Booknetic
Premium appointment booking plugin from FS Code with staff, locations, workflows and a large add-on store, sold on its own site and…
94
Bookly
Modular appointment booking plugin: free core, a Pro upgrade and dozens of paid add-ons for staff, locations, payments and calendar sync.
Free installs60K+WordPress.org, active
Est. Pro installs~20KLikely 13K–30K
Rating4.4/5586 reviews
Price from$99/yrFreemium
Last updated26 Oct 2026Version 28.7
Overview
Bookly by Nota-Info is one of the longest-running appointment booking plugins on WordPress. It is built around a modular model: a free core on WordPress.org, a Bookly Pro upgrade, and a large catalogue of official add-ons that can be bought one by one or as part of the Business and Ultimate bundles.
Free versus paid
The free plugin gives you a responsive multi-step booking form, a day/week/month calendar, a searchable bookings list, a customer list, email and SMS notifications and slots shown in the client’s time zone. It is capped at one staff member and five services and has no online payments.
Bookly Pro removes the staff and service limits and adds online payments, Google Calendar (one-way), Zoom, Google Meet and Jitsi meetings, WooCommerce compatibility, padding time between appointments and built-in analytics. Most other capabilities are separate add-ons: locations, group booking, recurring appointments, custom fields, customer and staff cabinets, coupons, deposits, packages, events, waiting lists, Outlook and two-way Google Calendar sync. The Business plan bundles the most common of these, and Ultimate includes the rest.
Strengths
- You only pay for what you use, which keeps simple setups cheap.
- The add-on catalogue is unusually deep, covering things like chain and compound services, special hours, tasks and ratings.
- Bookly Cloud provides SMS, WhatsApp and a Zapier connection without your own Twilio account.
- Mature product with a large user base and frequent updates.
Limitations
The modular approach makes it hard to tell what a full setup will cost, and features many rivals include, such as a customer portal and recurring bookings, need the Business plan or extra add-ons. SMS, WhatsApp and Zapier run through metered Bookly Cloud services. The free version is fine for testing but too limited for most real businesses.
Bookly is a good fit for salons, clinics and consultancies that want to assemble exactly the features they need, and for agencies comfortable working with an add-on ecosystem.
Best for: Service businesses and agencies that want to assemble a booking system from exactly the add-ons they need.
Bookly is mature and capable, and its add-on library goes deeper than most rivals. The trade-off is complexity: plan carefully, because the features most businesses expect usually mean the Business or Ultimate bundle rather than Pro alone.
Pros
- Very large catalogue of official add-ons, so you can build a precise feature set
- Free version has a polished booking form, calendar views and client time zones
- Pro adds Zoom, Google Meet and Jitsi meetings plus WooCommerce support
- Bookly Cloud provides SMS, WhatsApp and Zapier without third-party accounts
- Long track record and frequent updates
Cons
- Free version is capped at one staff member and five services, with no online payments
- Customer portal, recurring and group bookings need the Business plan or add-ons
- Total cost is hard to predict with the add-on model
- SMS, WhatsApp and Zapier are metered Bookly Cloud services
- Two-way Google Calendar sync and Outlook are add-ons rather than Pro features
Key features
What Bookly highlights on its WordPress.org page and its own website, split by version.
Free version WordPress.org
- Responsive multi-step booking form
- Day, week and month calendar views
- Searchable, filterable bookings list
- Unlimited customers and booking forms
- Email and SMS notifications
- Slots in the client's time zone
- Service durations from 5 minutes
- Up to five services, one staff member
- WPML multi-language support
- Gutenberg and Elementor blocks
Pro / paid adds From $99/yr
- Unlimited staff and services
- Online payments with major gateways
- Google Calendar and WooCommerce support
- Zoom, Google Meet and Jitsi meetings
- Padding time and booking limits
- Analytics and financial reports
- Customer and staff cabinets (add-on)
- Locations, group and recurring bookings (add-ons)
- Custom fields, coupons and deposits (add-ons)
- Packages, events and waiting lists (add-ons)
- Outlook and two-way Google sync (add-ons)
- Business and Ultimate add-on bundles
Feature checklist
23 of 23 features we track in Booking & Appointments, feature score 91/100
Bookings & scheduling 8/8
Front-end booking calendar Key
Customers pick an available slot and book online.
