Making appointments with clients and prospects can become time-consuming and frustrating without a good, reliable small business scheduling app or software. Free appointment scheduling software allows customers to book, reschedule and cancel appointments through a web interface from anywhere and anytime. It can simplify your workflow, improving your productivity and potentially reducing unnecessary friction that could lower your conversion rate.
Here are the top free online appointment scheduling programs for small business owners. We’ll take you through the features and pros and cons of each option to help you make the best decision for your company and clients.
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How We Evaluate Free Scheduling Software
Features and Function
While the features in most free plans can support basic appointment scheduling needs, you may want to access advanced functionalities as your business grows.
To ensure an app meets your business’s needs, consider features such as:
- Flexibility
- Calendar syncing
- Payment processing
- Third-party integration
- Points of access
The aim is to meet your company’s scheduling needs while delivering a seamless and convenient user experience that will make your clients more likely to book an appointment with you.
Customer and Industry Reviews
How does the free online appointment scheduling software hold up under professional scrutiny and customer use? We looked at each software’s online reputation to determine whether it offers an adequate user experience before adding it to our recommendations.
1. Picktime
Picktime is free scheduling software that offers a wide range of additional customer management and office suite features. You can use the software as a standalone booking system or sync it with third-party calendars and other apps, making it one of the best appointment scheduling software options for a small business.
The free online scheduling tool includes appointment bookings for different kinds of services, classes and rooms and lets you set recurring appointments. With Picktime, you can also get unlimited staff and employee calendars, manage customer and staff schedules and generate business activities reports. It also lets clients reschedule or cancel appointments from any browser using their computers, tablets or smartphones.
It integrates with apps such as Zoom, Skype, Salesforce, PayPal and Stripe so you can host virtual meetings, market your business and process customer or client payments.
Note: It was announced in 2019 that the program would be free only for early adopters; however, the website still allows 2021 customers to sign up for free.
Pros
- Comprehensive free scheduling software
- Set recurring appointments
- Payment processing integrations for customer payments
- Integrates with third-party apps to help manage other aspects of your business
Cons
- Some reviewers note a steeper learning curve for understanding how to schedule appointments.
2. Setmore
The free version of this appointment scheduling software includes a payment-processing function that integrates with Square. You can also set up a public-facing booking page, and the software supports up to 4 staff calendars and logins. In addition, you can send automated appointment notifications to clients who have booked time with you. The free scheduling program integrates with Facebook, Instagram, Slack, MailChimp, Google Calendar, Office 365, WordPress and other apps. A reviewer notes that clients don’t have to set up an account to use Setmore, which sets this software apart from several competitors.
The Setmore free version can also operate from any location with its mobile app, which can be used on Android and iOS phones.
Besides the free version, Setmore offers 2 tiers of paid plans — premium and pro. The premium plan allows you to scale up to 1-2 users, send reminders via text messages and process online payments using Stripe and Square. You can also add live booking to have your calls answered on your behalf so you can book appointments 24/7. The pro option includes everything in the premium plan, plus logins for 3 or more users.
Pros
- Free version offers unlimited appointments
- Integrates with payment processors and other third-party apps
- It also has a free appointment scheduling app
Cons
- Free version offers 4 staff logins, maximum
- Will only take payments through Square
3. HubSpot Meetings Scheduler
This free meeting scheduling software allows you to sync your Google Calendar or Office 365 Calendar, set your availability and create a meeting page so you can send out a link to clients. In addition, you can embed a booking feature on your website or landing page so customers can schedule time with you. The app also allows you to send group meeting links so clients can schedule time with more than one person on your team.
The software integrates with other HubSpot services, including the marketing, sales and service hubs and its CMR app. For example, information captured in the scheduling software’s form fields can be used to automatically create a record on HubSpot’s free CRM software.
Pros
- Syncs with Google and Office 365 calendars
- Integrates with other Hubspot services
- Allows you to send group meeting links
Cons
- A review notes its lack of multiple reminders and a rescheduling function.
4. Calendly
Calendly’s free basic plan features calendar integrations with Google Calendar, Office 365 Calendar, Outlook and iCloud. You can schedule unlimited events, create a personalized link, set automated event notifications and embed Calendly links on your website.
While the basic functionalities are sufficient to start, the free plan only supports a single meeting type. You won’t have access to paid features such as group events, a pooled availability option for teams, short message service (SMS) notification, third-party software integration or live chat support.
Keep in mind that Calendly’s small business scheduling app and software are made to handle internal meetings. So if you need customer-facing free scheduling software, Calendly isn’t the best option for you.
Pros
- Unlimited event scheduling
- Set automated event notifications, and create and embed personalized links
Cons
- Only 1 meeting type supported with free online appointment scheduling
5. Doodle
Doddle offers a free online scheduling tool that allows you to create meeting polls. Invitees vote on your suggested meeting dates and times. You can coordinate availability across time zones while keeping everyone’s calendar private.
