your site where users can easily make bookings.

Can WordPress create a booking system without a plugin?

No. WordPress does not offer any built-in booking system features. Creating a booking system without a plugin would require custom programming. Although it is possible to manually develop forms, databases and scripts to manage bookings, this method is not recommended for beginners. Plugins like WPForms and Sugar Calendar feature a drag-and-drop builder that provides an easier and more efficient way to create a booking system.

How do I sync Google Calendar with WordPress?

You can use a plugin like Simple Calendar or Sugar Calendar to sync Google Calendar with WordPress. These plugins allow you to integrate and display Google Calendar events directly on your website. You can link your Google Calendar by generating a public URL for your calendar and connecting it through the plugin’s settings. This keeps your event schedules up to date directly from your WordPress site.

Can users pay for events when booking?

Yes, users can pay for events during the booking process using tools like WPForms. WPForms offers an easy way to create booking forms that integrate payment gateways such as PayPal and Stripe. This allows users to securely pay for events while completing their bookings. WPForms’ drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to create custom booking forms with built-in payment options.

That’s it! You can now choose a booking plugin for your WordPress website. To improve user experience, read this article about the best user login and registration plugins.

Additionally, here are other articles you may want to read.

The first post shows you how to sell digital products online. In the next article you will learn how to set up push notifications. In the final article, you’ll learn how to enable users to submit calendar events.

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