Looking to use scheduling software free of charge, Boss?
Well, some people say there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Others say the best things in life are free… But we’ve got news for you! No matter what you think about freebies, it’s absolutely possible to use scheduling software for free.
Yes, you read right! Scheduling software FREE. Many appointment scheduling platforms offer up either a free trial or a limited feature freemium version for you to test the waters.
Acuity, Book Like A Boss, Calendly… Here are the ABCs of scheduling platforms that offer their services on the house in one way or another.
The 12 Best Scheduling Software Free Plans
1. TidyCal
Released in early 2021, TidyCal is an AppSumo Original. It’s new to the market and currently offers a straightforward Free Plan.
For free scheduling software, this platform gives you enough to get your bookings off the ground. You can accept as many meetings as your colleagues or customers can schedule.
If you want to connect one Google Calendar or Office365 calendar, you’ll find the functionality there. But, to get more calendar connections, take payments, and integrate Zapier and video conferencing abilities, you will need to upgrade to the Lifetime Plan.
The Free Plan doesn’t offer much in the way of customization. You can set your schedule, add minimum meeting padding, and set a custom question. But you can’t add any branding or create a wholly custom event link URL.
2. Book Like A Boss (BLAB)
When you start your scheduling software free 14-day trial on BLAB, you get access to all the good stuff the platform has to offer.
For two blissful weeks, you can try out the landing page builder that’s designed to schedule appointments and take sales. You can create your own fully optimized, fully customized booking link that takes payments, collects your customer’s data, and puts your brand first.
Essentially, you create your own mini-website and custom URL to send to your customers. They see a simple and clear-cut booking page, an About Me Section, customer reviews, payment processors, and custom data fields, all of which tell them that you’re the Boss they should be talking to.
With automated reminders and calendar sync, there are no more missed or double bookings. You can offer recurring events, group bookings, time-based services, sell products, and more.
Of course, you will never want for features or integrations, either. The list includes the kitchen sink. At the end of 14 days, it’s simply a matter of choosing from an affordable feature-rich plan (plans start from $9 per person per month) that suits your needs best.
3. Calendly
Calendly’s basic plan is free forever, with some useful features to pick from. Unfortunately, when compared to the paid plans, you’ll only get simple functionality, including a single calendar connection and one event type.
On Basic, you can integrate your single calendar connection with Google Calendar, Office365, Outlook, or iCloud Calendar.
It also supports video conferencing integration with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, GoToMeeting, and Zoom.
Unfortunately, it’s a no for payment processors on the Calendly scheduling software free option.
So, if you’re an individual who doesn’t need advanced scheduling functionality, this option could work for you.
If you want to bump it up a level, there is a 14-day free trial on the Professional Plan up for grabs.
4. MeetFox
With MeetFox’s Freemium option, your clients can schedule an unlimited number of meetings with you. But like Calendly, you only have one calendar integration and one meeting type.
From this point, MeetFox does step it up a bit on its Freemium option. You can accept payments via Stripe, although the platform will take 5% of the revenue you bring in.
This free scheduling tool also integrates with your CMS and social media, as well as offers customized email signatures with a booking button.
5. Yocale
Yocale’s freemium option is called the Essential Plan. While ‘free’ is always a drawcard, this freemium does come with several significant limitations.
There is no calendar sync, which means that you cannot manage appointments from multiple locations. In addition, you get limited bookings and customers, which can hold you back if you’re ready to grow your business.
6. Setmore
If you’re a small team with up to four members looking for a scheduling software free plan, then Setmore has a freemium. That said, it does come at the cost of limited email reminders, zero customized notifications, no calendar sync, and no Zoom integration.
Making up for that is Square payment processing, Android & iOS apps, unlimited appointments, and a custom booking URL. In particular, if you take bookings from social media, you’ll appreciate Setmore’s integrations here.
It’s possible to embed your booking page directly onto your website. And, if you don’t have a website, you can share the URL with your customers, where they will be able to schedule appointments 24/7 to suit your availability from any device.
