Easy!Appointments vs Bookster – Appointment Booking Management System

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. Accept online or in-person payments seamlessly on your WordPress site. 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! 🚀

Let customers book appointments on your website, 24/7, without paying a monthly subscription or a fee on every booking. Easy!Appointments gives your visitors a proper booking experience: they pick a service, pick a staff member, see the real free slots from your calendar, choose a time, and confirm. You and your customer both get an email. The appointment lands in your calendar. That’s it. It runs on your own hosting, so there is no subscription, no per-booking cut, no cap on how many appointments you take, and no third-party company sitting on your customers’ names, phone numbers, and appointment history. See it working before you install anything Try the real booking form and the real admin calendar, right now, no signup: https://demo.easyappointments.org That takes about 60 seconds and will tell you more than this page can. Please read this bit: it explains the two pieces This is the part most people ask about, so here it is up front and in plain language. Easy!Appointments is made of two things: Easy!Appointments, the booking engine. It holds your calendar, services, staff, working hours, holidays, customers and emails. It is free and open source, and you install it on your own hosting (most shared hosts handle it fine, as it needs PHP and MySQL, the same as WordPress). This plugin, the bridge. It puts the booking form from that engine straight onto a page of your WordPress site, on your domain, inside your theme, so customers never get bounced off to a different-looking website to book. So yes, you need Easy!Appointments installed somewhere before this plugin does anything. We would rather tell you that in the first 30 seconds than have you find out after installing. Why it is built that way: keeping the booking engine separate is exactly what lets it be free, unlimited and fully yours. Nobody can raise your price, change the terms, or lock your customer list behind an upgrade, because nobody else is holding it. Get the engine here: https://easyappointments.org What it costs Nothing. There is no paid tier, no trial that runs out, and no feature held back for an upgrade. No monthly or yearly subscription No commission or fee on any booking No per-staff or per-user pricing No cap on appointments, services, staff or customers What it does cost is the hosting you are already paying for, plus the time to install the booking engine once. Because you own that installation, nobody can raise your price, change the terms, or put your customer list behind an upgrade later. Setting it up Once your Easy!Appointments engine is running, the WordPress side takes about three minutes: Install and activate this plugin. Open Easy!Appts in your WordPress menu, paste your Easy!Appointments web address, click Connect. Open the page where you want bookings and add the Easy!Appointments block. Publish. Your booking form is live on that page. Bookings appear in your Easy!Appointments calendar as they come in. Three ways to place the booking form Block editor (Gutenberg). Click +, search “Easy!Appointments”, drop it in. Size and options are in the settings panel on the right. No code. Elementor. Search “Easy!Appointments” in the widget panel and drag it onto the canvas. Everything is configured with normal Elementor controls. Anything else. Classic editor, WPBakery, Divi, a theme widget area: the [easyappointments] shortcode works wherever shortcodes work. You can also point a specific page at a specific service or staff member, so “Book a haircut with Maria” is its own page. Who this is for It was built first for appointment-based local businesses: salons, barbershops, spas, nail studios, tattoo studios, physiotherapists, dentists and clinics. Anywhere customers book a named person for a fixed-length slot. It also gets used well beyond that: consultants and coaches, tutors, driving schools, workshops and repair shops, vets, law and accountancy practices, and university and government departments. Who is behind it Easy!Appointments has been developed in the open since 2014. 4,300+ stars and 1,500+ forks on GitHub Used by organisations including NEOM, Doctors Without Borders and Dolce & Gabbana Active public support community and issue tracker GPL licensed, so you can read every line, fork it, and never be locked out What you get Real-time availability from your own calendar Multiple services with individual durations and prices Multiple staff members with their own hours and days off Confirmation and reminder emails to both sides Google Calendar sync Works on phones, where most bookings come from Booking form available in 33 languages, plugin screens in nine Your branding, your domain, your data Honest notes You do need to install the Easy!Appointments engine on hosting you control. If you want a booking form with no separate installation at all, this is not that plugin, and we would rather you knew now. It is a self-hosted, open-source project. That means no bill, and it also means you set up your own email sending and updates. The documentation walks through both. Support comes from the community and the issue tracker rather than a paid helpdesk. Response times vary. Get in touch Easy!Appointments is built and maintained by Alex Tselegidis. If you are weighing it up, stuck on an installation, wondering whether it fits an unusual booking workflow, or you need custom work or a commercial arrangement around it, write to me directly: [email protected] and https://alextselegidis.com Feature ideas and bug reports are just as welcome. Tell me what you were trying to do and where it got in the way. Documentation: https://easyappointments.org/documentation More about the WordPress integration: https://easyappointments.org/wordpress Minimum requirements: WordPress 5.0 and PHP 5.6.