The beauty industry is highly competitive, and salons must find ways to stand out from the crowd and attract more clients. One way to do this is by offering efficient and user-friendly tools that make it easy for clients to book appointments.
For salon owners, appointment booking plugins provide a streamlined way to manage appointments and keep track of their schedules. These tools allow them to focus on providing top-notch service to their clients, rather than spending time on administrative tasks.
In this article, we will explore the importance of appointment booking tools for beauty salons and how they can benefit both clients and salon owners. We will also discuss some of the best appointment booking solutions available for WordPress.
How to Choose an Appointment Booking Plugin for Beauty Salons?
When it comes to running a beauty salon, an appointment booking tool is crucial for managing your bookings and keeping your schedule organized. However, with so many options available, it can be overwhelming to choose the right one for your business. Here are some key features when selecting an appointment booking tool for your business.
- It should integrate seamlessly with your WordPress website. This means that the plugin should be easy to install and set up, with no coding required. It should also allow you to customize your booking page to match your brand’s look and feel.
- Another important feature to consider is the ability to set different types of appointments, such as haircuts, manicures, and facials, with varying durations. This ensures that your clients can book the services they need, and you can effectively manage your schedule.
- Cost is also a consideration. Some appointment booking plugins are free, while others require a monthly or yearly subscription fee. It’s important to weigh the costs and benefits and choose a plugin that fits within your budget.
- Ease of use is another important factor to consider. The plugin should be user-friendly, both for you and your clients. It should be easy to navigate and book appointments, with clear instructions and prompts.
- Lastly, customer support is crucial. Look for a solution that offers excellent customer support, with a responsive support team that can assist you with any issues or questions that may arise.
The right appointment booking app for your beauty salon can make a significant difference in your business’s success. Your choice of booking plugin should also be compatible with the WordPress theme you have chosen.
Top 15 Best Appointment Booking Plugins (for Beauty Salons)
- Booknetic
- Amelia
- Easy Appointments
- Acuity Scheduling
- Appointy
- Bookly
- Booked
- Simplybook.me
- Timely
- Setmore
- Schedulista
- Gravity Booking
- MotoPress Appointment Booking
- WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments
- FluentBooking
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Booknetic
Booknetic is an appointment booking and scheduling plugin designed for the WordPress platform. It is a versatile tool that caters to a wide range of businesses, including beauty salons, spas, healthcare clinics, education centers, and more.With Booknetic, businesses can easily manage appointments, schedule events, and accept online payments. The plugin is packed with a host of useful features that make it easy to set up and customize, ensuring that businesses can tailor it to their specific needs.
Key features:
- User-friendly booking interface
- The ability to manage multiple service providers
- automated email, WhatsApp, Telegram, and SMS notifications
- Customizable booking forms
- Custom fields
- PayPal, Stripe, Mollie, RazorPay, and Square payment gateways
Pros:
- Ease of use: Businesses can set up and customize the plugin with ease, and it offers a smooth and seamless booking experience for customers.
- Extensive range of features and integrations: Booknetic offers a wide range of features, making it an ideal choice for multiple levels of business needs.
- Pricing: Booknetic comes with a lifetime license, so you don’t need to pay yearly or monthly payments to keep using the plugin
Cons:
- One notable downside of Booknetic is its lack of mobile support. While you can see all the appointments in the Google Calendar, Booknetic currently does not have a mobile version.
Pricing: $79 for lifetime license
Verdict: Booknetic is a powerful and flexible appointment booking plugin that can help businesses streamline operations and improve customer experience.
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Amelia
With Amelia, you can automate your bookings, manage your schedules, streamline interactions with your customers, track your payments, and monitor your KPIs. Intuitive and easy to set up and use. Grab this all-in-one WordPress booking plugin now – up to 40% off, limited time only.Features and integrations that make your work more efficient:
Features:
- Packages of services
- Event tickets and event calendar view
- Resource booking
- Real-time notifications and appointment reminders
- Group bookings
- Recurring appointments
- Custom fields
Integrations:
- Google Calendar and Google Meet
- Outlook Calendar
- Zoom
- Elementor
- Divi
- Lessonspace
- Supports WooCommerce, PayPal, Stripe, Mollie, and Razorpay
Pricing: Free plan, Annual/Lifetime Basic from $69/$216, Pro $159/$414 and Developer $299/$899 licenses
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Easy Appointments
Easy Appointments is a widely popular and open source appointment booking solution designed for WordPress websites. It is an excellent tool that simplifies booking appointments between businesses and customers. This plugin is perfect for any business that requires appointment scheduling, including beauty salons, wellness centers, spas, and more.Key features:
- User-friendly booking interface
- Online payment options
- Customizable appointment types, times, and durations
- Break times and holiday blocking
- Email notifications, reminders, and customizable form fields for client information
Pros:
- Simplistic design approach
- Extensive customization options
- Helpful and supportive documentation
Cons:
- Lack of advanced appointment scheduling features like recurring appointments
- Limited customization options
- Requires programming knowledge
Pricing:
- Free to use
Verdict: Easy Appointments is an excellent tool that provides businesses with a simple and efficient way to manage their appointments and bookings.
