Best Scheduling App For Small Business – 7 Apps To Streamline Your Scheduling

Appointment scheduling software helps you organize your calendar by giving you control over your scheduled meetings and appointments.

A good appointment scheduling app offers a quick and easy way for your clients to book appointments with you no matter where they are. There are many appointment scheduling apps that offer a ton of online scheduling software features, and most of them work well if you have a small business.

Calendly is online scheduling software that stands out because of its simplicity and feature-rich plans. Calendly is also not hard on your pocket, so it’s great if you want to get started with an affordable scheduling app for your business.

Calendly helps you book appointments with clients from multiple locations in different time zones by auto-identifying your clients’ time zones.

Keep reading to find out which other scheduling apps made the list!

Disclaimer: If you buy something using the links in this article, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Know that I only promote stuff that I use and trust for the sake of my readers and the reputation of this site.

Best Scheduling App For Small Business

1. Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling is online scheduling software that helps you in maintaining schedules for your small business.

Acuity Scheduling gives you the tools to set up a customized scheduling page for your business so that your clients can easily view your availability during the day and book appointments with you by themselves.

Features

• Create customized online scheduling pages so that potential clients can view your availability in real-time and self-schedule their appointments with you.
• You can control your availability by managing multiple locations and employees and showing your clients the calendar you want them to see.
• Keep your schedule clear and organized by auto-adjusting time zones, allowing clients to schedule cancel, or reschedule appointments themselves, and sending them automatic email or text reminders to reduce no-shows and save time.
• Collect client information at the time of booking by asking them to fill out intake forms before they schedule a meeting with you on your free online booking website.
• Sync all your calendars and get notifications for new bookings using the online appointment scheduling app.
• Integrate with Stripe, Square, or PayPal to accept payments at the time of booking.
• Video conferencing integrations help you meet your clients anywhere and at any time.

Cons

• The user interface is a little difficult to navigate.
• You cannot charge your clients’ tax depending on where they are located.
• The thank-you page could use a little more customization.

Pricing

Acuity Scheduling offers the following pricing plans:

• Emerging at $14 per month billed annually
• Growing at $23 per month billed annually
• Powerhouse at $45 per month billed annually

You can also pay for these plans on a month-to-month basis.

2. Calendly

Calendly is a free employee scheduling software that also offers advanced features in the form of paid plans. It is one of the best appointment scheduling software for small business owners that helps improve the scheduling process.

Calendly offers affordable, feature-rich plans to help you grow your business and streamline your scheduling process.

Features

• Calendly syncs with all your calendars so that you are never double-booked.
• Choose the type of meeting you want to arrange (one-on-one, group meetings, or round-robin meetings) and set your preferences so that your calendar is flexible.
• You can add Calendly to your website, email campaigns, social media profiles, or even text messages to make it easy for clients to schedule a meeting with you wherever they are.
• Offer your clients and meeting attendees multiple in-person and virtual locations so that they can attend meetings with you according to their availability or preference.
• USe multiple CRM integrations to automate your bookings
• Analytics integrations help you measure your sales funnels, fine-tune your conversion strategies, and improve your booking flow.
• Stripe and PayPal integrations help you accept payments at the time of booking.
• Workflows help you send automatic reminders and follow-ups so that you save time.

Cons

• You can only set up collaborative events for users within your account.
• You cannot use a single account if you own multiple companies or businesses.
• Could use more customization options so that users can make the booking page look like their brand.

Pricing

Calendly offers a basic free plan that gives you all the features you need to get started booking appointments and organizing your meetings. Calendly’s paid plans are as follows:

• Essentials at $8 per seat per month, billed annually
• Professional at $12 per seat per month, billed annually
• Teams at $16 per seat per month, billed annually
• Enterprise at custom pricing depending on your needs

You can also pay for these plans on a monthly basis.

3. Square Appointments

Square Appointments is one of the best employee scheduling software that helps you simplify the scheduling process. Square Appointments lets you manage your availability from the app, lets your customers book appointments with you online, and sends them reminders for upcoming appointments.

