There are so many great online appointment calendars it is hard to narrow the best ones down. When you are looking for an online appointment calendar there are some key features you should not compromise on.

[av_icon_box icon=’ue8d2′ font=’entypo-fontello’ position=’top’ title=’Best Features’ link=” linktarget=” linkelement=” av_uid=’av-40r9z4′]

• Manage Staff & Services – The capability of taking appointments for a particular staff member or book an appointment by service is key
• Calendar Sync – Syncing with your mobile device as well as Outlook and Google Calendars is a must or you will be looking for another calendar service soon.
• Payment Options – Clients should have the option to pay for the service right then and there. Otherwise you risk losing business.
• Website Integration – If the service you are considering does not offer an embed feature on your website don’t bother to consider that service.

[/av_icon_box]

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling service has all the best features mentioned above and they offer some other features you may like at a very reasonable price of $19 per month for their Premium service (multiple staff members) and $10 per month their Professional service (single staff or service). The Premium Service includes unlimited text messages which are a great feature and is often charged separately.

BookFresh

BookFresh offers a single version for $19.95 per month. It also has all the features you should look for. It also has a nice interface which seems intuitive. It does integrate with the BookFresh payment system which is comparable to PayPal in price. Below is a video by Ryan at Web Eminence so you can see more specifically what the backend looks like. It was recently purchased by Square so we will see how this plays out, but it seems like it would only have a positive impact.

SuperSaas

SuperSaas is a reasonably priced scheduling option that has many different payment levels (all reasonable from free to $46 per month). It integrates nicely with your website and has a lot of features. I have a client who uses this software and although it does the job it can get complex if you have too many options.

Appointy

Appointy is another scheduling option which I have installed on a client website. I actually like the way this software works and I find it fairly easy to use and understand. It has a separate login for your staff and can be accessed from anywhere. I like the built in down time you can schedule (my client walks dogs and needed 15 minutes in between appointments to make it to the next one). They have a free version and up to $39.99 per month depending on your needs.

[av_heading heading=’Website Extensions’ tag=’h1′ color=’custom-color-heading’ custom_font=’#f05a1a’ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’40’ subheading_active=” subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ av_uid=’av-21oc28′][/av_heading]

Website Extensions are great because, for the most part, there are no ongoing maintenance fees and it is totally integrated with your website. There are literally hundreds of options. I have selected only the best from my favorite source, CodeCanyon.net.

WooThemes Bookings Software

I have supreme confidence in one of my favorite theme developers, WooThemes. They run a tight ship, are responsive to questions and very quick to fix bugs and give you great training material. Their Booking Software can do just about everything you want or need and if you have their eCommerce software (which is free) it will integrate perfectly.  The cost is $149 with an annual renewal price (generally half the initial cost) to receive updates to the software. The nice thing is that you will have something you can use for ever without worry.

Bookly

Bookly is a very nice looking and easy to use software for only $28. It is super fast for the user and very intuitive. If you are on a budget and looking for a great functional piece of software I recommend giving this a try. It doesn’t integrate with your other calendars, but it is definitely worth the $28 purchase price.

Booking System Pro

Booking System Pro is another nice plugin available for your WordPress website. Originally designed for the hotel industry it can be adapted to just about any practice. This plugin is very reasonably priced at $44 without an upgrade fee.

I encourage you to give some of these a look and please let me know about your favorite online appointment calendars.