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Acuity Scheduling
When it comes to appointment booking plugins, Acuity Scheduling is a popular and reliable choice for many businesses. This cloud-based software simplifies the scheduling and booking process for beauty salons and their clients.Key features:
- Businesses can easily set up their services, availability, and pricing, while clients can easily navigate through the booking process and choose a time that works for them
- Automated reminders and follow-up emails to reduce no-shows
- Customers can confirm their participation after they complete the booking
- Pipedrive and Zapier integration
Pros:
- Supports CRMs for better customer retention
- Offers a wide range of features
Cons:
- Pricing is significantly higher compared to other options
- There is a permanent “Powered by Acuity” text that you can’t get rid of
Pricing:
- $16/Month for Emerging, $27/Month for Growing and $49/Month for Powerhouse plan
Verdict: Acuity Scheduling is a great option that offers many useful features and integrations. It is especially good for managing multiple branches.
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Appointy
Regarding appointment booking plugins, Appointy is a popular and reliable choice for many businesses. This cloud-based software simplifies the scheduling and booking process for various industries and their clients.Key features:
- Businesses can easily set up their services, availability, and pricing, while clients can easily navigate through the booking process and choose a time that works for them
- Automated reminders and follow-up emails to reduce no-shows
- Customers can confirm their participation after they complete the booking
- Zapier integration (Connect with over 1000 apps)
Pros:
- Supports CRMs for better customer retention
- Offers a wide range of features
Cons:
- Pricing is significantly higher compared to other options
Pricing:
- Free, $29.99/Month for Growth plan, $59.99/Month for Professional plan and $99.99/Month for Enterprise plan
Verdict: Appointy is a tremendous scheduling app that offers many useful features and integrations. It is especially good for businesses that are using custom websites.
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Bookly Pro
Bookly Pro is a popular and reliable choice for beauty salons of all sizes. This cloud-based software simplifies the scheduling and booking process and allows salon owners to focus on perfecting their service quality.Key features:
- Fully-customizable booking form that can be used on any device
- Filterable, sortable and searchable booking list that you can print or export to CSV
- Unlimited number of staff members with individual working schedules, prices, and ability to manage their profiles and online booking calendar
- Unlimited number of Services which you can group into categories and set unique colors for easier viewing in Bookly Calendar
- Google Calendar sync
Pros:
- Stable platform and wide range of features
- User-friendly admin panel for easy WP setup
Cons:
- Core version is limited in features
Pricing: $89 for core version and extra for add-ons.
Verdict: Bookly Pro is a great choise that offers many useful features and integrations. It is especially good for managing multiple branches.
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Booked
Booked is a top-rated appointment booking plugin for WordPress websites. This plugin is designed for small businesses, freelancers, and professionals and it is especially geared towards beauty salons.Key features:
- Easy to use, easy to manage
- Tons of options and customizations
- Responsive mobile-first design
- Integration with Outlook and Google Calendar
- SAML, LDAP, and Active Directory support
- Embed schedules directly on your website
Pros:
- Advanced reporting support
- Multiple levels of default management roles
Cons:
- It is more of a management solution, lacks some advanced scheduling options
Pricing: Booked Scheduler has 2 version, fully-hosted and cloud-hosted. Fully-hosted version is $500, cloud-hosted version is $15/month
Verdict: Booked Scheduler is a powerful appointment booking and management solution. It is especially managing small businesses.
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Simplybook.me
Simplybook.me is an appointment scheduling software that offers a user-friendly interface for businesses to manage their appointments hassle-free. The software helps businesses in various sectors such as beauty salons, healthcare providers, education, and more to streamline their appointment scheduling and booking process.Key Features:
- Customizable booking pages
- Automated reminders via email and SMS
- Integrations with multiple payment gateways
- Real-time synchronization with Google Calendar
- Customizable booking forms
- Client database management
Pros:
- Easy to set up and integrate with existing websites
- Multiple payment options
Cons:
- Limited customization options for the layout and design of the booking pages
- Certain features are only available in the higher-priced plans
Pricing:
- Free, $9.9/month for Basic plan, $29.9/month for Standard plan, $59.9/month for Premium plan, $99.9/month for Premium plus plan
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Timely
Timely is a popular tool that has been designed to help beauty salon owners manage their appointments more efficiently. With Timely, you can streamline your scheduling process and automate the booking process, so you can focus on what you do best: providing top-notch beauty services to your clients.Key features:
- User-friendly interface.
