Free Appointment Scheduling Software – Our Top Picks

Square Appointments is an appointment manager from Square, a financial and merchant services aggregator and mobile payment company in San Francisco. It was first devised by an independent company called BookFresh. The scheduling software was acquired by Square in 2014.

Features

Square Appointments has an interesting concept – a huge part of its product offer is available for free, but only for one user. You get unlimited appointments, multiple booking options, multiple CRM features, and integration with all of Square’s other software, including a fantastic point-of-sale system. This makes it the best free scheduling software on our list for solopreneurs.

However, if you are in need of syncing your appointments with Google Calendar, no-show protection from flaky clients, and automated text and email appointment confirmations, it would be very much worth it to at least spring for the $29/month per location Plus plan.

Ease of Use

Square’s software is well known for its intuitive, user-friendly nature, and Square Appointments is no different. The sleek, modern user interface makes navigation a breeze, whether you are on a mobile device or using the web platform. It’s not as customizable as some of the other scheduling software on our list, but it does the job with style and class.

Platform and Compatibility

Square Appointments started as an iOS app, so its mobile UX is superior. However, the app for Android is still under development, and certain features that work on iOS and the web-based platform are missing or not working properly. It’s a work in progress.

Calendar and Appointment Management

Square Appointments provides access to a free online scheduling platform through its cloud-based calendar software. It’s very robust, allowing business owners to set up specific types of appointments and services.

Additionally, policies can be enforced: Cancellation and no-show fees can be automated with the Plus and Premium tiers, and the calendar also syncs with different devices and integrates with other popular calendar apps.

Online Booking

Square Appointments benefits from integration with Square’s payment processing services, so clients and customers can prepay for appointments with no fuss. In addition to integrating payment processing with your appointment booking calendar, Square also lets you integrate the booking software with other websites and social media platforms.

Finally, if you don’t have a website, you can use Square’s free booking website and online store options to host your webshop and appointment platform.

Customer Relationship Management

Square’s software is mostly free for single users, which makes its extensive CRM features all the more impressive. There’s a detailed customer database that can hold contact information, payment details, purchase history, and any notes you may wish to make about your clients. You can also set up automated email and SMS reminders for both you and your customers.

Customer Support

Square Appointments is part of a large family of Square products. Customer support for all of them works the same way – there is an extensive support center with a chatbot helper and a large selection of support articles. Phone support for the free booking software is available from Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST.

Summary

Overall, Square Appointments is a fantastic program. If you’re a solo business owner, you really cannot do any better. If, however, you need multiple calendars, have more than one employee who needs appointment booking, or want to sync it with other calendars and protect yourself from no-shows, it’s a less attractive option.

In that case, you’d be better off with some of Square’s competitors on this list or the paid version of this software. It’s especially good for people already using other products from Square, not just the free appointment scheduling software.

Squarespace Scheduling is an Acuity product designed for and integrated into Squarespace. Still, you don’t need to be subscribed to the provider’s website-building solution to purchase the appointment scheduling tool.

Although Squarespace Scheduling may not be an example of appointment–scheduling software with free downloads, it’s a reasonably priced option offering an advanced suite of customizable features for arranging appointments that comes with a seven-day free trial.

Features

Squarespace Scheduling has three plans, which you can try out by signing up for a free seven-day trial. Priced at $15 per month ($14 if you pay annually), the Emerging plan comes with one calendar for each team member, employee, or location, along with calendar and custom payment syncing, card vaulting, and automatic email reminders.

The Growing plan will set you back $25 a month, or $23 a month if you pay for the whole year. It offers everything from the previous tier plus two to six calendars, SMS reminders, and bundled deals for clients, such as packages, gift certificates, memberships, or subscriptions.

Lastly, there’s the Powerhouse solution, which costs $50 per month, or $45 per month for an annual package. Its appointment–scheduling software tools come with everything the other two subscription plans provide, with the addition of seven to 36 calendars, time-zone adjustments for teams spread across several locations, custom API and CSS customization, and HIPAA (BAA) compliance.

Ease of Use

Squarespace Scheduling has a well-organized user interface, with a modern and minimalist customizable design. Without any developer knowledge, you can change the color scheme, lettering, and logos. If you’re CSS-savvy, the customization can go even further.

