Scheduling meetings and interviews with team members, clients, and candidates can quickly go out of control with different meeting schedules, time zones, expectations, and calendar platforms. The best meeting scheduling software can help you eliminate email ping-pong, no-shows, and derailed communication while saving you so much time and headache.
In this guide, I reviewed the 15 best meeting scheduling software and provided tips on how to choose the best one for your needs. I’ll cover the best features, pros, cons, pricing, and more to shed light on what may drive your decision.
Before we get started, let’s define what is a meeting scheduling app.
What is meeting scheduling software?
The best meeting scheduler apps sync with your Google calendar and can show time slots when you’re available, let participants choose the time that works for them and can schedule the meeting while sending the invitation along with automatic text reminders and emails to invitees.
Most of the time, you only have a single task: to show up at the meeting.
There’re two basic functions of online scheduling tools:
- Schedule group meetings and one-on-one meetings by showing either proposed time slots or available time slots from your calendar (scheduling automation).
- Ensure that everybody is on the same page and will show up at the right time by knowing exactly the agenda and expectations (automated communication).
Many online scheduling apps go one step further and offer advanced functions such as collecting payments, offering live chats with customers, or creating reports. Most tools allow you to customize and self-host or embed your booking page on your website, plus track analytics. If you don’t have a website, you can still use these appointment scheduling apps with custom themes and branding.
Now, that we know the basics, let’s get right into the scheduling apps.
What is the best meeting scheduling software?
Here are my top picks for the best meeting scheduling software:
- Calendly
- YouCanBookMe
- OnceHub
- Appointlet
- Setmore
- CalendarHero
- Acuity Scheduling
- Arrangr
- Square Appointments
- Fantastical
- Doodle
- Zoho Bookings
- GoReminders
- Appointy
- 10to8
1. Calendly
Best for consultants with lots of clients and online meetings
Calendly is a real granddaddy of meeting scheduling software with great automation capabilities. It has an intuitive user interface and with the recently introduced polling feature, you get everything you need to schedule your client meetings with ease.
Key features:
- Use Calendly polls to quickly find the time that’s best for everyone on your team.
- Embed your booking form on your website and display your brand on it.
- Connect Calendly directly with Zoom and Microsoft Teams to automatically schedule your meetings.
- Use routing forms to automatically direct clients to the right person or team.
- Power up your meetings with automatic reminders and notifications.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$16/mo
Pros:
- Ease of use
- Decent free version
- Highly customizable
- Lots of native integrations with third-party tools
- Polling functionality
Cons:
- Scheduling polls can be a bit tedious (although there have been serious improvements here)
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
2. YouCanBookMe
Best for teams who like flexible systems
YouCanBookMe is a highly flexible and easy-to-use meeting scheduling software that supports over 25 languages. YouCanBookMe automatically detects your visitor’s language and displays your booking page that fits their language.
The company behind YouCanBookMe is a deliberately tiny and remote one, serving its customers with great enthusiasm.
Key features:
- Integrate your scheduling tool with your Google calendar, video conferencing app, email, and more.
- Accept online payments securely with the Stripe integration.
- Deliver notifications and reminders automatically via SMS and email.
- Send automated follow-up emails after business meetings.
- Accept or reject bookings manually if you want to.
- Protect your booking page with a password.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$12/mo (per seat)
Pros:
- Highly flexible booking pages and advanced settings
- Supports collecting payments
- Awesome integrations
- Group bookings
- Automated follow-up emails
- Personalized scheduling link
- Supports 25+ languages
Cons:
- No dedicated mobile apps
- No group polling
Platforms: Web, Chrome extension
3. OnceHub
Best for consultants and businesses with diverse customers and communication needs
OnceHub (formerly ScheduleOnce) approaches meetings from a unique perspective: they argue that sometimes meeting should happen as planned, other times instantly. That’s why OnceHub lets you create interactive meeting journeys based on the needs of your clients.
OnceHub is a remote company proudly stating that they’re efficiently operating within their own rules without external funding. This is exactly what I’m looking for when I engage with a productivity tool.
Key features:
- Create customized and interactive meeting journeys tailored to your customers.
