Online booking and appointment software compared: what 9 companies charge

We do not convert currencies. A page we could not read is marked could not read, a page that asks for a quote is marked quote only, and the reasons are listed below the table. Pages can show different prices to visitors in different countries. A price with no currency named is shown with the sign the page used; it may be the United States version or the one for the country the page assumed we were in, so check the page you are sent to.

• 4 of the 9 charge per user, or for extra users, on at least one plan, so the price grows with the team.
• 4 of the 9 offer a free plan, and 8 offer a time-limited trial.

Taken from what each company's own page says it is for.

• Fresha: One-person businesses on Independent and businesses with several bookable team members on Team, with custom rates for high-volume businesses with over 20 team members.
• Bookeo (Appointments): Appointment-based businesses such as therapists, photographers, kids' party hosts and car washers.
• Cliniko: Clinics and allied health practitioners, priced by the number of practitioners.
• SimplyBook.me: Solo practitioners and small studios on the Free and Basic plans, businesses with 5 to 30 staff such as salons, clinics and gyms on Standard and Premium, and multi-location chains on Enterprise.
• Square Appointments: A single-location business on Free, growing teams on Plus, and businesses with complex booking and staff management needs on Premium.

• Fresha: The page does not say the software is free: it charges a monthly subscription, and only individual features such as direct booking links and automated emails are marked Free.
• Calendly: Priced per seat, and a seat is needed for each person who connects a calendar and hosts meetings (invitees need none).
• Bookeo (Appointments): Tiers are set by consultants and bookings per month, billed monthly until you cancel. Bookeo takes no commission on payments but each payment gateway charges its own fee, and SMS and fax credits ($5 for 40 up to $100 for 1,100) and digital waivers (from $9 a month) are extras.
• Acuity Scheduling: The page says there are no set-up, cancellation or support fees, and the listed prices do not include applicable taxes. Payments go through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo and the page states no processing fee.
• Cliniko: Priced by the number of practitioners, with unlimited admin and reception users, locations, patients and file storage on every plan. SMS is extra at 10 cents a message, there is no minimum contract, and paying annually gives one month free every year.
• Setmore: Charged per user, and each staff calendar counts as a user even if that person has no login. The comparison table on the same page shows $125 user/month for Pro, which does not match the plan cards, so the page is not consistent about the Pro price.
• SimplyBook.me: Priced by bookings and providers rather than per user, and the page says it adds no transaction fees on bookings or payments (payment processors still charge their own). Extras are sold separately, for example 100 SMS credits for $8, and a done-for-you setup is offered from €450.
• Booksy: One plan with every feature, so cost grows by $20 a month for each extra team member. Card payments cost 2.69% + $0.30 for mobile or keyed-in payments and 2.49% + $0.10 with the Booksy card reader, and Boost marketing adds a one-time 30% fee (up to $100) on a Boost client's first visit.
• Square Appointments: Priced per location, with card payments at 1.6% in person and 2.2% online or keyed in; the page says no credit card is required and there are no long-term commitments. It does not say whether the plan prices include GST.

• Whether the price is per staff member, per location or flat.
• Deposits and card payments, and who takes the fee.
• Reminders by text message, which several charge for separately.
• Marketplaces. Some take a commission on new customers they send you; read the fine print.

These pages did not give us a price we could read. That is a limit of how we read, not a sign that the company hides its prices.

• Timely: its pricing page refused our request.

We do not sell booking software yet. If you need bookings tied to your stock, jobs or customer records, we can build to order, quoted in writing.

See also: custom software, dashboards and what we charge.