Setmore
Free appointment booking for up to four staff, then five dollars a head
Setmore is an appointment scheduling platform for service businesses that offers a free plan covering up to four staff logins and 200 appointments a month, and a Pro plan at $5 per user per month billed annually that lifts every cap and adds SMS reminders, recurring appointments, two-way calendar sync, branding removal, API access, and a HIPAA-compliant option sold as Setmore Health; it handles booking pages, class scheduling, online and in-person payments through Square, Stripe, PayPal, and LawPay, video appointments, and review collection.
Overview
Setmore occupies a specific and useful position: it is the cheapest credible way for a small service business to get a real booking system. The free plan is not a demonstration. Four staff logins, 200 appointments a month, online and in-person payments, email confirmations and reminders, mobile apps, and a website booking widget is enough to run a two-chair salon or a small clinic without paying anything, and most competitors would charge $30 a month for that shape of product.
The company was founded in 2011 by Michael Payne and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. It has taken no venture funding, which puts it in the same bootstrapped bracket as OnceHub and, until recently, YouCanBookMe. Published headcount estimates vary widely across third-party sources, which is normal for a private company that does not court press attention.
The Pro plan is where the price becomes the story. At $5 per user per month billed annually (or $12 month to month, a wide gap that strongly favors the annual commitment), Setmore gives unlimited users, unlimited appointments, SMS reminders, recurring appointments, branding removal, two-way calendar sync, API access, and priority support. For a six-person business that is $30 a month, against $27 for Acuity Standard and considerably more for anything priced per seat in the sales scheduling world.
What you trade away is depth. Acuity's packages, memberships, subscriptions, and gift certificates are not here, and SimplyBook.me's channel reach (Reserve with Google, Instagram, a full booking website) goes further. Setmore does the fundamentals well and cheaply, with a HIPAA option for practices that need one. Treat it as the value floor of the appointment-business category rather than its ceiling.
Best for
Very small service businesses on tight budgets: salons, barbers, tutors, trainers, small clinics, and independent practitioners who want online booking, reminders, and card payments for either nothing or five dollars a head.
Not the right fit for
- Businesses that sell packages, memberships, subscriptions, or gift certificates; Setmore takes payments but does not run a commerce program, so Acuity or SimplyBook.me is the right category.
- Sales teams booking demos: there is no lead routing, no qualification form, no CRM sync, and no round-robin built for distributing inbound leads, so this is the wrong shelf entirely.
- Anyone who needs SMS reminders on a free plan; text reminders are a Pro feature, and for an appointment business they are usually the reason to pay in the first place.
- Businesses over 200 appointments a month expecting the free plan to hold; it will not, and the cap arrives faster than most people estimate.
- Buyers who want month-to-month flexibility at the headline price; Pro is $5 per user annually but $12 month to month, so the advertised price effectively requires a year's commitment.
How it works
- 1
You create services with durations and prices, add staff, and set each person's working hours. Setmore generates a public Booking Page where customers self-book around the clock, and the same page can be embedded on your own website as a widget, reached through a QR code on a physical sign, or linked from a Facebook or Instagram profile.
- 2
Availability is computed from staff hours minus existing appointments, with two-way calendar sync on the Pro plan keeping Google and other calendars in step so a personal commitment blocks a bookable slot and a confirmed booking appears on the staff member's own calendar. Classes and group events are booked against a headcount rather than a single slot, and recurring appointments on Pro let a regular client keep a standing weekly slot booked once rather than repeatedly.
- 3
Payment can be taken online at the point of booking through Square, Stripe, or PayPal (with LawPay for legal practices), or in person through Tap to Pay and a cash register flow on the Pro plan. Setmore takes no cut of its own; the processor charges its normal rate. Requiring payment or a deposit up front is the strongest no-show control available, and email confirmations plus Pro-tier SMS reminders handle the rest.
- 4
Around that sit the smaller operational pieces: staff logins with their own calendars across locations, customer review requests routed to Google to build local search presence, video appointments for remote consultations, and integrations to Mailchimp, Google Analytics, Zapier, and an API on the Pro plan. Setmore Health is a separately positioned HIPAA-compliant configuration for healthcare providers.
Feature breakdown
29 features in 5 modulesBooking and calendar
The core scheduling engine, most of which is on the free plan.- Public Booking Page
- A customer-facing page where clients self-book around the clock, available on the free plan, with Setmore branding until you upgrade to Pro.
- Free plan limits
- Up to four staff logins and 200 appointments a month, which is a volume cap rather than a feature cap. Most competitors' free tiers restrict what you can do; Setmore restricts how much you do it, which is a friendlier trade for a small shop.
- Unlimited users and appointments on Pro
- The $5 per user per month Pro plan removes both caps, which is the single upgrade decision this product asks you to make.
