31 Best Scheduling Software of 2025 (Ultimate Guide)
If you run a business that relies heavily on making and keeping appointments—whether as a small business owner, freelance professional, independent contractor or as the CEO of a start-up unicorn—you know that it is no small feat to manage client appointments and keep everyone happy.
This becomes even truer as your business grows, bringing with it new obligations and fresh opportunities.
Unfortunately, these new obligations and fresh opportunities can lead to scheduling conflicts and lost opportunities if they are not properly handled. Consider that spas could lose 46% of bookings if they do not offer online or app booking.
This is where scheduling software comes in. By using scheduling software, you can seamlessly and effortlessly simplify appointment and schedule management, control workflow, and streamline your company’s day-to-day operations.
The smorgasbord of employee scheduling software and appointment scheduling software available today means that you are sure to find something that works perfectly for your business.
What is the Best Appointment Scheduling Software?
The best appointment scheduling software for your business will depend on both your current and future business needs.
In today’s post, we’ll be exploring the features, pros and cons, and of course, prices of some of the best appointment scheduling software options available. Onward!
1. Acuity Scheduling
Best Overall Appointment Scheduling Software
Acuity is a top-shelf appointment scheduling software that offers a well-designed experience for both users working in the back-end and guests booking appointments on the front-end. It comes loaded with tons of useful features such as custom intake questionnaires for businesses (like medical practices) that need to take detailed information about their clients before booking appointments.
Acuity Scheduling offers simple booking with a beautiful, minimalist booking page that can be embedded on your website. You get unlimited bookings, even with the Free plan. You can create custom questionnaires with text fields, yes/no buttons, drop-down lists, and several other fields.
Besides, you get the ability to manage subscriptions and memberships, as well as to issue gift certificates. Acuity comes with tons of customizations and integrations with video chat, CRM, calendars, accounting, and email marketing software. Being HIPAA Compliance-ready, the software is particularly suited for the medical field.
Pricing
Acuity’s free plan does not give away much. Its free version is very limiting as it does not offer as many features as the competition. Therefore, it loses points as a free scheduling software. The paid versions, on the other hand, are worth taking a look at if you have such specific needs as offering payment plans to your clients.
With the Free Plan, you can book as many appointments as you like, complete with intake forms. But you get no automatic reminders, calendar syncs, or payment functionality. The plan also allows only one user and comes with Acuity branding.
The Emerging plan costs $14 per month and comes with such advanced features as the ability to save credit cards, calendar sync, integrated video meetings, and follow-up emails. But like the free plan, it allows only one user and comes with Acuity branding.
The Growing Plan costs $23 per month and includes appointment packages, text reminders, subscription management, custom branding, and room for up to six users.
And finally, the Powerhouse Plan costs $45 monthly and adds gift certificate management, custom CSS (so that you can style the bookings page to your taste), API support, Sign BAA for HIPAA compliance, and up to 36 users.
Pros
- Two-way API with Google Calendar prevents double bookings
- Mobile app
- Easy to set up
- HIPAA compliance-ready
- Offers unlimited bookings
Cons
- Very limited free plan
2. Vectera
Online Appointment Scheduling and Video Meeting Software for Growing Businesses
Vectera is a meeting room and appointment scheduling software with a unique approach. Established in 2016, Vectera is different in that it grants you access to always-on video meeting rooms that allow you to make notes, upload content, store, and access your content any time you or your guests log in.
This means that you always have the latest version of important documents for meetings. It also means that you will have no problems finding out where you stopped at the last meeting or keeping track of important decisions that were made in previous meetings.
Vectera’s scheduling feature eliminates the back-and-forth emails it often takes to schedule a meeting. It also converts automatically scheduled meeting times to the local time of your guests. Once your guest chooses an ideal date and time for the meeting, Vectera creates a unique meeting URL and shares it with your guest. The URL is added to any calendar of your choosing (Google Calendar, iCal, Microsoft Office 365, or any other calendar you prefer), and your guest receives an email containing the meeting details.
Vectera’s seamless collaboration functionality makes it an ideal choice for teachers and students or businesspeople who need the ability to collaborate, capture new ideas, make decisions, and seek clarifications during meetings.
Collaboration is made possible primarily through a touch-friendly whiteboard. Here, you can make notes during your calls with guests and know that they will be available at the next meeting or you to pick up where you left off. You can even upload images and screenshots and annotate them on the fly. And you can record each session.
Pricing
Vectera offers a free trial and a free plan that comes with collaboration functionality, 4 meeting rooms, integrated scheduling, and accommodation for 2 participants per conversation.
The Pro Plan costs $9.99 monthly per host and offers unlimited meeting rooms, group meetings, a waiting room, 10 GB of cloud storage, priority support, local and cloud recordings, and many other features.
The Business Plan also starts at $9.99 monthly per host but requires a minimum of 10 hosts which means it starts at $99.99 monthly. In addition to the features of the Free and Pro plans, it offers full API access, technical integration support, full white-label, and several other features.
Pros
- Cloud-based solution that requires no downloads and minimal setup
- Easy to use
- The co-browsing feature allows guests to control the browser of whoever is sharing their screen
Cons
- Allows a maximum of 6 participants per meeting room
3. vCita
Best Appointment Scheduling Software for SMBs
vCita is a powerful online scheduling solution that is equipped to meet the needs of SMBs. It provides tools to improve client engagement and maximize productivity by eliminating the back-and-forth emails required to set up appointments manually. Its suite of client management and marketing tools is available as a web app, a mobile app, and a collection of CMS and social media integrations.
vCita lets you confirm client scheduling requests automatically, and you can sync your existing calendar with your vCita calendar so that clients only see the time slots where you’re available. And in just a few clicks, you can easily set up recurring meetings.
vCita also lets you add a call-to-action that sends people from your Facebook or Google My Business Page directly to the client-facing scheduler. The scheduler may be embedded on your webpages or you may use a vCita-powered landing page and client service portal.
In addition to these, vCita offers advanced client management features such as contact management, billing and invoicing, segmentation, and a built-in client portal. You can collect payments from your clients and run automated marketing campaigns with its lead generation capabilities and landing pages.
Pricing
vCita offers four pricing plans; so, you’re sure to find something that suits your needs. If all you need is scheduling functionality, then the Online Scheduling Plan is perfect for you. It costs $12 monthly.
The Essentials Plan starts at $29 monthly (or $19 monthly when billed annually) and adds event registration, online payments, and more advanced features.
The Business Plan starts at $59 monthly ($45 monthly when billed annually) and adds email and SMS campaigns with 5000 recipients, client text messages, client tags & follow-ups, multiple staff accounts, team calendar, analytics, third-party integrations, and a few other advanced features.
The Platinum Plan starts at $99 monthly ($75 monthly when billed annually) and adds automated email campaigns, email and SMS campaigns with 10,000 recipients, and priority support.
Pros
- Easy to set up and use
- All-in-one platform boosts productivity
- Integrates with Facebook and Google My Business pages
Cons
- Not very customizable
4. SimplyBook.me
Best Appointment Scheduling Software for Service-based Businesses
SimplyBook.me is a basic, yet flexible scheduling app best suited to small and medium-sized service-based businesses such as hair salons, gyms, personal trainers, massage therapists, consultants, etc. While you can also sell products through the platform, it is meant more as an add-on to whatever service you provide.
The platform gives you basic scheduling features and allows you to cherry-pick the custom advanced features you need for your business. At the minimum, you receive a fixed number of bookings, a booking website, HIPAA compliance, coupons and gift cards, recurring appointments, events bookings, and automatic email notifications, among other features.
The available custom features include group/multiple bookings, classes, memberships, promotions to boost sales, customizable booking websites, metrics & analytics, text notifications, payment processing, multiple locations, a POS system, API access, and several other features.
