Bookster – WordPress Appointment Booking Plugin for WordPress Plugin Directory

Managing appointments through phone calls, texts, and emails is chaotic.

You lose track of bookings, double-book appointments, and spend hours on scheduling instead of serving customers.

Bookster turns your WordPress site into a 24/7 booking system.

🌐 View All Demos

Customers book appointments themselves, see real-time availability, and receive automatic confirmations.

You manage everything from one dashboard.

📌 Documentation | Core Pro vs All Access

💫 Perfect For

Hair salons and barbershops

Spas and beauty clinics

Massage therapists and wellness centers

Personal trainers and fitness coaches

Consultants and coaches

Tutors and education services

Medical and dental practices

Any service business that takes appointments

💙 How It Works Customers visit your booking page, choose a service, pick their preferred staff member, select an available time slot, and book instantly.

You receive an email notification and can view all appointments in your calendar dashboard. No more back-and-forth scheduling.

🔥 Key Features (100% Free) Unlimited Bookings & Services

Create unlimited services with custom names, descriptions, and photos

Set individual duration and pricing for each service

Add taxes, fees and discounts to bookings

No limits on number of appointments per month

Offer service add-ons and upsell options

Smart Scheduling

Set your working hours for each day of the week

Configure different availability for different services

Add buffer time between appointments (e.g., 15-minute cleanup)

Block off days for vacations or holidays

Set minimum advance notice for bookings (e.g., require 24-hour notice)

Customer Booking Experience

Clean, mobile-friendly booking form that works on all devices

Multi-step process: choose service → select staff → pick time → enter details → confirm

Customers see only available time slots (no double-booking)

Optional customer account dashboard to view and manage their bookings

Customers can cancel or reschedule appointments themselves

Payment Options

Accept cash/check for in-person payment

Accept PayPal payments online (customers pay when booking)

Stripe integration available via premium addon for credit card payments

Mark bookings as paid or unpaid manually

Track revenue in the analytics dashboard

Automatic Notifications

Email confirmation sent to customers immediately after booking

Reminder emails sent before appointment

Email notifications sent to admin when new bookings arrive

Customize email templates with your branding

All emails sent automatically – no manual work required

Admin Dashboard

View all appointments in Bookster → Calendar menu

Switch between day, week, and month calendar views

Click any appointment to view or edit details instantly

Filter appointments by status (confirmed, pending, cancelled)

Search for specific customers or appointments

Drag appointments to different dates to reschedule

Color-coded by service or staff member for quick overview

Analytics & Reports

Track total bookings and revenue right from dashboard

View performance by service (which services are most popular)

Monitor individual agent performance

Make data-driven decisions about staffing and services

Premium Addons (Optional) Upgrade your booking system with these customizable options:

Staff Management

Add unlimited team members from Bookster → Agents menu

Set individual working hours for each staff member

Assign specific services to specific team members

Let customers choose their preferred agent or assign automatically

Track performance and bookings per agent

Booking Form

Customize booking form steps (reorder, add, or remove steps)

Add custom fields to collect specific information

Enable recaptcha, brand logo, timezone selector, and more for your booking system.

Advanced Features (coming in future addons)

Group bookings and classes

Recurring appointments

Multiple locations management

SMS notifications via Twilio

Design Toolkit for Block Editor and Elementor

Getting Started Adding the Booking Calendar to Your Site Method 1: Shortcode (Works Anywhere)

Add [bookster_booking_form] to any page, post, or widget area.

Method 2: Block Editor

1. Edit the page where you want the booking form

2. Click the + button to add a block

3. Search for “Bookster”

4. Select the Bookster Booking Form block

5. Publish the page

Method 3: Classic Editor

Paste [bookster_booking_form] directly into your content.

Viewing and Managing Appointments

Go to Bookster → Calendar in your WordPress dashboard

You’ll see all appointments in calendar format

Click any appointment to view details or make changes

Use the view buttons at top to switch between day/week/month views

Use filters to show appointments based on agents or booking status

Creating a Manual Booking (For Walk-Ins or Phone Bookings)

Go to Bookster → Calendar

Click the + New Appointment button (or click an empty time slot)

Select the service and staff member

Choose date and time

Enter customer information (name, email, phone)

Select payment method

Click Create Appointment

Customer automatically receives confirmation email

Troubleshooting Booking calendar not showing on my page Check 1: Verify the shortcode

Make sure you added [bookster_booking_form] exactly (with square brackets).