- Create chatbots and conversational forms or connect with your clients through live chat.
- Track your leads with dashboards.
- Send automatic reminders and follow-ups to increase your lead generation.
- Make your scheduling page match your brand.
- Connect OnceHub with your CRM to automate your workflow (Hubspot CRM, Salesforce).
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$10/mo (per seat)
Pros:
- Awesome integrations
- Highly flexible workflow settings
- Live chat and chatbot support
- Powerful analytics
- Pop-up support
- Nice price tag and generous basic plan
Cons:
- Lacks group polls
- No dedicated mobile apps
Platforms: Web
4. Appointlet
Best Calendly alternative for consultants and small business owners that want simple yet powerful solutions
Appointlet is an online meeting scheduling tool with the right balance of simplicity and additional features. It’s very similar to Calendly, having robust scheduling functions along with powerful integration capabilities.
Appointlet handles different time zones, automated reminders, branding, collecting payments, and more. It even lets you manually approve your meetings if you want to.
Key features:
- Sync your calendar with Appointlet to avoid double booking.
- Send automatic reminders to invitees to reduce missed meetings.
- Create custom intake forms to collect what you need from clients.
- Embed your scheduling page on your website.
- Integrate Appointlet with PayPal or Stripe to collect payments.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$8/mo (per seat)
Pros:
- Ease of use
- Decent free option
- Manual approval of meetings (optional)
- Highly customizable scheduling forms
- Lots of native integrations including CRMs, project managers, and video conferencing tools
- Directly connects with Stripe and PayPal to accept payments
Cons:
- Lacks polling feature
- No Android app
Platforms: Web, iOS
5. Setmore
Best for consultants and small businesses with tight budgets and diverse toolkits
Setmore is an easy-to-use and affordable meeting scheduling software with powerful integration capabilities. There’re infinite ways you can connect this scheduling app with all your business tools. Connect Setmore with your social channels to increase lead generation, collect online payments, and auto-schedule meetings in Zoom, Google Meet, or Teleport.
Key features:
- Customize your booking page with reviews, menus, and more.
- Send automatic SMSs and reminders to customers.
- Accept secure online payments via third-party integrations.
- Connect Setmore with Facebook or Instagram to improve your lead generation.
- Schedule online classes and let customers take their seats and pay online.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$5/mo (per seat)
Pros:
- Truly cross-platform
- Nice price tag
- Highly engaged community and customer support
- QR code support
- Awesome integrations including social channels, online payments, calendars, CRMs, and video conferencing platforms
Cons:
- No group polling feature
- No direct connection to MS Teams
Platforms: Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android
6. CalendarHero
Best for teams and individuals who want to schedule meetings fast with artificial intelligence
CalendarHero is a smart meeting scheduling software. The intelligent group algorithm can automatically find the best time to meet.
You can use the AI meeting assistant to book meetings via chat or SMS. CalendarHero integrates with your favorite apps, so you can focus on your work and let the smart meeting selection algorithm do the heavy lifting for you.
Key features:
- Schedule your meetings with natural language support in MS Teams, Slack, and more.
- Send automatic reminders to reduce no-shows.
- Integrate CalendarHero with your favorite apps to automate your workflow.
- Collect online payments with the Stripe integration.
- Schedule your meetings in your email client with the Microsoft Outlook and Gmail plugins.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$12/mo (per seat)
Pros:
- 60+ native integrations (!)
- AI-supported smart scheduling
- Advanced scheduling functions
- Natural language support
- Automatic travel buffer times
Cons:
- No group polling
- No mobile apps
Platforms: Web, browser plugins
7. Acuity Scheduling
Best for small business owners selling info products
Acuity Scheduling is a meeting scheduling app developed by Squarespace, a well-established website building and hosting company.
Acuity Scheduling is more than a simple meeting scheduling software. It can handle payments via third-party integrations like PayPal, sell subscriptions and memberships, and offer coupons and vouchers. You can fully customize your scheduler with your brand and send clients text messages and reminders to eliminate no-shows.
Key features:
- Use Acuity Scheduling as a client intake form to help your client onboarding process.
- Send automated reminders to keep your clients in the loop.
- Accept online payments with integrations.
