A successful business thrives on strong relationships between service providers and customers. For companies offering services, the first point of interaction often happens through online booking systems.
Streamlining appointment scheduling or reservation processes not only saves businesses time but also prevents the loss of clients due to human error.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the best WordPress booking plugins and highlight the features that make them stand out.
Table of Contents
- How to Choose the Right WordPress Booking Plugin?
- Top WordPress Plugins for Booking Functionality
- Bonus: Booking Form Plugin by Crocoblock
- FAQ
- So, Which One Is the Best WordPress Booking Plugin?
How to Choose the Right WordPress Booking Plugin?
When choosing a booking plugin, it’s essential to identify the specific functionalities your website requires. For instance, if your business involves hotel reservations, property rentals, or car rentals, the plugin should support features to manage daily bookings. On the other hand, if your website focuses on appointments and event scheduling for gyms, medical practices, spas, beauty salons, consultancies, or similar services, the plugin must handle hourly reservations and offer a tailored set of features. Here are the key features that the best booking plugins typically provide:
1️⃣ User-friendly interface
A clean and intuitive interface ensures customers can easily navigate the booking process. Drag-and-drop builders, straightforward booking forms, and responsive designs contribute to a positive user experience.
2️⃣ Flexible booking options
The plugin should accommodate various booking types, such as:
- Hourly bookings: ideal for gyms, spas, and consultancy services.
- Daily bookings: the best for hotels, car rentals, or vacation properties.
- Group bookings: great for events, workshops, or classes requiring multiple attendees.
3️⃣ Calendar integration
Seamless integration with calendars like Google Calendar or Outlook allows businesses to sync appointments and avoid scheduling conflicts.
4️⃣ Payment gateways
A good plugin should support multiple payment gateways, such as PayPal, Stripe, or credit card processing, enabling customers to make secure payments during the booking process.
5️⃣ Mobile responsiveness
Since many customers book services using mobile devices, the plugin must be fully responsive to ensure a smooth experience across all screen sizes.
6️⃣ Customization options
The ability to customize booking forms, confirmation messages, and notifications helps businesses maintain brand consistency and cater to specific needs.
7️⃣ Automated notifications
Email and SMS notifications for booking confirmations, reminders, or cancellations keep both the business and customers informed, reducing no-shows.
8️⃣ Analytics and reporting
Built-in analytics tools provide insights into bookings, customer trends, and peak periods, helping businesses make informed decisions.
9️⃣ Customer management tools
The best booking plugins often include customer relationship management (CRM) features, enabling businesses to track customer history, preferences, and feedback.
In the following list, I will review 10 WordPress booking plugins, evaluating them based on ease of use, design, functionality, and value for money. Notably, all the tools included are user-friendly and require no coding skills.
Top WordPress Plugins for Booking Functionality
JetAppointment (Premium)
🏆 Best for creating appointment calendars with dynamic features with flexible design settings.
JetAppointment is a powerful booking plugin for Elementor, WordPress Block builder, and Bricks editor, which allows managing hourly services and events directly from the WordPress admin dashboard.
Integration with the JetEngine plugin provides JetAppointment with multiple dynamic features. For example, you can set up different after-submit rules for appointments submitted by users, such as sending an email, booking a time slot, or requesting approval from the admin.
When setting up the booking form, you get many design customization options, making it easy to match your brand style. Numerous plugin features are explained in Crocoblock’s knowledge base. Additionally, WordPress beginners will appreciate a detailed guided wizard and premade layouts offered by JetAppointment developers.
Key features:
- schedule layouts – choose between list, calendar, and timeline views;
- JetAppointment plugin supports multiple services on a single form, where one service is selected as default;
- WooCommerce integration with multiple online payment options;
- multiple variables for managing booking calendar – set up buffer time before and after appointments, maximum capacity for any slot in the calendar, days off, holidays, etc.;
- highly adjustable and informative front-end interface.
Pricing: The price of the JetAppointment plugin is $19/year for one website and $39/year for unlimited websites. To enjoy exclusive dynamic appointment features, additionally purchase JetEngine for $43/year.
Pros:
- unlimited styling options;
- enabling the appointment reminders instantly;
- setting up the service booking through the availability calendar;
- displaying service providers and linking them to services.
Cons:
- no free version;
- doesn’t work as intended without JetEngine.
WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments (Premium)
🏆 Best for users who need a feature-rich, all-in-one plugin for businesses of all types offering bookings in months, days, hours, or minutes.
What sets WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments apart from most competitors is its remarkable versatility. It’s equally effective for services operating on an hourly basis, such as bike rentals, spa salons, and barber shops, as well as for daily bookings like hotels and car rentals. Once activated, the plugin provides extensive control over bookings. For instance, you can configure mandatory buffer times before or after each booking and limit booking slots to specific durations, such as 1 hour, 4 hours, 1 day, or 2 days.