Free multi-step booking form with live availability and day/week/month admin calendar.
Included
Multiple staff & services Key
Different services, durations and staff members with their own schedules.
Free is limited to one staff member and five services; Pro removes both limits.
Partial
Multiple locations
Manage bookings across several locations.
Locations add-on, bundled in the Business plan, lets customers choose a location.
Paid version Business
Group bookings & capacity
More than one person per slot, with capacity limits.
Group Booking add-on sets capacity per slot; bundled from Business.
Paid version Business
Events & classes
Book places on events, classes or courses.
Paid Events add-on for class-style bookings; included in the Ultimate bundle.
Via add-on
Recurring appointments
Customers book a repeating series of appointments.
Recurring Appointments add-on, bundled from the Business plan.
Paid version Business
Buffer times & booking rules
Gaps between appointments, minimum notice and booking windows.
Pro adds padding time between appointments and per-customer booking limits.
Paid version Pro
Custom booking form fields
Collect extra information when customers book.
Custom Fields add-on, bundled from the Business plan.
Paid version Business
Payments 5/5
Online payments Key
Take payment at booking with Stripe, PayPal or similar.
Free has local payments only; Pro adds online gateways, Stripe is bundled from Business.
Paid version Pro
Deposits & partial payments
Collect a deposit now and the rest later.
Deposit Payments add-on (paid, needs Pro) takes a percentage or fixed part online.
Via add-on
WooCommerce checkout
Bookings paid through the WooCommerce cart and checkout.
Bookly Pro can route bookings through the WooCommerce cart and checkout.
Paid version Pro
Coupons
Discount codes for bookings.
Coupons add-on, bundled from the Business plan.
Paid version Business
Packages & memberships
Sell bundles of appointments or recurring packages.
Packages add-on sells session bundles; included in the Ultimate plan.
Paid version Ultimate
Customers & notifications 4/4
Customer portal Key
Customers view, reschedule or cancel their bookings.
Customer Cabinet add-on lets clients view, reschedule and cancel; bundled from Business.
Paid version Business
Email notifications & reminders Key
Confirmation and reminder emails.
Free sends booking notifications; reminder and follow-up templates need Pro.
Partial
SMS & WhatsApp notifications
Text or WhatsApp reminders.
SMS and WhatsApp work in free via Bookly Cloud, which bills messages separately.
Included
Time zone detection
Shows slots in the customer's own time zone.
Free can display available slots in the client's time zone.
Included
Integrations & admin 6/6
Google Calendar sync Key
Two-way sync with Google Calendar to avoid double bookings.
Pro syncs one way; two-way sync needs Advanced Google Calendar, bundled from Business.
Paid version Business
Outlook & iCal sync
Sync with Outlook or Apple / iCal calendars.
Paid Outlook Calendar add-on; included in the Ultimate bundle.
Via add-on
Zoom & Google Meet links
Create online meeting links automatically.
Pro creates Zoom, Google Meet or Jitsi links for appointments.
Paid version Pro
Zapier & webhooks
Send bookings to other tools.
Zapier integration is a paid Bookly Cloud product; no native webhooks documented.
Via add-on
Staff dashboard
Staff log in to manage their own schedule and bookings.
Staff Cabinet add-on gives staff a front-end schedule; bundled from Business.
Paid version Business
Reports & analytics
Bookings, revenue and staff performance reports.
Pro adds analytics on bookings, customers and payments.
Paid version Pro
Pricing
Free
$0On WordPress.org
Pro
$99per year1 site
First year $39 during current sale. Unlimited staff and services, online payments, Google Calendar, Zoom/Meet, WooCommerce.
