10 Best Scheduling Apps & Softwares for Small Business

If you’re a freelancer, small business owner, or service professional in any field, you’ve experienced the challenge of handling many tasks, keeping track of client meetings, and trying not to get overwhelmed with all the other small things in the mix.

This sometimes leads to missed deadlines or important details slipping through the cracks.

That’s exactly where scheduling apps come in handy. Scheduling apps help you with prioritizing tasks, coordinating efforts with others, reducing stress by maintaining a clear schedule, and adapting plans flexibly to navigate life’s twists and turns.

In this article, I’ll introduce the 10 best scheduling apps and software to simplify your daily life.

The 10 best appointment scheduling tools

1. Acuity Scheduling – Editors choice
2. Bookeo – Best fo consultants
3. Setmore – Best for personal trainers
4. Square Appointments – Best for small business owners
5. SimplyBook.me – Best for solopreneurs
6. Calendly – Best for freelancers
7. Appointy – Best for service professionals
8. Google Calendar – Free scheduling app
9. Zoho Bookings – Best for teams
10. Appointlet – Best for employees

How we evaluate and test apps

When I’m testing apps/tools, I employ a dual approach based on free trial availability. For platforms offering free trials, I test their functionalities, usability, navigation, and ease of use. In the case of software lacking a free version or trial, I rely on in-depth research and user testimonials through software review platforms like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius to gauge their performance and capabilities. Learn more about our ratings criteria for scheduling softwares here.

1. Acuity Scheduling – Editors choice

Best suited for: freelancers and consultants 

Pricing: $20/mo — $61/mo

Acuity Scheduling is an online appointment scheduling software that helps businesses and professionals manage their appointments and bookings.

Besides that, it’s equipped with features that let you build custom intake forms to personalize your customer experience and grow your customer base.

Features

• Appointment workflow automation
• Calendar management
• Group scheduling
• Recurring appointments
• Different appointment types
• Client self-scheduling
• Templates
• Calendar syncing
• Buffer times
• Automatic time zone conversion
• Confirmation, reminder & follow-up emails
• Customization options
• Embeddable widgets
• Pipedrive integration for sales/CRM
• Tracking & analytics
• Invoices

Why we picked it

Teams use Acuity Scheduling to handle various team members’ availability, organize group events, and create different forms for various events.

If you have a paid plan, you can also get paid when people book your services, which is super useful for those offering subscription services.

Start your 7-day free trial of Acuity Scheduling!

Try Acuity Scheduling free

2. Bookeo – Best for consultants

Best suited for: consultants and small business owners in different verticals

Pricing: $14.95/mo – $79.95/mo

Bookeo is an online booking and appointment scheduling software designed to help businesses manage their appointments, classes, tours, and other services.

Features

• Calendar management
• Automated reminders
• Advanced design customization
• Client management
• Class registration
• Appointment attendance tracking
• Customer history
• Calendar sync
• Recurring bookings
• Automatic waiting lists
• Reporting
• Data export

Why we picked it

Bookeo is a solution that keeps track of your appointments and payments in one location.

When customers book and pay online, your dashboard quickly shows the updated availability and all the details about the booking and payment right away. This is especially useful for people running service-based businesses.

Start your 30-day free trial of Bookeo today!

Try Bookeo free

3. Setmore – Best for personal trainers

Best suited for: consultants, accountants, educators, and personal trainers

Pricing: Free – $12/user/mo

Setmore is an online appointment scheduling platform that allows services businesses and individual professionals to manage their appointments, bookings, and customer information.

Features

• Recurring appointments
• Custom booking page with unique URL
• Payment collection
• Automatic confirmations
• Class bookings
• Staff booking pages
• Customized notifications
• Email reminders
• Customizable SMS reminders
• Time zone adjustment
• CRM integrations

Why we picked it

Setmore helps users by giving them a special page where all their services are listed for customers to book.

This makes it easy for customers to book services and pay for those services, making the whole process straightforward for everyone involved.

Try Setmore for free today!

Try Setmore free

4. Square Appointments – Best for small business owners

Best suited for: service professionals, solopreneurs, and small business owners

Pricing: Free – $69/mo

Square Appointments is a scheduling and appointment management tool provided by Square, a financial services and mobile payment company.

Features

• Automatic text reminders
• Integrated payments
• Customer management
• Customer confirmation texts
• Waitlist management
• Custom email notifications
• Time zone–friendly booking
• Class booking
• Cancellation policy management
• Daily appointment limit
• Appointments reports
• Resource management
• Automated marketing campaigns
• Appointment & sales history

Why we picked it

Square Appointments serves as a central hub for managing appointments, creating invoices, and handling payments all in one place.

Try Square Appointments for free!

Try Square Appointments free

5. SimplyBook.me – Best for solopreneurs

Best suited for: individuals and medium-sized businesses

Pricing: Free – $99.9/mo

SimplyBook.me is an online appointment scheduling and booking system that allows businesses to manage appointments, bookings, and services.

Features

• Automatic confirmation emails
• Automatic feedback request after the service
• Intake forms
• Facebook & Instagram bookings
• Coupons & gift cards
• Online payment
• Calendar sync
• Waiting list management
• Group bookings
• Cancellation policy management
• Loyalty system
• Booking limits
• Buffer times
• Timezone support
• Appointment notifications & reminders
• Custom wording & translations
• Themes & color options
• Daily report

Why we picked it

Users use SimplyBook to schedule appointments for clients and sell their professional services.