Key features:
- dynamic total booking cost feature allows calculating the price based on the number of slots selected, time of the year, additional services, number of guests, discounts, etc.;
- offers bookings in minutes, hours, days, and months;
- booking notes field to gather additional information from clients;
- email and SMS automatic notifications to admin, staff members, and clients for new bookings, confirmations, and cancellations;
- set up cost calculation rules and schedules for each of the staff members. The calendar will reflect employees’ availability;
- two-way Google Calendar sync. This way, you can permit staff members to manage their schedules directly from their Google Calendar;
- multiple language support.
Pricing: $149 for a Single Site.
Pros:
- possibility to restrict bookings to start only on certain days of the week;
- easily configure special pricing for various purposes;
- a 30-day money-back guarantee policy.
Cons:
- no free version;
- limited styling options.
JetBooking (Premium)
🏆 Best for users who need a hotel booking plugin for advanced booking functionalities with flexible pricing rates.
JetBooking is another Crocoblock’s plugin. It helps create booking calendars for hotels, car and property rentals, travel agencies, and other businesses that work with daily bookings.
The plugin’s functionality allows for the automation of booking calendars by setting up various rules for seasonal, weekend, holiday, and discount prices. You can even configure the prices to change depending on the length of the visitors’ stay.
The flawless integration with other JetPlugins allows the addition of new features that go beyond what booking plugins can normally perform: advanced after-submit options, booking filtration, and more.
Key features:
- customize booking forms according to client needs and get the user data by adding extra fields to the forms;
- integration with Google Calendar and other third-party services like Mailchimp, Zapier, PayPal, and others;
- the ability for clients to use many different filters when searching through property catalogs;
- maps are integrated into the descriptions of services;
- flexible pricing rates depend on the stay length, season, day of the week, and additional services.
Pricing: As with the JetAppointment plugin, you can access all of the premium features and one year of Zoom and chat support for $19/year per site or $39/year for unlimited sites. For $199/year, consider buying an All-Inclusive plan, which includes tons of useful Elementor add-ons, from various animation and styling options to SEO tools.
Pros:
- advanced features for pricing rates automation;
- possibility to set maximum/minimum booking duration;
- flexible booking management;
- integration with other plugins for additional dynamic features.
Cons:
- no free version.
WordPress Appointment Booking by MotoPress (Premium)
🏆 Best for solopreneurs and small businesses to arrange online appointments and manage unlimited services.
The MotoPress WordPress Appointment Booking plugin caters to service businesses’ needs by allowing them to offer their customers a step-by-step scheduling process. The plugin allows you to add and customize any number of services, employees, and locations.
This plugin supports multiple payment processing options, including deposit payments and discount coupons. Dedicated add-ons can also extend the plugin’s functionality.
Key features:
- online and on-site payment options, which involve PayPal, Stripe (including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Link), direct bank transfer, and on-site payments;
- multiple services bookable at one go to enable clients to add several services to the cart during one submission;
- breaks, days off, vacations, etc., included in schedules;
- email notifications and reminders are sent to the customer and admin;
- a centralized booking calendar to view all bookings on the backend;
- client accounts to log in and view reservations;
- connect staff calendars to their Google Calendars;
- built-in analytics dashboard to track performance insights;
- the ability to generate reports in CSV files;
- clients can add bookings to their personal calendars.
Pricing: pricing starts at $79.
Pros:
- a responsive booking widget;
- customization settings for a booking form;
- integrations with Gutenberg, Elementor, and Divi builders;
- a collection of WordPress themes bundled with the plugin for free.
Cons:
- doesn’t support options for event scheduling with multiple independent participants.
LatePoint (Free & Pro)
🏆 Best for businesses looking for a sleek and modern appointment booking system with effortless automation.
LatePoint is a powerful and intuitive WordPress booking plugin designed to streamline appointment scheduling for businesses of all sizes. Its user-friendly interface and lightning-fast setup allow you to launch a fully functional booking system in minutes.
It supports multiple service providers, automated reminders, and customizable booking forms, making it an ideal solution for salons, consultants, fitness trainers, and more. Plus, its deep integrations with Google Calendar, WooCommerce, and popular payment gateways ensure a smooth booking experience for clients.
Key features:
- drag-and-drop appointment scheduling with a modern interface;
- automated email & SMS reminders to reduce no-shows;
- Google Calendar sync for seamless schedule management;
- customizable booking forms with a multi-step flow;
- multiple payment gateways, including PayPal & Stripe;
- built-in analytics to track bookings and revenue.
Pricing: A limited free version is available, while the Pro version with advanced features starts at $79 per year.
Pros:
- quick and easy setup with a guided wizard;
- elegant and modern UI for both admins and clients;
- deep integration with WooCommerce and Google Calendar.
