Booktics – Appointment Booking Calendar for Service Businesses vs SimplyBook.me – Booking and reservations calendar

Booktics is a powerful booking calendar and appointment scheduling plugin for service-based businesses. It helps you manage appointments, accept online bookings, and automate your scheduling—all from one simple dashboard. Designed for salons, spas, clinics, wellness centers, fitness trainers, tutors, and home service providers, Booktics replaces manual scheduling with a fast, reliable online booking system. Your customers can book appointments 24/7, while you stay in control of availability, services, and payments. Whether you run a small local business or manage multiple services, Booktics keeps your booking calendar organized, automated, and easy to manage. With Booktics, you can : – Create and manage unlimited services and appointments – Offer group booking options – Add extra services and add-ons – Accept payments via Stripe, PayPal, and more – Automate workflows with email notifications and reminders – Use a responsive booking calendar that works on any device Smart Calendar & Scheduling Integration Booktics connects with Google Calendar and Outlook, so every booking updates automatically across your calendars. This helps prevent double bookings, missed appointments, and scheduling conflicts. Online Meetings & Customer Management Host virtual appointments using Google Meet, and manage customer relationships with tools like FluentCRM for follow-ups and communication. Online Payments Made Easy Allow customers to pay while booking using secure payment gateways. This reduces no-shows and improves your cash flow. Built for Service Businesses From beauty and wellness to healthcare and home services, Booktics is built to handle real-world scheduling needs. It simplifies bookings for your customers while giving you full control over your business operations. Live Demo | Documentation | Roadmap | Support | Pro Who Can Benefit from Booktics? (8 Business Types) Booktics is the ideal appointment booking plugin for WordPress service businesses of every size — from solo freelancers to multi-staff studios. If your business runs on appointments, Booktics was built for you. 💇 Salons & Barbershops Hair salons, nail studios, barbershops, cosmetology centers, and beauty professionals can manage daily bookings through a clean, mobile-friendly booking calendar. Clients pick their service, choose a time slot, and confirm — all without a phone call. Staff can track their own appointments and avoid overlapping schedules. 📚 Tutors, Coaches, LMS Sites & eLearning Platforms Online course creators, LMS site owners, tutors, coaches, language teachers, driving instructors, and education centers often don’t need a full learning management system just to let students book a lesson, consultation, or coaching session. Booktics gives WordPress-powered eLearning sites the scheduling layer your LMS is missing or replaces the need for one entirely when all you really need is simple, professional booking. Let students book 1-on-1 lessons, group study sessions, or live coaching calls directly from your WordPress site. Set your available hours, assign sessions to specific instructors or tutors, and automate appointment reminders to eliminate no-shows no complex LMS build required. Perfect for: – TutorLMS, LearnPress and LifterLMS site owners who need bookable office hours or live tutoring sessions alongside their online courses – Independent tutors and online coaches who don’t need a full LMS just a clean booking calendar that works – Language schools, driving instructors, and test-prep centers managing recurring student appointments and eLearning session scheduling – Corporate trainers and workshop hosts offering bookable seminars, team coaching, and instructor-led training (ILT) sessions 🦷 Dental Clinics & Healthcare Reduce missed calls and front-desk workload by letting patients book dentist visits, checkups, therapy sessions, and consultations online. The appointment scheduler keeps time slots clearly visible, prevents double bookings, and gives your clinic a full daily view of upcoming appointments. 🌿 Health & Wellness Centers Therapists, physiotherapists, massage therapists, and wellness studios can manage sessions smoothly with Booktics. Set service duration, add buffer time between bookings, define daily limits, and organize one-on-one or group sessions — all from one booking calendar. 🏋️ Fitness Trainers & Yoga Studios Personal trainers, yoga instructors, Zumba coaches, and fitness centers can accept bookings for individual sessions and group classes online. Control your schedule, set class capacity limits, and let clients choose time slots that work for them — no back-and-forth needed. 