With the automation features, they keep their calendar open, allowing clients to easily book appointments based on availability and suitable time slots.

Try SimplyBook.me for free today!

Try SimplyBook.me free

6. Calendly – Best for freelancers

Best suited for: individuals, freelancers, small business owners, sales and marketing teams

Pricing: Free – $20/mo (per seat)

Calendly is an online scheduling tool that helps individuals and businesses streamline the process of scheduling appointments, meetings, and events.

Features

• Automated scheduling
• Multi-person scheduling
• Personalized scheduling links
• Multiple event types
• Customizable availability
• Automated reminder emails
• Confirmation & cancellation notifications
• Buffer times between meetings
• Team scheduling
• Re-confirmation requests
• Group events
• Round-robin scheduling
• Secret event types
• Customizable event pages
• Website embed options
• Guest scheduling
• Analytics

Why we picked it

For individuals, Calendly is great because it can connect with different Google Calendars, making it easy to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Plus, it’s handy for people offering paid services, as it integrates with Stripe, so you can collect payments upfront for your training or consultations.

Teams use Calendly to plan meetings with clients or prospects which saves time by avoiding back-and-forth emails to figure out a suitable date for everyone involved.

7. Appointy – Best for service professionals

Best suited for: service professionals, universities, consultants, and business coaches

Pricing: Free – $99.99/mo

Appointy is an online appointment scheduling and booking software that provides tools for scheduling, calendar management, and customer engagement.

Features

• Booking management
• Recurring bookings
• automated email & SMS reminders
• Custom fields
• Group scheduling
• Embeddable widgets
• Customer management
• Booking rules
• Timezone scheduler
• Reporting & analytics
• Inbuilt CRM
• Customer history
• Resource management

Why we picked it

Using Appointy, you can schedule work tasks and even slot in time for your lunch and other activities, making it super easy to keep both your professional and personal life on track.

Plus, it comes with an in-built CRM. You can store vital attendee data, like appointment history, purchases, intake form details, and feedback, all neatly organized under client profiles.

Try Appointy for free today!

Try Appointy free

8. Google Calendar – Free scheduling app

Best suited for: individual professionals, freelancers, consultants, and small businesses

Pricing: $6/user/mo — $18/user/mo

Google Calendar is a web-based application developed by Google that allows users to organize and schedule events, appointments, and reminders.

Features

• Event scheduling
• Multiple calendar support
• Reminders
• Collaborative event editing
• Time zone support
• Agenda view for easy event tracking
• Color-coded events for visual organization
• Quick event duplication
• Search functionality
• Goal setting

Why we picked it

Teams use Google Calendar to book meetings, block time, and determine how busy each team member is on a given day.

Individuals use it to schedule personal appointments and organize their daily activities efficiently.

9. Zoho Bookings – Best for teams

Best suited for: service professionals, recruitment companies, and solopreneurs

Pricing: $8/user/mo — $12/user/mo

Zoho Bookings is an online appointment scheduling software offered by Zoho Corporation that helps users simplify the appointment booking process, manage schedules, and enhance customer engagement.

Features

• Customizable confirmation and cancelation emails
• Appointment reminders
• Resource allocation
• Customizable booking page
• Automatic time zone conversion
• Custom fields
• Browser extension
• Group bookings
• Buffer times

Why we picked it

What I like about Zoho Bookings is how it makes setting up meetings so much easier. It puts all your meetings in one place on a clear calendar, which is really handy.

Sign up for Zoho Bookings for free!

Try Zoho Bookings for free!

10. Appointlet – Best for employees

Best suited for: service professionals and consultants

Pricing: Free – $10/member/mo

Appointlet is an online appointment scheduling and booking tool designed to help businesses and professionals manage their appointments more efficiently.

Features

• Online appointment scheduling
• Automated reminders
• Customizable booking page
• Group scheduling
• Email notifications
• Embeddable widgets
• Meeting types customization
• Buffer times
• Calendar integration
• Time zone adjustment
• Availability control

Why we picked it

The platform offers a simple way to book meetings with parties through a user-friendly calendar.

Appointlet also reduces absences by sending automatic reminders for scheduled meetings.

Try Appointlet for free today!

Try Appointlet free

Conclusion: How to Pick The Best Scheduling Apps & Software

Look for apps with simple interfaces. A user-friendly design always ensures smooth navigation and efficient use. T

hen, opt for scheduling apps that offer automation features, such as automated reminders and notifications.

This helps in reducing no-shows and streamlining communication. If possible, take advantage of free trials.

This will let you test the software’s functionality and see if it really meets your requirements before committing.

A quick recap of the best scheduling platforms:

1. Acuity Scheduling – Editors choice
2. Bookeo – Best fo consultants
3. Setmore – Best for personal trainers
4. Square Appointments – Best for small business owners
5. SimplyBook.me – Best for solopreneurs
6. Calendly – Best for freelancers
7. Appointy – Best for service professionals
8. Google Calendar – Free scheduling app
9. Zoho Bookings – Best for teams
10. Appointlet – Best for employees