Cons:
- some advanced features require the Pro version;
- limited customization options in the free version.
Amelia (Freemium)
🏆 Best for building simple and convenient appointment calendars for end users.
Amelia aims to address the needs of various businesses that offer hourly services, such as spas, beauty salons, gyms, and repair services. This plugin provides a smooth booking experience and many customization options to fit the booking form well within your chosen theme and design. Clients can view their appointments in monthly, weekly, or daily calendars or as an interactive list of events.
Key features:
- ability to manage multiple business locations on one page;
- a two-way Google integration allows employees to manage their schedules without logging into the admin panel;
- the step-by-step booking wizard will enable clients to schedule appointments by choosing one parameter (service type, employee, date) at a time;
- four built-in user roles: admin, manager, employee, and customer;
- insightful admin dashboard. You can track the performance of your business and individual employees and organize data in the most convenient form: charts, lists, or tables;
- a 5-star customizable design quality.
Pricing: The Amelia plugin offers a free version with limited functionality, which is suitable for small businesses without employees. The Premium version starts at $59 per site.
Pros:
- many integrations available, including Google Calendars, PayPal, Mailchimp, and more;
- automated notifications and reminders;
- custom fields for booking forms;
- inbuilt settings for appealing designs.
Cons:
- doesn’t include options for hotel booking systems.
Bookster – WordPress Appointment Booking Plugin (Freemium)
🏆 Best for users who need a comprehensive plugin for health, wellness, and beauty service sectors offering hourly bookings.
Bookster is a comprehensive scheduler compatible with all major WordPress themes, efficiently managing tasks from initial booking and rescheduling to handling cancellations. It’s well-suited for consultants, therapists, coaches, healthcare practitioners, beauty salons, and spa owners to streamline their scheduling processes and enhance client satisfaction.
The plugin’s feature enables customers to make reservations automatically through the booking form you set up on your website while also displaying your store’s availability to customers.
Key features:
- receive notifications when new appointments are booked on your WordPress site;
- update appointment booking information quickly in a built-in drawer without reloading the page;
- navigate the admin’s booking calendar efficiently using multi-select dropdowns, date jumps, and an agent search box;
- easily switch between day, week, and month views in the calendar for comprehensive organization and planning;
- accept payments through cash or PayPal.
Pricing: Bookster offers a free version, allowing you to experience the basic appointment scheduling and management features without any cost. For those who want more, the Pro version includes advanced branding features for booking forms, enabling a more customized and branded booking experience. Pricing starts at $39.
Pros:
- easy to set up and manage;
- user-friendly interface;
- send automatic booking confirmations and reminder emails to customers.
Cons:
- not suitable for many daily or monthly booking systems.
Simply Schedule Appointments (Freemium)
🏆 Best for small businesses looking for a free WordPress booking plugin.
This scheduling plugin integrates perfectly with Elementor page builder, allowing WordPress users to use their drag-and-drop skills to match their booking form with their site. Notably, it has the highest ranking (5.0 out of 5) on the WordPress.org platform.
Simply Schedule Appointments developers offer consultants and small businesses booking calendars that are both appealing and easy to manage. Using this plugin’s wizard, you can set up a booking form for your website in under five minutes. Even the free version of the Simply Schedule Appointments plugin has tons of useful features to offer to private business consultants, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and other small businesses.
Key features:
- many details of the booking form are customizable to match your style and resonate with the clients;
- automatic syncing with Google Calendar;
- onboarding wizard ensures you’re set up to work with the appointment scheduling within minutes;
- professional customer support is available even for users of the free version of this plugin;
- plugin updates are frequent and come out regularly;
- Simply Schedule Appointments integrates with PayPal, Stripe, Mailchimp, Gravity Forms, and many other tools.
Pricing: there’s a free version and three Premium versions of the Simply Schedule Appointments plugin. Its free Basic Edition has a surprising amount of features and may even satisfy the needs of some small businesses. For those who need more Premium features, there is a Plus Edition for $99, a Professional Edition for $199, and a Business Edition for $399.
Pros:
- possibility to embed the appointment booking calendars using the Block Editor, Elementor widgets, Beaver Builder modules, and Divi modules;
- translation-ready;
- ability to set unlimited booking calendars.
Cons:
- some advanced features are present in the highest-priced plan, which is more expensive than other such plugins.
WP Simple Booking Calendar (Freemium)
🏆 Best for creating and adding booking schedules to a WordPress site in a few minutes.
WP Simple Booking Calendar is specifically developed for usage by hotel and vacation rental owners. The admin panel helps you keep track of your bookings and add descriptions to each of them. On the front-end side, the booking form has a user-friendly interface that allows searching for available services by selecting specific dates.