🧹 Cleaning Services Home cleaning, office cleaning, and specialist cleaning businesses can show real-time availability and let customers book a service, date, and time in seconds. Your booking calendar updates instantly, helping your team plan jobs without scheduling conflicts. 🔧 Repair, Maintenance & Home Services Plumbers, electricians, HVAC technicians, and home service providers can manage job bookings easily. Customers select a service and time online; your team sees everything in the booking calendar and eliminates double-scheduling. 💄 Beauty & Personal Care Professionals Makeup artists, nail technicians, skincare specialists, estheticians, and grooming experts can handle full appointment schedules without confusion. Clients book multiple services, reschedule if needed, and always see live availability. ✨ Booktics is a complete online booking system for WordPress that supports appointments, classes, sessions, group bookings, and service reservations in one place. No coding required. No complex setup. Just install, configure, and start accepting bookings. Booktics Free Features — More Than Most Plugins Charge For The free version of Booktics includes features that competing plugins lock behind premium plans. You get a fully functional service booking system — with Stripe payments, Google Calendar sync, and full team management — at zero cost. 🗓️ Appointment Booking & Scheduling 24/7 Online Booking — Customers book directly from your website at any time. They see only available time slots, eliminating phone calls and preventing double bookings automatically. Multi-Step Booking Form — A guided step-by-step flow: choose a service → pick a date and time → confirm. Designed to reduce drop-offs and works flawlessly on mobile and desktop. Custom Time Slots — Set the exact duration for every service. A 30-minute haircut and a 90-minute massage each get their own accurate slot length. Buffer Time Between Appointments — Add prep or cleanup time before or after any service. Protects your team from back-to-back burnout and keeps your schedule realistic. Booking Limits — Cap the number of appointments per time slot or per day to prevent overbooking and protect your team’s capacity. Client Self-Service Cancellation & Rescheduling — Customers manage their own bookings via a direct link. Reduces admin workload and keeps your calendar accurate without manual updates. Booking Approval System — Choose between auto-confirmation and manual review for new bookings. Ideal for premium services, consultations, and intake-required appointments. 🛠️ Service Management Unlimited Services — Add as many services as your business needs, each with its own name, duration, price, and description. Service Categories — Group services into categories (e.g., Hair, Skin, Wellness) so customers find what they need faster and your booking form stays organized. Service-Level Scheduling Rules — Configure unique availability, duration, and pricing per service for maximum scheduling flexibility. 👥 Staff & Team Management Team Member Management — Assign specific services to each staff member, set individual working hours, and keep everyone’s calendar organized from one admin panel. Individual Staff Panels — Each team member gets their own secure login to view and manage their personal appointment schedule. Admins maintain full oversight from the central dashboard. Automatic Conflict Prevention — Booktics blocks already-booked time slots in real time. Two clients can never be assigned to the same staff member at the same time. 💳 Payments & Checkout — Stripe Is Free This is where Booktics stands apart from every competitor. Stripe Integration — 100% Free — Accept credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay at checkout. No commission taken by Booktics. No upgrade required. Full Stripe is available in the free version — unlike Bookly, Salon Booking System, and LatePoint which charge for this. Local & Offline Payment — Offer in-person or cash-on-arrival payment for clients who prefer not to pay online. WooCommerce Integration — Connect Booktics with WooCommerce to access additional payment gateways, tax management, invoicing, and advanced order tracking synced with your booking calendar. 📅 Calendar Integrations & Sync Two-Way Google Calendar Sync — Every new booking appears on your Google Calendar instantly. Changes made in Google Calendar sync back to Booktics automatically. Prevents double bookings and keeps your schedule accurate across every device. Available free — no upgrade required. Drag-and-Drop Calendar View — An interactive backend calendar lets admins and staff move, edit, and review appointments visually with a single drag. 📊 Reporting & Dashboard Business Dashboard — See all upcoming bookings, total revenue, and customer stats at a glance from one clean admin screen. Booking Status Tracking — Monitor confirmed, pending, and cancelled appointments from one organized panel. Upcoming Bookings View — Always know what is scheduled next so your team is never caught off guard. 