SimplyBook.me truly shines in its ability to accept payments, offering in-built support for at least 35 payment processors, including PayPal, Authorize.Net, Stripe, and Square. The software also offers integrations with a few calendar apps such as Google Calendar and Outlook in addition to platforms like Google AdWords, Google Analytics, Gruveo, and Zapier.
You can embed SimplyBook.me into any WordPress, Joomla, or Site123 website, or any website that supports HTML editing through iFrames. With a fully-responsive site, you can use the platform on either desktop or mobile.
Pricing
The Free Plan offers 50 bookings and allows one custom feature.
The Basic Plan costs $9.90 per month and allows 100 bookings and 3 custom features.
The Standard Plan costs $29.90 per month and allows 500 bookings and 8 custom features.
The Premium Plan costs $59.90 per month and allows 2000 bookings and unlimited custom features.
There is a 14-day free trial for all paid plans. If you would like more than 2000 bookings or more SMS credits for text message notifications, you can purchase special packages at extra cost.
Pros
- Beautiful interface
- Great marketing reports
- Allows you to schedule multiple locations
Cons
- Cannot automatically split payments into deposits and balance
5. Appointlet
Best for Sales
Appointlet is excellent scheduling software that can integrate with your sales funnel from websites and emails to landing pages. With several video chat channels (Zoom, Join.me, Go2Meeting, and Webex) and integrations to Google Calendar and Office 365, it works well for service-based businesses but is an excellent choice for sales teams.
With Appointlet, you can customize your bookings page and integrate it into your website, landing page, or emails. You can also sync with Google Calendar and Office 365 so that the dates of prior engagements on your calendar are marked unavailable on the bookings page.
Besides, the software allows unlimited bookings and staff members. It offers centralized administration and billing and includes organization scheduling pages, individual pages, multi-user support, and pooled availability. And it accepts payments and keeps customer information in a database.
Pricing
Appointlet’s Free Plan provides most of its features for a single user. The Premium Plan costs $8 per month per member and adds automated booking reminders, private meeting types, Zapier integrations, customizable branding, and pooled availability for teams.
Pros
- Comes with top-of-the-line team scheduling features
- Allows you to embed your calendar anywhere in your sales funnel
- Integrates with video conferencing channels like Zoom, Webex, Go2Meeting, and Join.me
Cons
- Customizations and custom-branding require a paid plan
- A lot of team features are only available on a paid plan
6. Calendly
Most User-friendly Appointment Scheduling Software
Calendly simplifies automating your appointment-setting in several ways. One way it does this is via the Personal Scheduling link. You send this link to your intended guest, they click the link, and it shows them all the times during which you’ll be available for a meeting based on the rules you set.
Direct link scheduling eliminates double bookings and no-shows, saves time, and makes things easier for both you and the other attendees. You can set custom event types, thereby making your meetings more efficient and effective by including specific details or actions with your appointment. For example, you can add a post-webinar questionnaire or set aside time after or before your meeting to take notes about the meeting.
With integrations to Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCloud, Calendly will seamlessly sync your meetings to your favorite calendar application. Calendly is also very easy to use and can be set up in less than an hour. Just set up simple availability rules and Calendly does the rest for you.
Calendly also offers other beginner-friendly integrations. For instance, with quick short code integration, you can add Calendly to your website. Or you can integrate with Zoom to create instant video conference details. The Mailchimp integration is another huge boon too. You can seamlessly accept and schedule appointments directly through your email campaigns.
Besides the features already discussed, Calendly also provides payment integration with Stripe and PayPal; time zone intelligence; and customizable branding.
Pricing
Calendly’s robust Free Plan means that it is affordable to set up and keep track of appointments. It gives one user access to unlimited scheduled events, a personal scheduling link, email support, website and calendar integration, and automated email notifications. However, you don’t get access to the CRM or payment integrations on the free plan. You also get only one calendar per user and one event type.
The Premium Plan costs $8 monthly per user and adds extended features such as group events for classes and webinars. The Pro Plan costs $12 monthly per user and gives you access to SMS messaging and Salesforce integration and support.
Pros
- Great for coordinating and setting up meetings across different time zones
- Offers support for 500+ apps via Zapier integration
7. HubSpot Meetings
Best Free Appointment Scheduling Software
HubSpot helps save time for your sales team. The scheduling app allows users to choose from custom settings such as time zones, meeting types, and branding options to create an efficient scheduling experience.
Once your availability is presented to your clients or prospects, making an appointment is just a click away. Besides, getting the scheduling app means getting HubSpot’s entire Sales Hub as well. And the Sales Hub provides not just meetings but also features to solve any problems your sales team may face. And, naturally, the system works seamlessly with the rest of the HubSpot Growth Stack.
With HubSpot Meetings, you can book unlimited meetings. The software works on all devices so you can use it anywhere. It comes packed with over 135 native integrations, especially with your favorite calendars (Google, Outlook, and Office 365).
You can host personal, group, or round-robin meetings. You can log meetings by custom meeting types for easy reporting, and you can create custom form questions that save you time and collect all the information you need.
You can even customize colors, logos, and URL links to match your branding. You can localize languages, date styles, time zones, and number formatting to give meeting attendees a hyper-personalized experience.
Additionally, you can build buffer time in-between meetings and require advance notice for any booking. Your guests can choose from multiple meeting durations, depending on what they like and how much time they’re willing to commit to the meeting. You can share your meeting link anywhere or embed it on your website.
Plus, you get an email notification whenever someone books a meeting, and your CRM—also free—is automatically updated when a contact books an appointment.
All for free.
Pros
- Completely free
- Extensive native integrations
- Extremely powerful for a free offering
8. Calendar
A Cloud Calendar App with In-built Integration with Google Workspace
Google Calendar’s relatively simple design belies its robust event creation and sharing capabilities. With Google Calendar, you can share specific calendars with users. For instance, you can choose to share just your work calendar without giving the viewer access to your entire schedule.
Being cloud-based, changes made on one device are immediately and automatically synced to all your other devices. This way, you never have to worry about syncing events between your computer and phone.
It also offers seamless integrations with other apps in Google Workspace such as Gmail and Google Meet. You can easily create a video conferencing meeting and out send automated reminder emails and push notifications to all the participants before the meeting starts. As such, Google Calendar is an ideal choice for people or businesses already invested in the Google ecosystem.
Calendar’s interface employs a simple and professional design, keeping your calendar neat and tidy. You can view a single day’s events at a time or four days, one week, a month, or a full year. Or you can simply view a list of all your events in the Schedule View. The mobile app offers an equally intuitive experience with similar display options.
You can also organize your crowded calendar by sorting your events into separate calendars and color-coding them by category. Even for busy schedules and complex workflows, Calendar is surprisingly easy to use and flexible. There are countless add-ons available for Calendar.
Pricing
As any user of Google Sheets or Docs might have guessed, Google Calendar is free to use as well. The core features are the same whether or not you pay for a Workspace subscription, and you get 15 GB of cloud storage with the free plan.
That said, a paid plan does offer a lot of helpful features. For instance, you can set up custom emails for you and your team members, reserve conference rooms, get more cloud storage, and set up shared calendars.
Pros
- Intuitive UI
- Easy organization with color-coding
- Most features are free to use
- In-built integrations with Google Workspace
Cons
- Does not offer location-based reminders
9. Setmore
Best Education Scheduling Software
Though suitable for a wide range of industries, Setmore truly shines in the education arena. Through the platform, teachers and students can work together as a single unit while focusing on the larger picture.
Teachers understand the importance of flexibility. And with the extant prevalence of online learning, it has become necessary to offer 24/7 self-scheduling from anywhere in the world.