Key features:
- extremely intuitive backend management of booking forms;
- ability to combine multiple calendars for different services into one layout. The title of each calendar can redirect to a page showing details of a specific service;
- assign user roles to manage specific calendars (if you have different employees managing different services);
- editing multiple dates with one click;
- syncing with any website that supports the iCal format (Airbnb, Booking.com, TripAdvisor).
Pricing: The free version of this plugin can be upgraded to a Premium plan for $39, which includes all of the Premium features listed above. A $69 plan allows you to use this tool on five websites, and a $139 plan does not limit the number of websites you can work with.
Pros:
- multiple calendar overview;
- creating a different legend for every calendar;
- search widget.
Cons:
- doesn’t have many customization options.
TheBooking (Premium)
🏆 Best for simple creation of the events in the calendar and updating the website schedule without entering the site dashboard.
TheBooking is another plugin for scheduling online appointments and events, with an impressive list of features at an affordable price. It lets you create as many services as you need, each with a fully customizable booking form. There are three built-in forms: one for appointments (like individual classes, physicians, etc.), another one for events (group meetings, conferences, and so on), and the third one for unscheduled services (support tickets, requests for estimates, etc.).
The plugin focuses on the ease of creating online events and filling the website calendar via Google Calendar. This functionality is convenient for service platforms where multiple providers compete for time slots in a specific calendar.
Key features:
- the forms offered by TheBooking are modern and functional and need no additional customizing unless you want it;
- convenient approval system that allows both manual and automated approvals/denials;
- shortcodes make it possible to insert different widgets into the booking system;
- the 3-way Google Calendar integration system lets users create appointments directly from their calendars;
- payments with PayPal or Stripe;
- highly customizable front-end calendar style. Integrate maps so people can see the service location in their calendars.
Pricing: TheBooking plugin costs $39.
Pros:
- advanced booking functionality for a reasonable price;
- clean, user-friendly interface;
- Google Calendar integration is not just for displaying occupied time in the calendar but also for managing schedules.
Cons:
- no free version or a money-back guarantee.
BookingPress (Freemium)
🏆 Best for appointment businesses with multiple employees working in different locations.
BookingPress is a WordPress plugin offering robust backend capabilities, customizable booking widgets, and diverse payment methods for appointment businesses like health, wellness, and professional services.
It boasts intuitive dashboards for both site administrators and staff members. Moreover, it provides seamless appointment management, flexible availability settings, and automated notifications. The paid version includes essential free add-ons, such as PayPal and Stripe integration, Zoom, Mailchimp, and more.
Key features:
- different dashboards for admins and staff members;
- many payment gateway options;
- conversion tracking;
- support of Elementor and Gutenberg;
- ability to insert custom booking fields that will be shown to users depending on their previous answers;
- accessible demo.
Pricing: a free plugin version is available with the basic settings and limited monthly appointments. The paid plans start at $99 per year with more advanced features and $499 for the full package.
Pros:
- configurable admin dashboards;
- agile schedule is available;
- customizable email notifications;
- supports booking services in different locations.
Cons:
- very limited free version.
Bonus: Booking Form Plugin by Crocoblock
If you’re looking for a convenient and easy solution to create a booking form, Crocoblock offers the free JetFormBuilder plugin. It includes 24+ field blocks, allowing you to create any form from scratch—whether it’s a booking or appointment form.
One standout feature is the ability to create forms using AI, making the process even more efficient.
For those who are short on time and prefer a ready-made solution, JetFormBuilder also provides form templates, including a booking form.
FAQ
It is a WordPress add-on created by third-party developers to add a professional online booking system to a WordPress website.
Choosing a WordPress booking plugin depends on many factors, including the company’s goals, size, and type of services sold. If you’re looking for free plugins, try Simply Schedule Appointments or Amelia.
Most of the WordPress booking plugins have free versions with limited functionality.
Elementor works with most well-written plugins that respect WordPress rules. JetBooking and JetAppointment are the two plugins that were initially created specifically for Elementor and integrate seamlessly with this editor.
Most of the WordPress booking plugins require no coding skills from users.
So, Which One Is the Best WordPress Booking Plugin?
As we have seen, there’s more than one answer to that question because different businesses have different needs. Each of the booking solutions described above has its cons and pros.
Here’s a quick recap of what some of these plugins are best at:
- TheBooking is the best appointment plugin for companies where multiple employees manage scheduling calendars.
- WP Simple Booking Calendar and Bookster are the simplest tools for hotel managers, featuring extremely intuitive back-end management and a user-friendly interface.
- JetAppointment offers the most advanced dynamic features through dynamic integrations for a reasonable price.
- JetBooking is a top WordPress hotel booking plugin that allows flexible automated pricing rates.
- Amelia and Simply Schedule Appointments offer free functional versions capable of running some small businesses.
- WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin is equally useful for services working on an hourly and daily basis.
- For the sleekest looks, check out Amelia, Bookly, JetBooking, and JetAppointment.