- Two-way calendar sync
- Pro syncs Google and other calendars in both directions, so external commitments block bookable slots and confirmed bookings land on the staff member's own calendar.
- Class and group booking
- Sessions booked against a headcount rather than a single slot, which covers group fitness, workshops, and group tours.
- Recurring appointments
- Standing weekly or monthly slots for regular clients, set up once and managed as a series. A Pro feature, and the one that matters most for retainer-style client relationships.
- Staff logins across locations
- Each team member gets their own calendar and login, with multiple locations handled from one account.
- Video appointments
- Remote consultations run through built-in video, so a booking that does not need a room does not need a separate conferencing subscription.
Payments and point of sale
Online and in-person money, on the free plan as well as Pro.- Online payments on the free plan
- Card payments at booking are available for free, which is genuinely unusual. Setmore takes no percentage of its own; the processor's normal rate applies, typically around 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction in the United States.
- Square, Stripe, and PayPal
- Three processors supported, so a business that already runs Square in the shop can use the same account for online bookings and keep one set of books.
- LawPay
- Support for the legal industry's trust-accounting-aware processor, which is a niche integration that matters enormously to the practices that need it.
- Tap to Pay and cash register
- In-person payment on the Pro plan, so the walk-in and the online booking end up on the same customer record rather than in two systems.
- Deposits and prepayment as no-show control
- Requiring money before a slot is confirmed is the most effective no-show reduction available to an appointment business, well ahead of any reminder.
Customer communication and reputation
Reminders, reviews, and the reason most businesses upgrade.- Email confirmations and reminders
- Included on the free plan, sent automatically on booking and ahead of the appointment.
- SMS reminders
- A Pro feature, with multiple reminders configurable per appointment. For a business where a no-show is a lost hour of revenue rather than a rescheduled call, this alone justifies the $5 seat.
- Google review requests
- Automated prompts asking happy customers to leave a Google review, which for a local service business is a marketing channel rather than a nicety.
- Customer records
- A running history of appointments and payments per client, which is as close to a CRM as an appointment business usually needs.
- Client self-reschedule and cancel
- Customers manage their own changes from the confirmation, so schedule churn does not consume front-desk time.
Branding, reach, and integrations
How customers find the booking page and what it looks like when they do.- Branding removal
- Setmore branding comes off on the Pro plan at $5 per user per month billed annually, which is the cheapest unbranded booking page in this dossier by a wide margin.
- Website widget and plugin
- Embed booking directly into your own site so customers never leave it, available on the free plan.
- QR codes
- Scannable codes for physical signage, counters, and printed material, which is how a walk-in becomes a repeat online booking.
- Facebook and Instagram booking
- Social profiles carry a booking action, capturing customers where local service businesses actually get discovered.
- Branded mobile app option
- A customer-facing app carrying your own identity, which is unusual at this price point.
- Mailchimp, Google Analytics, and Zapier
- Marketing and automation connectors, with Zapier available on the free plan and the full integration set on Pro.
- API access
- Available on the Pro plan at $5 per user per month, which is a far cheaper developer entry point than Acuity's $49 Premium requirement.
Platform and compliance
The apps you actually run it on, and the healthcare option.- Setmore Health for HIPAA
- A HIPAA-compliant configuration for healthcare providers on the Pro plan, which puts Setmore in reach of practices that cannot use a general scheduling link at all.
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Full calendar management, check-in, and payment from a phone, which is how most owner-operators actually use the product.
- Desktop apps for Windows and Mac
- Native desktop clients as well as the web app, which is rarer in this category than you would expect.
- Priority support on Pro
- Faster response times on the paid plan; free users rely on documentation and standard support channels.
Use cases
4 documentedTwo-chair barbershop
Bookings come in by phone and Instagram DM, nobody answers during a cut, and the appointment book is a paper diary.
The free plan covers both barbers with a booking page, a website widget, Instagram booking, card payments, and email reminders at zero cost, up to 200 appointments a month.
Personal trainer with regular clients
Most clients have a standing weekly slot, a few forget, and rebooking each session individually eats an hour a week.
Pro at $5 a month sets up recurring appointments so standing slots book once, SMS reminders catch the forgetters, and prepayment through Stripe means a missed session is not a lost fee.
Small law practice taking consultations
Initial consultations need to be paid for through a compliant processor, and the current process is an email exchange followed by an invoice.
LawPay handles the payment at booking, the booking page is embedded in the firm's website with Setmore branding removed on Pro, and video appointments cover remote clients.
Six-person clinic weighing Acuity against Setmore
The clinic needs HIPAA, multiple practitioner calendars, SMS reminders, and card payments, and is trying to keep software costs under control.