- Offer subscriptions and paid memberships.
- Display your brand on your booking page.
Plans and pricing: $16/mo-$49/mo (per seat) with a 7-day free trial
Pros:
- Direct integration with Zoom, Google Meet, GoToMeeting, and PipeDrive
- Extra features like accepting payments and selling memberships
- Highly customizable meeting scheduler
- Advanced reporting
Cons:
- Lack of a polling feature
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
8. Arrangr
Best for consultants and teams with in-person-meetings
Arrangr is an easy-to-use meeting scheduler app with great integrations and some awesome functions like group polling and intelligent spot-finder. Spot-finder can suggest potential locations for an appointment with reviews, ratings, and pictures.
Key features:
- Use the intelligent spot-finder to quickly find a mutual place to meet.
- Connect Arrangr with your favorite tools to automate your scheduling process.
- Send custom reminders to your clients and invitees.
- Customize your booking page with your brand.
- Create meeting agendas and templates to speed up your meetings.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$6.99/mo (per seat)
Pros:
- Group polling
- Directly integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, GoToMeeting, Skype, Slack, Typeform, and more
- Intelligent spot-finder
- Ease of use
Cons:
- No mobile apps
Platforms: Web
9. Square Appointments
Best for businesses looking for a scheduling and point-of-sale system
Square Appointments belongs to the Square brand, which is a payments platform helping small and medium businesses to accept credit cards. They offer connected software solutions, including Point of Sale software, payroll services, and more.
Square Appointments works within the Square ecosystem. You can use it together with Square Register to take payments, Square Stand to check out, or Square Terminal as a POS system.
Key features:
- Embed your booking form on your website.
- Notify clients with automated text and email reminders.
- Use the Square Assistant to send smart, automated messages to your clients to reduce no-shows.
- Use Square Messages for free to chat with clients and to bring your communication into a single space.
- Take secure payments with the Square POS system.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$69/mo (additional pricing may apply)
Pros:
- All-in-one solution for taking payments and onboarding clients
- Free access to Square Messages (for existing Square customers)
- Seamlessly works with other Square apps
Cons:
- Steep learning curve
- No direct integration with Zoom or Microsoft Teams
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
10. Fantastical
Best for individuals working in the Apple ecosystem
Fantastical is a beautifully designed and easy-to-use calendar app for Mac and iOS with great scheduling functionalities. If you’re looking for a simple and affordable meeting scheduler tool, why not use your calendar for it?
Fantastical has been the Mac app of the year in 2020 and received the Apple Design Award, too. You can simply set up your times and share your link to let people choose the meeting time. Fantastical also supports meeting pools.
Key features:
- Schedule your meetings automatically based on your availability.
- Create meeting polls to find the best time for group meetings.
- Automatically add meetings to Zoom, Teams, Webex, or Google Meet.
- Create meeting templates to speed up your meetings.
- Use Fantastical’s powerful calendar functions like tasks, focus mode, time zone support, natural language processing, and more.
Plans and pricing: $4.75/mo (per seat)
Pros:
- Personal calendar and scheduling app 2-in1
- Ease of use
- Meeting polls
- Connects with Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet
Cons:
- Limited customization options
- Not ideal for businesses
- Apple ecosystem only (no web app, either)
Platforms: Mac, iOS, Apple Watch
11. Doodle
Best for individuals who simply want to schedule meetings fast
Doodle might be the first brand to come to mind when you hear about meeting scheduling software. It’s a free meeting scheduler that has everything in place to schedule 1:1 meetings and team meetings automatically. It connects with all major video conferencing platforms and can handle large group polls.
Key features:
- Connect Google Meet, Teams, and Zoom to automatically schedule meetings.
- Use group polls to quickly find the best meeting time.
- Send automatic reminders to invitees to cut back no-shows.
- Use the Outlook add-on to schedule meetings right from your inbox.
- Show your brand and logo on your scheduling page.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$8.95/mo (per seat)
Pros:
- Ease of use
- Excellent group polling feature
- Affordable price tag
- Direct integrations with all major video conferencing platforms
Cons:
- It’s hard to find any if you’re looking for a simple scheduling app
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
12. Zoho Bookings
Best for businesses and teams who want beautiful and highly customizable booking pages quickly
Zoho Bookings is a meeting scheduler software that is part of the Zoho brand, which is an all-in-one business solution (cloud software).