The software allows integration with dozens of third-party accounting, email marketing, analytics, CRM, API, video conferencing, Squarespace’s own web builder, client engagement, and payment solutions.

Platform and Compatibility

Once you sign up for your free online scheduling trial, you’ll be able to jump right into organizing your business, either from your browser or the iOS and Android apps provided by Squarespace Scheduling.

Calendar and Appointment Management

Depending on the plan you choose, you can create one, six, or 36 scheduling calendars. Squarespace Scheduling lets you set your availability and arrange an unlimited number of appointments of various sorts, from live meetings to phone and video conferences.

To facilitate the process, the software can seamlessly integrate with popular apps such as iCloud, Google Calendar, Outlook, and Office 365.

Online Booking

The free online calendar is a replica of the paid version, which means you’ll know precisely what you’re getting if you decide to subscribe.

Squarespace has robust online booking functions. It lets you list an unlimited number of services with time slots and prices. You can collect payments via popular providers like PayPal, Stripe, and Square.

Customer Relationship Management 

Squarespace Scheduling offers SMS and email reminders (the former only with the Growing and Powerhouse plans), payment integration, reporting, and calendar integration. All payment plans include unlimited appointments and access to your clients’ booking histories.

Customer Support

This appointment–scheduling service offers a very robust self-help section on the website. For real-time conversation and immediate answers, get in touch with Squarespace’s support agents via live chat, Monday through Friday from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. Alternatively, you can send the provider an email anytime.

Summary

Overall, Squarespace Scheduling is a great tool. Its fantastic user interface contains versatile online booking options, unlimited monthly appointments, customizable appointment reminders, quality integrations, and much more.

The only downside is that to keep enjoying these spectacular features, you’ll have to move up to one of the paid plans as soon as your free online calendar planner trial ends. On the bright side, everything you’ve set up in the free version will be saved, so you can continue right where you left off.

Appointy started as an outsourcing company for software solutions. Its same-named schedule app has been around since 2009 and has been tweaked and improved constantly ever since it was introduced.

Features

Appointy offers four plans: Free, Growth, Professional, and Enterprise. The Free plan features include 100 monthly appointments, website integration, Zapier and Square Payments support, and automatic reminders.

Advanced features such as unlimited appointments and services, as well as Stripe and PayPal payments, are available with the Growth Plan, while support for multiple locations can only be acquired with the Enterprise plan.

Ease of Use

To be the best scheduling app, you have to deliver more than just valuable features – you have to put them within reach of every user, too. Luckily, Appointy’s interface is straightforward to navigate, whether you are using it on a computer or a mobile device.

All of the important booking information can be found on the left panel, where you can access your calendar, view reports, look up customers, and more. Notifications are in the top-right corner. All in all, it’s a simple and effective dashboard.

Platform and Compatibility

No matter your platform of choice, Appointy has got you covered. There are apps for Android and iOS, and the software works on all browsers.

Calendar and Appointment Management

Although the free version has its share of limitations, it is one of the better scheduling apps when it comes to calendar management. You get one calendar with the free version, and multiple staff logins are available only through the Professional and Enterprise plans.

Also, people can book directly from their Google Calendars with the premium versions. On the plus side, the free plan supports website integration and automatic reminders for both you and your customers, as well as five bookable services.

Online Booking

Google Calendar booking is handy, and clients can schedule, cancel, and reschedule appointments quickly with all plans. Unfortunately, the free version of this appointment scheduling app doesn’t allow for making group appointments. On the plus side, it supports payment processing through Square Payments.

The Growth plan adds payment processing through Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.Net. It’s important to note that to set your account to compulsory prepayment, you must switch to one of the paid plans. The Professional and Enterprise plans offer Office 365 and Google Analytics integration. With the latter tier, you can also book appointments for multiple locations.

Customer Relationship Management 

Appointy has several great CRM features. You get free basic client activity notifications (bookings, rescheduling, cancellations), and you can also request a review after a booking has been made through the client scheduling app.

