Top 7 Best Appointment Scheduling Software Apps

Using the best appointment scheduling system gives you the ability to reduce scheduling errors, prevent double-bookings and keep an accurate timetable.

What is appointment scheduling software?

Appointment scheduling software give businesses the ability to manage their schedule and appointment bookings in helpful ways that save time and hassle.

Primarily, the main function of an online scheduling software platform is managing the processes involved with organising meetings both internally and externally. These tools gSearching for the best way to manage your scive both you, and your clients and potential customers the power to book, cancel and reschedule meetings/appointments with you, or any member of your team and visa versa.

This is the basic functionality of an appoint scheduling app, however, many of these tools also bundle in many other useful features to help you manage upcoming meetings and bookings. Hiring an external developer may also be necessary if you need a more custom solution with functionality specific to your business. For example a custom mobile app built specifically for your business by a mobile app developer.

We'll be taking a brief look at some of the key features offered with 7 of the best appointment scheduling software options in the market today to help you decide on which platform is right for you and your business.

What are the benefits of using appointment scheduling?

From effortlessly managing your timetable to clearly sharing your availability, there are many benefits that come with using an appointment scheduling app:

• Empower your clients by giving them the ability to book, cancel and reschedule their appointment without having to email you.
• Sync your calendar availability with clients so they can book a time that suits everyone's schedule.
• Easily keep track of upcoming appointments.
• Measure the growth of your bookings over time with in depth analytics
• Keep your clients up to date with automated reminders about their upcoming booking.
• Clients can see your calendar and book directly into your schedule which eliminates the needs to send emails back and forth.
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What is the difference between a scheduling software and a booking software?

Although many of the capabilities of a booking software and a scheduling software may overlap, there are some key differences...

Appointment Scheduling Software:

Once you have outlined your availability, an appointment scheduling system allows clients to pick a date and time in your calendar to book an appointment. This software is usually used for one-to-one appointments rather than timetabled group events.

As well as sharing your calendar with your clients, often an appointment scheduling system will integrate with online video platforms such as Zoom and automatically create an online meeting link.

Booking Software:

A booking system allows you to list timetabled classes, courses, events, experiences and activities for customers and clients to book. Many major booking systems can integrate with your website and social media platforms so you can take booking from anywhere.

Booking systems such as Baluu have an easy to use dashboard where you can manage every area of your business, from income and marketing features to tools that help you manage your team and your stock inventory if you also sell products.

Do I need a booking system or an appointment scheduling system?

• Businesses that offer classes, events or activities will be better suited to a booking software.
• An appointment scheduling system is probably the right choice for businesses that host one-to-one appointments that take place either online or in-person.

We have analysed the pros, cons, pricing and key features of the top 6 best appointment scheduling apps that are already being used by many small and growing businesses.

The Top 7 Best Appointment Scheduling Software in 2023 are:

1. Baluu
2. Calendly
3. 3veta
4. Appointlet
5. Acuity Scheduling
6. Square Appointments
7. Doodle
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1. Baluu

Founded: 2021
HQ: London

‍Baluu is an all-in-one booking software. As well as managing your bookings, Baluu gives businesses access to valuable appointment scheduling tools.

Easily share your real-time availability with clients, send automated reminders and keep track of your bookings with Baluu. Sync with your Google calendar to prevent double-bookings and create an appointment booking experience which showcases your brand.

How does Baluu work?

After you have signed up with Baluu, you will have access to the Baluu dashboard. Within the dashboard, you can track your income over time, assign your team to upcoming events, set up discount codes, collect reviews, and a whole lot more.

As well as tools designed to help you manage every aspect of your business, you can also access advanced appointment scheduling tools.

With Baluu's customisation tools, you can build a booking page which fits your business brand. Seamlessly integrate your booking page into your existing website, social media page or wherever you take bookings.

As well as giving your clients an intuitive booking experience which allows them to effortlessly book, cancel and reschedule their bookings, Baluu also makes keeping track of your schedule simple.

Baluu has robust scheduling tools which prevent double-bookings and timetable errors. Sync with your Google Calendar and only allow clients to book appointments that fit your availability.

Integrating Baluu's  Booking Widget

Do you need a powerful booking system but don't want to deal with the hassle of integrating it or having a separate page that spoils your website's feel? Baluu's customisable Booking Widget is going to make your life a whole lot easier! This ingenious app includes all of Baluu's features, including events, scheduling tools, products, branding options, marketing, and more.