Setmore stands apart in how simple it makes things. When a client or student schedules an appointment, you both get confirmation notifications and your calendars are synced and updated. Then Setmore sends automated reminders via text or email to all the parties involved to make sure that everyone keeps the appointment.
With Profiles, you can attach lesson plans and notes, too, allowing students to prepare ahead of the class. This feature also works the same for client meetings; you can attach relevant documents and notes so that all participants can prepare ahead of the meeting. You can also send out automated emails to keep students accountable so that they never miss study sessions.
Consultants and private tutors or coaches also have it easy with this platform; the easy payment integrations with Stripe and Square make collecting payments a breeze as students or customers can pay online right on the platform.
Setmore also offers Teleport and Zoom integrations, which means that in a single click, you can be teaching live with video conferencing. You can easily schedule virtual classroom activities, parent-teacher meetings, and even exams for students.
Plus, integrations with Facebook and Instagram mean that you can meet your students where they hang out, allowing you to set appointments from those channels and personalize how you connect with them.
Pricing
Setmore’s free version accommodates up to four users and allows unlimited appointments, a custom booking page with a unique URL, and 100 email reminders monthly, as well as Teleport and Stripe integration.
The Premium (which costs $9 monthly per user) and Pro (which costs $12 monthly per user) plans both offer Square and Stripe integrations and support Teleport Pro. All pricing plans include website and CMS integration, email support, and analytics. Additionally, the Premium and Pro plans both offer 24/7 in-app support.
Pros
- Most suitable option for education scheduling
- Cloud-based, so no download necessary
- Feature-rich free plan
Cons
- Two-way sync with Google Calendar requires a paid plan
10. Doodle
Best Appointment Scheduling Software for Team Collaboration
With Doodle, scheduling team meetings is dead simple. In general, it is a powerful appointment scheduling software, but it truly comes into its own when you need to organize meetings for large groups of people with completely different schedules.
Doodle’s calendar visibility functionality allows you to see everyone’s availability at a glance, making it easy to schedule group meetings that work for everyone’s schedules. Doodle Poll is another useful feature that allows meeting participants to vote on the most suitable time slot for any meeting.
Doodle’s standalone booking and reminder system lets busy professionals gather together any sized group in a matter of minutes, minimizing scheduling headaches and lost time.
Integrations with Zoom and Slack make Doodle a great tool for collaboration. These integrations allow all communications relevant to the meeting to be stored and accessed in a single location.
Pricing
Doodle’s Pro Plan costs $6.95 monthly and allows one user, features no ads, integrations for Zoom, Zapier, and Slack, calendar sync, and a Doodle Bot for Slack. You also get custom logo and branding, in addition to a personalized scheduling URL and Doodle 1-on-1 meetings, among other features.
The Team Plan starts at $44.75 monthly for five users and adds multiple user management to the features in the Pro Plan.
The Enterprise Plan includes all the features of the Team Plan plus custom billing and legal terms, a dedicated success manager, priority support, and SSO, among other advanced features. Contact Doodle to get a quote for this plan.
Pros
- Offers a no-brainer way to schedule appointments that work for everyone
- Intuitive user experience
- Available for mobile
Cons
- Time zone options are unclear
11. Arrangr
Set Up Meetings and Find Ideal Meeting Spots
Arrangr is a meeting management software that allows you to set up conference calls, video chats, and find meeting spots. It comes bundled with an Intelligent Spot Finder that considers the reviews, ratings, distances, and even images of suggested meeting spots. It also has half-way point suggestions and considers your meeting history.
With its flexible invitation capability, you can send multiple dates and times to clients for them to choose the best option based on their availability. You can also choose your preferred virtual video or conference call platform.
Additionally, you get turnkey conferencing with auto-generated conference numbers, pins, and video call links integrated into the invite. You can also share an Arrangr link with your guests. The link will take them to your bookings page and they can choose a meeting date from the options available based on your schedule.
You can create multiple pages tailored to different activities, and Arrangr offers integrations with Google Calendar, Office 365, and iCal. Besides, Arrangr helps to schedule group meetings with several attendees, as well as to make, cancel, or reschedule reservations of meeting venues online.
Pricing
Arrangr offers a free-forever Basic Plan that is intended for occasional use. It includes unlimited 1:1s, unlimited group meetings with RSVPs and up to 15 recipients, unlimited polls and up to 15 recipients, 1 synced calendar with 1 sub-calendar, 1 booking page, spot finder, and auto-generated conference links and dial-ins. A-la-carte features may be added on for a small fee.
Robust enough for weekly use, the Pro Plan is available at no cost at the time of writing as part of the company’s COVID efforts. The plan includes everything in the Basic Plan plus 20 recipients for group meetings and polls, 1 synced calendar with 3 sub-calendars, 4 booking pages, custom notification timing, read receipts, and quick-fill invite templates. A-la-carte features may be added on for a small fee.
The Pro Plus Plan is perfect for advanced needs and is available at a discounted rate of $29.99 at the time of writing as part of the company’s COVID efforts. It includes everything in the Pro Plan plus 50 recipients for group meetings and polls, 7 synced calendars with 7 sub-calendars, 20 booking pages, custom branding, advanced scheduling page settings, and unlimited Typeform responses, among other a-la-carte features.
Pros
- The free-forever plan is good enough for most uses
- Unique Intelligent Spot Finder
- Streamlines making, canceling, or rescheduling reservations
Cons
- No API
12. HoneyBook
Best All-in-one Appointment Scheduling, Payment, and Project Management Tool
HoneyBook’s superpower is its robust CRM. This appointment scheduling software does more than just schedule meetings and book appointments. It also helps small businesses manage their relationships with customers all through the customer life cycle from the first meeting to getting paid and even beyond.
Because HoneyBook is an all-in-one tool that helps with appointment scheduling, payments, and project management, it keeps costs low and productivity up by reducing the number of tools you need to operate your business and track everything you need. Whether a customer or client lands on your website or clicks on a Facebook ad, you can immediately capture the lead and start tracking interaction.
The brandable scheduling portal allows you to set your availability so that your clients can claim the most ideal time for their meeting with you. Then HoneyBook sends automatic reminders to the client to reduce the risk of a no-show.
Additionally, you can set session details and location and set time buffers between sessions. You can also send a link to clients for scheduling through the mobile app, and you can connect sessions to ongoing projects so that you can view details about your client during sessions. The software offers real-time sync to Google Calendar, as well as third-party integrations that include Gmail, Zapier, and Quickbooks.
Pricing
HoneyBook’s pricing is as simple as the tool is effective; there is just one price point. You can pay $40 monthly with monthly billing or $34 monthly with annual billing. For payment processing, HoneyBook charges a flat 3% fee. You get a seven-day free trial with either plan, no credit card required. And you also get a 60-day money-back guarantee after your trial expires and you purchase the product.
Pros
- Customer support is excellent
- 60-day money-back guarantee
- Accommodates unlimited projects and clients
Cons
- No customization
- SMS reminders require a third-party integration to work
- The features are not geared towards industries with low price points
13. Appointy
Powerful Appointment Management Tool for Businesses of All Sizes in Any Industry
Appointy is an all-in-one solution for managing bookings and handling admin work across various industries. Its advanced scheduling features allow you to set booking rules and manage occupancy to limit the number of members per slot. Without any extra effort, you can implement recurring appointments, group scheduling, resource management, and online prepayments.
You can choose to send automated reminders and notifications, and you can review requests after appointments. Your team members can also manage their own schedules with real-time data sync because Appointy gives you access to individual staff logins.
Additionally, Appointy saves relevant details in a database that you can refer to at any time from anywhere. You can track sales, productivity, customer satisfaction, and other key metrics with advanced reporting and analytics features.
Appointy provides mobile apps for iOS and Android and integrates with several calendar applications, including Outlook, iCal, Google Calendar, and Office 365. Payment methods supported include PayPal, Authorize.Net, Stripe, and Square.
