Booksy

As of August 2026, if you want tools that are both good and actually widely used, I’d shortlist these:

Best overall picks

1. Calendly — best default for business meetings
   Use it for sales calls, recruiting screens, customer success calls, interviews, demos, and simple external scheduling. It’s the “everyone knows it” option, with strong calendar/video integrations, team routing, workflow automation, and admin controls on higher plans. Calendly is consistently named among the most popular appointment-scheduling products in G2/Capterra-style directories, and one web-tech tracker put Calendly far ahead of competitors in appointment-scheduling market share as of July 2026. (calendly.com)

2. Acuity Scheduling / Squarespace Scheduling — best for service businesses
   Better than Calendly when appointments are tied to services, payments/deposits, intake forms, packages, classes, or multiple staff/calendars. Good fit for coaches, consultants, therapists, studios, wellness providers, photographers, and appointment-based local businesses. Acuity’s official plan page highlights classes/workshops, video links, payments, calendar management, and client communication; Capterra lists thousands of Acuity reviews. (acuityscheduling.com)

3. Square Appointments — best if you also need payments/POS
   Best for salons, barbers, beauty, wellness, retail-service hybrids, and local businesses already using Square. The advantage is not just scheduling—it’s Square’s ecosystem: payments, deposits, text/email sharing, staff calendars, payroll/POS add-ons, and customer management. (squareup.com)

4. Microsoft Bookings — best for Microsoft 365 organizations
   Choose this if your company, school, clinic, or department already lives in Outlook, Teams, and Microsoft 365. It’s not as slick as Calendly for every use case, but it’s often “good enough” and already included in many Microsoft 365 environments. Microsoft describes Bookings as a Microsoft 365 app with a web booking calendar that integrates with Outlook and Teams to avoid double-booking and generate online meeting links. (learn.microsoft.com)

5. Google Calendar Appointment Schedules — best lightweight option for Google users
   Great if you just need a simple booking page tied directly to Google Calendar. It supports booking pages, calendar conflict checking, website embedding, reminders/payment features on eligible paid plans, and is especially convenient for Google Workspace users. It’s less of a full business-management platform than Acuity/Square/SimplyBook.me. (support.google.com)

Other strong, commonly used options

6. HubSpot Meetings — best for sales teams using HubSpot CRM
   If your scheduling is mainly for leads, demos, or sales calls, HubSpot’s scheduler is attractive because it connects directly with HubSpot CRM, sales tools, email marketing, and lead workflows. (hubspot.com)

7. SimplyBook.me — best customizable booking system for multi-service businesses
   Strong if you want a full booking website, many add-on features, social booking via Facebook/Instagram, multi-location or multi-staff service booking, and more customization than Calendly. SimplyBook.me advertises 60+ custom features and integrations with Google Calendar, Outlook, Zapier, and thousands of apps. (simplybook.me)

8. Setmore — best budget/free small-business scheduler
   Good for small teams that want a simple booking page, staff calendars, QR codes, website/social booking, calendar sync, and mobile apps without getting into a complex platform. Setmore’s free plan supports multiple staff profiles, and its feature pages emphasize booking pages, website plugins, social booking, virtual meetings, and calendar sync. (setmore.com)

9. Cal.com — best open-source / developer-friendly Calendly alternative
   Worth considering if you care about self-hosting, data control, customization, APIs, or open-source software. Cal.com describes itself as an open-source scheduling platform; its docs emphasize connecting calendars/video tools and sharing booking links. (cal.com)

10. Vagaro, Booksy, Fresha — best industry-specific picks for salons, beauty, wellness, fitness
    If you run a salon, spa, barber shop, medspa, fitness studio, massage practice, or beauty/wellness business, these may beat generic tools because they combine scheduling with marketplace discovery, staff calendars, POS/payments, deposits, client records, reminders, and industry workflows. Vagaro targets beauty/wellness/fitness, Booksy targets appointment-based service providers with a consumer booking app/marketplace, and Fresha targets salons, spas, barbershops, and wellness businesses. (vagaro.com)

My quick recommendation

• Most people doing business meetings: Calendly
• Solo/service business with payments/forms: Acuity
• Local business using in-person payments/POS: Square Appointments
• Microsoft 365 company: Microsoft Bookings
• Google Workspace solo professional: Google Calendar Appointment Schedules
• Sales team on HubSpot: HubSpot Meetings
• Salon/beauty/wellness: Vagaro, Booksy, Fresha, or Square Appointments
• Open-source/self-hosted: Cal.com
• Free/simple small-team booking: Setmore or Google Calendar Appointment Schedules

Based on current market data, here are the appointment scheduling tools that consistently show up as top picks across review sites and are widely adopted by businesses:

Most Widely Used / Best Overall

Calendly is the name most commonly recommended for general meeting scheduling, especially for sales and consulting use cases. It's noted as best for large enterprises, offering advanced team scheduling, analytics, and integrations built for large organizations. It's also frequently cited as the go-to for sales teams — Calendly works well for sales teams that need round-robin routing, and one review notes Calendly leads for lightweight 1:1 meeting scheduling.

Acuity Scheduling is a strong pick especially for service-based businesses. It's recommended for paid appointments and client intake, and it's the top pick for service-based businesses on Squarespace.

Best for Specific Business Types

Square Appointments – ideal if you already use Square for payments. It's best for POS integration, perfect for service businesses already using Square's payment system. It also works well for retail and local services.

