8 Best WordPress Booking Plugins for Your Business in 2024

People no longer have to book appointments over multiple phone calls, texts, and emails. More and more businesses provide automated booking systems to make the booking process more convenient.

Thus, a reliable online booking system can help you retain more customers and drive more revenue.

Within a large library of WordPress plugins, it can be difficult to find the right one for you. Luckily, in this article, we will list the top eight WordPress booking plugins and analyze their features and benefits to help you in choosing the best plugin for your WordPress site.

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8 Best WordPress Booking Plugins

Here are the eight best WordPress booking plugins for customers to book appointments or reservations:

1. Bookly

• Downloads: 50,000+
• Rating: 4.5 / 5
• Notable features: custom booking form, custom fields, calendar view
• Best suited for: ticket bookings, dental appointments, restaurant reservations
• Price: freemium – $89 for the paid version

Bookly plugin comes with a wide array of features for online WordPress appointment booking and scheduling. Designed to grow online sales, Bookly is useful for various businesses, from service providers to event ticketing.

The admin interface is easy to navigate with separate menu tabs for each functionality, including managing appointments, services, staff members, and customers. Moreover, it has a dashboard displaying upcoming bookings to keep you updated.

Users can start by inputting information about the business’s working hours, time slots, available dates, and days off. Simply head to the Settings menu and fill out the necessary fields.

There, you can modify the booking form’s appearance by navigating to the Appearance menu. Changing the accent color and aligning buttons will take only a few clicks.

It’s also possible to enable a progress indicator on top of the form to show website visitors how close they are to completing the booking.

Other excellent features from this WordPress booking plugin include:

• Automated email notifications for customers and staff members.
• An option to filter booking lists for customers.
• Compatibility with WPML plugin to enable language translations.
• A fully customizable and responsive design.
• Custom CSS editing for the booking form.

All these tools are available in the free version. Although this version is sufficient for a small business, it only lets you assign services to one service provider. For more advanced features, consider upgrading to the paid version.

Bookly Pro comes with six months of customer support and lifetime updates for a one-time fee of $89. The pro version is best for larger businesses with multiple staff members. It includes unlimited booking forms, recurring appointments, online payments, SMS notifications, and Google Calendar integration.

If you’re interested in trying out this WordPress booking system, a demo version is available.

2. Booking Calendar

• Downloads: 60,000+
• Rating: 4.5 / 5
• Notable features: Google calendar sync, multiple bookings, widget-ready
• Best suited for: hotel booking system
• Price: freemium – the premium version starts from $47.40

Booking Calendar is one of the most versatile WordPress booking plugins on the market. The admin panel provides plenty of control over the booking system.

For instance, users can filter bookings by setting several parameters, from the type of appointment to the time of day. Multi-day bookings are also possible, which is excellent for hotel reservations.

Additionally, the Booking Calendar plugin prevents double booking. When customers book an appointment, they can see which dates are unavailable or pending. Other than that, it’s possible to disable unlimited bookings on the same day.

To customize your booking forms, navigate to your WordPress site dashboard and go to Booking -> Settings. The configuration page offers various options to tweak as per your needs.

All of the settings come with predefined values and brief descriptions, making it easier for you to customize. Along with your settings, all online appointments are also stored in your WordPress database. Hence, you won’t need to install third-party applications to manage your data.

If you want to add a personalized message or redirect your visitors to a landing page, this plugin has the functionality to do so. On the Settings dashboard, navigate to the Form section.

From there, choose your action and customize your message title.

Other notable features of the Booking Calendar plugin include:

• Customizable email notifications for both administrators and visitors.
• Back-end appointment-booking functionality.
• Pre-designed calendar themes.
• Multi-language support.
• Shortcodes for displaying booking forms on multiple web pages.
• Exporting the booking calendar .ics files, which can help synchronize with platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Google Calendar.

The free version is available to download from the WordPress plugin directory. Alternatively, consider purchasing a paid license to get more control over the booking times and resources.