Plus, you’ll be able to integrate with other third-party applications such as Zoom, Facebook, Instagram, Reserve with Google, Zapier, and Intercom, among others. The booking widget can very easily be integrated into your website.
Pricing
Appointy’s Free Plan is free forever and comes with no hidden costs. It has limits of 1 staff, 5 services, and 100 appointments monthly. It also offers Square payments, a mobile app, Google bookings, and automated reminders.
The Growth Plan starts at $19.99 monthly and includes 1 staff with unlimited services, unlimited appointments, live chat/email support, PayPal and Stripe payments (in addition to Square payments), Google Calendar sync, and advanced booking features.
The Professional Plan starts at $49.99 monthly. It includes individual staff login, resource scheduling, gift certificates, and a dedicated relationship manager.
Finally, the Enterprise Plan starts at $79.99 monthly and adds SMS customization and Appointy brand removal.
Larger enterprises that need custom solutions with custom branding can contact sales to discuss their needs. All plans come with a 14-day free trial, no credit card required.
Pros
- Customers can book through Facebook
- Powerful reporting and analytics
- The free plan is completely free
Cons
- Somewhat steep learning curve
- UI could use some work
14. YouCanBook.me
Simple Online Appointment Scheduling for Your Team
Designed for simplicity, YouCanBook.me helps you plan out your entire week in advance, offering one-time event reminders or recurring meetings. The platform provides a smooth experience with customizable notifications, a cornucopia of third-party integrations, and team assignment.
YouCanBook.me is accessible from any device, including mobile. Email and SMS notifications keep you and your client informed about booked appointments. Its task assignment feature allows you to prepare schedules for your entire staff. It can also be integrated with other third-party programs to streamline your calendar.
The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to plan out an entire week. Besides setting the duration of each meeting, you can also set how much buffer time you need between meetings. The system checks the customer’s language and time zone.
The system also offers group bookings and questionnaires to confirm bookings. You can view all upcoming events for the week, and you or the client cancel, reschedule, or rebook any events as necessary.
The platform is highly customizable, allowing you to add your logo or even delve into the CSS to modify it to better suit your brand.
You can embed the booking widget on your website or Facebook page, require Captcha tests to preclude spam bots, accept credit card payments, and even offer tentative bookings.
Pricing
YouCanBook.me offers a single subscription plan that starts at $10 monthly per calendar and provides up to 200 separate booking pages, among other features.
Pros
- Extensive customization features
- Drag-and-drop task management grid
- Offers cancellation and rebooking
Cons
- No attendance tracking
- No contact management
15. SuperSaaS
Flexible and Highly-customizable Appointment Scheduling Software
Offering unparalleled flexibility and customizability, SuperSaaS is a one-stop solution for appointment scheduling. You can tailor the program’s layout to your exact needs and preferences, and you can even white-label the interface. You can create scheduling types and add individual service scheduling, which allows your customers to book the exact service they want from a list on your booking page.
SuperSaaS also provides sales and marketing tools that help you attract more business. So, you don’t need to pay for any other software for these activities. With SuperSaaS, you can create special promos and coupons for each specific service or resource.
You can also create and apply pricing rules that reflect your branding or accommodate the requirements of your customers. And you can use the application to engage with customers after providing service and gather feedback and insight into how you can improve your services.
Besides customizing the layout and branding to suit your needs, there are other customization options available as well. For instance, you can show appointments and open slots by day, week, or month in a calendar format.
It is also easier to manage resources like meeting rooms or clinic spaces with SuperSaaS. You can manage the individual availability of these resources and ensure that you can accommodate as many customers as possible.
Additionally, SuperSaaS supports group bookings for events like classes, workshops, or seminars. The solution is affordable and has a free version if you have only basic scheduling needs.
Pricing
SuperSaaS offers a free plan and five other pricing plans. The Free Package allows up to 50 appointments, up to 500 reservations, and up to 50 registered users. It comes with ads and does not offer automated calendar synchronization.
Package A costs $8 monthly and comes with up to 100 appointments, up to 1000 reservations, unlimited registered users, automated calendar sync, and no ads.
Package B costs $16 monthly and comes with up to 300 appointments, up to 3000 reservations, unlimited registered users, automated calendar sync, and no ads.
Package C costs $26 monthly and comes with up to 600 appointments, up to 6000 reservations, unlimited registered users, automated calendar sync, and no ads.
Package D costs $36 monthly and comes with up to 900 appointments, up to 9000 reservations, unlimited registered users, automated calendar sync, and no ads.
Package E costs $46 monthly and comes with up to 1500 appointments, up to 15,000 reservations, unlimited registered users, automated calendar sync, and no ads.
All packages include all features, including support for 35+ languages, payments, automated SMS & email notifications, third-party integrations, layout management, and sales & marketing.
Pros
- Highly customizable layout
- All-inclusive pricing plans that offer all features and only impose limits on how many appointments and registered users you can have
Cons
- No mobile app
16. ScheduleOnce
Best Funnel Scheduling Solution for Large Organizations
ScheduleOnce is a great appointment scheduling solution for companies that need to automate mass scheduling. It is also a great option for companies that want to increase pre-sales and manage their prospects better among staff. In other words, ScheduleOnce is the ideal appointment management platform for you if your key resource is your people.
You can easily control the type and length of meetings by simply creating multiple ‘events’ and setting rules for each event. Some rules you can set include requiring prior approval before booking confirmation, choosing which staff member takes priority, choosing whether meetings will be held in person or on Zoom, and making meetings either free or paid.
ScheduleOnce can help you manage prospects, sell packages or workshops, and streamline your lead generation efforts. ScheduleOnce also offers automatic invoicing and reports.
ScheduleOnce is similar to Calendly as it is designed to eliminate email back-and-forth and phone tags. But beyond this, you get an extra layer of control and customization. The program is well-suited to large corporate or professional teams.
Pricing
ScheduleOnce offers three types of accounts, all of which come with a 14-day free trial. The Basic Plan costs $7.50 monthly per user and comes with unlimited bookings, comprehensive time-zone support, multi-user system, approvals for bookings, automatic bookings, integrations with calendars, and many other features.
The Professional Plan costs $15.80 monthly per user and comes with multiple event types, master pages, custom booking forms, custom themes, and other professional features.
The Enterprise Plan costs $32.50 monthly per user and offers resources pools, multiple distribution methods, custom notifications, HIPAA compliance, API, Webex integration, and so on.
Pros
- Easy to set up
- Affordable monthly cost
- Excellent customer support
Cons
- No client database
- No mobile access
17. Square Appointments
Best Appointment Scheduling Software for Solopreneurs
Square Appointments gives you all the features necessary for online appointment scheduling without hiding important features behind a paywall or showing pesky ads to your prospects. It allows you to set up a webpage on which clients can view your availability and book an appointment. And it sends them automated SMS or email reminders from time to time to make sure they do not miss the appointment.
Its ability to sync with Google Calendar means that conflicts are avoided automatically by hiding unavailable dates and times on your booking page. Square Appointments also offers Square’s best-in-class POS software with inventory that works seamlessly with the appointment scheduling platform.
With Square Appointments, you can have customers book appointments through your website and then attach intake forms, documents, or contracts to the verification emails that you send your prospects. You can also require deposits to ward against no-shows and issue invoices. You can offer class or group bookings, and you can maintain a customer database.
Pricing
The Free Plan grants you access to a full appointment scheduling software with one staff calendar and charges 2.5% plus 10 cents for all payments processed through the platform.
For $50 monthly, you get two to five staff calendars plus all the other features.
And for $90 monthly, you get six to 10 staff calendars plus all the other features.
If you need more than 10 staff calendars, you must contact sales for custom pricing.
