SimplyBook.me alternatives: an honest look at Bookafy
SimplyBook.me is a solid booking system. It has a huge catalogue of add-on features, a booking marketplace, and a genuinely useful free plan. If it fits how you work, keep it. But there is one thing about the way it is priced that surprises a lot of people, and it is the reason most of the folks who come to us from SimplyBook.me came looking.
SimplyBook.me charges you for appointments. We charge you for people.
Every SimplyBook.me plan comes with a monthly booking allowance. When you use it up, you either buy more bookings or move up a plan. Here is what that looks like today (prices from simplybook.me, July 2026, annual billing):
- Free – $0/mo. 50 bookings a month, 1 provider, 1 custom feature.
- Basic – $11.90/mo. 100 bookings, 5 providers, 3 custom features.
- Standard – $24.90/mo. 500 bookings, 15 providers, 8 custom features.
- Premium – $49.90/mo. 2,000 bookings, 30 providers, unlimited custom features.
Extra bookings run about $4 per 100. SMS is separate too, roughly $8 per 100 credits.
Bookafy works the other way round. You pay per person on your team and book as much as you want: Free ($0, one user, unlimited appointments), Pro at $7 per user per month, and Pro+ at $11 per user per month. Text reminders are included, not metered. There is no monthly booking cap on any plan, including the free one.
Busy, small team → Bookafy wins. A 3-person clinic doing 600 appointments a month needs SimplyBook.me Premium ($49.90/mo) just for the booking allowance. The same clinic on Bookafy Pro+ is 3 x $11 = $33/mo, with no cap.
Big team, low volume → SimplyBook.me wins. A 20-person office doing 300 bookings a month fits SimplyBook.me Standard at $24.90/mo. On Bookafy Pro that is 20 x $7 = $140/mo. If that is you, stay where you are. We would rather tell you than sell you.
Bookafy vs SimplyBook.me at a glance
| Bookafy | SimplyBook.me | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay for | Per user, per month | Per plan, capped by bookings |
| Entry paid price | $7/user/mo (Pro) | $11.90/mo (Basic, 100 bookings) |
| Monthly appointment cap | None, on every plan | 50 / 100 / 500 / 2,000 by plan |
| Text (SMS) reminders | Included | Credit packs, about $8 per 100 |
| Feature access | All scheduling features on the plan | Custom features counted: 1, 3, 8, then unlimited |
| HIPAA | Pro+ | Standard and above |
| Point of sale, product sales | No | Yes |
| Consumer marketplace listing | No | Yes (booking.page) |
| Languages | 32 | ~20 |
SimplyBook.me figures are list prices taken from their pricing page in July 2026 and can change. Check their site before you decide.
The other thing people notice: counted features
SimplyBook.me has over 70 add-on “custom features,” which sounds great, and is, until you realise the lower plans let you switch on only a handful at a time. On Basic you get three. Want intake forms, deposits, and a cancellation policy? That is your three, and now you cannot add group bookings without upgrading. It is a tidy way to price, but it means the tool you evaluated in the trial is not always the tool you end up using.
Bookafy does not count features. Whatever is in your plan is switched on: routing to the right staff member, two-way Google and Outlook sync, intake questions, buffers, time-zone handling, Stripe payments, recurring appointments, and reminders by email and text.
Where SimplyBook.me is genuinely the better call
Be honest with yourself about what you actually need:
- You sell products at the counter. SimplyBook.me has a real POS. We do not.
- You want a marketplace to send you new clients. Their booking.page directory does that. Bookafy has no consumer marketplace; you bring your own traffic.
- You have a lot of staff and very few bookings. Flat per-plan pricing will beat per-seat pricing every time in that shape.
If none of that is you, and what you actually need is a scheduling system that will not fine you for being busy, that is the case for switching.
What moving over actually involves
Most people are running in an afternoon: create your services and durations, connect Google or Outlook (two-way, so your personal blocks are respected), add your staff, set buffers and how much notice you need, turn on reminders, and connect Stripe if you take deposits. Put your booking link on your site, or embed it. If you are coming from SimplyBook.me you already have your services defined, so it is mostly copying across.
Start free – unlimited appointments
Questions people ask
Does Bookafy have a free plan?
Yes. One user, unlimited appointments, forever. Not a trial.
Is there a limit on how many appointments I can take?
No. Not on Free, not on Pro, not on Pro+. You pay for seats, not for being busy.
Are text reminders extra?
No, they are included. You do not buy SMS credit packs.
Can I take deposits and payments?
Yes, through Stripe. You can require payment or a deposit before an appointment is confirmed.
Is Bookafy HIPAA compliant?
On the Pro+ plan, yes, with a BAA available.
Will Bookafy replace my point of sale?
No. If you ring up retail products at a counter, keep a POS. Bookafy is scheduling, reminders, and payments for appointments.
Comparing more tools? See Calendly alternatives, Acuity alternatives, Setmore alternatives, and our appointment scheduling software overview.
More honest comparisons
We wrote one of these for every major booking tool, with real pricing and the parts where we lose.
- Bookafy vs Calendly
- Bookafy vs Acuity Scheduling
- Bookafy vs Setmore
- Bookafy vs Microsoft Bookings
- Bookafy vs Square Appointments
- Bookafy vs Vagaro
- Bookafy vs Doodle
- Bookafy vs Fresha
- Bookafy vs Mindbody
- Bookafy vs Booksy
- Bookafy vs Cal.com
- Bookafy vs YouCanBookMe
- Calendly vs Acuity vs Setmore vs Bookafy
Keep reading
If you have not settled on a category yet, start with the overview of appointment scheduling software — what it does, what it costs, and when you should buy something else entirely.
Written for your situation
- Appointment software for small business
- Team appointment scheduling
- Online appointment scheduling software
- Best appointment scheduling app
- Free appointment scheduling software
Other honest comparisons
- YouCanBookMe alternatives
- Cal.com alternatives
- Booksy alternatives
- Mindbody alternatives
- Fresha alternatives
- Doodle alternatives
Also useful: every Bookafy integration — what is native, what needs Zapier, and what we do not do — and the pricing page, where the feature matrix is the real answer to “is that included”.