With Zoho Bookings, you can create beautiful scheduling pages for all industries and host them under your domain. You’ll get all the nitty-gritty of online scheduling tools including customizable booking forms, calendar integrations, automated reminders, reports, team management, plus support for collecting payments.
Key features:
- Diversify your booking forms with custom fields.
- Send automatic email and SMS reminders to reduce no-shows.
- Connect your meeting scheduling app with your calendar and video conferencing tool to automate your workflow.
- Collect online payments via Stripe, PayPal, and more.
- Customize your booking pages and meeting URLs.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$9/mo (per seat)
Pros:
- Beautiful and customizable booking pages with 20+ themes and layouts for different industries
- Directly integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and GoToMeeting
- Self-hosting support for booking pages
- Supports online payments (via native integrations)
- Part of the Zoho platform (an all-in-one solution, if you like it)
- Powerful analytics
Cons:
- Lacks group polling feature
- Doesn’t integrate with Microsoft Teams (although you can connect them with Zapier)
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
13. GoReminders
Best for consultants and businesses where communication is central
GoReminders was built to solve a single yet big problem: to avoid no-show appointments. As the name suggests, you can use this tool to send automatic reminders and text messages, but GoReminders is a meeting scheduling software with some unique features, too.
Clients can book appointments based on your availability both automatically and upon your approval. You can directly communicate with your customers on the GoReminders platform via SMS or email.
Key features:
- Remind customers with advanced message sequences.
- Communicate with your clients directly in GoReminders via SMS or text.
- Send text messages or emails to a group of clients or all of them.
- Use custom fields to address client information.
- Approve appointments manually (optional).
Plans and pricing: $25/mo-$200/mo
Pros:
- Advanced reminder features
- Mass messaging with Message Blast
- Two-way messaging with clients
- Dedicated phone number
- Option for manually approving appointments
- Ease of use scheduling process
Cons:
- Lacks native integration with video conferencing tools and other apps (except calendars)
- High-priced paid plan
- Lacks advanced booking page settings
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
14. Appointy
Best for businesses with online classes and a strong vein for tracking everything
Appointy is an online appointment booking software specializing in both attracting and retaining customers across a whole range of industries. Appointy lets you create powerful booking forms, use them on your website and social channels, create analytics, collect payments, request reviews, and more.
Key features:
- Schedule 1:1 and class meetings.
- Send automated emails and SMSs to ensure that clients never miss an appointment.
- Accept secure online payments through Square, Stripe, or PayPal.
- Measure booking conversions, staff performance, customer satisfaction, and more.
- Promote last-minute deals.
- Request reviews from customers after the call.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$79.99/mo
Pros:
- Supports 20+ languages
- Powerful class scheduling capabilities
- Accept payments via multiple channels
- Advanced analytics
- Built-in marketing tools like discounts, conversion tracking, and more
Cons:
- No direct integration with video conferencing tools
- No group polling
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
15. 10to8
Best for businesses that want scalable scheduling solutions
10to8 is an AI-powered appointment scheduling software with over 100 features. They claim that they’re the most feature-rich product on the market.
The name implies that 10to8 will turn 10 minutes of organizing a meeting into 8 seconds of automation.
Key features:
- Schedule your 1:1s and classes and track your attendees.
- Send automated meeting reminders via SMS, voicemail, and email to reduce no-shows.
- Create booking links with expiry dates.
- Send AI-powered smart messages to clients.
- Accept online payments securely via Stripe or PayPal.
Plans and pricing: $0/mo-$19/mo (per seat)
Pros:
- Directly integrates with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom
- Powerful reporting
- Advanced scheduling features
- Customizable booking page themes
- Integrated live chat
Cons:
- No mobile apps
Platforms: Web
What are the benefits of meeting scheduling software?
I don’t want to give you another boring list of benefits here. Let’s make it crystal clear via a real-world example.
Before I used my meeting scheduling software, I needed to do everything manually:
- Email client to discuss meeting times (oh, yeah, I used to be exactly this guy and some folks are still doing that).