Pros
- Integrated POS system operates seamlessly
- Offers unlimited features for one user
- Sends automatic SMS or email reminders
Cons
- Only syncs with Google Calendar
- No video chat integration
- Must use Square to process payments
18. Bookwhen
Flexible Online Bookings for Both One-off and Recurring Events
Bookwhen offers a flexible booking platform that is just as great for big events as it is for small ones. With Bookwhen, you can save time with a quick setup and automation—like confirmation and reminder emails—so that you can focus on other aspects of running operations instead.
Bookwhen allows you to customize its interface to reflect your company’s branding. You can customize the forms and schedule pages so that customers only see the fields you need them to fill. Scheduling events with Bookwhen is fast and easy.
Also, Bookwhen allows you to send custom confirmation and reminder emails to customers, keeping them engaged and reminding them not to miss the event. You can choose when to send reminder emails. This allows for personalized service and encourages loyalty.
Bookwhen also allows you to create discounts and promos for your esteemed customers. You can restrict the discount codes to single events or allow them to be applied to other events as well. Plus, the system also supports discounts for block bookings to encourage more group bookings and increase average order value.
At checkout, you can offer customers the option to pay either online or offline. Bookwhen offers integrations with electronic payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Worldpay. You can choose to absorb the processing fees or pass them on to the customer.
Additionally, Bookwhen provides seamless integrations to calendar apps so that administrators and staff can stay on top of events that are to be held at their venues. Besides, being completely cloud-based, the platform can be used on any device, including mobile.
Pricing
Bookwhen offers several plans to meet the needs of users of different classes, from SMB to enterprise users. The Free Plan allows 200 bookings per month and cannot be used for paid events.
The Lite Plan costs $15 monthly and allows 300 bookings per month, 1 admin user, and 1 schedule page.
The Standard Plan costs $29 monthly and allows 800 bookings per month, 5 admin users, and 3 schedule pages.
The Plus Plan costs $59 monthly and allows 1800 bookings per month, 10 admin users, and 6 schedule pages.
And finally, the Gold Plan costs $99 monthly and allows 4000 bookings per month, 25 admin users, and 15 schedule pages.
Pros
- Allows you to offer discounts for group bookings
- Receive payments online or offline
Cons
- No mobile app, although the platform is mobile-friendly
- No CRM
What is the Best Employee Scheduling and Shift Planning Software?
This part of the guide aims to help you choose the best employee scheduling and shift planning software for your business. We’ll be exploring 12 of the best options out there so that you can choose a system that benefits both your employees and your organization. Make shift planning your superpower.
1. Planday
Manage an entire Shift-based Workforce in One Web-based Platform
If you want to help your employees work smarter and not harder, you might find all the help you need with Planday. Planday is a staff scheduling software that connects managers and employees across all devices, providing them with an overview of work schedules, absences, shift swaps, punch clock, and so on.
Planday helps simplify employee schedule management with features like a location-specific clock that allows employees to clock-in from any device as soon as they arrive at work. Planday also features an advanced payroll export feature, automation, mobile connectivity, and modern templates.
By using Planday, you free up your own time as well as spend less time correcting schedules, changing spreadsheets, and tracking down employees. Instead, you can spend your time addressing other business matters while Planday takes care of those things.
Planday’s drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to create and change schedules. You can collaborate with employees to come up with a schedule that works for everyone, thereby reducing absenteeism and improving productivity. Planday stores all workforce and payroll information in one place so that you can detect trends and opportunities and fix any irregularities.
Additionally, you can copy a working schedule over to the next week, and managers can look into employee hours, vacation requests, communications, payroll, and shift swaps. Planday also offers other tools that run the gamut from time management and payroll management to communication and reporting. The platform presents you with payroll forecasts and notifications on your underperforming employees.
Pricing
Planday has four pricing plans, all of which have a 30-day, no-credit-card-required free trial. The Starter Plan starts at $2.74 per user per month and includes an easy-to-use punch clock, accurate payroll reporting, and working time rules, among other features.
The Plus Plan starts at $4.11 per user per month (with a 20-user minimum) and includes full payroll integration, shared contracts and pay slips, easy access to all integrations, and scheduling across multiple locations, among other features.
The Pro Plan starts at $6.86 per user per month (with a 50-user minimum) and includes smart planning metrics, auto-schedule, open API, unlimited locations, customized security groups, and SSO.
The Enterprise Plan offers a fully-customized solution and is priced on a case-by-case basis. It features tailored security groups, rules and regulations across countries, and advanced reporting. Contact sales or a custom pricing plan.
Pros
- Offers mobile apps for Android and iOS
- 24/7 support available
Cons
- Doesn’t sync to iCal
2. Humanity
Best Job Scheduling Software for Shift Schedules
Humanity is a highly-capable, easy-to-use shift scheduler with broad industry applicability. Scheduling software can be confusing and difficult to understand for SMBs without dedicated HR manpower. Humanity knows this and has developed a flexible, self-serve solution with a high-touch and almost white-glove approach. This gives SMBs an option they can set up and deploy easily without any prior shift planning experience.
The Humanity interface is well-designed, neatly organized, and easy on the eyes. On the dashboard, there is a tutorials widget that makes it easy to find how-to guides and resources on any topic. If you can’t find the help you need from the tutorials widget, there is a chat widget that allows you to chat with a team member.
The software works entirely in the cloud; so, all relevant data is always available to the users from any device. The platform allows employees to directly trade shifts among themselves, thus reducing the workload on managers. It comes with conflict prevention and shift forecasting, which means that any possible shift conflicts are detected early and eliminated permanently.
The web-based time clock functionality eliminates the need for expensive stand-alone equipment and streamlines the process of time sheet management. This allows you to take your employee work data directly to payroll. You also get insights into who is clocked in, where they’re clocked in from, and what they’re working on at any time. And you can keep track of who came in late and who is absent from work on any day.
Additionally, it stores and uses internal time and attendance data to generate perfect time sheets with personalized payroll settings. This allows you to take full control of your payroll reports by determining payroll periods, setting overtime rules, and more. Reports can be exported as PDFs, CSVs, or sent via email for record-keeping and employees can view the data at any time.
Pricing
The Starter Plan begins at $3 per user per month (with an $80/month minimum) and focuses on basic scheduling for teams. It features cloud-based employee scheduling, employee-centric shift trade, a centralized administrative dashboard, availability and time-off management, mobile access, and SMS, in-app, and email notifications.
The Classic Plan begins at $4 per user per month (with an $80/month minimum) and adds auto-fill scheduling, extensive reporting and analytics, and real-time labor cost and budgeting. With this plan, you also get time and attendance, geolocation clock-in/clock-out, skills and certifications, custom leave types and policies, secure messaging, and payroll export.
For the Enterprise Plan, contact the vendor for pricing.
Pros
- Revamped user interface
- An abundance of self-help tools and resources
- Automatic scheduling
- Advanced feature set with reports and forecasts
Cons
- Steep learning curve due to the vast feature set
3. Resource Guru
Employee Scheduling Software That Helps You Streamline Resource Planning and Keep Company Assets Under Control
Resource Guru is an employee scheduling tool that helps you and your team stay on track in your business and meet deadlines. A cloud-based team calendar, Resource Guru eliminates scheduling problems and simplifies the delegation of people, equipment, and other resources.
Resource Guru specializes in fast and modifiable scheduling which means that even the most dynamic staff schedules are regularly updated. Because the system requires so little human intervention, errors and confusion caused by the human factor are eliminated.
Resource Guru puts your entire team into one online calendar where you can collaborate on schedules, plan your moves, and set up schedules for staff and resources. It allows businesses to maximize their schedules and make the most of their resources, equipment, manpower, and time.
