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Online booking systems for a small business - what they cost, and how to put one on your website…
An online booking system is a calendar your customers book for themselves. They see the times you are free, pick one, and it lands in your diary with a confirmation for both of you, without an email going back and forth. Most of the main ones have a free plan that works for one person; you pay when you want deposits, more staff or more kinds of appointment. You put one on your website either as a “Book now” button or as the calendar itself, sitting inside the page.
This page explains what a booking system does, whether you need one, what the main options charge a UK small business, and how each one takes a deposit. The prices are from each company’s own pricing page, read on 14 September 2026.
What does an online booking system do?
It does the part of your day that is not the work. A customer who wants a haircut, a consultation, a lesson or a repair visit opens your booking page, sees the times you have actually left open, and takes one. The booking goes straight into the calendar you already use, the customer gets a confirmation, and both of you get a reminder before it happens.
Around that, most of them do the same handful of things:
- Your rules, kept for you. How long each appointment lasts, the gap between them, how far ahead people can book and how late they can cancel.
- Rescheduling without a phone call. The customer moves their own booking within your rules, and the old slot opens up again.
- Payment, if you want it. Some take the full price or a deposit when someone books, which is the plainest cure there is for no-shows.
Do you need one?
If you sell your time in slots, almost certainly. Appointments, consultations, classes, lessons, fittings and site visits all fit. The test is simple: if people regularly email or ring to ask “when are you free?”, a booking page answers that question before they ask it, including at eleven at night.
If what you want is enquiries rather than appointments, a booking system is the wrong tool. A job that needs a quote first, or a commission that starts with a conversation, is better served by a good enquiry form. How your website’s contact book works covers that side.
What the main booking systems cost
These are the six most small UK businesses meet. Every figure is from the company’s own pricing page.
| Booking system | Free plan | Cheapest paid plan | Taking payment at booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calendly | Yes: one kind of appointment, one calendar | Standard, $10 a person a month, billed yearly | From Standard, through Stripe or PayPal |
| Acuity Scheduling | No, a 7-day free trial | Starter, $16 a month billed yearly, or $20 monthly | Deposits or full payment on every plan, through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo |
| SimplyBook.me | Yes: 50 bookings a month, one person | Basic, $11.90 a month billed yearly, or $13.90 monthly, for 100 bookings a month | Payments and deposits from Basic |
| Square Appointments | Yes: one location | Plus, £29 a month per location | Payment in advance on every plan; no-show fees from Plus |
| Setmore | Yes: up to four users | Pro, $5 a person a month, billed yearly | Online payments on both; deposits on Pro |
| Cal.com | Yes: one user | Teams, $12 a person a month, billed yearly | Through Stripe or PayPal, on every plan |
Two things to know before you compare them. First, only Square shows a UK page in pounds; the other five price in US dollars, so what leaves your bank depends on the exchange rate, and Acuity’s page notes that its prices do not include tax. Second, “a person” means each member of staff who takes bookings. Your customers never pay to book.
Free or paid?
The free plans are genuinely usable, and for a sole trader with one kind of appointment, one of them may be all you ever need. Each stops somewhere different:
- Calendly gives you one kind of appointment and one connected calendar. A thirty-minute consultation, yes; a consultation and a full session side by side, no.
- SimplyBook.me stops at 50 bookings a month for one person, and its own FAQ says the free plan needs renewing monthly.
- Setmore is free for up to four users, the most generous for a small team.
- Cal.com is free for one user, with payments included.
- Square Appointments is free for one location.
The usual reasons to pay are a deposit, more staff, more kinds of appointment, or reminders by text. Work out which of those you need first, then look at the plans, not the other way round.
Taking a deposit when someone books
A deposit turns a booking into a commitment. It is the most reliable way to stop the empty slot where a customer simply did not turn up, and every one of the six can take money at booking in some form:
- Acuity Scheduling takes a fixed amount, a percentage or the full price, on every plan.
- SimplyBook.me offers payments and deposits from its Basic plan.
- Setmore takes online payments on both plans, and deposits on Pro.
- Square Appointments lets you require payment in advance on every plan, and from its Plus plan it can charge a fee to the card on file for a no-show or a late cancellation. Its own rate for an online payment with a UK card is 1.4% plus 25p.
- Calendly takes payment at booking through Stripe or PayPal, from its Standard plan.
- Cal.com takes payment before the booking is confirmed, through Stripe or PayPal, on every plan.
The card fee sits on top of the booking system’s price, and it is charged by the company that handles the money: Stripe, PayPal or Square. What those fees come to on an ordinary sale is in How to take card payments online in 2026, and what it really costs.
How to put a booking system on your website
Every booking system gives you a booking page of your own, with a link you can share. There are two ways to use it on your website.
A “Book now” button. A button or a link that opens your booking page. It works on any website, on any phone, and there is nothing to go wrong. The customer leaves your site to book, which most people are used to.
The calendar inside the page. Most booking systems give you a short piece of code that shows the calendar inside one of your pages, so a visitor picks a time without leaving. Calendly, for instance, publishes its embed code for exactly this. It looks more finished, and it keeps people with you.
If your website runs on WordPress, a booking plugin is a third way, and it is one more plugin to keep updated. Why plugin updates break things explains why that matters.
If your website is on Bernard
You can put your Calendly calendar on any page of a Bernard site today. Ask for it in plain words, with your Calendly link, and the calendar appears inside the page on a preview for you to approve. Visitors pick a time without leaving your site, and the booking lands in your Calendly account as it always would. The other five are not on Bernard’s list of calendars that can sit inside a page, so for those, a “Book now” button that opens their booking page does the same job.
Questions people ask
- What is the best booking system for a small business?
- The one that fits how you work, and there is no single winner. For one person taking appointments, Calendly, SimplyBook.me, Setmore, Cal.com and Square Appointments all have a free plan worth trying first. If you need a deposit when people book, check the plan before you commit: Acuity Scheduling takes one on every plan, SimplyBook.me from its Basic plan and Setmore on its Pro plan. If you already take cards in person with Square, Square Appointments keeps the bookings and the payments with the same company.
- Is there a free booking system for a small business?
- Yes, several. Calendly’s free plan gives you one kind of appointment and one connected calendar. SimplyBook.me’s covers 50 bookings a month for one person. Setmore’s is free for up to four users, Cal.com’s for one user, and Square Appointments costs nothing for a single location. Acuity Scheduling has no free plan, only a 7-day free trial. All of that is from each company’s own pricing page, read on 14 September 2026.
- Can I take a deposit when someone books online?
- With most of them, though not always on the free plan. Acuity Scheduling takes a fixed amount, a percentage or the full price at booking on every plan. SimplyBook.me offers deposits from its Basic plan and Setmore on its Pro plan. Square Appointments lets you ask for payment in advance on every plan, and charge a fee for a no-show or a late cancellation from its Plus plan. Calendly and Cal.com take payment at booking through Stripe or PayPal: Calendly from its Standard plan, Cal.com on its free one. The card fee is on top, charged by whichever company handles the money.
- How do I add Calendly to my website?
- Two ways. The simplest is a “Book now” button that links to your Calendly page, which works on any website. The other is to show the calendar inside the page itself, using the embed code Calendly provides, so visitors pick a time without leaving your site. The second keeps people with you; the first is quicker to set up.