7. Hubspot
Hubspot’s free meeting scheduler is a simple, no-fuss tool that gets you facetime with the people you need to see.
There is no need to buy into Hubspot’s full Sales Hub to use this platform. That said, like most of the apps on the list, the freemium comes at the price of features and functionality.
While upgrading will give you access to more features found on HubSpot’s products, it won’t necessarily give you greater functionality within the realm of taking bookings. After all, the meeting scheduler is a useful tool, but it’s not HubSpot’s core product offering.
What it does offer is the ability to set your schedule availability, Google or Office365 calendar sync, and round-robin and group meetings. You can also embed the calendar into your website, and automate confirmations and reminders to streamline the booking process.
8. 10to8
10to8’s scheduling software free plan is called Free Forever. If you want to jump right into the bigger plans, the platform gives you a 30-day free trial to test it out.
On Free Forever, you get a customizable calendar view, can set recurring appointments, and approve appointments automatically. Of course, if you prefer to do it manually, there’s room for that too.
10to8 is also pretty big on customer management. You can see where your customers come from, automate time zone detection, and make use of their multi-lingual messaging platform.
There are custom fields in the forms you send to collect the customer information you need. Plus, you can add your own tags and notes to their records.
Basic reporting is available on the dashboard, and your client data remains secure and compliant under the General Data Protection Regulation act.
9. Appointlet
This scheduling software platform is free for as long as you’d like to use it.
Under Appointlet’s free plan, there is no cap on the number of bookings that customers can make. Plus, you can tailor your meeting availability to suit your needs.
The kicker is that it also offers unlimited meeting types, which many of the other platforms in the same league fail to provide.
With the meetings piling up, the custom form provides handy functionality, allowing you to collect the customer data that you need. This way, you can get to understand your customers better and file their information appropriately.
To get reports on your bookings, you can pull them based on periods, meeting types, and status.
10. SimplyBook.me
SimplyBook.me has a scheduling software free version that allows you to take up to 50 bookings. It gives you five users per account, and you get one custom feature to add to the mix.
The main features include an admin app, a booking widget, and a listing on SimplyBook.me’s directory. Across all plans, you get scheduling functionality, a booking website, and email and browser notifications.
Bring automation into play with Zapier integration and automatic reminders. Then throw away the sticky notes because you can make notes directly on bookings and save them to your client data.
11. Appointy
The latest feature on Appointy’s free version is Google bookings. You can take 100 appointments per month and integrate booking functionality into your website. Automatic reminders save the day, and you can accept payments from customers via Square and Point of Sale.
Your customers can also schedule their appointments at any time of day, letting time zone conversions do the relevant math for them.
The bad news is that if you're looking for a customized experience, you will need to opt for one of Appointy’s paid options.
12. Acuity
Seven days is the amount of time that you have to check out Acuity for free. Now, we know that Rome wasn’t built in a day, so it means you have to work on getting familiar with this scheduling software free option quickly.
As you scale up their paid plans, you naturally get better features. But considering you’re paying for the Emerging entry-level plan without the premium features that some of the alternatives on this list offer, you might be better off by aiming higher from the get-go.
An interesting feature is the ability to let clients tip you if they like. And talking about income, vault credit cards allow you to charge customers at a later stage.
If number crunching is not your strong point, then Quickbooks and Freshbooks integrations are on your side. Other integrations include Zapier, MailChimp, and your favorite calendar.
So, Now You Can Have Your Cake And Eat It
As you now know, there are a bunch of scheduling software free options that you can try. A free trial or freemium is a great way to get to grips with a platform.
Keep in mind that most of these are commitment-free, and you don’t have to sign up for a set period at a time. So, if one doesn’t work out, you can sign up for the next and keep going until you find the one that knocks your socks off.
It all depends on what you are looking for in a scheduling platform. Some offer basic appointment functionality, while others, like Book Like A Boss, give you that and more.
If you would like to have your cake and eat it, start your free 14-day trial today.