- Email back and forth with the client to find a mutual slot in our calendars.
- Schedule a new meeting manually.
- Send the Zoom invitation to the client.
- Send follow-ups to the client (or skip this step and suffer the consequence—you know exactly what I’m talking about).
- Re-arrange the meeting manually and start another eternal email thread if something comes up in our schedule, which is often the case.
Now, my appointment scheduling app handles everything for me to increase productivity:
- (I made the one-time effort to set up my booking page.)
- Calendly, my online scheduling app displays my available times for clients in real-time (accounting for my calendar and preferences).
- Once my client is ready to meet, they chose their preferred time from my calendar via my booking form.
- Calendly schedules a meeting in Zoom and sends the meeting link to the client.
- Calendly populates via Zoom our calendars.
- It can send automatic messages to the invitee.
- If I get sick or need to rearrange the meeting, I just drag and drop the booking on my calendar to adjust the meeting and get notified my client.
These are the benefits. Period.
Pro tip: set up a TextExpander snippet for your booking link to quickly channel clients to your booking page.
How to choose the best meeting scheduling software?
While individuals have different needs for all types of purposes, there’re some essential elements you need to pay attention to when choosing the right meeting scheduling software.
First, pay attention to your first impression. It’s always hard to bypass your first customer experience with productivity tools. If you don’t resonate with your meeting scheduler app, you’ll have a hard time using it downstream.
Second, dig through this list to quickly find the right tool.
- Ease of use: Nothing is more frustrating than having a meeting scheduler app that makes your booking process more complicated. Finding an appointment scheduling software that’s easy to work with is a good idea.
- Platform: If you travel a lot and don’t have access to your computer, having a dedicated mobile app can be highly beneficial.
- Automation capabilities: Scheduling automation doesn’t end at scheduling the meeting. Creating Zoom meeting links and sending automated reminders and text messages are powerful ways to prepare the client or the invitees and build a professional relationship.
- Integrations: You may want to check whether your meeting scheduler software integrates with the tools you already use. This is especially important for video conferencing tools like Zoom or Google Meet.
- Branding: Displaying your brand can be highly beneficial, so make sure that your meeting scheduler software lets you display your brand on your booking forms (if that’s what you are looking for).
- Reporting and taking payments: Many online scheduling apps offer advanced analytics to track the performance of your sales teams. Many tools also integrate directly with PayPal, Stripe, or Square to take secure online payments before the meeting. If this is important for you, make sure you watch out.
- Time-zone adjustment: While most online scheduling apps allow time zone management, this is something you may want to keep an eye on if you often schedule appointments with customers outside of your time zone.
- Pricing: There’s quite a big variation in pricing when it comes to meeting scheduling tools. If you’re on a tight budget, you’d better watch the price and different tiers to find a good value for your money.
- Privacy and security: Most of the meeting scheduling tools will request access to your calendar. You may want to choose a meeting scheduler that takes your privacy seriously and have a strict data policy in place. Since the introduction of GDPR, data controllers must have a detailed policy in place along with a legal basis and infrastructure to handle personal data.
- Developer and customer service: I always like to see who is behind the wall before I engage with a productivity tool. Have a look at the meeting scheduler’s website, their privacy policy, history, and maybe their developer team to gain a tentative insight about your meeting scheduling app.
What is the best meeting scheduling software, anyway?
Finding the right meeting scheduling app can be intimidating. At the time I’m writing this review, I realized that there’s a waste number of scheduling tools and there’s no ultimate warrior.
Some tools stand out from the competition with their competitive pricing, others appeal with endless features and flexibility, while others win with their simplicity or with their transparent and sympathetic marketing.
If you’re still unsure what is the best meeting scheduler software for you, make a list of the criteria I provided above and grade your favorite tools on a scale of 1 to 5. Then choose the one app that scales the highest and use it for 90 days before you commit.
During your “90-day trial”, make a list of what is surprisingly beneficial for your workflow and business, and make another list with the flaws or missing functions. When your trial ends, you’ll have a comprehensive list (and a strong gut feeling) about your selection.
Good luck with your scheduling efforts.
Cover photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash