Bookwhen vs SimplyBook.me (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, SimplyBook.me grades higher than Bookwhen: 2.4 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
SimplyBook.me grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Bookwhen
Online booking system for classes, courses, workshops and events
SimplyBook.me
Online booking system for service businesses, priced by volume
Which one is for you
Pick Bookwhen if
- Fits if you run classes or workshops with fixed places
- Works for a solo teacher with fewer than 50 bookings a month
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you are staying free, as that is 50 bookings a month and free events only
- Pricey if you want payments, which start at Lite at $16 a month, plus Stripe or PayPal fees
- Watch out: bookings are capped at 300 on Lite and 800 on Standard
- Skip it if you want a phone or desktop app, as it is browser only
- Watch out: memberships, passes and waiting lists are on Standard at $29 a month
Pick SimplyBook.me if
- Fits if you have several staff and would rather pay a flat fee than per user
- Works for businesses that sell memberships, packages, gift cards or products alongside appointments
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 50 bookings a month, 1 provider, no online payments, and the plan must be renewed monthly
- Tight if you take lots of bookings, since Basic stops at 100 a month and extra packs are $4 per 100
- Pricey if you rely on text reminders or want your own domain: SMS and WhatsApp are $8 per 100, a domain $119
- Not for you if you need HIPAA or SAML SSO on a budget, as both start on Standard at €24.9 a month
- Watch out: plans are priced in euros but add-ons in US dollars, so the real total takes some working out
How we grade them
| 2.0GPABookwhenFair | 2.4GPASimplyBook.meFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$16 a month on Lite, or $160 a year, which is around the dearer end of calendar tools; the middle one is $8. | CBasic is €11.9 a month billed annually, €13.9 monthly, for 5 providers and 100 bookings. Set against its own rivals, Setmore and Acuity and Square Appointments, that's middling: a flat fee suits a team, but 500 bookings means Standard at €24.9, extra bookings are $4 per 100 and SMS credits $8 per 100. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree plan: 50 bookings a month, 1 team member and free events only. A 14-day trial needs no card. | CFree with no time limit, though you renew it monthly: 50 bookings a month, 1 provider and 1 premium custom feature. Taking payments needs Basic. Fifty bookings is about two a day, so you'll hit that cap in a real week. |
| Features | CBooking pages, payments, memberships, waiting lists and attendance. Payments, memberships and waiting lists all sit above the free plan. | BA booking website and widget, intake forms, memberships, gift cards, classes, waiting lists, online payments, deposits, tips, point of sale, reminders by email, SMS or WhatsApp, and HIPAA features from Standard. That covers the whole job, though your plan limits how many premium extras you may switch on. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You build your events and booking page yourself. | CNo store rating on record, and this is a lot of switches: services, providers and a list of custom features toggled on one by one, with premium ones counted against your plan. Ask Simply, the built-in AI chat, is there to set things up for you. |
| Platforms and integrations | CBrowser only, with Zoom, Stripe and PayPal. No desktop or phone apps are listed. | BWeb, plus admin and client apps for iPhone and Android, with no desktop app listed. It works with Google and Outlook calendars, Stripe, PayPal, Square, Zapier, QuickBooks and Teams, and there's an API and an MCP connection for outside assistants. |
| Best for | booking classes and events online | service businesses that want one flat booking fee |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Bookwhen and SimplyBook.me. How we grade
Price against what you get
Bookwhen starts at $16 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. SimplyBook.me starts at about $13.29 a month and scores 2.7.
SimplyBook.me scores higher and starts $2.71 a month lower. Of the other calendar and scheduling apps on the chart, 68 score higher than Bookwhen for less, and 17 score higher than SimplyBook.me for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Bookwhen also covers appointment booking, class booking and ticketing.
- SimplyBook.me also covers reports.
At a glance
| Bookwhen | SimplyBook.me | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $16 per month, billed monthly ($160 billed yearly) | €11.9 per month, billed annually (€13.9 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 50 bookings a month, 1 team member, 1 booking page, free events only. | 50 bookings a month, 1 provider and 1 premium custom feature, with a booking website, booking widget and the admin app. It has no time limit but must be renewed monthly. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial of premium features, no credit card required | 14-day free trial of most custom features with 50 bookings, no credit card needed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Bookwhen Ltd | SimplyBook.me Ltd |
| Price read from | bookwhen.com | simplybook.me |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Bookwhen
- Plans cap bookings per month: 50 on Free, 300 on Lite, 800 on Standard and 1,800 on Plus.
- The Free plan allows free events only, so taking payments needs a paid plan.
- Payment processing fees are charged separately by Stripe or PayPal on top of the plan price.
- It runs in a browser only; no desktop or mobile apps are listed.
SimplyBook.me
- Plan prices are listed in euros. Add-ons such as SMS credits and extra bookings are listed in US dollars.
- Every plan caps monthly bookings: 50 on Free, 100 on Basic, 500 on Standard and 2,000 on Premium. Extra bookings are sold in packs of 100 for $4.
- SMS and WhatsApp credits ($8 per 100) and a custom domain ($119 with 3 years of SSL) are paid separately from the subscription.
- HIPAA and SAML SSO need Standard or above; accounting integrations and the white-label footer need Premium.
Key features
Bookwhen
- Hosted booking pages
- Customers book from a Bookwhen page or from one embedded in your own website with an iframe or the API.
- Online payments
- Take payment through Bookwhen Payments (powered by Stripe), your own Stripe account or PayPal. The processor charges a separate fee.
- Memberships, passes and vouchers
- Sell recurring memberships, multi-session passes and vouchers. These start on the Standard plan.
- Waiting lists and reminders
- Full sessions can keep a waiting list, and reminder emails go to attendees. Both start on the Standard plan.
- Online sessions
- Paid plans connect to Zoom for online classes, and Standard and Plus add YouTube and Vimeo links.
- Attendance tracking and post-event emails
- Mark who attended a session and send follow-up emails afterward, from the Standard plan up.
SimplyBook.me
- Booking website and widget
- Every plan includes a mobile-responsive booking website, a widget for an existing site, and bookings through a Facebook page. Instagram and Google Business buttons are also offered.
- Custom features
- Extras such as intake forms, memberships, gift cards, classes, waiting lists and SOAP notes are toggled on per account. Premium ones count against the plan's limit of 1, 3 or 8.
- Payments and point of sale
- From Basic, take online payments, deposits and tips through gateways such as Stripe, PayPal and Square, or sell in person with the POS. SimplyBook.me adds no transaction fee.
- Reminders by email, SMS and WhatsApp
- Automatic confirmation, reminder and cancellation emails are on every plan. SMS and WhatsApp messages use credits that are bought separately.
- Ask Simply and AI Voice Booking
- Ask Simply is a built-in AI chat for setting up services and managing bookings, and an MCP connection lets outside assistants run the account. AI Voice Booking uses paid credits.
- Admin and client apps
- The admin app for iOS and Android manages the calendar and bookings. Clients can book and reschedule in a client app, which can carry the business's own branding from Standard.
Plans
Bookwhen
Free$0
50 bookings a month, 1 team member, 1 booking page and free events only.
Lite$16
per month, billed monthly ($160 billed yearly)
300 bookings a month, 2 team members, 1 booking page, online payments and Zoom integration.
Standard$29
per month, billed monthly ($290 billed yearly)
800 bookings a month, 5 team members, 3 booking pages, memberships, vouchers, passes and waiting lists.
Plus$59
per month, billed monthly ($590 billed yearly)
1,800 bookings a month, 10 team members, 6 booking pages and phone support.
EnterpriseCustom
Bespoke plans with a franchisor system, reseller accounts and class search portals.
SimplyBook.me
Free€0
50 bookings a month, 1 provider and 1 premium custom feature, with a booking website, widget and the admin app.
Basic€11.9
per month, billed annually (€13.9 billed monthly)
100 bookings, 5 providers and 3 premium custom features; adds the client app, payments, deposits, tips and point of sale.
Standard€24.9
per month, billed annually (€29.9 billed monthly)
500 bookings, 15 providers and 8 premium custom features; adds a branded client app, HIPAA features and SAML SSO.
Premium€49.9
per month, billed annually (€59.9 billed monthly)
2,000 bookings, 30 providers and unlimited custom features; adds Payments PRO, QuickBooks, FreshBooks and Xero links, and a white-label footer.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom booking volume and providers, multi-location cluster interface, account manager, high-load API and a choice of data location; billed annually.
Ways to pay less
Bookwhen
- Annual discount
2 months free with yearly billing
Bookwhen's pricing page marks its yearly prices as 2 months free compared with paying monthly.
- Nonprofit
20% off for charities and non-profits
The pricing FAQ offers 20% off to charities and non-profits; contact support before subscribing.
SimplyBook.me
- Annual discount
Save up to 17% with annual billing
SimplyBook.me's pricing page puts the annual-billing saving at up to 17%, which it describes as two months free compared with paying monthly.
- Nonprofit
Nonprofit and charity discounts on request
The pricing FAQ invites nonprofit and charity organizations to contact SimplyBook.me to discuss qualifying discounts. No rate is published.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Bookwhen or SimplyBook.me?
As of Nov 13, 2026, SimplyBook.me is cheaper to start with: about $13.29 a month, against $16 a month for Bookwhen. Bookwhen starts at $16 per month, billed monthly ($160 billed yearly), and SimplyBook.me starts at €11.9 per month, billed annually (€13.9 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Bookwhen or SimplyBook.me?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Bookwhen and SimplyBook.me have a free plan.
Which platforms do Bookwhen and SimplyBook.me run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only SimplyBook.me lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.