📨 Notifications & Communication Automated Email Notifications — Automatically send booking confirmations, reminders, rescheduling alerts, and cancellation notices to both clients and staff. Reduces no-shows and builds trust. Google Meet Integration — Offer virtual appointments and automatically generate Google Meet links when a booking is confirmed. Perfect for online consultations and remote sessions. FluentCRM Integration — Sync customer data with FluentCRM for follow-up campaigns and loyalty communications. 🌍 Translation Ready & WPML Compatible Booktics is fully translation-ready and compatible with WPML and Polylang — ideal for service businesses serving multilingual communities. Translate your booking form, email notifications, and service names into any language. 🔒 GDPR Compliant Booktics handles customer data securely and transparently, with optional consent fields available during the booking process. 🧩 Works With Your Favourite Page Builders Embed your booking calendar anywhere using: – Gutenberg block — native WordPress block editor – Elementor widget – Shortcode — paste [booktics] into any page, post, or sidebar 🚀 Booktics PRO — Advanced Features for Growing Service Businesses Booktics Pro unlocks powerful tools for businesses that need deeper customization, expanded payment options, and advanced team control. ⚙️ Advanced Service Management Extra Service Add-Ons — Let clients add optional extras at checkout. A salon can offer “Haircut + Deep Conditioning”; a clinic can bundle “Consultation + Lab Test.” Increases average booking value per customer. Group Booking — Accept bookings for multiple people in one appointment. Perfect for yoga classes, workshops, fitness sessions, and team training. Multiple Pricing & Duration Options — Offer the same service at different lengths and price points. A therapist can list a 30-minute and a 60-minute session as separate bookable options. Custom Booking Fields — Add custom questions to the booking form — preferred staff, medical notes, special requirements, or anything your service requires. 💳 Advanced Payment Options PayPal Integration — Accept PayPal payments at the time of booking. Available exclusively in Booktics Pro. 📅 Extended Calendar & Business Integrations Outlook Calendar Integration — Connect Microsoft Outlook to keep your work and personal schedules aligned across devices. Directorist Integration — Link Booktics directly to your Directorist directory listings so visitors can discover and book your services in one step. 👥 Advanced Team & Location Management Granular Team Permissions — Set detailed permissions for each staff member. Team members manage their own bookings independently while admins keep full oversight and control. Multi-Location Support — Run your booking system across multiple branches or locations from one central WordPress admin panel. 📦 More Powerful WordPress Plugins from Arraytics 📅 Eventin — All-in-one event management plugin. Sell tickets, manage events, and run virtual or in-person events. 🍽️ WPCafe — Online food ordering, restaurant menu, table reservations, and delivery management for WordPress. 📅 Timetics — AI-powered appointment scheduling plugin with smart time optimization. 🎨 Poptics — Create conversion-driven popups, lead capture forms, and promotional overlays for WordPress. Visit Arraytics to explore our full suite of WordPress solutions. External Services This plugin connects to the following external services: Stripe Payments Processes secure online payments for bookings when Stripe is enabled as a payment method. Data sent: Transaction data required to process the payment (order amount, currency, customer name/email). Payment card details are handled directly and securely by Stripe — never stored by Booktics. Service provider: Stripe, Inc. — Terms of Service | Privacy Policy Note: Optional. Only active if you enable Stripe payments in the plugin settings. Google Calendar API Synchronizes appointments between your WordPress site and Google Calendar with two-way sync. Data sent: Calendar event data (appointment details, dates, times, attendee information) when bookings are created, updated, or cancelled. Service provider: Google LLC — Terms of Service | Privacy Policy Note: Optional. Only active if you connect your Google Calendar account in the integration settings. Arraytics FluentCRM Service Connects to Arraytics.com’s FluentCRM service for optional marketing communication (product updates, feature announcements, support information). Data sent: Your email address — only when voluntarily provided during business setup or onboarding. Service provider: Arraytics — Terms of Service | Privacy Policy Note: Optional. Not required for core plugin functionality.