The platform assembles all projects, tasks, clients, and meetings into a single, smart calendar and gives you the full picture of who does what and how they are faring. You can use custom fields and filters such as locations, skills, departments, permanent or freelance, and so on to home in on a particular project or group.
Thanks to its open API and Webhooks, the system easily integrates with virtually any other software environment.
Pricing
Resource Guru offers three SMB pricing plans and an Enterprise Plan. All plans include unlimited projects, unlimited clients, advanced clash management, time zone support, personalized dashboards, custom fields and filters, flexible user permissions, API with webhooks, vacation tracker, absence management, and calendar sync.
The Grasshopper Plan costs $2.5 monthly per person and contains all the standard features except SSO and reports.
The Blackbelt Plan costs $4.16 monthly per person and contains all the standard features including reports.
The Master Plan costs $6.65 monthly per person and contains all the standard features including reports, SSO, data import, and phone support.
Pros
- Unlimited projects with all plans
- Open API allows integration with virtually any third-party software
Cons
- No mobile app
4. Sage HR
All-in-one Employee Scheduling and Resource Management Platform
Formerly known as CakeHR, Sage HR is a cloud-based resource management solution designed to cater to businesses in various industries. It provides solutions for recruitment, performance reporting with KPIs, shift scheduling, expense management, and other HR-related areas.
With a well-designed, intuitive user interface, Sage HR emphasizes streamlined, seamless recruitment processes. It allows you to create job ads, schedule interviews with applicants, and manage them, all in one platform.
You also gain insights into whether or not you are helping your employees reach their full potential and building employee loyalty. Employees can get 360-degree feedback on their performance from their managers, peers, and subordinates, eliminating any suspicions of bias. You can also use OKRs to empower your team to set goals, track progress, and make sure that everyone is aligned to your goals and missions.
Sage HR delivers highly-detailed, impressive employee and company reports. The platform allows employees to compute their leave and time-off down to the last hour. In just a few clicks, you can find out who is on leave and when they will be coming back to work. You can also check the company schedules at any time.
Pricing
Sage HR gives you the option to choose the modules you need and pay for only those modules. The pricing of each module for one person is as follows:
- Leave Management Module – $5.5
- Performance Module – $3
- Shift Scheduling Module – $3
- Timesheets Module – $3
- Expenses Module – $1.5
- Recruitment Module – $200
If you choose to go with all the modules, you pay $16 monthly for one employee. The vendor has a handy calculator on their website to help you estimate your fee.
Pros
- Robust system allows you to pay for only the modules you need
- All-in-one employee management tool
- Open API for easy third-party integrations
Cons
- No salaried employee tracking
5. Findmyshift
Employee Shift Planning Software that Just Works
Findmyshift is a cloud-based staff scheduling software that allows you to manage shift requests, create staff rosters, track labor costs, and communicate with your employees. Being cloud-based, it is easy to set up—requiring no installation—and equips you with everything you need to manage your team.
The software features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you focus on who you are scheduling rather than on how you are scheduling. The built-in time clock tracks the hours that employees spend working.
There are also automated reports that improve cost reporting and payroll accuracy. Accurate payroll data can be generated by combining overtime rates, pay rates, employee schedules, and time sheets.
You can add new columns to the database to sort and filter your data in ways that suit your organization. Employees can also request, cancel, or swap shifts with their colleagues pending approval from their managers. You can also set up the system to send automated shift reminders to employees the day before their shift so that they do not miss them.
Findmyshift makes it easy to pay employees exactly what they are due as determined by the hourly rates for different times of day, days of the week, employee age, and other factors. There is a document repository, as well as a noticeboard to post important messages, upload documents, and communicate with your employees. And all data is SSL-encrypted to guarantee privacy.
Pricing
Findmyshift offers three pricing plans, plus a free plan for small teams. The free Personal Plan supports up to five employees and offers 1 week of historical data, drag-and-drop scheduling, timesheets, and time clocks.
The Volunteer Plan, which costs $26.25 monthly, supports unlimited employees and adds unlimited historical data, real-time reporting, templates, a customizable database, and customizable filters.
The Business Plan, which costs $35 monthly, adds payroll calculation functionality.
Pros
- Cloud-based
- Intuitive drag-and-drop scheduling interface
- Automated shift reminders
Cons
- Poor customization options
6. QuickBooks Time
Best Employee and Job Scheduling Software for Accounting Integration
Formerly known as TSheets, QuickBooks Time brings employee scheduling and time tracking together and helps you keep track of your employees in real-time from any device. It provides mobile time tracking and employees can use their own devices to clock in and out. There are mobile apps available for Android and iOS.
You can set up overtime alerts for employees, informing managers before overtime starts. The alerts can be sent to managers, administrators, or employees via email, SMS, or even Twitter.
There is a labor expense management module that reports labor expenses, including overtime and regular time, as well as PTO. QuickBooks Time also offers customizable filters to help you find the exact timesheet information sorted by project, job code, employee, date, group, and payroll period.
QuickBooks Time scheduling software makes building and sharing schedules with employees faster and easier. You can assign jobs and shifts and keep your staff in the know. You simply choose the time and day, who to assign it to, and share it when you’re ready.
The drag-and-drop interface makes modifying schedules easier. You can add, edit, or delete shifts on your phone, alert employees of new schedules and shift changes, and you can repeat the shift schedule with a single click.
You can also schedule by job. Choose the day, time, and client, and then assign the job to an employee. You can view all unassigned jobs at a glance and in a single click, repeat last week’s schedule. There is a Who’s Working window to help you find employees that are available for urgent jobs.
Pricing
QuickBooks Time offers two pricing plans. For the Premium Plan, they charge a base fee of $20 per month plus $8 per user per month. The base fee includes one admin.
The Elite Plan takes a base fee of $40 per month plus $10 per month per user. The base fee includes one admin.
Pros
- Intuitive pop-out window navigation
- Advanced tracking with customizable fields
- Geofencing
- Call-to-clock-in functionality
- See who’s working at anytime
Cons
- Base fees increase the overall cost
- No screenshots or keystroke logging
- No future-time scheduling
7. Deputy
Best Employee Scheduling Software for Multi-location Businesses
Deputy is an ideal scheduling software for a wide range of industries such as retail stores, restaurants, government agencies, education, and nonprofits, among others. Regardless of your size, you will find Deputy up to the task of streamlining the management of your staff’s tasks and schedules.
Using the app’s robust scheduling features, you can cut costs across departments by reducing manpower while ensuring good team management. You can also use the auto-scheduling function to complete scheduling tasks or create new schedules by department. After publishing the schedule, you can notify the team via email, SMS, or push notifications so that everyone is kept in the loop.
Deputy simplifies recording staff hours and calculating and exporting timesheets for payroll purposes. You can start and stop shift with the app, and you can review timesheets for accuracy and verification purposes before approval. And, in a single click, you can export the finished timesheets to payroll software.
The built-in Deputy Newsfeed displays timely information and updates. The software also offers seamless communication features and in-app messaging to boost collaboration across the whole company, among teams, or between individuals.
You can attach PDFs, images, or any other files in the messages to enhance delivery. Employees can also customize how often or at what times they receive notifications.
With Personal Tasking, Deputy allows you to delegate tasks effectively. You can create workloads and assign them to anyone, yourself included. The built-in dashboard allows you to keep track of the status of any tasks and stay on top of everything.
Color-coded messages help you remain aware of ongoing or incomplete tasks that require your attention. And you can use templates to complete task lists or create and save your own templates.
The platform provides seamless integration with industry-leading POS, payroll, and HR management software. Some supported integrations include Xero, Zapier, Dropbox, Square, and Myob, to name a few.
Pricing
Deputy offers four simple plans. The Scheduling Plan, which costs $2.50 per user per month, offers scheduling and team communication.
The Time & Attendance Plan, which costs $2.50 per user per month, allows you to track attendance and create timesheet reports for payroll.
