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Without the right software, scheduling appointments can be infuriating. We’ve used more than a dozen different tools looking for a seamless way to schedule client and internal meetings. Based on our experiences and a round of extensive research, 10to8 is our top pick because it offers a robust free plan for fewer than 100 monthly appointments, you get full control over the look and feel of your calendar, and it’s easy to use for everyone.
The Best Appointment Scheduling Software for Most
10to8
Best for Most
Multilingual appointment booking software that’s free forever. Use it to communicate with clients no matter where you are in the world, remove time-consuming daily tasks, establish industry authority with custom branding, and personalize user experiences with SMS and email notifications.
If you’re looking for appointment scheduling software that’s just as easy for your clients as it is for you, 10to8 is the way to go. Whether you’re scheduling student success calls, sales meetings, project kickoffs, telehealth appointments, interviews, or anything in between, it’s an excellent solution that comes with everything in one package.
If you have fewer than 100 appointments a month, you can use it free forever with automatic SMS notifications, recurring meetings, and two staff accounts. If you need more than that, paid plans start at just $9.60 per month.
The 5 Best Appointment Scheduling Software Options to Consider
- 10to8 —Best for most
- Calendly — Most user-friendly
- Doodle — Best for team collaboration
- Setmore — Best for education scheduling
- TimeTrade —Best for small businesses
When It Makes Sense to Invest in Appointment Scheduling Software
Online booking engines have evolved to provide a streamlined process for making appointments, adding increased communication between customers, and preventing lost revenue.
You can easily integrate content management systems and calendar software for a big-picture overview of your schedule.
Online appointment scheduling software makes it easy to book appointments online. If you have a business that manages several clients, you need this software whether you’re coordinating customer appointments or employee meetings.
For example, a consulting firm may need to juggle multiple client visits or an ad agency may need to schedule multiple meetings between unique teams per day or week.
Appointment management software makes it easier to stay on top of these through integrations with calendars, group communication software (like Slack), and other built-in reminders.
It also makes it easier for clients or prospects to set meetings up with you through website integrations, like easy booking buttons and forms.
#1 – 10to8 — The Best Appointment Scheduling Software for Most
10to8
Best for Most
Multilingual appointment booking software that’s free forever. Use it to communicate with clients no matter where you are in the world, remove time-consuming daily tasks, establish industry authority with custom branding, and personalize user experiences with SMS and email notifications.
If you are looking for an excellent platform that’s all-inclusive and easy to use, 10to8 is the appointment scheduling software for you. With it, you can quickly take all your scheduling and booking needs online to avoid time-consuming phone calls and email confusion with your clients.
It doesn’t matter if you run a virtual business and all your clients are remote; 10to8 excels and offering an adaptable appointment scheduler and manager that works for all types of business environments.
If you run a salon and struggle to stay on top of everything because of interruptions, 10to8 can streamline appointments with online booking. Clients can see your availability in real-time and book appointments with no need to contact you.
You control when and how clients book with you because of the restrictions you set. And with automation software at your fingertips, you can decide if appointments get booked automatically or if you have to approve them.
Or, say you run a very busy marketing agency and you must stay abreast of updates and changes to project dynamics. Simple scheduling management helps you coordinate with several members of your staff. You can even coordinate which rooms for meetings are available, along with changes in location for offsite meetings. This works for both one-off or recurring appointments.
Plus, access control technology gives you full oversight of who can access scheduling and allows you to provide only viewable access to particular staff.
A powerful, centrally located user dashboard offers live reporting which helps you prevent no-shows and create custom reporting exclusive to your business, gaining you data-driven insights, metrics, and trends.
And 10to8 is cloud-based, so access to your schedule is available on the go. You can review reports, update schedules, or interact with clients that have questions about your schedule all from your mobile device.
And all of this is free.
This is the most robust free software available for appointment scheduling. You can also incorporate payment gateways and seamlessly manage your finances.
The free plan starts you off with two logins, 100 appointments per month, and online support.
10to8 also offers its Basic, Grow, and Bigger Business plans which come with more login and appointments, as well as custom branding, SMS messaging, and more. Each of these can be test-driven for free before paying a still-reasonable monthly charge.