There are five plans: Personal, Business Small, Business Medium, Business Large, and MultiUser. Each one is divided into several packages based on how many websites you want to use the plugin. The price ranges between $47.40 and $539.40.

3. Amelia

• Downloads: 30,000+
• Rating: 4 / 5
• Notable features: SMS reminders, multiple payment gateways, data analytics
• Best suited for: events, consultants, professional services
• Price: freemium – premium starts from $59/year

Amelia has a clean and organized admin panel, making it one of the most user-friendly appointment-booking plugins on the list. Despite its simplicity, Amelia is a powerful WordPress booking plugin that offers in-depth analytics available on the admin panel.

In addition to past and upcoming appointments, the analytics can display your revenue, conversions, customer acquisition, and retention rates, helping track your business performance.

Another main attraction from Amelia is the booking experience. It uses a single-page booking system where customers can input their details on one booking page. Thus, you won’t have to redirect customers to a different page to complete the process.

If you offer multiple services, the Amelia booking plugin allows customers to book appointments based on their needs. To add your service categories, go to the WordPress site dashboard and head to Amelia -> Services.

In addition to appointment bookings, Amelia can list events. WordPress users can choose the date and time, maximum capacity, and a staff member to handle the occasion. There is also a reliable calendar view to display all appointments made by your customers or employees.

Although the free plugin with these features works fine for small businesses, we advise purchasing the paid version, which comes with:

• Online payments via WooCommerce, PayPal, and Stripe.
• A special days feature for configuring working hours on specific dates.
• The search function, enabling customers to look for services based on their desired dates.
• A time limit feature for accepting bookings.
• SMS notifications to keep both customers and multiple employees notified.
• Responsive shortcodes and widgets for your WordPress website.

The price ranges between $59 and $249 per year. The higher-end plans will let you use the plugin on multiple WordPress websites. All packages include one year of premium support and ongoing updates.

4. Gravity Forms

• Downloads: 50,000+
• Rating: 4.7 / 5
• Notable features: drag-and-drop builder, pre-designed templates, conditional logic
• Best suited for: personal and professional services
• Price: from $59/year

Gravity Forms is a WordPress booking plugin designed explicitly for creating forms that automate your workflows. The plugin offers an easy-to-use drag-and-drop builder along with more than 30 ready-to-use form templates.

Gravity Forms also integrates with some of the most popular payment gateways, such as Stripe and Paypal. Additionally, it has a security measure out-of-the-box. Thus, you can rest assured knowing that your customers’ data is secured.

Another impressive feature of Gravity Forms is its conditional logic. It can show or hide fields on the booking forms based on the users’ selections or booking details. Such a feature can make the online reservations more personalized to the user’s needs.

To add conditional logic to a field, open the booking form you want to modify. On the right sidebar, you will see Field Settings. From there, check the Enable Conditional Logic box, and more options for setting your conditions will appear.

Now, more fields will be displayed whenever a user inputs information that matches the conditional logic. Otherwise, there won’t be additional fields to fill out.

More features from this WordPress plugin are:

• Email auto-responders to notify you about a new entry submission.
• A scheduling system for setting when the form can accept new bookings.
• Custom CSS editing.
• File upload feature for submitting required documents or media right from the booking form.

Users can purchase Gravity Forms starting from $59/year. If you’re looking to enable the payment system and SMS reminder add-ons, consider the Pro plan for $159/year.

All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee, automatic updates, and customer support. Gravity Forms also offers a demo service to preview how the plugin works before purchasing.

Keep in mind that Gravity Forms doesn’t have a core appointment-booking management system. That said, there are third-party add-ons to enable it, such as Gravity More.

5. MotoPress Hotel Booking

• Downloads: 6,000+
• Rating: 4 / 5
• Notable features: real-time booking calendar, iCal integrations, discount coupons
• Best suited for: rental businesses
• Price: from $89 for a single site

MotoPress Hotel Booking is an online booking plugin designed for rental businesses. It comes with essential features for managing accommodation bookings, enabling you to:

• Configure check-in and checkout rules.
• Set special pricing with custom conditions, such as seasons or the length of stay.
• Add and edit bookings from the WordPress dashboard.
• Show a real-time availability booking calendar.
• Add amenities or extra services.
• Create discounts and coupons for each accommodation.
• Set a dynamic pricing model based on specific seasons or holidays.