SimplyBook.me is the easiest way to start collecting bookings on your WordPress website. The plugin will allow you to register your free account and immediately publish your booking calendar on the front-end of your site. With a few clicks, you can easily add your services and service providers, and design the most beautiful booking widget. You will be collecting appointments and reservations in no-time! Easy appointment scheduling Simple plugin onboarding and configuration Manage your calendar and bookings using the powerful mobile app (iOS and Android) Accept touchless payments via the app on your onsite checkout High email deliverability for reservation confirmations and appointment reminders. Create multiple services, providers, categories and locations Send email and SMS notifications to your customers for their bookings Add “Book now” buttons on your Instagram, Facebook and Google Business Profile Sell Memberships, packages & gift cards Manage bookings for Classes & Events Increase sales by offering products and service add-ons in the booking process Marketing campaigns by emails and push notifications Waiting Lists and “Make me look busy” features Offer Coupons and a Loyalty System to enhance brand loyalty Insights and statistics about your bookings, reservations, cancellations, workload and revenues Adjust time zone settings if you have clients in different time zones Create individual schedules for staff Create multiple users related to providers Accepting payments and/or deposits to confirm the bookings in the booking process Easily implement your booking widget with a Gutenberg block, Elementor Widget or a shortcode SimplyBook.me can be used for free up to 50 appointments per month. In addition, you can use one of the Special features for free! You will automatically be signed up for a Free 14-day trial, which allows you to test the Special Features without any restrictions, including advanced scheduling tools. Why SimplyBook.me? SimplyBook.me is an advanced online booking system that creates a professional booking widget on your WordPress site where your clients can book your services at any time. You will then have access to an admin interface where you can manage your bookings, calendar, and settings. On top of that you will get an admin app where you can manage all your bookings, handle appointments, adjust scheduling, and accept payments on the go. Thousands of clients all over the world have selected our booking system to make their business easy and comfortable to use (see our testimonials). SimplyBook.me provides users with a broad range of features so that you can tailor the system to your needs, irrespective of what industry you are in. For a more detailed understanding of the SimplyBook.me service, you can explore at the following link: https://simplybook.me/ This plugin is developed by SimplyBook.me, is ISO27001 compliant and utilizes its API to transmit and store all information, including settings and details of bookings, as well as other personal client data, directly on SimplyBook.me. Before using the plugin, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the privacy policy and terms of use of SimplyBook.me at the following links: Privacy Policy Terms of Use This will help you better understand the terms of use of the plugin and ensure your confidentiality. This is the official SimplyBook.me plugin, developed by SimplyBook.me and Really Simple Plugins About Really Simple Plugins: Really Simple Plugins is the creator of most-used plugins Really Simple Security and Complianz. With a total of ~6 million installs, we focus on making the most user-friendly and easy-to-use plugins. We work with SimplyBook.me to make the most powerful booking system available directly in your WordPress dashboard. Benefits of the Online booking system Integrating an online booking system like SimplyBook.me is crucial for service businesses aiming to improve customer experience and extend their market reach. By enabling clients to book appointments outside of traditional office hours, an online scheduling and booking system increases accessibility and customer satisfaction. This system simplifies the entire appointment process, automates important reminders, and reduces scheduling errors, freeing up staff to concentrate on delivering superior service. Additionally, an online booking system offers powerful analytics that provide deep insights into customer behaviors and preferences. This data is essential for making informed adjustments to service offerings and planning effective marketing strategies. Last but not least it´s the best way to boost your sales by offering service add-ons and products for sale in the booking process, by sending tailored marketing email campaigns, offering coupons on less busy days, by prompting tips during check out and so much more, the options are endless!