If you’re in healthcare, the Enterprise plan offers unlimited appointments and tools for HIPAA, as well as further customization through a consultation with a 10to8 rep.
If you are looking for a free service that offers versatility and everything you need to optimize scheduling, 10to8 is the best appointment scheduling software you can find. Try 10to8 for free today.
#2 – Calendly — The Most User-Friendly
Calendly
Most user-friendly
Take the simple approach to scheduling appoints and eliminate the email chain between clients in different times zones for good. Each user gets a custom scheduling link and custom rules that only allow clients to book times you have available. Get started in less than an hour today!.
If you’ve never tried to digitize your appointment setting, Calendly makes it easy in multiple ways.
One of the ways is through a personal scheduling link, that removes the back-and-forth normally associated with scheduling meetings with staff and clients.
You simply send your link to one person or a group of people. The invitee clicks the link and it provides them with all the available times you have, based on the scheduling rules you set up.
No more confusion about when you have the time to meet. It doesn’t matter if you’re using Outlook, Google Calendar, or iCloud, Calendly will push meetings to your favorite calendar with no fuss.
Calendly is also beginner-friendly in the sense that it takes less than an hour to set up. You set up simple rules on your availability and Calendly does the rest.
Start by sharing your personal scheduling link. This wipes out double bookings and no-shows. Direct link scheduling saves time and makes things easier for both the invitee and you.
Then, set custom event types. This makes your meetings more efficient and effective by including specific details or actions with your appointment, such as a post-webinar questionnaire or setting up time before and after your meetings to take notes about your meeting.
Calendly works wherever you are and the Calendly chrome extension makes sharing your link easy from your phone or laptop. Turn appointment setting into an instant opportunity for growth with the ease a beginner needs.
Calendly also integrates with the most-used software in business. For example, add Calendly appointment setting seamlessly to your website with quick shortcode integration. Or, create instant video conference details with Zoom integration.
For a beginner, this is huge, as it eliminates one extra step and automatically provides your invitee with the details on where the meeting will take place.
Mailchimp integration is a huge bonus, too, because if you have a huge email list, you can easily accept and schedule appointments seamlessly through your email campaigns with no fuss.
Here are a few other useful features:
- Payment integration, including with Stripe and Paypal
- Time zone intelligence
- Customizable branding
Calendly makes it affordable to set up and stay on top of appointments. The free plan is robust for one user and gives you unlimited scheduled events, website and calendar integration, your personal Calendly link, automated event notifications, and email support.
There are some limitations to be aware of, though. For starters, you only have one calendar per user, and one event type option. Also, you don’t have access to the CRM or payment integrations, which can be very useful, so keep this in mind.
The premium plan is $8/user per month and gives you extended features, like group events for webinars and classes. The premium plan is $12/user per month and gives you access to SMS messaging and Salesforce integration and support.
Take back your productivity. Whether you are an enterprise executive, a freelancer, or a sales and marketing manager, Calendly will have you up and running in no time, allowing you to easily manage appointments with complete confidence.
#3 – Doodle — The Best Appointment Scheduling for Team Collaboration
Doodle
Best for Team Collaboration
Supercharge your teams productivity with Doodle. Collaborate with every member of the team no matter their schedule. Find the perfect time for each person with integrated calendars that show you their exact availability. Doodle takes the confusion out of appointment scheduling
Doodle makes scheduling meetings with your team dead simple. It’s powerful appointment scheduling software in general, but where it really shines is the ability to easily organize meetings for large groups where everyone’s schedule is different.
Are you an advertising manager that needs to wrangle up the project coordinator team to discuss progress, but they all work in different departments? Or, let’s say you’re a multi-department human resources assistant that needs to organize interviews and communications between the hiring managers.
With Doodle’s calendar visibility software, you can schedule meetings to fulfill everyone’s schedule because you can see their availability at a glance.
Another useful feature is Doodle poll, which allows participants of a meeting to vote on the best time slot that suits them.
What’s also great about Doodle is its standalone booking and reminder system. This is how it lets busy professionals get any sized group together in a few minutes, reducing headaches and lost time.
A few other great features are the integrations with Zoom and Slack. These are very useful for collaboration. Adding another layer of efficiency for meeting details like time and place and communication within Slack will keep everyone on the same page about the meeting.