It seamlessly integrates with your existing site, creating an aesthetically pleasing, unobtrusive user experience. Today, so few businesses offer a simple and elegant solution for adding a booking system to an existing website. With Baluu, you can enjoy all these features completely free.

Want to know more about this great appointment scheduling app? Speak to a member of the Baluu support team to see if this system is for you.

Key Features

• Take bookings for your events, classes, experiences and products on your website and social media platforms.
• Use Baluu's customisation tools to create a branded booking for your clients.
• With comprehensive CRM features, your clients can book, cancel and reschedule their booking.
• Display your open hours and availability so clients know when they can book appointments.
• Safely take payments online with Baluu's secure payment processing tools.
• Make a branded website without any coding experience.
• Fully cusomtisable booking widget makes integrating into your existing website easy
• Users have the ability to control, modify, and cancel their own reservations.
• Using variable permissions, you can quickly organize your team.
• Custom data-collection fields on customer intake forms can be used to collect critical consumer information.
• Create integrated marketing campaigns, complex discounts, and meaningful insights.
• Sell products, gift cards, and learning kits, and you can create an unlimited number of listings with various ticket types.
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2. Calendly

Founded: 2013
HQ: Atlanta

Calendly is an online scheduling system. Many businesses use Calendly to organise internal meetings between colleagues. However, Calendly can also be used by businesses to schedule appointments with clients.

Not only does this online scheduling platform makes it possible to schedule appointments and meetings from your own website, but Calendly can also integrate with Zoom and other online video platforms.

Key Features

• Embed your Calendly link into your existing website so clients can book an appointment at a time that suits their schedule.
• Instead of embedding Calendly into your website, you can send your Calendly link directly to your clients.
• Send your clients and team members reminders about their upcoming appointment or meeting.
• Can connect with several popular online calendar platforms such as Google, Outlook, Microsoft Office and more.
• Supports different types of events, including one-on-one meetings, group events, and round-robin scheduling.
• Provides detailed analytics and insights about your scheduling activity, including the number of events scheduled, attendee statistics, and more.
• Calendly detects the time zone of your invitees and automatically adjusts the availability to their local time zone.
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3. 3veta

Founded: 2020
HQ: Bulgaria

3veta is an all-in-one tool designed for remote teams. Although a relatively new company, they've quickly establishing themselves as an industry leader in video meetings. Small and medium businesses use 3veta to schedule meetings with their team and external clients. With 3veta, they can easily share their calendar availability and find the most appropriate time for online meetings.

Apart from scheduling, 3veta is also a video solution, offering some of the best video-conferencing tools in the industry. You can also receive payments from clients with native Stripe integration.

The best part is its white labeling capability, allowing you to brand the whole experience with your own colors and logo.

Key Features

• 2-way calendar synchronisation with Google Calendar, Microsoft Exchange, and Apple Calendar
• Booking page with unlimited bookable events, customisable colors, images, GIFs
• Integrated video call solution with Full HD calls and up to 100 participants
• White labeling options
• Comprehensive customer service, including round-the-clock support and extensive knowledge base.
• Schedule video meetings with 100 people at a time with no limits on duration
• Excellent client monitoring tools allows you to build email lists, keep notes, and manage meetings.
• Build a fully-branded website from scratch.
• Full customisation of the video-call room

4. Appointlet

Founded: 2021
HQ: Portland

Appointlet is an online appointment scheduling system, designed to make organising appointments and meetings a simple and straightforward process.

Collect relevant client information with customisable intake forms, notify your clients about changes to their appointment and integrate Appointlet integrates easily into your existing business website.‍

Key Features

• Send email reminders to your clients with the details of their upcoming appointment.
• Integrate the Appointlet booking page into your existing website.
• Appointlet allows you to create time buffers between your appointments in case an appointment runs over.
• This scheduling software gives you the tools to easily accept or decline meeting and appointment requests.
• Appointlet is versatile and can be used by managers to arrange meetings with their team or by teachers to organise appointments with their students.
• Secure encryption to protect user data and prevent unauthorized access to scheduling information.
• Can customize your scheduling page with your own branding, colors, and logos, as well as create custom fields to collect information from their clients during the scheduling process.
• Provides  detailed analytics on their scheduling process, including the number of appointments booked, the average response time, and the conversion rate of scheduling pages.

