Setster vs SimplyBook.me (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, SimplyBook.me grades higher than Setster: 2.4 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
SimplyBook.me grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Setster
Appointment scheduling priced per bookable seat, with an API
SimplyBook.me
Online booking system for service businesses, priced by volume
Which one is for you
Pick Setster if
- Fits if you have a handful of bookable people at one location
- Works for developers who want an API to book appointments
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if staff work in several places: one person at two locations counts as two seats
- Skip it if you want the API cheaply, as it needs Developer at $96 a month plus seats
- Watch out: Dedicated is $12,000 a year and sold through sales
- Watch out: the pages read name no mobile apps, and there is no free plan
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
| 2.2GPASetsterFair | 2.4GPASimplyBook.meFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | C$8 a month plus $8 per seat billed annually, so one person pays $16 and five about $9.60 a head, inside the category's $6.99 to $10 band. | 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 | CA 15-day trial with no credit card. No free plan. | 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 | CAvailability, appointment types, locations, payments, waiting lists and an API. The pages carry a 2024 copyright line, so how current it is is unclear. | 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. Availability, locations and seats need setting up first. | 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 | BWeb only, with Google Calendar, Office 365, Outlook.com, Salesforce, Zapier, Stripe and PayPal, plus an API on Developer. | 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 | scheduling priced by each bookable seat | 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: Setster and SimplyBook.me. How we grade
Price against what you get
Setster starts at $8 a month and scores 2.3 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 $5.29 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other calendar and scheduling apps on the chart, 26 score higher than Setster 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
- Setster also covers workflow automation and appointment booking.
- SimplyBook.me also covers reports.
At a glance
| Setster | SimplyBook.me | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $8 per month plus $8 per seat, billed annually ($10 plus $10 billed monthly) | €11.9 per month, billed annually (€13.9 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | 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 | 15-day free trial, no credit card required. | 14-day free trial of most custom features with 50 bookings, no credit card needed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Setster Inc. | SimplyBook.me Ltd |
| Price read from | setster.com | simplybook.me |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Setster
- The price rises with every seat, and one person working at two locations counts as two seats.
- API and developer toolsets need the Developer plan, which starts at $96 a month plus seats on annual billing.
- The Dedicated plan is yearly only and sold through sales.
- The pages read carry a 2024 copyright line and name no mobile apps, so check current details before buying.
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
Setster
- Defined availability
- Block time off, add holidays and control availability by team member or appointment type, with advance-notice rules and padding or prep time between bookings.
- Appointment types and locations
- Offer appointments with a specific person, a department or a conference room, each with its own rules, across physical and virtual locations.
- Calendar sync and payments
- Sync with Google Calendar, Office 365 and Outlook.com, and accept online payments through PayPal, Stripe or invoices.
- Requests and waiting lists
- Let customers request a time before it is confirmed, and keep a waiting list to fill cancelled slots, with notifications you configure for customers and staff.
- API and Studio
- The Developer plan opens the scheduling API for booking, cancelling and rescheduling. Studio is described as a low-code option for building logic flows and collecting client data.
- Integrations
- Pre-built connections include Salesforce and Zapier, alongside calendar and payment links.
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
Setster
Growth$8
per month, plus $8 per seat, billed annually ($10 + $10 monthly)
All scheduling features with unlimited appointments and events. A seat is one bookable person at one location, or one room.
Developer$96
per month, plus $6.40 per seat, annual ($120 + $8 monthly)
Everything in Growth, plus unlimited API access and developer toolsets.
Dedicated$12,000
per year, plus $6 per seat, yearly plan only
Dedicated server hosting and a custom code base for more capacity; sold through sales and priced from this amount.
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
Setster
- Annual discount
20% off with annual billing
Setster's pricing page labels its annual option as a 20% discount on the month-to-month plan price.
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, Setster or SimplyBook.me?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Setster is cheaper to start with: $8 a month, against about $13.29 a month for SimplyBook.me. Setster starts at $8 per month plus $8 per seat, billed annually ($10 plus $10 billed monthly), and SimplyBook.me starts at €11.9 per month, billed annually (€13.9 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Setster or SimplyBook.me?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only SimplyBook.me has a free plan. Setster does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Setster and SimplyBook.me run on?
As of Nov 12, 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.