Doodle is free forever for one user, allowing you to send out meeting polls to see who is available for a meeting. It is very limited but gets the job done if all you need to do is coordinate meeting times. Plus, you can sync your email platforms with Doodle’s free version.
The next plan up is Pro, at $6.95 per month. This includes no ads, calendar sync, Zoom, Zapier, and Slack integration, and a Doodle Bot for Slack.
The Team plan, for $8.95 per user per month, offers all of the above, plus a personalized scheduling URL, multi-user management, and other advanced integrations. The minimum number of users is five, so you’ll end up paying $44.75 per month.
Doodle helps you keep your day-to-day work life organized and the transparent peer-to-peer schedule review capability makes collaboration more enjoyable and keeps your business productive because all participants are on the same page.
#4 – Setmore — The Best Education Scheduling Software
Setmore
Best Education Scheduling Software
Setmore makes it simple to schedule appointments for students to learn online, for teachers to tudor and empower students, If you are an educator and need precise scheduling software Setmore has you covered.
Setmore focuses on empowering people to share their gifts, and that begins with connecting efficiently and in multiple ways. To that end, Setmore offers an online calendar that maintains this connection from anywhere.
And though many industries take advantage of this appointment scheduling software, where Setmore really shines is in the education arena. The platform helps teachers and students alike work together as a unit while focusing on the big picture.
For starters, if you’re a teacher, you know how important flexibility is. Online learning is more common these days, so 24/7 self-scheduling—no matter the location—is a good feature to offer students and colleagues.
What’s great is how simple Setmore makes things. When a client or student schedules the appointment, you first both get a confirmation and your calendars are synced and updated. Then reminder texts or emails are sent leading up to the appointment, making sure it’s not missed.
Profiles allow you to attach lesson plans and notes for the assignment, too, so they can prepare. And automated emails can be sent out to help keep students accountable, so study sessions are not missed and you make the most of your time.
And if you are a private coach or a tutor that does consulting or live online subject training, Setmore’s easy payment integration options are a bonus for you. No more invoices, students or customers can pay online right through the platform because of Stripe and Square integration.
Plus, Setmore appointment scheduling offers Teleport and Zoom integration, so one-click video conferencing has you teaching online fast. Easily schedule virtual classroom activities, parent-teacher meetings, and exams for students.
Since most students have some kind of social media, you can easily set appointments with them there. Integration with Instagram and Facebook helps you meet your students where they hang out and personalize how you connect with them.
Pricing is outstanding—Setmore offers a free version that can have up to four users and allows unlimited appointments, 100 email reminders per month, and a custom booking page with your unique URL. Teleport integration is also included, along with Square payment integration.
The Premium and Pro plans both offer Square and Stripe payment options and support Teleport Pro. All plans also come with website and CMS integration, analytics, and email support.
Pro is $9 per user/month while the premium is $12 per user/month, and both have 24/7 in-app support.
Setmore makes online learning appointment management easy to digest. No software to download and the platform is available all the time.
If you teach from home or want to begin scheduling appointments as a tutor or online educator, make Setmore your first choice. It’s designed with you in mind.
#5 – TimeTrade — The Best for Small Businesses
TimeTrade
Best for Small Businesses
Grow your business with this intelligent online scheduling platform. Meet your prospects online, in search engines, or through their mobile device. The integration tools offer your clients the ability to connect with you at the right time by combining the intellect of artificial intelligence with online appointment management and scheduling.
TimeTrade is adaptable for any small business. It has solutions that allow for unlimited omnichannel appointments with custom branding that can work for both businesses that need their customers to create appointments and teams that need to set meetings both internally and with clients.
The TimeTrade business scheduler makes setting appointments easy.
Customers can set appointments from your website, and with the embed code generator, you can create custom scheduling hot points to seamlessly add personalized areas within your website to make scheduling appointments even more dynamic for visitors.
Use TimeTrade’s reports and analytics to provide the next best actions to take, assisted by data that is collected and organized by the platform’s artificial intelligence.
Plus, custom branding makes for an even more polished user experience.