5. Acuity Scheduling

Founded: 2006
HQ: New York

‍Acuity Scheduling is a popular online scheduling system for small and growing businesses. Designed for those with online and in-person appointments, Acuity Scheduling makes it possible for businesses to provide their clients with a simple appointment booking experience.

With Acuity Scheduling you can take bookings directly from your website, securely take payments online and integrate with online video platforms. It's a Squarespace brand and there for is a booking system that integrates particularly well with Squarespace websites.‍

Key Features

• Send text reminders to your clients about their upcoming appointment.
• Your clients have the ability to manage their booking, this includes cancelling and rescheduling their appointment.
• Acuity Scheduling gives you the tools to take bookings for group classes as well as one-to-one appointments.
• The ability to create customisable intake forms for clients to complete before their appointment.
• Businesses can embed Acuity Scheduling into their existing website.
• Integrates with a variety of third-party tools, such as Zoom and QuickBooks, allowing you to manage appointments and related tasks more efficiently
• Enables businesses with multiple locations to manage their appointments and availability separately, providing a streamlined booking experience for clients.
• Schedule resources, such as rooms or equipment, alongside appointments, ensuring that everything is available when needed.

6. Square Appointments

Founded: 2009
HQ: San Francisco

Square Appointments gives you the tools to run many areas of your business all from one place. This scheduling system is a great fit for service providers such as hairdressers, personal trainers and tutors.  

As well as giving you the ability to keep track of your schedule, Square Appointments also allows you to organise recurring appointments, automate reminder emails and manage your team.‍

Key Features

• Offers a calendar view that shows all upcoming appointments, cancellations, and reschedules. It also offers reminders and notifications to both businesses and customers.
• Lets you easily manage staff schedules, assign appointments to specific staff members, and track their performance.
• Square Appointments can sync with your Google Calendar.
• Useful resource management tools.
• Provides detailed analytics and reporting, including appointment history, client information, and revenue data.
• If you have a large audience on Instagram, Square Appointments has Instagram integration capabilities.
• Set discounts and sell digital gift cards and physical gift cards.
  

7. Doodle

Founded: 2007
HQ: Switzerland

Doodle is an online scheduling system which makes arranging group and one-to-one meetings and appointments easy. With this scheduling system, businesses can quickly understand when all attendee's availability and schedule an appointment that fits everyone's timetable.

With Doodle, you can schedule one-to-one and group appointments, sync your online calendar and send reminder emails to clients and team members about their upcoming appointment or meeting. Doodle uses the word "polls" to describe the scheduling feature of their platform. This is because it involves creating a survey or questionnaire to collect input and feedback from participants regarding their availability/preferences for a particular event or meeting.This makes Doodle somewhat unique in the scheduling world.

Key Features

• Doodle can integrate with online calendars such as Google Calendar.
• Create buffers between appointments and set a limit for the amount of appointment bookings you offer each day.
• Doodle allows users to create polls with potential dates and times for a meeting or event.
• Allows users to customise the poll with their own branding and messaging, as well as create recurring polls for events that occur on a regular basis, such as weekly team meetings.
• Doodle automatically detects and adjusts for different time zones, making it easy for participants in different parts of the world to coordinate.
• With Doodle's 'Group Poll' tools, you can see suggested appointment times and collect responses from attendees about which time works for them.
• Easily schedule group appointments and one-to-one appointments.
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*All pricing outlined in this article was accurate to the best of our knowledge and soured from the aforementioned website's pricing page at the time of writing (07/03/2023).

Need more advice?

Ultimately, we believe the top 7 best appointment scheduling tools are Baluu, Calendly, Appointlet, Acuity Scheduling, Square Appointments and Doodle. After outlining the pros, cons, pricing and key features of each scheduling app, we hope you have a greater understanding of which appointment scheduling app is the right fit for your business.

Still stuck? Take a look at some more roundups on the best booking tools available on the market today:

• How To Create An Online Booking System: The Ultimate Guide
• Top 6 Best Scheduling Tools For Google Calendar
• Top 5 Best Free Booking Systems
• Top 5 Best Appointment Booking Systems For Any Business
• How To Build A Bookings Website: A Step-By-Step Guide
• Top 10 Best Booking Systems For Small Businesses