Premium plans allow you to send customized messages and get more detailed reports on your customers, as well as send them gift cards and bonus offers. Email notifications are free for all plans, but SMS notifications cost extra.

Customer Support

Customer support is available around the clock except for Saturdays (when the hours are 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PST) and Sundays, which are days off for the agents. You can reach customer service agents through email on the basic free plan, while the Growth plan also comes with the live chat option.

Higher-priced tiers add personalized phone support, and all plans can make use of the extensive help center on Appointy’s website. The customer support staff is quick to respond and helpful, though we do wish live chat were an option for all plans.

Summary

Appointy is a fantastic online scheduling app that offers some very useful features in the free version. Its excellent app integration through Zapier, easy booking through Google Calendar, and plentiful CRM options are commendable.

Still, we wish more plans (including the free one) supported multiple staff logins. Some businesses may find the five services offered in the free version to be too few as well.

SimplyBook is an online booking app from a company called Notando Iceland Ltd. While its parent company was formed nearly 20 years ago, SimplyBook’s current iteration was launched under its current name in 2011.

Features

SimplyBook has four plans, of which one is free, while the other three have a 14-day free trial. The main difference between the free scheduling software version and the paid versions is in the number of bookings (50 per month in the free version vs. 100, 500, and 2,000, respectively) and the custom features available (only one in the free version, three in the Basic, eight in the Standard, and unlimited in the Premium plan).

Custom features (of which there are more than 70) are the bread and butter of SimplyBook, and include everything from Google Calendar integration to accepting deposits and payments. You can choose any one of them; the paid plans truly make this option shine when you combine several of SimplyBook’s custom capabilities.

Ease of Use

SimplyBook has a fantastic user interface. You can easily customize the look of your booking page through several templates, while adding or removing various elements.

All of the important notifications and messages from the job scheduling software are located on the top bar, while settings, the calendar, live chat, and pricing plan info can be found on the left sidebar. You’ll get a well-rounded solution, whichever plan you choose.

Platform and Compatibility

The software works well across many platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. There are also apps for Android and iOS devices. The company says the mobile apps are beta versions, but in our testing, they worked very well and provided an excellent alternative to using a web browser.

Calendar and Appointment Management

This appointment app doesn’t give you Google Calendar synchronization out of the box. You can pick that option as one of the custom features, however – although you’ll need to weigh it against all other options with the free plan.

Online Booking

In terms of online booking, a lot of the options depend on custom features. Even at the most basic level, you can set up accounts for an unlimited number of service providers, and people can book an appointment through your site.

Facebook and Instagram bookings are a custom feature, as are rebooking appointments; group and class bookings; and the option to receive payments and deposits. Basically, it’s all there, but you need to pick which feature you need the most or pay for a plan with more custom features.

Customer Relationship Management 

Free appointment apps are often lacking in terms of customer relationship management. The SimplyBook free version allows you to ask clients a question through an intake form before booking. It also sends clients a feedback form they can fill in after booking an appointment.

Email notifications for both you and your clients are free, but SMS notifications cost extra. Advanced CRM features such as sending gift cards and coupons, organizing memberships with benefits, and getting detailed info on your customers are all available as custom features.

Customer Support

Whether you’re using the web version or the mobile schedule app, SimplyBook has excellent customer service. You can reach them through live chat during business days or shoot them an email at any time, including on the weekends. There are also very helpful articles on many topics on the website.

Summary

SimplyBook is a terrific piece of software. It features a very good intuitive interface, unlimited bookable services even in the free version, and excellent customer support.

The main issue is that most of its best advantages are gated behind premium plans, which means that you’ll be missing out on some or most of them, depending on how much you’re willing to pay.

When it comes to free scheduling apps, you can’t do much better than Appointlet. Launched in 2012 by a small company based in Portland, Oregon, Appointlet offers some beneficial features in its free plan that many other companies would charge for.

Features

Appointlet keeps things simple: There are the Free plan, Premium, and Enterprise. The first includes unlimited users and bookings, time zone handling, and collaborative hosting while supporting full two-way Google Calendar and Office 365 integration, automatic booking notifications, reporting, and more.

