Bookster – WordPress Appointment Booking Plugin vs Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, and more!

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! 🚀

Events Manager is a full-featured event calendar, bookings, appointments, scheduling, and registration management plugin for WordPress ideal for everything from simple meetups to full-scale event planning. Built with flexibility, reliability and powerful features in mind. Demo Documentation Tutorials Main Features NEW Integrate easily with your favourite AI via MCP, unlock the power of AI-powered Events! NEW API Rest Integration NEW EU Compliance Tools for “Right of withdrawal” (EU ‘Widerrufsbutton’) Beautiful calendars, search pages, lists, grids and booking forms to enhance your site events. Easy event registration (single day with start/end times) Recurring and long (multi-day) event registration Build complex recurrence patterns with exclusion/blackout dates NEW Multiple timeslots within the day for events with advanced creation options Overlapping timeslots Buffer between timeslots Bookings Management (including approval/rejections, export CVS, and more!) Multiple Tickets Fully-featured graph and statistics including bar/line/pie with comparison and stacking MultiSite Event Support Cross-Network Event Sharing – show your events and booking fromss on other subsites or main site Network-wide Global Booking Management BuddyPress and BuddyBoss Support Create modular (independent) event subsites or inter-networked events Multiple custom event types (Archetypes), such as Workshops, Events, Webinars, Appointments etc. Customize your labels, slugs and CPT names Enable or disable specific features for specific event archetypes. Multiple Location Types Physical Locations Online Events (URLs) Zoom Webinars/Meetings Integration BuddyPress & BuddyBoss Support Submit Events Group Events Personal Events Activity Stream more on the way Guest/Member Event submissions Assign event locations and view events by location Event categories Easily create custom event attributes (e.g. dress code) Google Maps (see our API usage recommendations) Advanced permissions – restrict user management of events and locations. Widgets for Events, Locations and Calendars Fine grained control of how every aspect of your events are shown on your site, easily modify templates from the settings pages and template files iCal Feed (single and all events) Add to Google Calendar buttons RSS Feeds Compatible with SEO plugins Timezone Support – create events in different timezones Plenty of template tags and shortcodes for use in your posts and pages Gutenberg block editor support, with native blocks for the Events Calendar, Events List, and Locations List — usable in posts, pages, the site editor and the widget editor Actively maintained and supported Lots of documentation and tutorials NEW Gutenberg Supported And much more! AI Integration AI is here, and we’re on board! Check out what’s possible with our new and evolving AI integration possibilities: Data Privacy and GDPR Compliance We provide the tools to help you be GDPR compliant, including: export/erasure of data via the WordPress Privacy Tools, including booking, event and location data consent checkboxes on our booking, event and location forms on the frontend settings to control what can be exported/erased as well as where/when to place consent requests sample text for your site privacy policy describing what Events Manager does with personal data Premium Features We have a premium Pro add-on for Events Manager which not only demonstrates the flexibility of Events Manager, but also adds some important features including but not limited to: WooCommerce integration (sold separately) PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, Square, Xero and Offline Payments Custom booking forms Individual Attendee custom forms Upload fields for bookings, attendees and users Printable Invoices and Tickets Send PDF tickets/invoices by email automatically Check In/Out Move bookings to other dates/times QR Scanning Manage bookings on your phone Check In/Out users Waitlists Automation – ultimate flexibility in automation! Triggers: X time before/after events start When a booking status changes When a booking was booked x time ago Actions Send Webhook (Zapier, MS Automation and many other services) Send Email Send WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram notifications WhatsApp, SMS, Telegram integration and interactive flows Coupon Codes Custom booking email per event and gateway Faster support via private Pro forums For more information or to go pro, visit our plugin website. Additional Plugin Integrations Whilst there’s many third party integrations with our own plugin, here’s some we’ve integrated ourselves! Included in Events Manager (automatic integration) BuddyPress WP FullCalendar Thrive Automator Additional Add-Ons Zoom WPML Multilingual Sites