Setmore Pro at $5 per user is $30 a month for all six with HIPAA and SMS included. Acuity Standard is $27 a month flat for up to six calendars but reserves HIPAA for its $49 Premium tier, so the decision turns on whether packages and memberships are needed.
Pricing
from $0 (Free), then $5 per user per month billed annually ($12 month to month)Freemium, with a capped free plan and a single per-user Pro plan. Annual billing is dramatically cheaper than monthly. Enterprise is a custom quote.
| Plan | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 per month, up to four users |
No SMS reminders, no recurring appointments, no branding removal. Still one of the most usable free plans in the category. |
| Pro | $5 per user per month billed annually ($12 month to month) |
The gap between $5 annual and $12 monthly is the widest in this dossier; the headline price effectively requires a year's commitment. |
| Enterprise | Custom quote for larger organizations |
Unpublished and sales-led, but irrelevant to the small businesses Setmore actually serves. |
Billing notes
- Pro is $5 per user per month on annual billing and $12 month to month, a difference of well over 100 percent, so the advertised price is really an annual price.
- The free plan's limit is 200 appointments a month and four staff logins, a volume cap rather than a feature cap, which is a friendlier structure than the single-link limits Calendly and HubSpot impose.
- Setmore takes no cut of payments; Square, Stripe, PayPal, or LawPay charge their own rates, typically around 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction in the United States.
- SMS reminders are a Pro plan feature rather than a metered credit pack, so texting at volume does not add a separate line to the bill.
- The HIPAA-compliant Setmore Health configuration sits on Pro rather than on a separate premium tier, which makes it the cheapest HIPAA-capable scheduler in this dossier.
Value assessment: On price per capability, nothing else here comes close. A six-person business pays $30 a month on Pro for unlimited appointments, SMS reminders, recurring bookings, branding removal, API access, and a HIPAA option. The equivalent in per-seat sales scheduling software would be $60 to $100, and Acuity reserves HIPAA and API access for a $49 tier. The catch is scope: Setmore covers appointments, payments, and reminders competently and stops there, with no packages, memberships, subscriptions, or gift certificates, and no inbound routing at all. Judged as the value floor of the appointment-business category, it is exceptional. Judged as a growth path, you will eventually outgrow it.
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
- The most generous free plan for a real service business in this category: four staff logins, 200 appointments a month, card payments, and a website widget at zero cost.
- Pro at $5 per user per month billed annually is the cheapest serious paid tier in the entire dossier, and it removes every meaningful limit.
- Online payments are available on the free plan, which almost no competitor allows, and four processors are supported including LawPay for legal practices.
- A HIPAA-compliant configuration on the $5 Pro plan makes it the cheapest route to compliant scheduling for a small healthcare or therapy practice.
- Branding removal at $5 a seat undercuts every competitor here, several of which reserve it for tiers costing three to eighteen times more.
- API access on Pro rather than on a premium tier, which is a much lower developer entry point than Acuity's $49 requirement.
- Native apps on iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac, plus a branded customer app option, which is unusually broad platform coverage at this price.
- Bootstrapped and independently run since 2011, with no venture capital and therefore no repricing pressure from investors.
Limitations
- No commerce program: no packages, memberships, subscriptions, or gift certificates, which is exactly the layer that makes a service business predictable revenue rather than per-visit cash.
- SMS reminders are Pro-only, which means the free plan lacks the single most effective no-show tool for the businesses most likely to use it.
- The 200-appointment monthly cap on free arrives faster than owners expect and is easy to hit in a busy month with two staff.
- Pro's headline $5 price is annual-only; month to month costs $12, so flexibility carries a very large premium.
- No lead routing, qualification, or CRM integration, so Setmore cannot serve a sales team at all.
- Enterprise pricing is unpublished and sales-led, and there is no visible middle tier between $5 Pro and a custom quote.
- Company information is thin from the outside, with third-party headcount estimates ranging from twenty-odd people to several hundred, which makes vendor due diligence harder than it should be.
Head-to-head comparisons
5 alternativesSetmore vs Acuity Scheduling
from $16 per month billed annually ($20 month to month)Acuity has no free plan and starts at $16 a month, but adds packages, memberships, subscriptions, gift certificates, and waitlists that Setmore does not attempt. Setmore is free for up to four staff and $5 a head after that, with HIPAA and API access included at that price rather than at $49. Start on Setmore if budget is the constraint; move to Acuity the moment you want to sell prepaid bundles or memberships.
Full Setmore vs Acuity Scheduling comparisonSetmore vs SimplyBook.me
from €0 (Free), then €11.90 per month billed annually (Basic)SimplyBook.me goes much further on reach and configurability with Reserve with Google, Instagram and Facebook booking, a full booking website, memberships, and packages, but meters you on bookings per month and counts your capability in custom features. Setmore is simpler and dramatically cheaper at volume. Pick SimplyBook.me if you want a booking storefront with many moving parts; pick Setmore if you want unlimited appointments for five dollars a head.