Upon installation, this WordPress booking plugin will set up the basic booking pages for an accommodation website, including confirmation, cancellation, and failed transactions. That way, you won’t have to configure the booking system on your own.

This booking plugin will also automatically generate booking forms based on the information you have inserted. This lets you customize each accommodation, from its price to amenities, making it easier for customers to sort available hotel rooms based on their needs.

Thanks to its responsiveness, the booking form will automatically fit any screen size. Its style will also coordinate with the website theme to maintain the same design.

Another great feature of the MotoPress Hotel Booking plugin is the search function. Customers can enter their desired date and time on the website to look for accommodation. Also, they can easily pay online with various payment methods, like Paypal, Braintree, and Stripe.

The price for MotoPress Hotel Booking starts from $89 for a single WordPress site. Customers will experience automatic updates and ongoing maintenance.

6. Timetable

• Downloads: 9,000+
• Rating: 4.5 / 5
• Notable features: cross-browser compatibility, Visual Composer sync
• Best suited for: personal usage and businesses with membership systems
• Price: $35 for a regular license

As the name suggests, this WordPress scheduling plugin software creates a timetable to keep track of your events. Like Google Calendar, this WordPress booking plugin makes managing time slots on one page easier.

This scheduling system plugin for WordPress also comes with a booking feature. It’s an excellent extension for those wanting to display their complete list of available time slots in a readable format.

If you have tons of events to display, the responsive design will ensure that the timetable is functional in any screen size.

With its shortcode generator, you can build or modify timetables, from adding categories to choosing a layout. There’s also an option to add a filtering system so that visitors can find their desired event quickly.

Other than that, it’s possible to enable logins for people to schedule appointments. Administrators can simply accept appointments right from the timetable. This feature can be great if your business has a membership system.

Other features of this WordPress plugin include:

• Demo installer – users can import a ready-to-use template and replace the data.
• A scrollable list to display upcoming events.
• A PDF generator.
• Cross-browser compatibility.
• Custom CSS editing.
• Integration with Visual Composer, a page builder plugin.

This booking calendar is available on CodeCanyon for a one-time price of $35. It comes with future updates and six months of support from the developer.

7. Simply Schedule Appointments

• Downloads: 10,000+
• Rating: 4 / 5
• Notable features: intuitive setup, Google Calendar syncing, custom CSS
• Best suited for: remote tutoring, coaching sessions, hotel reservations
• Price: freemium – the paid version starts from $99

Simply Schedule Appointments lives up to its name as one of the easiest WordPress booking plugins to use on the list. One reason for this is the quick setup wizard, which will walk users through setting up their booking system.

After setting up the business location and hours, the plugin will ask your preferences for the booking system, such as:

• Basics – the basic information of your appointment, from its duration and time per week.
• Availability – defines the date and time available for customers to book appointments.
• Scheduling options – rules and restrictions of the appointment, such as how many bookings you can accept in a specific period and how far in advance can a customer book an appointment
• Customer information – details about customers you need to know, including their names and addresses.

Users can also choose to have the time zone localized to the web visitor’s location, which can be helpful for overseas clients.

Feel free to review and test the booking form once it’s complete. Then, customize the design by choosing the color and font family appropriate to your website design. Simply Schedule Appointments is also compatible with page builder plugins like Divi.

With the free version, you can book unlimited appointments and use all the tools mentioned above.

Additionally, Simply Schedule Appointments offers reliable support from their development team. There is also an extensive knowledge base that provides guides to fix the most common issues a user might encounter.

However, consider investing in a paid license if you’re looking for more features. The plans start at a one-time price of $99. To add a payment gateway and enable SMS reminders, check out the $199 Professional package.

8. WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments

• Downloads: 2,000+
• Rating: 4.5 / 5
• Notable features: custom pricing rules, real-time cost calculation, flexible payment method
• Best suited for: equipment rentals, lodging reservations
• Price: from $99 for a single site

WooCommerce users can use this WordPress booking plugin to transform products or services into bookable items.

It’s a versatile extension that can be useful for any business requiring online booking functionality as it offers multiple booking settings – from single-day appointment time slots to multi-day reservations.

Moreover, users can set up custom pricing rules based on factors like length of stay, seasons, and party size. It’s an excellent feature to apply discounts and provide more value for customers.

The plugin also comes with real-time cost calculations that show the estimated price for a booking based on customer preferences. This includes the number of time slots, total guests, and the selected service providers. That way, customers know the exact price they will have to pay before proceeding to checkout.

Other than that, this WordPress booking plugin offers:

• Plenty of booking rules, from setting the buffer period between events to the time limit for client-side cancellations.
• Partial payments or security deposits options.
• The staff booking management system.
• Two-way Google Calendar integration.
• Email confirmations and reminders.
• Multi-lingual support.

This appointment-booking plugin costs $99 for a single website. The price comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and one year of support and updates.

How We Selected the Best WordPress Booking Plugins

We considered the following factors when selecting the best WordPress booking plugins:

• User-friendly dashboard. The best plugins should be generally easy to use and navigate for beginners.
• Customization options. The number of tools and settings to modify the booking experience, making it easy to tailor the system to users’ needs.
• Confirmation system. The notification feature that informs the website visitors, admin, and service provider of an upcoming event.
• Support. The channels to redirect the webmaster to the customer service team if they need assistance. Changelogs should also be available, showcasing that the developers are continually updating the plugin to provide the best performance.
• Value for money. The premium plugins should have features that justify their prices, such as lifetime updates and ongoing priority support.

With this in mind, we recommend considering which key features you want to have on your online booking system. Doing so will narrow down your options for the best WordPress booking plugin for your business.

Why Should You Install a WordPress Booking Plugin

With a WordPress appointment booking system, customers can book appointments at any time from anywhere, enhancing your WordPress website’s user experience.

Additionally, a seamless booking process can turn your visitors into paying customers.

Whether you’re offering travel tickets, places to stay, or equipment rentals, automating the booking process on your website takes the hassle out of manual appointment scheduling.

Fortunately, many WordPress plugins provide various features to create a functional appointment booking system for your site.

Some appointment booking for WordPress plugins offer simple functionality to manage appointment calendars, while others provide multipurpose features. For example, users can customize the booking forms using custom CSS or add payment gateways by integrating third-party applications.

Conclusion

A WordPress booking plugin is ideal for businesses that handle appointments and reservations, such as service providers and accommodations. It can help streamline your day-to-day operations, smoothening any potential obstacle in the online booking process.

This article has provided you with a list of the best WordPress booking plugins. We encourage you to check each one to see which is most suitable for your business.

If you don’t know which booking plugin to try first, consider starting with the following five:

• Bookly. A versatile option that is excellent for managing appointments, reservations, and events. There are plenty of configuration options for the booking rules and interface.
• Booking Calendar. A robust automated booking specialist for small to medium-sized businesses. The multi-day bookings feature works great for a hotel booking system.
• MotoPress Hotel Booking. The perfect plugin for an accommodation business. It comes with a regularly updated booking calendar to prevent double bookings.
• Simply Schedule Appointments. A beginner-friendly booking plugin with an easy setup wizard. The time zone converter will automatically localize the displayed available hours to the visitor’s location.
• WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments. An all-around add-on that can transform WooCommerce products or services into a bookable item. The extensive booking rules make it a flexible solution for any business.

We recommend that every business owner defines their needs before going over the features and benefits of booking plugins. Determining your budget is also crucial if you want to invest in a premium version.

We hope this list will help you find the perfect WordPress booking plugin for your business.

WordPress Booking Plugins FAQ

Now that you know the best WordPress booking plugins available, here are more information about the topic.