Online booking systems for small business, compared on price and features

The best online booking system for a small business is the one whose costs match how you take bookings: a flat plan if you see many clients, a free plan if you see few, text reminders if no shows hurt, and deposits if appointments are long. Prices and features below come from each tool’s own pricing page, checked on 20 October 2026, in the currency each page showed.

This post compares the tools. For the questions to put on the booking form itself, see how to write a booking form.

What the six tools are built for

Acuity Scheduling suits practices with several staff or rooms: it counts calendars per employee or location, from 1 on Starter to 36 on Premium, takes payments through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo, and adds text reminders on Standard and up.

Calendly started as a meeting scheduler and still reads like one. Its plans are priced per seat, a seat being each person who hosts meetings, and payments through Stripe and PayPal start on Standard. It suits consultants and sales teams more than salons.

Square Appointments fits a business that already takes card payments in person with Square. Its free plan carries processing fees, Plus is $49 a month per location, and it lists appointment deposits and automatic text and email reminders.

Setmore is the cheapest per person: free for up to 4 users with email reminders, and Pro at $5 a user a month on annual billing with SMS reminders, deposits and two way calendar sync.

SimplyBook.me caps bookings per month by plan, from 50 on the free plan to 2,000 on Premium, and sells SMS credits separately from the subscription.

Fresha is aimed at salons, spas and clinics, with a subscription per business or per team member, its own payment processing, and a marketplace that sends new clients for a one time 20% commission.

The three costs that decide it

The plan. A flat fee per business, per location, per seat or per user. Count the people who take bookings, not just the business.

The payment fee. Every tool that takes cards charges a percentage plus a fixed amount, either its own rate or your processor’s. On 60 bookings a month at A$80 each, a difference of half a percent is A$24 a month, more than some plans.

The client fee. Marketplaces may charge for new clients they send you. That can be worth paying when the clients are truly new, and it is worth tracking when it is not.

Reminders and deposits are the real features

Most booking systems handle availability and a booking page well. The difference shows on the day: does the client turn up? Two features change that. Text reminders reach people who ignore email, and four of the six tools offer them on some plan. Deposits make a booking a commitment. Before choosing on price, decide which of the two you need, then find the cheapest plan that includes it.

The deposit or hold page explains the difference between taking money now and holding a card.

Booking built into your own website

A third route skips the separate tool. On OneCraft, an AI agent writes the website and builds booking into it from its bookings guide: services with a length and price, staff with availability rules and time off, a slot picker on your own pages, and an admin day and week view. Double bookings are refused inside the database, not just on the screen; the double booking page explains why that matters when two people book at once. A deposits guide adds a deposit at booking and a balance paid later, through Stripe on your own account.

The trade offs are real. OneCraft has no SMS, no live calendar feed, only add to calendar links, and the site can email only a signed in client at their own address. Payments are Stripe only, with a platform fee of 2%, 1% or 0.5% by plan on top of Stripe’s fees. The Acuity alternative page compares the two side by side, and the booking request form page shows the flow.

Who owns the client

A booking tool holds your client list: names, phone numbers, visit history and notes. Before you commit, check three things. Can you export clients and bookings as a file whenever you like? Does a marketplace show your clients other businesses nearby? And if you leave, do clients keep a booking link that still works, or does it break on the day you cancel? A business with years of regulars should treat the client list as its most valuable asset and choose a tool, or a website, where that list stays under its control.

How to choose in an afternoon

1. Count the people who take bookings and the locations they work from.
2. Write down last month’s no shows and what they cost.
3. Shortlist the tools whose cheapest plan with reminders or deposits fits that count.
4. Book yourself an appointment on each, on your phone, and time it.
5. Price a year with your own booking volume and card fees, not just the plan.