The Premium Plan, which costs $4 per user per month, offers complete scheduling, attendance, and time tracking with reports.
The Enterprise Plan, which is quote-based, offers large, complex businesses a custom configuration for time, attendance, and schedule tracking.
Pros
- Intuitive UI
- Good mobile apps
- Extensive third-party integration options
- Open shifts and easy shift swapping
Cons
- Not a full HR management tool
- The only language supported is English
8. Genio
Best Employee Scheduling Software for Retail, Field Service, and Hospitality
Genio is a cloud-based workforce management software that boasts such advanced features as team scheduling, attendance management with face ID, and location and task management. The software also comes with mobile apps for Android and iOS.
Genio connects business owners and managers with their staff. You can track attendance in real-time, communicate issues with team leaders, and generate reports for payroll computation.
Its cutting-edge facial recognition technology allows retailers to verify the identity of their staff at clock-in. The platform also accurately locates each team member in real-time, allowing you to monitor the delivery routes used by your employees, for example. You can see how far they are from their destination with real-time updates.
You can create, assign, and track progress on tasks. From a centralized calendar, you can easily manage job orders, schedule staff, assign work and job orders, and add task instructions. Each worker can view information and instructions while you track their locations and the status of their assigned tasks.
Genio also facilitates communication by offering effective communication channels from messaging to quick calls. You can send messages to every staff member or a specific group of employees.
Pricing
Genio does not publish any pricing information. Contact the vendor for pricing.
Pros
- Mobile access
- Facial recognition
Cons
- No billing/invoicing
- No calendar sync
9. Bitrix24
Best Staff Scheduling Solution for Enterprises
The Bitrix24 platform integrates and automates communication and scheduling. It features tools for both one-on-one and company-wide communications and allows you to create department-specific and project-specific communication groups. It also integrates with your CRM software and allows communication with clients from a single platform.
Through Bitrix24, you can schedule meetings and video calls, and the platform features integrations with social media, as well as live chat support.
Additionally, the all-in-one social workplace platform features document storage and sharing; HR tools for monitoring, scheduling, and workflow automation; group communication channels to facilitate collaboration and sharing within groups; CRM integration; client scheduling and communication, including live chat and social media; and company website creation and hosting.
Pricing
The vast range of features offered by Bitrix24 calls for an equally vast range of pricing tiers. The free version of the software includes basic communication, project management, CRM functions, and up to 5 GB of cloud storage.
The Start+ Plan includes expanded functionality and online storage for two users, all for $24 monthly per user.
If you need the same functionalities contained in the Start+ Plan for 6 – 24 users, you can pay $69 per user per month and get some customization in the amount of CRM and online presence supported.
The $99/user/month plan adds analytics tools and more storage, and supports up to 50 users, among other added features.
To support unlimited users, the $199/user/month plan is available. There are discounts for annual and biannual billing plans.
Pros
- Fully-integrated and turnkey automated workplace platform
- Mobile app facilitates constant connectivity and notifications for new meeting requests
Cons
- Vast feature set can be overwhelming for new users or those who don’t need all the features
- Not ideal for informal or extended conversations and communication
10. Ganttic
Resource Management and Employee Scheduling Software that Helps You Manage Limited Resources Efficiently
Ganttic offers an online platform for resource planning and schedule management. It grants an unlimited number of users access to a user-friendly interface with Gantt charts for real-time collaboration and discussion. The platform does a fantastic job of scheduling projects, people, facilities, and equipment.
Planning and scheduling are important parts of any business, even as important as bookkeeping. But because plans get modified all the time and replanning takes a lot of time with traditional tools, most businesses—especially the smaller ones—tend to put it off. Ganttic makes the process of replanning and rescheduling easier and more efficient.
Ganttic helps businesses manage limited resources in the most efficient way possible. With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, planning and scheduling are visual. Ganttic allows you to plan, schedule, and manage any kind of company resource. You can easily see who is doing what, when, where, and how, in real-time, from anywhere.
The tool’s configurable resource properties allow you to add any additional relevant information you might have about your company’s resources and use this information to group and filter resources. For any given period, you can plan and track capacity utilization of resources, and you can sync any tasks that may be assigned to a resource with Google Calendar.
You can also find out which staff members are overworked and which ones could take on more work. You can easily create customized reports from your data and also export schedules and plans as CSVs or print them out.
The platform lets you view your plans from either a resource or project point of view. In other words, you can see how your resources are allocated per project and what tasks they have to perform in each project.
Pricing
Ganttic offers several pricing packages as follows:
- The Free Plan allows a maximum of 10 resources
- The Pro 20 Plan costs $1.25 monthly per resource and allows a maximum of 20 resources
- The Pro 50 Plan costs $1.18 monthly per resource and allows a maximum of 50 resources
- The Pro 150 Plan costs $0.99 monthly per resource and allows a maximum of 150 resources
- The Pro 250 Plan costs $0.92 monthly per resource and allows a maximum of 250 resources
- The Pro 500 Plan costs $0.76 monthly per resource and allows a maximum of 500 resources
- The Pro 1000 Plan costs $0.59 monthly per resource and allows a maximum of 1000 resources
- The Pro 1500 Plan costs $0.53 monthly per resource and allows a maximum of 1500 resources
- The Pro 2000 Plan costs $0.50 monthly per resource and allows a maximum of 2000 resources
Pros
- Extensible through a REST API and Webhooks
- Superb portfolio optimization capabilities
Cons
- Longer setup time
11. SkedPal
Best for Freelancers and Independent Professionals
Targeted towards freelancers and independent professionals, SkedPal is AI-powered personal scheduling software that uses predictive methods to create a time-blocked schedule to help you remain productive and meet deadlines while working from home.
The platform syncs with other calendars—such as Google, Outlook, and iCal—and can help you automatically schedule your calendar and core tasks around your appointments and other obligations.
SkedPal is essentially a cross between a calendar and a to-do list that learns your work habits as you use it. It also includes support for workflow and team schedules if you work remotely with a team.
The platform offers guidance and support for independent professionals that may struggle with time management. It syncs seamlessly with other calendar and scheduling programs to create a single-platform schedule. And it syncs the scheduling of both professional and personal obligations—such as health and wellness time—into one platform.
Pricing
SkedPal offers a 14-day free trial after which you can subscribe for $14.95 per month or $119.40 annually.
Pros
- AI-powered assistant learns your work habits and adapts accordingly
- Easy-to-use interface with custom color-coding
- Mobile app available
Cons
- Limitations on how tasks can be broken down
Limited view of your long-term schedule
12. Nowsta
Employee Scheduling and Time Clock Software for Restaurants and Caterers
Nowsta is an employee scheduling and time clock software for businesses that pay their employees by the hour. It is particularly useful for businesses that do not have fixed working hours and those that may not work from a fixed location. This flexibility makes it a popular choice for restaurants and caterers.
Nowsta features integrations with payroll services and can even automatically pay your staff if you like. This is another feature that makes it an excellent choice for businesses that work without a set schedule or that work gigs.
Additionally, Nowsta lets you send and receive schedule requests in real-time via their mobile app, making scheduling a breeze. You can sort employees by qualifications and availability, simplifying the assembly of teams for specific projects.
Nowsta also features GPS-enabled clock-in to help you track attendance and hours worked. You can track the performance of individual employees, and this makes it easy to identify your best team members objectively.
Besides, the platform lets you automate payroll tasks, including making hourly calculations and instant payouts. The program is available through a web browser or mobile app, and there is a version of the app for your employees to clock-in and respond to scheduling requests.
Pricing
Nowsta offers three pricing plans based on the number of users you need it for and what features you need. All plans come with a $39 minimum regardless of the size of your organization. As usual, discounts apply for annual billing.
The Starter Plan costs $2.50 monthly per user and includes basic scheduling and tracking tools, 3 admin logins, and unlimited SMS correspondence.
The Professional Plan costs $4 monthly per user and includes advanced tracking and reporting, plus 20 admin logins.
The Enterprise Plan costs $8 monthly per user and adds unlimited admin logins, organization-wide analytics, and a regional dashboard.
Pros
- Best for unpredictable job types and gig work
- Eliminates back-and-forth in scheduling
- Simplifies payroll and scheduling
Cons
- Tracking of long-term paid time off and other long-term unavailability is poor
- Android app is not as good as the iPhone app
- No free plan available
13. ZoomShift
Best Shift Scheduling Software for Small Businesses
ZoomShift offers small businesses the same shift scheduling toolset that its competitors offer larger enterprises. Although it does not have as many features as some of the other options on this list, it boasts a simple, well-organized UI that looks just as great on mobile as on desktop.
ZoomShift targets companies with 15 to 40 employees and aims to help them graduate from building schedules in Microsoft Excel or pen and paper. As companies of that size often have no HR manager or department, the owner might be the one making schedules. ZoomShift aims to help such business owners minimize the time they spend on this time-draining task.
ZoomShift allows you to upload existing employee data as CSV files into the system. You can export this data from any accounting or payroll software such as QuickBooks, Square, or Xero. Even better, ZoomShift allows you to simply add an employee’s name and email address and send them an invite to set up their own account.
Also, you can create a job title and link it to the employee who holds that position. You can color-code positions so that they are easier to spot on schedules. You can set up your company’s different locations and identify which employees work in which department or location. You can create shift templates for common shifts so you do not have to create them from scratch every time.
Pricing
The free version of ZoomShift offers basic scheduling features and discussions.
The Starter Plan adds features such as time-off requests and shift swaps and costs $2 monthly per user.
The Pro Plan allows syncing with Google Calendar and iCal, offers text notifications and shift reminders, and is priced at $3.50 monthly per user.
Finally, the Advanced Plan is priced at $5 monthly per user and offers timesheet restrictions and time clock reminders.
Pros
- Impressive feature set
- Mobile-friendly
Cons
- Requires Pro or Advanced plan to use text notifications, shift reminders, and calendar sync
- No open API
- Phone support limited to office hours
What is Scheduling Software?
Scheduling appointments over the phone or via back-and-forth emails is time-consuming and a surefire way to damage your marketing conversion rates. This is why professionals, companies, and organizations the world over are turning to scheduling software.
The demand for scheduling software is growing rapidly—consider that the global market for appointment scheduling software is projected to hit $546.31 million by 2026, up from a total market value of $205.85 million in 2018.
Scheduling software is a business solution that helps businesses and independent professionals improve their efficiency in scheduling and booking appointments. Also called appointment booking software or online booking software, appointment scheduling software performs five major functions:
1. Customer Scheduling
Appointment Scheduling Software allows you to streamline and automate the process of setting appointments with anyone in your organization. You can provide your clients with a calendar to schedule an appointment with a team member in your organization.
2. Staff Scheduling
Employee scheduling software—staff scheduling, shift scheduling, or job scheduling software, as it is otherwise known—can help you simplify and automate the management of your employees’ calendars. You can assign shifts, tasks, or projects to each employee and keep tabs on them to ensure that they are at work when they should be.
3. Automatic Reminders
Appointment Scheduling software allows you to send automatic reminders to clients about upcoming appointments. The reminders may be sent via SMS or emails. The same goes for employee scheduling software; they allow you to send reminders to your employees about upcoming shifts and pending or unfinished tasks.
4. Calendar Management
With scheduling software, managing your calendar and even those of your employees is simplified.
5. Real-time Confirmation Engine
Appointment scheduling software allows you to immediately deny or confirm an appointment after receiving an appointment request.
What Features Should You Look for in Scheduling Software?
Not all scheduling software is created equal. To find the ideal appointment scheduling software for your company, there are five key features and functionalities you need to consider.
1. An Intuitive Booking Page
The booking page has to be simple to understand and easy to use. Customers need to know what they should do without having to talk to one of your customer service reps. So, the booking page experience has to be seamless.
The solution also has to be available on channels your customers engage in. This could mean integration with social media channels, for example.
2. Third-party Integrations
The scheduling software you choose needs to integrate easily with other software you use to run your business such as CRM, accounting, and payroll software (for employee scheduling solutions).
3. Robust Reporting
The system you choose must offer robust analytics and reporting so that you can uncover sticking points for clients during appointment bookings, determine booking frequency, and gauge customer satisfaction.
4. Smart Automation
You want a scheduling program that can automate repetitive tasks for you. For appointment scheduling software, this includes sending out confirmation and reminder emails to clients and other parties involved in meetings, among other features.
For employee scheduling software, this includes automatic shift notifications and reminders, automated review requests, and so on.
5. Flexible Scheduling Options
Scheduling software must be flexible enough to meet the needs of your organization. You might want to receive appointment requests that you can accept or reject as your availability dictates, rather than make firm bookings.
You might also want to add a buffer between appointments so that clients can’t book during those periods. Whatever your needs are, the system you choose must be flexible enough to accommodate those needs.
Scheduling Software FAQ
HubSpot Meetings is our top pick for the best free appointment scheduling software. It offers an unprecedented feature-rich toolset for appointment scheduling.
Unlike with spreadsheets and the even more outdated whiteboard, employee scheduling software makes it easy to set up new schedules in minutes rather than hours.
You can create standard shifts and assign them to an employee. And if your schedule hardly changes week-to-week, you can simply duplicate the first schedule and tweak it as necessary.
In addition to saving your time, employee scheduling software can make employee schedules accessible 24/7 via the cloud. Employees can receive notifications and reminders about upcoming shifts, making them less likely to miss their shifts, and shift swapping is simplified.
Also, you can make unlimited schedule changes easily, and you can more swiftly adapt to last-minute schedule changes. You can allow your employees to self-schedule, thereby letting them create schedules that work for them and increasing employee satisfaction. And you can more effectively manage time-off.
Employee scheduling software also simplifies the recording of work hours and helps with payroll. With advanced analytics and reporting, it can help you make better staffing decisions. And, finally, it can provide a seamless, general communication platform.
Appointment scheduling software can help you increase revenue in many ways. For one, they offer improved booking flexibility. A customer can book an appointment with you at any time of day, regardless of whether you are awake or asleep because you don’t have to be there to book the appointment.
Naturally, this also reduces the workload on you and your staff, which means you and your team can now focus your energies on delivering stellar service and growing your top line.
Appointment scheduling software also reduces no-shows because they send automated reminders to clients about bookings. If you think you lose nothing to no-shows, think again: research shows that a no-show rate of just 12% can cost a vascular laboratory as much as $89,107 annually, while a 5% reduction in no-shows can increase a laboratory’s revenues by $51,769 annually.
Although prices vary widely, most scheduling software providers charge anywhere between $1 to $4 monthly per user. Others charge a set fee of between $14 to $35 monthly per location, allowing an unlimited number of users. Most providers also offer a free plan with limited features for small businesses.
Ready to Grow Your Revenue and Streamline Your Business Operations with Scheduling Software?
Now you know all about scheduling software—what it is, why you need it, and the pros and cons of the best offerings on the market. You also now have the tools to decide the best system for your organization.
- Our overall top recommendation for appointment scheduling software is Acuity Scheduling.
- For enterprise employee scheduling, our overall top recommendation is Bitrix24.
- The best free appointment scheduling software is HubSpot Meetings.
- For the best integration with accounting tools, consider QuickBooks Time.
- For businesses with multiple locations that need employee scheduling software, look no further than Deputy.
- For small businesses, our recommendation for shift scheduling software is ZoomShift.