Setmore – a solid free option for smaller operations. It's a good pick for free-tier small teams up to four users, and it works well for small teams that want a clean booking page, reliable reminders, and a no-cost starting point, particularly for straightforward service businesses that don't require heavy automation.

HubSpot Meetings – best if your business already runs on HubSpot CRM, since it syncs scheduling directly into your existing pipeline for teams already on HubSpot CRM.

Cal.com – the pick for technical teams wanting full control, offering self-hosted open-source control.

Other Notable Contenders

• YouCanBookMe (YCBM) – some reviewers rank it #1 overall: it takes the crown as the best overall for its customization, ease of use, and flexible integrations.
• Booksy – popular in beauty/wellness service industries.
• WaitWell – specialized for organizations juggling both scheduled appointments and walk-ins, such as managing both scheduled appointments and walk-in visitors in one unified system. Notably it serves government agencies (including the Nevada DMV statewide).
• Wix Bookings / Zoom Workplace – convenient if you're already embedded in those ecosystems (website builder or video/collaboration suite respectively).

How to Choose

Rather than one universal "best," the right pick depends on your use case: the right pick comes down to the purpose of booking, how much control and customization you need over scheduling, and how you want payments and customer information to flow — plus nuances like calendar sync, reminders, payment integration, and team scheduling flexibility.

A practical approach many reviewers suggest: match the tool to your business type, test it with real bookings, and don't overpay for features you won't use — most tools offer free plans or trials, so pick 2–3 that match your needs and test them.

Bottom line: If you just want the safest, most broadly-adopted choice, Calendly is the default recommendation for general scheduling. For service-based/client-facing businesses (salons, consultants, healthcare), Acuity Scheduling or Square Appointments are the most commonly recommended alternatives.

Here’s a rundown of the most popular, widely used appointment scheduling software — from free personal tools to powerful business platforms.

Top All-Round Picks

1. Calendly

Best for: Individuals, sales teams, and classic 1:1 meetings

• Simple link-based scheduling
• Syncs with Google/Outlook/iCloud
• Great at eliminating back-and-forth emails
• Free plan available; paid plans add automations, team features, and round-robin

Why people use it: It’s the industry standard for meeting scheduling — if you only need something fast and reliable, this is it.

2. Acuity Scheduling (now part of Squarespace)

Best for: Coaches, consultants, studios, and service businesses

• Handles classes, packages, memberships, and gift certificates
• Custom intake forms and payment collection
• Strong client management and reminders
• Good for both online and in-person appointments

Why people use it: It’s a full-featured scheduler that feels like a lightweight CRM for appointment-based businesses.

3. Square Appointments

Best for: Salons, barbershops, spas, and retail/service businesses

• Free plan available for a single location and one staff member
• Built-in payments, POS, and loyalty tools
• Supports multiple staff, no-shows, and online booking
• Integrates tightly with Square’s entire ecosystem

Why people use it: Free to start, extremely easy to use, and perfect for small businesses that already use Square payments.

Best for Free & Simple Use

4. Setmore

Best for: Freelancers, small teams, and businesses on a budget

• Free plan with unlimited bookings (up to a certain number of staff)
• Video call links built in
• Basic client management and calendar sync

Why people use it: It’s genuinely free with decent features — good if you don’t need heavy automation.

5. Doodle

Best for: Group scheduling and finding available times

• Focus on “poll-style” scheduling (e.g., “Which time works for you?”)
• Great for coordinating groups across multiple time zones
• Simple one-time meetings rather than long-term booking

Why people use it: When you just need to nail down a time for a call or event with several people, Doodle is quickest.

Best for Health, Wellness & Class-Based Businesses

6. Mindbody

Best for: Gyms, fitness studios, salons, and wellness centers

• Powerful class scheduling, memberships, and client management
• Built-in marketing tools
• Deep feature set for complex businesses

Why people use it: It dominates the fitness/wellness space — if you run classes or multi-location operations, it’s hard to beat.

7. Booksy

Best for: Barbershops, salons, and appointment-based personal services

• Simple mobile-first booking
• Integrated marketing and reviews
• Very popular in the grooming industry

Why people use it: Super intuitive for both providers and consumers, especially on mobile.

Best for Microsoft / Enterprise Environments

8. Microsoft Bookings

Best for: Office 365/Microsoft 365 users

• Included with many Microsoft business plans
• Integrates natively with Outlook and Teams
• Great for internal and external appointments
• Supports multiple staff and services

Why people use it: If you already pay for Microsoft 365, it’s already there — no extra cost, and the Outlook sync is seamless.

Best for Highly Custom / Complex Workflows

9. SimplyBook.me

Best for: Businesses with unusual scheduling needs

• Extremely customizable with 60+ “custom features” (e.g., buffers, waitlists, classes)
• Supports multi-location, multiple staff, and variousbooking forms
• More complex than Calendly, but extremely flexible

Why people use it: When default schedulers don’t fit your niche, SimplyBook.me likely has a way to make it work.

Quick Comparison

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The short version:

• For meetings and calls: Calendly
• For service businesses (free option): Square Appointments
• For full client management: Acuity
• For fitness/wellness: Mindbody
• For Microsoft users: Microsoft Bookings
• For the most customization: SimplyBook.me

Try the free plans first — most let you test the core workflow without a credit card, so you’ll know quickly what actually fits your business.