Business
$129per year1 site
First year $69 during current sale; 5-site option available. Bundles the core paid add-ons (cabinets, locations, recurring, group booking).
Ultimate
$199per year1 site
First year $159 during current sale; 20- and 100-site options. Includes the full add-on catalogue. Add-ons are also sold individually.
Prices are list prices from the vendor's site, checked 14 Oct 2026. Many vendors discount the first year.
How many sites use Bookly?
Free installs from WordPress.org, the vendor's own claim, and our estimate of paid installs.
Free version (WordPress.org)
60K+
Active installations reported by WordPress.org.
Vendor claim
60K+
Paying customers claimed by the vendor. source
Estimated Pro / paid installs
~20K
Our estimate, see method below.
How we estimated this: Website scans by WPoptic find the paid plugin (folder bookly-addon-pro) on 9,585 live sites; they find the free version on 30,256 sites against about 65K WordPress.org installs, so each site found stands for about 2.1, giving 21K. About 65K free installs x 30% (the usual share of free sites that also run the paid version when many key features are paid, and store owners upgrade more often) gives 20K. Combining these (weighted average) gives about 20K. Likely range: 13K to 30K. This counts sites running the paid version, including sites whose licence has lapsed. Estimates are rough and based on public figures as of 14 Oct 2026.
Stats & health
Weekly downloads
26,853 downloads last week, 4.1M all time
Rating breakdown
| Version | 28.7 |
|---|---|
| Last updated | 26 Oct 2026 (8 days ago) |
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.1.4 |
| Requires | WordPress 3.7+, PHP 5.3.7+ |
| Support threads (2 months) | 1 of 1 resolved |
| On WordPress.org since | 10 Oct 2014 |
Company & policy
| Paying customers claimed | 60K+ (source, 6 Oct 2026) Pricing page says it is trusted by 60,000+ businesses worldwide, the same figure as WP.org installs. |
|---|---|
| Refund policy | 30-day money-back (source, 6 Oct 2026) |
Bookly compared
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FAQ
Is Bookly free?
Yes. Bookly has a free version on WordPress.org. Paid plans start at $99/yr.
How many sites use Bookly?
WordPress.org reports 60K+ active installations of the free version. We estimate around 20K sites run the paid version.
Does Bookly have front-end booking calendar?
Yes: included. Free multi-step booking form with live availability and day/week/month admin calendar.
Does Bookly have multiple staff & services?
Yes: partial. Free is limited to one staff member and five services; Pro removes both limits.
Does Bookly have online payments?
Yes: paid version (Pro). Free has local payments only; Pro adds online gateways, Stripe is bundled from Business.
Does Bookly have customer portal?
Yes: paid version (Business). Customer Cabinet add-on lets clients view, reschedule and cancel; bundled from Business.
Does Bookly have email notifications & reminders?
Yes: partial. Free sends booking notifications; reminder and follow-up templates need Pro.
Does Bookly have google calendar sync?
Yes: paid version (Business). Pro syncs one way; two-way sync needs Advanced Google Calendar, bundled from Business.
What are the limits of the free Bookly plugin?
Free Bookly supports one staff member and up to five services and does not take online payments. It is useful for trying the booking flow but most businesses will need Pro.
Do I need add-ons on top of Bookly Pro?
Often, yes. Pro unlocks unlimited staff and services, payments and Google Calendar, but locations, recurring and group bookings, custom fields and the customer and staff cabinets are add-ons. The Business and Ultimate plans bundle them.
How does Bookly send SMS and WhatsApp messages?
Through Bookly Cloud, the vendor's own messaging service, which is billed separately. You do not need your own Twilio account.
Can Bookly connect to Zapier?
Yes, via a Zapier product inside Bookly Cloud that needs its own subscription, plus a Zapier account. Triggers cover new and updated appointments and new customers.
What is Bookly's refund policy?
Refund requests made within 30 days of purchase are approved.
Last updated 6 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an edit.