Square Appointments also offers point-of-sale features that allow you to accept payments and bookings from right where you are.

Features

• Set up a free online booking website for your business so customers can find you online and easily book appointments with you.
• You can send automated text and email reminders to your attendees to help reduce no-shows and last-minute cancellations. You can also create a no-show fee for last-minute cancellations.
• Avoid double-booking by syncing with your Google Calendar.
• Use the automated messaging tool (Square Assistant) to help your customers confirm, cancel, or reschedule appointments 24/7.
• Sync your calendar across multiple locations and time zones, depending on where your clients are.
• The Square Appointments Point of Sale (POS) System allows you to accept all modes of payment without any hidden fees.
• Square Messages helps you see all customer activity and communication in one place so that you can provide them with a seamless customer experience.

Cons

• Difficult to work with if you do not use Square for your payments as it integrates best with other Square products, but not so well with others.
• Square Appointments is pricey compared to its competitors.
• Lacks customizations options.

Pricing

Square Appointments has a pricing slider that shows you how much it would cost you depending on the number of staff calendars per month. Square Appointments can cost you between $50 to $90 per month depending on your needs. You can also contact them for custom pricing.

4. SimplyBook.me

Simplybook.me is an employee scheduling app that helps you define your services and providers and display their availability 24/7. Simplybook.me lets your clients book appointments with you via Facebook, Instagram, a widget on your site, your booking page, Google Maps, or client app.

Features

• Use multiple channels to help your clients book meetings with you. You can accept online bookings through your booking website, business website, social media pages, or your Google Business profile.
• Send customized email and text reminders to your meeting attendees to reduce no-shows. Charge a deposit up-front to avoid last-minute cancellations.
• Sync your personal calendar with your booking schedule to avoid double-booking.
• Schedule meetings for multiple attendees at multiple locations and arrange for virtual meetings via Google Meet or Teams.
• Set up memberships, classes, or waiting lists for your potential clients so that you don’t miss out on any opportunity.
• Monitor the number of site visits and booking to optimize your booking workflows.
• Use the Admin App to see your booking calendar, upcoming bookings, scheduled appointments, client list, and more.

Cons

• Could use more templates.
• Lacks customization for the pages in the booking process.
• The pricing is a bit steep compared to competitors.

Pricing

Simplybook.me offers a free plan as well as the following paid plans:

• Basic at $8.25 per month billed annually
• Standard at $24.9 per month billed annually
• Premium at $49.9 per month billed annually

You can also pay for these plans on a month-to-month basis.

5. Doodle

Doodle helps simplify your meetings and manage your availability so that you save time and focus more on your business.

Doodle is quick and collaborative and allows you to manage busy schedules across multiple time zones. With Doodle, you can keep your calendar private and organized.

Features

• Booking Page allows you to send clients a link to book appointments with you easily, wherever they are.
• Send automatic reminders to your meeting attendees to reduce no-shows and save time.
• Decide beforehand how many meetings you want to be scheduled in a day and for how long each meeting should be.
• Sync with your calendars and show clients only what you want them to see.
• Avoid double booking by syncing with your Google Calendar, Office 365, or iCal.
• Reduce multiple time zone confusion by auto-identification of guest time zones.
• Be in control of your schedule by allowing clients to choose from your proposed meeting timings.

Cons

• The mobile app could be more user-friendly and intuitive.
• Google Calendar integrations could be more seamless.
• Features are pretty basic – could use a few advanced features.

Pricing

Doodle offers the following paid plans:

• Pro at $6.95 per month paid annually
• Team at $8.95 per month paid annually
• Enterprise at custom pricing depending on your needs

6. Google Calendar

Google Calendar offers integrated online calendars for teams who want to do more together. Google offers shareable calendars that integrate seamlessly with Google products such as Gmail, Google Drive, Contacts, Sites, and Google Meet.