- Easy to navigate
- Allows to manage multiple appointments simultaneously
- Custom notifications and reminders for both you and your clients
Pros:
- Wide range of integrations capabilities
Cons:
- Pricing is based on features and number of staff
Pricing:
- Prices range from $30/month to $250/month according to number of staff and features
Verdict: Timely is a powerful appointment booking app that is perfect for beauty salons and other businesses. It excels at situations that require complex scheduling management.
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Setmore
Setmore is an appointment booking tool designed specifically for businesses looking to streamline their booking process. With an intuitive interface and a range of helpful features, this plugin is a popular choice for beauty salons and other service-based businesses.Key features:
- CRM and CMS integrations
- Unlimited scheduling
- Mobile app
- SMS and Email reminders
- Analytics integration
Pros:
- Offers a mobile app to manage anywhere
- Allows to create custom and trackable booking pages
Cons:
- It lacks advanced features such as packages, waiting lists and custom fields
Pricing:
- Free, $12/month for Pro plan and $9/month per user for Team plan
Verdict: Setmore is reliable and user-friendly. It’s best for businesses that want a hassle-free setup process.
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Schedulista
Schedulista is a cloud-based appointment booking software designed to help businesses manage their schedules and appointments online. It is an all-in-one business solution that simplifies appointment booking, scheduling, and customer management for beauty salons, spas, and other service-based businesses.Key Features:
- Customer management and customized branding
- Online payment gateways
- Automated reminders
- Integration with Email marketing tools
Pros:
- High degree of customization
- Exceptional customer support
Cons:
- Lack of advanced features like waiting lists, product packages
Pricing:
- $19/month for personal plan and $39/month for up to 15 member plan
Verdict: Schedulista is a powerful appointment booking solution. It is best for fast-moving small businesses.
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Gravity Booking
Gravity Booking is a versatile online appointment booking plugin designed for the WordPress platform. It caters effectively to diverse businesses, encompassing beauty salons, lawyers, airlines, restaurants, healthcare clinics, educational centres, and more.
With Gravity Booking, businesses can effortlessly manage appointments, arrange events, and securely process online payments. The plugin boasts many valuable features that facilitate quick setup and customization, allowing businesses to align it precisely with their unique requirements.Key Features:
- User-Friendly Booking Interface: Gravity Booking provides an intuitive booking interface that ensures a hassle-free experience for businesses and customers.
- Manage Multiple Service Providers: Businesses can efficiently manage multiple service providers, enhancing their booking operations.
- Email Notification: The plugin offers automated notifications via email, ensuring clients are always informed and appointments are well-organized.
- Customizable Booking Forms: Tailor booking forms to your needs, ensuring a personalized booking process.
- Payment Gateways: Gravity Booking supports various payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, Square, and Mollie, allowing clients to pay securely.
Pros:
- Ease of Use: Gravity Booking is exceptionally user-friendly, enabling businesses to set up and customize the plugin effortlessly, resulting in a seamless customer booking experience.
- Extensive Features and Integrations: With a broad spectrum of features, Gravity Booking is ideal for businesses with diverse operational needs.
Cons:
- One notable drawback of Gravity Booking is that it is not supported on mobile applications. You need to have a desktop to use this online booking platform.
- Gravity Booking’s pricing starts at $79 for a single site and costs $129 for 30 sites.
Verdict: In conclusion, Gravity Booking emerges as a potent and adaptable appointment booking plugin that streamlines business operations and enhances the overall customer experience. Its user-friendly nature, extensive feature set, and cost-effective lifetime license make it an attractive choice for businesses seeking to optimize their appointment booking processes.
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MotoPress Appointment Booking
The WordPress Appointment Booking plugin by MotoPress works for any hourly-based business website. It supports any number of services, custom duration, and buffer times.
