8 Best Appointment Scheduling Apps In 2024

What Makes A Great Appointment Scheduling App 

There are dozens of appointment scheduling tools offered on the market, but not all of them are great options. Here are three essential features that need to be in a great appointment scheduling app. 

• Business Adaptability: Many businesses and industries benefit from appointment scheduling apps, but not all of them are the same. For instance, booking a gardening appointment has a vastly different experience compared to booking a personal gym training session. The best appointment scheduling apps let you customize various aspects of your booking experience according to your business processes.
• Payment Processing Capabilities: Some businesses like rentals require an upfront deposit for customers. Having an appointment scheduling app that’s able to process customer payments at booking time makes the entire deposit process faster. If your client ends up not showing or canceling the appointment, you’ll still have their deposit and not end up with a total loss.

• Multiple Access Points: Different people take notes of their appointments in different ways. Providing various channels to check appointment information helps people remember better, reducing the number of missed client bookings. Some good places to put appointment information are:

  • A dedicated tab for appointments in the member’s profile.
  • Email or SMS reminders sent directly to the customer.
  • A custom booking link containing the customer’s appointment information.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Appointment Scheduling Apps

Still on the fence about implementing an online scheduling tool for your company? Here, we explain three benefits you can get by organizing your appointment-booking process.

• Empower Your Client Base: Appointment booking software puts more power into the customer’s hands. Instead of having to wait for opening hours to call ahead for an appointment, they can simply visit your 24/7 booking portal and schedule something immediately. 
• Increase Customer Loyalty: A reliable appointment scheduler means that no bookings fall through the cracks. Having a good idea of what appointments are upcoming also lets your team better prepare for them, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. 
• Reduce No-Shows And Sudden Cancellations: Most appointment apps let customers modify their bookings or pay no-show fees through a dashboard. This means that if a customer can’t make it to an appointment, they can reschedule the appointment themselves or quickly pay their cancellation fee. In turn, this reduces sudden cancellations and no-shows due to unforeseen events.

Choosing The Right Appointment Scheduling App 

With all the choices available on the market, choosing the right online scheduling tool is tough. However, you can narrow down the many options by considering these three factors:

• Ease Of Use And Simple Setup Process: There’s always a learning curve when you’re implementing a new piece of software. To minimize the time and money spent on training your team to master an appointment management app, try to find one that’s easy to use and offers a simple setup. While many software options boast ease of use, you may need to apply for a free trial or a product demo so you can see for yourself. 
• Scalability: A good appointment scheduling app should also be scalable. This means that the app can grow alongside your company, able to process more appointments as you gain more customers. 
• Multi-Device Access: A desktop-only scheduling app may not be enough if your employees travel often. If your team spends a lot of time on the road, you may need to find appointment scheduling software that can be accessed on mobile devices.

How We Evaluated The Best Appointment Scheduling Apps 

If you don’t have time to do the research, we’ve got you covered. Here are four key factors we usually think about when looking for the best appointment scheduling apps:

• Value-adding features: A good appointment scheduling software should be able to do its primary functions flawlessly. However, having extra features like integrations to calendar management software and multi-device access gives it an edge over less feature-rich apps.

• Your team’s size: Some scheduling apps charge by the number of users. If you have a large team that needs to use the software, the seemingly affordable price tag may add up.

• Budget: Not all appointment scheduling software options fit companies with a tight budget. Consider looking into scheduler apps with custom pricing or multiple pricing tiers.

• Third-party integrations: Integrating your appointment scheduling app with other software lets you save a lot of time. Find schedulers that can seamlessly connect to your payment processor, email clients, and other important software.

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling by Squarespace is a simple, no-frills app for online appointment bookings. Acuity Scheduling also connects with hundreds of other apps through Integrately. Other advanced features you can enjoy as an Acuity Scheduling user include:

• Automatic time zone adjustment: Eliminate time zone confusion to prevent reschedules or missed meetings. 

• Client intake forms: Gather all the data you need about a customer at the time of booking.

Plans & Pricing

Acuity Scheduling offers a 7-day free trial. Once the trial ends, paid plans start at $15/month. 

Picktime

Picktime is an appointment scheduler that lets you book appointments, classes, and rooms. Some of Picktime’s excellent features include:

• Booking page creator: Provide customers with customized booking pages that are available 24×7.

• Online payment processing: Take customer payments securely through major payment platforms like PayPal and Stripe.

• Multi-location dashboard: Keep track of all appointments across multiple business locations.

Plans & Pricing

Picktime offers its basic plan at no cost. Paid plans start at $9.99/month.

SimplyBook.me

SimplyBook.me is an online booking software made for service industries. This software also offers integrations with hundreds of other apps through Integrately. Some of SimplyBook.me’s highlighted features include:

• Mobile compatibility: Support mobile teams with a mobile admin app for Android and iOS devices.

• Business analytics dashboard: Access booking and site visit information anytime from your admin app.

Plans & Pricing

SimplyBook.me’s paid plans start at $9.9/month.

vCita 

vCita is an all-in-one client management platform that lets you manage bookings, process payments, and many more. vCita users also have access to these features:

• 24/7 bookings: Take customer bookings regardless of time, ensuring you never miss an opportunity.

• Customized landing page: Let clients schedule appointments from your customized vCita landing page. 

Plans & Pricing

vCita’s paid plans start at $29/month.

Appointlet

Appointlet lets clients book appointments easily through a custom link. It also offers hundreds of third-party app integrations through Integrately. Other excellent features you can get from Appointlet include:

• Intuitive meeting dashboard: Get complete information on all your meetings at a glance.

• Booking management system: Set advance notice requirements on all your bookings. 

Plans & Pricing

Appointlet’s paid plans start at $10/month per team member.

Timely

Timely is online scheduling software created for beauty businesses. This booking software lets you minimize gaps between appointments, maximizing your workday. More than that, Timely also offers additional features like:

• Online booking widget: Take 24/7 bookings through your social media or website.

• Product grouping: Create treatment groups so customers can book multiple beauty appointments at once.

Plans & Pricing

Timely’s paid plans start at $15/month.

Calendly

Calendly is a scheduling software created for businesses and communities. Its automatic email reminders ensure your customers won’t forget about their appointments. Calendly also offers thousands of app integrations through Integrately. Other features you can find on Calendly include:

• Availability preference settings: Set preferred booking times to avoid back-to-back meetings.

• Website integration: Add a Calendly widget on your website for easy appointment bookings.

Plans & Pricing

Calendly’s basic plan is free for all users. Its premium plans start at $10/month per user.

Genbook

Genbook is an all-in-one scheduler software that lets you book appointments and take customer payments. This product suite also offers a client management dashboard that lets you access customer info in real-time. Some other highlighted features of Genbook include:

• Integrated payment processing: Process payments quickly by connecting your forms to major payment processors.

• Business insights dashboard: Examine your business performance through comprehensive dashboards.

Plans & Pricing

Genbook’s paid plans start at $29/month.

Closing Thoughts 

We suggest you get an appointment scheduling app sooner rather than later. Implementing scheduling software lets you manage appointments better so your team can concentrate on providing the best service to customers.

If you’re looking to get even more mileage out of your appointment scheduling app, we recommend signing up for Integrately today. You can get access to thousands of automations on hundreds of apps for free!

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