Customers value live interactions with knowledgeable employees. Accelerate sales with omnichannel scheduling, with the power to book thousands of appointments per second. In industries like real estate or interior design, where one-on-one appointments are necessary, the omnichannel scheduling capability TimeTrade provides makes this a piece of cake.
Maybe you run a salon or a body shop and you have specific staff that you want to handle certain clientele.
With smart matching technology, you can match the unique requirements of every appointment scheduled with the right person on your team and include the resources that will best support each customer.
Even cancellations are easy. TimeTrade allows clients to cancel and reschedule without having to contact you directly.
Pricing with TimeTrade is straightforward. They have three plans:
- Individual: $6.50/user per month. This provides you with online appointment scheduling, unlimited appointments, custom branding, video and web conferencing, robust security, and calendar integration.
- Business: $12.42/user per month. This includes the Individual features along with central billing, Office 365 integration, detailed reporting, and Salesforce integration.
- Business Plus: $25/user per month. This includes all Business plan features along with appointment routing, smart matching, phone and online support, and web form integration.
No matter whether you’re a small business or one growing up to midsized, you can reduce scheduling friction with TimeTrade’s intelligent appointment scheduling software. It will provide you the best opportunity to turn prospects into paying clients.
Get more details regarding pricing by contacting TimeTrade directly.
Methodology for Choosing the Best Appointment Scheduling Software
Our recommendations come from detailed research on what matters most when selecting the best appointment scheduling software for successful businesses.
We use a detailed methodology to make sure you can duplicate success when deciding how and what will be the most effective software for your business.
Use this methodology as your roadmap.
Integrations That Drive Results
Integrations like Slack, Stripe, Salesforce and other CRMs, and CMS platforms make your life easy. Weaving these into your appointment scheduling software keeps you organized and also keeps you connected to your clients.
TimeTrade, for example, offers Salesforce integration that helps your small business capture vital leads. Keep your sales pipeline overflowing with potential revenue opportunities, allowing you to convert and exceed expectations with a systematic approach.
If collaboration is your main agenda, Doodle includes Zoom and Slack integration for clear communication on where and when appointments are held. And with a Slack bot feature, you don’t have to manage your communication manually, just set it and forget it.
Email is one of the most important communication platforms when running a business. With Calendly, you can integrate Mailchimp, making appointment setting and lead generation automated. Simply include your scheduling link in your email campaign and what the appointments pile up on autopilot.
Appointment Routing
This is a feature that can really improve your bottom line.
If you’re a business owner that runs a car shop, you want your best mechanic working on higher-priced repairs right? Well, in situations where client-facing meeting coordination is a priority this will be a lifesaver for you.
In real estate, your best negotiating agent can manage multiple clients that need tailored attention.
You can set appointments with new clients with your most understanding and empathetic employees to maximize new client retention.
Usually, scheduling appointments for specific members of the team would be difficult, but TimeTrade integrates this software flawlessly. By scheduling high-ticket clients through powerful appointment routing software, you can rest assured you will have higher closure rates.
If specificity on who handles what appointment is part of your everyday workflow, appointment routing is a feature that can help your business dramatically.
Handling Multiple Booking Types
This helps you organize your appointment types. For example, if you are a software firm that manages websites, web hosting, and software applications, you don’t want to mix up these appointments.
Calendly gives you booking software that allows you to specify details about the types of appointments you have scheduled.
Having the power to segment the types of appointments you have will keep your staff organized and mitigate confusion on what is important to discuss for scheduled appointments.
Several scheduling platforms are rigid and often don’t allow for too many customizations. But when considering your scheduling platform, think about how much you can gain by being able to provide multiple appointment types to keep things clear for those involved.
10to8
Best for Most
Multilingual appointment booking software that’s free forever. Use it to communicate with clients no matter where you are in the world, remove time-consuming daily tasks, establish industry authority with custom branding, and personalize user experiences with SMS and email notifications.
Summary
Focusing on appointment scheduling will provide you with streamlined processes to improve your everyday business operations and help you stay organized to grab every ounce of free time you can to grow your business and skyrocket your revenue.
When you are ready to select your appointment scheduling software, return to our recommendations and methodology as it will provide you with a clear guide in selecting the best option for your unique business goals.
This article was written by today’s Daily Eggspert.