Check 2: Clear cache

If using a caching plugin, clear your cache: WP Rocket → Clear Cache or similar.

Check 3: Theme conflict

Temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme (Twenty Twenty-Five) to test. If it works, there’s a theme conflict.

Customers not receiving email confirmations Check 1: Email settings

Go to Bookster → Integrations → Email tab and confirm email notifications are enabled.

Check 2: Check spam folders

Ask customers to check spam/junk folders. Add your domain to their contacts.

Check 3: WordPress email issues

WordPress email can be unreliable. Install an SMTP plugin like YaySMTP to improve email delivery:

1. Install YaySMTP plugin

2. Connect it to Gmail, SendGrid, or Mailgun

3. Send a test email to verify

Check 4: Test with yourself

Create a test booking using your own email to confirm emails are sending.

Time slots not showing as available Check 1: Working hours configured

Go to Bookster → Settings → Schedule and verify hours are set for the day in question.

Check 2: Agent availability

If using staff members, check Bookster → Agents and verify the agent works on that day.

Check 3: Minimum advance notice

Check Bookster → Settings → General → Restrictions, if you require 24-hour notice, today’s appointments won’t show.

Check 4: Service duration

If your service is 2 hours but only 1 hour remains before closing time, that slot won’t appear.

Double bookings happening This shouldn’t happen with Bookster. If it does:

Check 1: Multiple admin users

If multiple people manage bookings, ensure everyone refreshes the calendar before creating appointments.

Check 2: Contact support

If this persists, contact Bookster support with specific examples.

PayPal payments not working

Go to Bookster → Settings → Payments tab

Verify your PayPal email address is correct

Confirm PayPal is enabled (toggle should be blue/on)

Test in PayPal sandbox mode first

Check if PayPal account is verified and can accept payments

Review PayPal transaction logs for error messages

Calendar showing wrong timezone

Go to Settings → General in WordPress

Set your city timezone correctly (e.g., “New York” or “Berlin”)

Save changes

Go to Bookster → Settings and verify timezone matches

Clear browser cache and reload

Third-Party Services Bookster uses these external services to provide full functionality:

FullCalendar.io

Purpose: Renders the interactive booking calendar

Privacy: No personal data sent to FullCalendar

Terms: https://fullcalendar.io/license

Stripe.com (Optional – only if using Stripe addon)

Purpose: Process credit card payments

Data shared: Customer name, email, payment amount

Privacy: https://stripe.com/privacy

PayPal.com

Purpose: Process PayPal payments

Data shared: Customer name, email, payment amount

Privacy: https://www.paypal.com/privacy

When customers make payments, they’re redirected to Stripe or PayPal’s secure servers. Bookster does not store credit card numbers.

Support Need help? We’re here for you:

Documentation: Visit Bookster’s detailed guides

Support Forum: Post questions in the WordPress.org support forum

Email & Live Chat Support: Contact us through the Bookster website

Video Tutorials: Watch setup videos on our YouTube channel

Response time: We typically respond within 4 hours on business days and 12 hours on weekends.

We’d Love Your Feedback ❣️ If Bookster helps your business, please leave us a review on WordPress.org! It takes 60 seconds and brightens our day. Click here ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to share your experience.

Have a feature request? We’re actively developing new features based on user feedback. Submit your ideas here.

Compatibility Works With All Major WordPress Themes:

Brandy

WP Shadcn

GeneratePress

OceanWP

Divi

Avada

And thousands more

Page Builders:

Elementor

Gutenberg (Block Editor)

Classic Editor

Beaver Builder

WPBakery

What’s Next? After installing Bookster:

Run the setup wizard

Add the booking calendar to a page

Create a test booking to see the customer experience

Customize email templates with your branding

Share your booking page link with customers

Start accepting appointments 24/7!

Your new booking system is ready to help you grow your business. Welcome to Bookster! 🚀