Key Features:
- Unlimited employees, locations, and bookings
- On-site payments (more methods, including PayPal, Stripe, and Direct Bank Transfer are available in the premium version)
- Multiple services bookable at one go
- System of automated email notifications
- A centralized bookings calendar
- Client accounts
- Discount coupons
- Synchronization with an employee’s Google Calendar (pro)
Pros:
- A robust free version that lets you test the plugin’s functionality
- Step-by-step booking process via a responsive widget
- Works with different page builders
- Multiple payment methods (pro)
- Appointment Booking addons (pro)
Cons:
- Lacks customization options in the booking form
Pricing:
The MotoPress Appointment plugin is available in free and premium versions.
- Appointment Booking Lite: free
- A single site license: $59
- An unlimited sites license: $199
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WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments
The WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments Plugin by PluginHive is a comprehensive solution tailored for WooCommerce stores, specifically designed to meet the needs of beauty salon bookings. This versatile plugin serves the beauty industry by simplifying the management of bookings and appointments. Whether you’re running a hair salon, spa, or beauty clinic, this plugin enables businesses to schedule sessions, organize classes, and manage appointments with ease.Key Features:
- Receive email notifications for new bookings, confirmations, and cancellations.
- Sync bookings with Google Calendar and place bookings directly from it.
- Accept partial payments and security deposits for bookings.
- Create staff members with flexible cost calculation rules and manage their schedules.
- Set buffer times before and after bookings for preparation.
- Add custom fields for additional customer information and integrate with PH WooCommerce Product Add-ons.
- Restrict last-minute bookings, allow custom booking windows, and set variable booking durations.
- Enable group bookings, and additional services, and customize booking calendar design.
Pros:
- Gain full control over booking and scheduling for various services and events.
- Set specific time slots for appointments, perfect for unique business hours.
- Sync with Google Calendar for real-time availability and schedule management.
- Support multiple languages to cater to global businesses.
- Integrate seamlessly with your WooCommerce store for enhanced user experience.
- Establish a transparent and flexible cancellation policy to improve customer satisfaction.
Cons:
- While the base plugin is robust, some businesses may incur extra costs for premium add-ons to extend functionality.
Pricing: The WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments Plugin starts at $99 for a single site license, with additional pricing tiers for multiple sites.
Verdict: Overall, the plugin stands out as a robust and flexible booking tool that simplifies business operations and enriches the customer service experience. Its ease of use, wide-ranging capabilities, and competitive pricing structure position it as an excellent option for businesses aiming to refine their booking and appointment systems.
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FluentBooking
FluentBooking is a popular appointment booking solution for WordPress, ideal for anyone looking for the simplest way to manage their appointments. It works perfectly for any appointment-based business, such as salons and spas. Designed to ensure a hassle-free booking experience for both you and your clients, FluentBooking makes managing appointments effortless.It’s super easy to set up and use—no extra knowledge or skills are required. From setting your availability to managing client meetings, FluentBooking handles everything, allowing you to focus more on your appointments and less on manual tasks.
Key Features:
- Choose your preferred meeting type, such as one-on-one or round-robin
- Sync events with calendars like Google, Apple, Outlook, and Nextcloud
- Send automated email and text notifications
- Customize booking calendars and create responsive booking pages
- Accept secure payments via Stripe or PayPal
- Set up a team page and let clients book with specific team members
- Control and limit bookings using advanced settings
- Enjoy full RTL support and 100% translatable features
Integrations:
- Google Calendar
- FluentCRM
- Stripe
- Twilio
- Webhook
- Elementor
Pros:
- Easily configure availability and manage appointments
- Add buffer times and date overrides to handle limited availability
- Integrate with your favorite tools and automate workflows
- Use email automation with FluentCRM
- Flexible and affordable pricing options
Cons:
- Free version comes with limited features
- No mobile app support
Verdict: FluentBooking is an excellent choice for salon businesses to manage appointments and clients effortlessly. With its robust features and seamless integrations, FluentBooking helps you run your business smoothly and turn clients into happy promoters.
Conclusion
In summary, we have discussed the importance of booking an appointment for beauty salons. It not only simplifies the booking process for customers but also helps salon owners manage their schedules effectively. We have also talked about the features that a good appointment booking plugin should have, such as customization options, automatic reminders, and sync with calendars.
If you are a salon owner searching for the best choice for scheduling appointments, our advice is to do your research and choose one that suits your business needs. Look for a plugin that offers a seamless experience for your customers and makes it easy for you to manage your appointments. It can be a worthwhile investment that will save you time and boost your business’s efficiency.
Finally, we recommend keeping your website up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies in the industry. By continually improving your online presence, you can attract more customers and retain existing ones. So, make sure to choose the right appointment booking plugin and take advantage of the benefits it can offer your beauty salon.