If you pay for the Premium plan, you will get Stripe integration for processing payments, Zapier support for thousands more app integrations, automated reminders when scheduling an appointment, and plenty more customization across the board.

Ease of Use

Appointlet has a pretty standard user interface. Important information about bookings, meeting types (which you can customize), form fields, and software integration can be found on the left panel.

Your account settings and billing information are in the top-right corner, while a live chat button is available in the bottom right corner. The gray, light blue, and white color scheme makes everything look simple, clean, and professional, if a little boring.

Platform and Compatibility

One downside to Appointlet is that it has only a web-based interface. There are no appointment-book apps available with Appointlet – just an iPhone app that allows you to send links to existing appointments from your web calendar to others, but this functionality is fairly limited. That said, the website version runs well on a multitude of platforms and is optimized for mobile devices.

Calendar and Appointment Management

Appointlet’s support for calendars and appointment management is the standard one-calendar-per-user arrangement – but there are unlimited users, even with the free plan. That said, there are also unlimited monthly bookings and meeting types, plus full integration with Google Calendar and Office 365.

Online Booking

When it comes to online booking, in addition to the aforementioned unlimited slots, your booking page can easily and automatically be translated into various languages, including French, German, Spanish, and Italian.

You can also integrate it into other websites and get automated booking notifications. Canceling and rescheduling options are free in the scheduling software, but payment processing through Stripe and PayPal is available only with the Premium plan.

Customer Relationship Management 

In terms of CRM, the free plan gets you basic reporting tools, personalized links to the booking page, and the ability to place your company’s logo on the booking page and in emails to clients.

You also enjoy the benefit of automatic translation of your booking page into multiple languages, plus booking notifications for both you and your clients – automatically, whether it is bookings, rescheduling appointments, or cancellations.

There are limits to what the free appointment scheduling software version can do, of course: Customizable booking confirmations, automated and customizable reminders, and integration through Zapier are available only in the Premium plan.

Customer Support

Customer support is available through email, live chat, and text. The latter two are only available during business hours, but you can send an email if your query isn’t urgent. You also get access to a knowledge base on the company website. Of course, moving to the Premium plan gives you priority support for both the email and live chat options.

Summary

While Appointlet may not be the single best app for scheduling, it definitely does a lot of things right. The unlimited monthly appointments and meeting types, as well as the ability for your clients to easily cancel or reschedule while getting automated email notifications for all booking-related changes, are excellent features – and you get them free of charge.

Automatic translation of your booking page into multiple languages is a convenient feature too. We just wish there were some app integrations available with the free version and that customer support were more responsive.

MeetFox is a free scheduler that was designed in 2019 for professionals who want to spend less time on administrative tasks and improve communication with their clients.

Features 

MeetFox has three plans, including a free option. The free version allows you to schedule unlimited online, phone, or face-to-face meetings per month, as long as you stick to a single meeting type.

Both paid versions also feature unlimited meetings, of course, but you can schedule a different kind of meetup whenever you feel like it.

Ease of Use 

Widely regarded as the best free scheduling tool on the market, MeetFox is extremely intuitive to use. Even if you aren’t especially tech-savvy, you won’t have any trouble using this tool to schedule appointments and embed the schedulers on your website.

Platform and Compatibility 

Windows and macOS users will be happy to hear they can use the cloud-based software on any of their devices. There is no mobile app, but that won’t be a problem because the software is responsive and all features are available for mobile users.

Calendar and Appointment Management 

MeetFox has the best free scheduling app that’s designed to simplify your communications with clients and help you organize online meetings with relative ease. Of course, the free version doesn’t include all the features.

For example, if you want to organize group calls, you need to purchase the company’s Premium plan. Also, the group meetings are limited to 16 people.

Online Booking 

MeetFox has various online booking functions. You can set the best appointment app to accept requests from your clients automatically, so you don’t need to waste time checking for new requests. Once the appointment is scheduled, the software will close the slot. Moreover, you can set the software to disable last-minute bookings.

The downside of this booking manager is that there is no rescheduling feature, so you’ll need to cancel your meeting manually before you can schedule another one.

Customer Relationship Management 

MeetFox guarantees a great experience for your clients. For example, you can create a questionnaire for each service you provide and figure out what your clients like and dislike and how you can improve your offering.