Features

• Google Calendar seamlessly integrates with Gmail, Drive, Contacts, Sites, and Meet so that you can easily manage multiple aspects of your business.
• Layer your colleagues’ or employees’ calendars in a single view so that you can check each other’s availability.
• Access your schedule and calendar from your laptop or mobile using the mobile app and sync with your mobile’s built-in calendar.
• Publish your calendars on the web and integrate them into your sites so that your clients know your availability and are aware of any business events you may be organizing.
• Google automatically sends all attendees reminders before a scheduled meeting so you never have to deal with no-shows or confusion in meeting timings.
• Easily migrate your business calendar from Exchange, Outlook, or iCal, or directly from .ics and .csv files.
• Check availability of shared resources and meeting rooms, or set them up and add them to events.

Cons

• Could use more customization options.
• SMS reminder option would be useful to remind clients of upcoming appointments.
• Google can improve the calendar layout and increase the number of features.

Pricing

Google Calendar comes as a part of Google Workspace and has the following pricing plans:

• Business Starter at $6 per user per month
• Business Standard at $12 per user per month
• Business Plus at $18 per user per month
• Enterprise at custom pricing

7. Setmore

Setmore is free scheduling software that helps you keep your business organized with automated online booking, reminders, payments, and more.

Setmore allows you to customize your booking page, showcase your top reviews, add 1-click Zoom or Teleport meetings to your appointments, and send out customized email and SMS reminders to your meeting attendees.

Features

• Create and customize your online booking page to showcase your services, availability, and reviews.
• The all-in-one calendar allows clients to book one-on-one meetings, classes, or group meetings in just a few clicks on any device.
• Square and Stripe integrations allow you to accept payments easily and securely from clients before booking.
• Use the website plugin to add your booking page to your site so that customers can instantly book appointments with you.
• Allow clients to book straight from your Facebook page or Instagram posts.
• QR codes allow your customers to book faster by scanning the code with their smartphones.
• Arrange virtual meetings so that you can meet with your clients no matter which part of the world they are in.
• Send automatic email confirmations, or email or text reminders to your clients when they make a booking through your booking page.

Cons

• Doesn’t sync directly with Google Calendar – you will have to go through the website to sync calendars.
• Could use a tutorial on how to insert the code into a website.
• Could offer the ability to book more than one service at a time.

Pricing

Setmore offers users a free plan as well as the following paid plans:

• Premium for up to 2 users at $9 per user per month billed annually
• Pro for more than 3 users at $5 per user per month billed annually

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. What Does An Appointment Scheduling App Do?

An appointment scheduling app allows you to schedule appointments with your clients or employees. It also syncs with your calendars so that your attendees can book their appointments with you based on your availability and preferred meeting times.

2. How Much Does Appointment Scheduling Software Cost?

Appointment scheduling software can be free (with basic features) or cost as much as $5 to $50 per month depending on your needs as a business.

3. When Is It Worth Paying for Appointment Scheduling Apps?

If you have a medium to big business or are a small business looking to grow, then it would be worth investing in appointment scheduling apps. An appointment scheduling app will help you sync all your calendars and organize your appointments and client information in one place.

4. What Are the Advantages of Using Appointment Scheduling Software?

Here are some of the advantages of using a scheduling app for small businesses:

• You can sync your calendars and offer meeting times based on your availability.
• You can accept payments through the scheduling app at the time of booking.
• You can organize events and virtual meetings for clients who are across the globe.
• You can send confirmation messages and meeting reminders to your meeting attendees to reduce no-shows.

5. Which Is The Best Scheduling Software For Small Businesses?

Calebdly is the best scheduling app for small businesses. It offers a ton of features and capabilities at an affordable pricing structure. Calendly is great for when you are just starting to grow your small business as it helps you organize your calendar while offering your clients a good user experience.

Conclusion

There are a ton of scheduling apps available that you can use while growing your small business. However, I recommend Calendly because of its feature-rich, affordable pricing plans and easy user interface.

Calendly helps you provide a unique customer experience for your clients so that they keep coming back to you for more.

Click here to get started with Calendly. You can also check out some cheap Calendly alternatives if you are not ready to use Calendly just yet.

I hope you enjoyed this article and found it useful.

Happy scheduling! 🙂