The scheduling software for small business is great to have especially if you have employees. If you are a small business owner, you know how important it is to create a schedule that works well with your employees. Because of this, you need to ensure that you use the scheduling software for service business free in order to make this happen.
Are you looking for a scheduling software program for your business? A piece of software that will help you manage your business with ease and the position your clients exactly as you want? It is time to learn about the best scheduling software for service businesses available today.
Buddy Punch
Buddy Punch is a web-based time clock and scheduling software. Their simple, user-friendly, and intuitive app interface empowers your employees instead of forcing them to learn a new, complex workflow just to punch in/out of work. Your employees can view their current time-card, request time off, submit a claim to correct a punch-in error, or even submit their time card for approval—all without ever leaving the app.
Buddy Punch’s key features work to keep your team accountable and honest. Through GPS tracking, you can stay on top of your staff’s location whenever they clock in/out of work. Some additional features include facial recognition and photos on punch, which run a biometric scan of your employees’ faces to verify who is attempting to punch in/out. The interface has been built to ensure easy navigation and ease of use, with drag and drop schedule creation and the ability to create repeating/recurring shifts.
Buddy Punch integrates with QuickBooks, ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Paylocity, PayPlus, SurePayroll, and Workday. With a paid Zapier account, you’ll have access to thousands of other apps and tools.
Buddy Punch costs from $25.99/month for basic time and attendance solutions (billed annually). They offer a 14-day free trial. You can contact the company directly for the requirement of more than 200 employees.
Picktime
PROS
- Completely free
- Book classes; virtual appointments
- Intake forms and questionnaires
CONS
- Does not integrate with Outlook calendars
- Does not have phone call reminders
- Free plans are limited to early adopters
Overall Score4.76OUT OF5
| RATING CRITERIA | FREE PLAN LIMITATIONS | 5 | OUT OF | 5 |
| APOINTMENT BOOKING TOOLS | 4.94 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| BACK OFFICE FEATURES | 4.5 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| EXPERT SCORE | 4.38 | OUT OF | 5 |
Picktime is a relatively new appointment scheduling software, and as such, it is currently free. It plans on introducing paid plans in the future but will keep it free for any business that registers during this free period. This is the time to pick up this excellent software.
What makes Picktime the best free appointment scheduling software for businesses? Its feature-dense, covering multiple staff members, classes, and calendar syncs. It lets you add intake forms, take deposits, generate invoices or accept payments online, and send automated reminders. It integrates with several other types of software, including multiple video conferencing apps. With a score of 4.76 out of 5 stars and raving user reviews, it’s hard to beat.
Picktime Pricing
Completely free. There are no paid plans, no extra features, no percentages for credit card processing. However, Picktime is offering a limited number of free memberships for early adopters. Get yours before they institute pricing to get the software free forever.
Picktime Features
- Add unlimited staff members.
- Schedule classes or individual appointments.
- Integrate into your website or use Picktime’s booking page.
- Integrate with Google Meet, Microsoft Skype, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, GoToMeeting, and Jitsi Meet.
- Accept payments through the schedule or send invoices. Accept deposits against no-shows.
- Save customer details and allow for recurring appointments.
Square Appointments
Square Appointments is a great example of appointment scheduling software that’s free for single users. It offers access to all of Square’s business management software, including invoicing, CRM, and payment processing, without any charge. The catch is that it’s only free for one user. Multi-user options cost money. This makes the software best suited for solopreneurs.
- ⦿Free package for solopreneurs
- ⦿Access to Square’s business management suite
- ⦿Excellent mobile app
Acuity Scheduling
Its like a personal assistant for your schedule–only better. With Acuity Scheduling, booking appointments with your clients & customers doesnt have to be a neverending time suck anymore. (Hallelujah!) Let your clients view your real-time availability, select the date and time that works best for them, pay in advance via Square, Stripe, or Paypal, and even cancel or reschedule all on their own–without you having to drive yourself crazy.
Calendly
Calendly is a free scheduling software for small businesses that helps you manage your staff schedule. The software is both mobile (iOS and Android) and browser-based, meaning you can book appointments anywhere you have access to the internet. With Calendly, you can create a calendar and share it with clients. You can customize your availability to any time-of-day or day-of-the-week (or remove available slots to show that you are a busy person!).
Overall, Calendly is simple to use and implement with no feature bloating. With the free version, you can schedule unlimited one-on-one appointments. The pro plan comes with additional features like appointment reminders. Customer support for the pro plan is available via email.
Calendly integrates with Gmail, Zoom, Slack, Salesforce, Microsoft Teams, HubSpot, Paypal, Intercom, Stripe, GoToMeeting, Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Active Campaign, Drip, ClickSend SMS, Twilio, and dozens of other apps. You can also integrate with hundreds more tools using a paid plan through Zapier.
Calendly is free to use for 1 calendar. Paid plans cost from $8/month and come with a 14-day free trial.
Square Appointments
PROS
- POS system
- Unlimited features for one user
- Automatic reminders via email or text
CONS
- Calendar sync with Google only
- Must use Square’s payment processor
- No video chat integration
Overall Score4.44OUT OF5
| RATING CRITERIA | FREE PLAN LIMITATIONS | 4 | OUT OF | 5 |
| APOINTMENT BOOKING TOOLS | 4.13 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| BACK OFFICE FEATURES | 5 | OUT OF | 5 | |
| EXPERT SCORE | 5 | OUT OF | 5 |
Square Appointments gives you all the main features of appointment scheduling software without hiding anything behind a paywall or showing pesky ads. You can set up a webpage where clients can view your open time slots and book an appointment. It also sends automatic email or SMS reminders when the appointment is drawing near. It syncs your appointments with Google Calendar, so any conflicts you have are automatically removed from your booking page.
Like Fresha, Square offers point-of-sale (POS) software with inventory that works with Square Appointments. However, Square’s POS software is rated as the best for small businesses.
Square is a very popular appointment program and gets good reviews from users. It integrates with a multitude of other software for business, just not for video conferencing. It has email and text appointment reminders. In addition to credit card processing, it can handle digital gift cards, and it includes time-tracking software. Square loses points because the free plan is limited to a single user, and it only syncs with Google calendar. Square’s robust free features earned it a 4.44 out of 5.
Square Appointments Pricing
- Free: Full appointment scheduling software free for one user plus a transaction fee of 2.5% plus 10 cents for any payments processed through the platform
- $50 per month: Two to five users
- $90 per month: Six to 10 users
- Custom pricing: 11 or more users
Square Appointments Features
- Book appointments through your website and attach documents or contracts to the verification emails for intake forms.
- Accept payments through Square (fee applies) and send invoices. Set deposits against no-shows.
- Class or group bookings.
- Attach intake forms, contracts, or other documents to confirmation emails.
- Accept payments, including deposits against no-shows.
- Maintain customer database.
- Works with Square POS and Square Online.
Appointy
Appointy is a scheduler app that’s been around since 2009. It offers a lot of useful features in the basic free plan, such as Zapier support for third-party software integration, booking directly from Google Calendar, automatic reminders, and accepting payments through Square.
- ⦿Square Payments integration in the free plan
- ⦿Zapier provides thousands of app integration options
- ⦿Google bookings and automatic reminders
Conclusion:
Since hiring employees is a great way to increase profits for your service business, you need to know how to schedule your employees efficiently. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but there are some great employee scheduling software solutions that can help.