You can also use MeetFox’s appointment booking app for free to send automated reminders to your clients via email or SMS (if you pay for the latter). The software integrates with Stripe, which enables fast and secure payments.

Customer Support 

MeetFox offers free customer support via email with each of its pricing plans. The agents are very polite and knowledgeable, and they respond quickly. There is also a rich FAQ section where you can learn more about MeetFox and how to use its features.

For live chat, individual onboarding calls, and a dedicated customer success manager, you’ll need to get a paid plan, but priority support is often worth the price.

Summary 

MeetFox is definitely the best free appointment scheduling app for those who want a simple solution to manage their online meetings. However, the software is not designed for businesses that need a robust platform to manage large-scale meetings.

The maximum number of people who can participate in a session is 16, meaning that the software is not the best option for webinars, for example.

EngageBay is one of the newer appointment-scheduling software tools on our list. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, the company has been providing a suite of marketing and CRM solutions since 2016.

Features

Although EngageBay’s appointment app has barebones features, booking is just part of the picture. EngageBay is not a traditional scheduling software solution but rather a suite of marketing, sales, and CRM tools that happen to include basic appointment booking features.

The company has four plans: a very feature-rich free plan and three paid options (Basic, Growth, and Pro). The free plan offers basic Stripe payments, as well as external calendar integrations for the appointment calendar app, unlimited monthly appointments, email notifications, and more – but you have to pay for features relating to customer analytics.

Ease of Use

EngageBay is a lot more than just appointment scheduling. Unfortunately, this means the interface is not the simplest and most user-friendly, especially if you’re just looking to book some appointments.

The top bar has a dropdown menu that lets you select Marketing, Sales, Services, or Live Chat. To access the appointment booking features on this cloud-based scheduling platform, you start by selecting Sales, then click on the three dots next to the Calendar.

From there, you can set your preferences, open new slots, and see upcoming events.  It’s not the clearest or most straightforward system, but bear in mind that appointment scheduling is just part of the story.

Platform and Compatibility

EngageBay runs well on a variety of platforms. Its web-based interface is pretty snappy on both desktop and mobile, and there are dedicated apps for Android and iOS users.

Calendar and Appointment Management

You get one calendar per user, much as with competing products. Even the free version has complete Gmail, Outlook, and Office 365 integration, however, and there is no limit on monthly bookings.

Online Booking

As mentioned, the booking appointment app gets you not only unlimited monthly bookings, but also service types you want to advertise for.

Unfortunately, the online booking system doesn’t currently support rescheduling and cancellations. In terms of payment processing, Stripe integration is available in the free plan if you select the option to test out one free premium integration.

Those integrations include a variety of external apps, including Zapier, so you can choose what to incorporate or move to a paid tier to get more options.

Customer Relationship Management 

Free online appointment scheduling software often offers very limited CRM capabilities, but not EngageBay: This product comprises a whole suite of email marketing and sales features, in addition to appointment booking. You can ask for customer feedback and send clients notes of your own – manually in the free plan or automatically with a paid plan.

Email notifications are free. SMS notifications are handled through external app integrations with Twilio, Plivo, and JustCall. As with many appointment software programs, there are also various customer analytics options, and the company is planning a social media interaction package in the future.

Both of those are perks for paying customers only. Those on the free plan have access to EngageBay’s unique customer live chat feature, however. You can not only set up real-time chats with customers but also keep track of your chat history.

Customer Support

Customer support is uniformly excellent with EngageBay. The very helpful team is quick to respond through email or live chat to both paid and free users. Sign up for the Growth or Pro plan and you’ll get access to a dedicated account manager and onboarding support. With the top tier, you’ll even get phone support.

Summary

If you are only interested in free online appointment scheduling, there are perhaps better and more intuitive options available. However, EngageBay offers a lot more than just appointment scheduling. If you consider that external calendar and payment processing support, as well as unlimited monthly bookings and services, are available in the free plan, EngageBay is hard to beat in terms of value.

Customer service is also top-notch, whether you are a paying or free customer. That said, we do hope that the appointment scheduling functionality gets beefed up in future releases.