You’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan if you want to remove ads from your polls, set deadlines for polls, collect invitee contact information, sync meetings to your calendar, integrate with Zapier and track meeting invitations.
Pros
- The polling function eliminates back-and-forth emailing regarding meeting times
- Coordinate availability across time zones
Cons
- Features including calendar syncing, integrations, collecting appointment invitee contact information are only available through paid plans.
6. Appointlet
This free business appointment scheduling software allows a single user to customize availability and create booking pages you can send to prospects and clients. You also can integrate the booking page into your website, landing pages and emails. The free version includes unlimited bookings and meeting types, form fields, time-zone support, automatic booking and Google and Office 365 calendars integration.
Upgrading to the paid plan enables access to GoToMeeting, Zoom and Join.me integrations, Zapier and Stripe integration, pooled availability for teams, pre-populated form fields and customizable reminders.
Pros
- Unlimited bookings, meeting types and form fields with the free appointment scheduler
- Creates a booking page you can integrate into your website and emails
Cons
- Free plan accommodates only 1 user
- Meeting software and payment processing integrations and other features — including customizable reminders — are available only with paid plans.
7. Square Appointments
This app, offered by payment processor Square, allows you to integrate payment handling into the appointment booking workflow. You can collect payment at checkout, request prepayment when customers book, send detailed invoices and charge a cancellation fee to reduce appointment no-shows. In addition, clients can save their credit card information to streamline the booking process so you can improve your retention rate. Note that although Square offers free appointment scheduling software, it charges a 2.6% plus 10 cents in-person payment processing fee for your transactions.
The free plan includes 1 user login and access to all the features. You can create a booking website, set up automated text and email reminders and integrate the app with your Google account and Instagram and Facebook business profiles. You can also manage appointments from anywhere with Android and iOS apps.
Pros
- Integrates with payment processing with appointment booking
- Automated text and email reminders
Cons
- Only 1 user login with the free online scheduling tool
8. 10to8
The free version of this cloud-based appointment scheduling software offers 2-way client messaging tools in addition to appointment booking, calendar management and payment integration functionalities. The built-in email, instant chat and survey features allow you to manage client communications within the scheduling app to streamline workflow and improve user experience.
The free plan creates only 100 appointments per month, so this might not be the best scheduling app for small businesses if your company handles a high volume of customer or client appointments.
10to8 offers a few tiers of paid plans that provide more appointments per month, multiple user logins and customizable branding. The higher-tiered plans include Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-related (HIPPA) tools for healthcare industry users.
Pros
- Comprehensive features include appointment booking, calendar management and payment integration.
- Built-in email, chats and survey features
Cons
- The free plan covers only 100 appointments per month.
- Paid plans offer more functions, including multiple user logins and more appointments per month, along with customizable branding.
9. Bookafy
Bookafy’s free scheduling software allows users to make unlimited appointments and appointment types, except for group events and booking 2 staffers with 1 customer. You can put limits on how far in advance appointments can be scheduled. However, if you want an unlimited number of users/staff accounts, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan. You also can’t show staff availability on the free appointment scheduler.
The Bookafy free scheduling app is cloud-based so that it can be accessed from any location. The free software also touts a free website with a booking app.
Pros
- Unlimited scheduling
- Mobile friendly
Cons
- Advanced features for meetings only available through paid plans.
10. Taskeo
Taskeo has several plans that cover aspects of business management, such as CRM, project management, time-tracking and billing, in addition to appointment scheduling. Each plan has 2 options for users: a free plan and a $5 per user per month plan.
Taskeo’s free online appointment scheduling plan provides users with a wealth of features. These include customizable fields, time tracking and reservation number tracking, reminder emails and color and logo branding. Taskeo also syncs with Mac, Outlook and Google calendars and integrates with Stripe and Zoom.
However, users can schedule only 1 type of appointment, access only 1 template and 1 type of scheduling form if they don’t upgrade to a paid plan.
Pros
- Many scheduling features included in the free plan
- Syncs with calendars and offers third-party app integrations
- Can consist of branding with your company logo and/or colors
Cons
- Appointment types, templates and forms limited without the paid option
- Need to sign up for other plans for business management features
11. Fresha
This free online appointment scheduling software is explicitly crafted for beauty, health and wellness businesses. Unlike some free scheduling app options, Fresha allows unlimited users and bookings in its free plan. It also integrates with email and helps you manage clients with history tracking and a notes option.
In addition to scheduling, Fresha has point of sale and inventory features, helping you process transactions and keep tabs on your products.
We must note that Fresha doesn’t charge a monthly fee for its free plans, but it charges a one-time setup fee and a 2.19% plus 20-cents transaction fee per payment.
Pros
- Unlimited scheduling and user options
- Customer management features
- Inventory and POS functions
Cons
- Charges setup fee and payment processing fee
