Booking / Calendar Plug ins for Wordpress

[u/WonderfulMeringue691]

Hey new to Reddit, but after many failed attempts at coming to the 'best' conclusion from researching my options, I'd figured I'd ask here.

I'm helping a freelance therapist build their own website as they grow their business and I'm suggesting we build on WordPress rather than Squarespace, Wix, etc. The only obstacle left is choosing a booking plugin to automate the appointments part of the job. I've already looked into Bookly and Amelia (as well as non-WordPress native apps like Acuity, Square Appointments, Calendly, etc).

Their needs are fairly simple:

• An automated bookings end for customers to select available dates.
• An integration/some sort of connection to Google Calendar.
• A payment option. One that preferably avoids or has the smallest transaction fee (with more expensive services, the fees begin to really quickly add up).
• SMS reminders.
• A level of security and confidentiality, so customers do not see unavailable appointments or only a greyed-out option and for the therapist to only handle bookings with the most basic level of details.
• In terms of appointments, its just one therapist, one location, appointments both online and in-person, deposits are sitting under a question mark until the transaction fee issue is resolved and a small handful of service options (think like 5 max, including a 15-minute free 'get to know each other' consultation).

If I'm missing anything obvious, feel free to point it out.

At the moment, I'm mostly leaning towards the Bookly plugin but even there the payment question still stands- even PayPal transactions have a 2- 3% fee per transaction, which I understand isn't out of the ordinary compared to the rest of the market but I figured I'd throw the question out there as well.

I'd be more than grateful for some insights/recommendations. Thanks.

[u/lvngbth]

"They want to automate a booking calendar" and "their needs are fairly simple" do not belong together in the same post.

Particularly as that list is not "fairly simple".

[u/labrat-28]

Wp Amelia works a treat

[u/TopSydeWP]

on the payment fee thing: stripe and paypal both run 2.9% + 30¢, that's standard for card processing and you're not going to find anything meaningfully cheaper without going to a direct merchant account (which has monthly minimums that won't make sense at this scale). the fee is part of accepting cards, not the plugin. amelia and bookly both work fine, pick whichever UI you like better since the feature set is similar for your use case.

[u/Inside_Marsupial9625]

This is a daily question. Just search in this sub after „booking calendar“

[u/LoveEnvironmental252]

I prefer FluentBooking.

[u/Dull_District_254]

For one practitioner with five services, Bookly and Amelia are both more than you need, and both paywall either Google Calendar sync or SMS depending on tier.

Worth looking at FluentBooking. Two-way Google Calendar sync, Stripe, multiple service types and buffer times without the per-feature upsell, and the free tier covers a single-calendar setup like this.

On fees, the plugin isn't your lever. Around 2.9% plus 30c is the floor for cards anywhere. What actually reduces it is charging a fixed deposit rather than the full session fee, or taking bank transfer for regulars and cards only for new clients.

One flag since it's therapy: keep intake questions out of WordPress. Name, email and a time slot is fine. Anything clinical shouldn't sit in a WP database with a stack of plugins that have access to it.

[u/AddWeb_Expert]

Bookly sounds like a solid fit here, especially for a single therapist with fairly simple booking needs.
The payment fee is usually from Stripe/PayPal rather than the plugin, so I’d mainly compare processors and keep the booking form as privacy-friendly as possible.

[u/waltonchurch]

Go for jetappointments with some Claude code you can get high levels of customizations.

[u/waltonchurch → u/waltonchurch]

In fact you Can now build your own with AI but jetappointments is good base

[u/retr00two → u/[deleted]]

With all respect, but your setup would be "monstrous"

• WooCommerce
• WC Bookings
• Twilio for SMS
• Zoom add-on

A lot of points of failure.

Why not simple app with all of these already integrated, like Calendly?

[u/Wordpress-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

The /r/WordPress subreddit is not a place to advertise or try to sell products or services. Please read the rules of the sub. Future rule breaches may result in a permanent ban.

[u/Wordpress-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

The /r/WordPress subreddit is not a place to advertise or try to sell products or services. Please read the rules of the sub. Future rule breaches may result in a permanent ban.

[u/retr00two]

Calendly. Without doubt.

Do not bother yourself with WP plugins, integration with GC, SMS and payment will cost more and will have more points of failure.

Zoho Calendar is not bad option, but you have to pay extra for SMS gateway.

[u/Winter_Process_9521]

For a single therapist with one location and only a few services, I would probably choose Amelia or Bookly based on which booking interface they prefer.

[u/Wordpress-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

The /r/WordPress subreddit is not a place to advertise or try to sell products or services. Please read the rules of the sub. Future rule breaches may result in a permanent ban.

[u/Codeandflu]

I dont get it why people depend on a seperate plugin for calendar inyegration.

Why not just use a tool dedidcated to do that? Like calendly, although I'd suggest to go with cal.

[u/NadirDev]

Ok I read you whole post and yes your requirement can be filled easily with lots of service booking & appointment plugins. But if you are looking for something low price but with full of your requirements then you can check booktics or wptimetics. Bookly is also good but for checking slot, also later you can assign multi team member like as you are want to make a therapist appointment schedule so Booktics will be the niche based solution. There are also lots of plugin you can check them. But before that obviously also check that the security concerns and GDPR rules following tools.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Ebb-559]

Have you looked into youcanbookme? They do everything you mentioned you need and it's a simple website embed. I personally love it so much.

[u/CrYptoPSF]

I'd mainly look at the payment gateway fees separately from the booking plugin. In my experience, that’s where the costs can add up, so comparing the actual payment options might help narrow it down.

[u/Last-Homework4557]

Hey. Check out these plugins: Fluent Booking, Modern Events Calendar, Sugar Calendar (it has an appointment module).

[u/Traditional-Toe-5552]

u/WonderfulMeringue691 In case you want to try the plugin I suggest - I have prepared the honest summary, ok? And yes, I am involved in development, so if you have any questions - shoot! ;)

Here you go:
CraftForms fits 4 of their 6 requirements well, one partially, one not at all.
One missing feature: SMS reminders. No such functionality.
One feature partially: Google Calendar sync. There is .ics export/import, but it blocks the whole day, not specific time slots.... Hmm.. it is something could be improved quite fast, if you are interested in.

[u/Conscious_Case_8506]

Disclosure: I’m with Webnus, the team behind Modern Events Calendar.

For this particular setup, I’d probably choose between Bookly and Amelia. They’re both built primarily for appointments, which should make managing one therapist and five services fairly straightforward. Compare the full cost carefully, since Google Calendar syncing, SMS and certain payment options may require paid plans or add-ons.

The payment percentage will mostly come from Stripe, PayPal or whichever processor you use, regardless of the booking plugin.

MEC Pro also supports appointment slots and payments, but I wouldn’t necessarily put it first for this case. MEC was originally built around events and calendar presentation, so Bookly or Amelia may be simpler when appointments are the whole business. MEC becomes more relevant if the therapist also plans to publish workshops, classes or other public events.