Full Setmore vs SimplyBook.me comparisonSetmore vs Cal.com
from $0 (free forever for one user); $12/user/mo for Teams on annual billingCal.com's free single-user plan gives unlimited event types, unlimited calendar connections, Stripe payments, and an open API, and it is the better developer platform by a distance. Setmore's free plan covers four staff and in-person payments, which Cal.com does not. Choose Cal.com for meeting links and embedded scheduling; choose Setmore when there are staff calendars, walk-ins, and a card reader involved.
Full Setmore vs Cal.com comparisonSetmore vs TidyCal
from $0 (free forever); $29 one-time for Individual LifetimeTidyCal is a one-time purchase for booking links and simple paid bookings, which suits a solo operator who resents subscriptions. Setmore is free up to four staff and 200 appointments, then $5 a head for a full appointment system with SMS, recurring bookings, and in-person payments. If you are one person selling calls, TidyCal. If you run a shop with staff and a counter, Setmore.
Full Setmore vs TidyCal comparisonSetmore vs zcal
from $0 (free forever); $7/user/mo for Pro on annual billingZcal is a free, unbranded, visually polished booking link aimed at professionals sending meeting invitations. Setmore is a front-desk system for a business with customers, staff rotas, and payments. They barely overlap. Use Zcal for a beautiful personal scheduling link at no cost; use Setmore when the calendar has to run a business.
Full Setmore vs zcal comparisonImplementation & onboarding
- Setup time
- An hour or two for a working booking page: add services with durations and prices, add staff and their hours, connect a payment processor, and embed the widget on your site. Most of that time is deciding your policies rather than configuring software.
- Learning curve
- Low. Setmore is deliberately simpler than Acuity or SimplyBook.me, which is both its main appeal and the reason businesses eventually outgrow it. Staff can be trained on the calendar in a single sitting.
- Onboarding
- Entirely self-serve. The free plan is the trial, and it is generous enough to run the business on while you decide. Priority support arrives with Pro, and only the unpublished Enterprise tier involves a sales conversation.
- Migration notes
- Customer lists import by file, which covers the important part of a move from paper or another booking tool. Appointment history and any in-flight prepayments generally need reconciling by hand, so switch at a quiet point in the month. Moving away later is straightforward for data but means replacing every published booking link and QR code you have printed.
Platform, API & security
- Platforms
- Web appiOSAndroidWindows desktopmacOS desktopWebsite widget and pluginBranded customer app option
- API
- API access on the Pro plan at $5 per user per month, alongside Zapier, which is a notably low entry point for developer access in this category.
- Compliance
- HIPAA via the Setmore Health configuration on ProPCI handled through Square, Stripe, PayPal, or LawPay
- Security notes
- Card data is handled by the connected processor rather than stored by Setmore. The Setmore Health configuration is the mechanism for HIPAA-covered practices and requires the appropriate agreement to be in place.
Support & resources
- Channels
- Email supportLive chatPriority support on the Pro plan
- Documentation
- Help center and video guides covering services, staff, the Booking Page, payments, class scheduling, integrations, and the API.
- Community
- Modest official community; most user knowledge circulates through small-business and salon-industry forums rather than a vendor-run space.
Company
- Founded
- 2011
- Headquarters
- Portland, Oregon, United States
- Ownership
- Privately held and bootstrapped; no disclosed venture funding
- Founders
- Michael Payne
- Employees
- Not disclosed; third-party estimates vary widely
- Funding
- No disclosed funding rounds. Setmore has been run as an independent, unfunded company since 2011.
Funding history
| Round | Amount | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bootstrapped | No outside funding | 2011 | Founded by Michael Payne and operated without venture capital. |
Timeline
- 2011Michael Payne founds Setmore in Portland, Oregon, building appointment scheduling for small service businesses without taking venture funding.
- 2016Establishes a free tier as the core of its positioning, undercutting paid-only competitors like Acuity for very small businesses.
- 2020Adds video appointments as remote consultations become standard for coaches, therapists, and advisors.
- 2023Extends payments beyond online checkout with Tap to Pay and a cash register flow, plus LawPay support for legal practices.
- 2026Sells a free plan for up to four users and 200 appointments a month alongside Pro at $5 per user per month billed annually, including SMS, API access, and the Setmore Health HIPAA option.
Integrations
- Google Calendar and other calendars (two-way sync on Pro)
- Square
- Stripe
- PayPal
- LawPay
- Zoom and built-in video appointments
- Mailchimp
- Google Analytics
- Zapier
- Facebook and Instagram booking
- Website widget and plugin
- REST API on the Pro plan
Frequently asked questions
11 questionsWhat is Setmore?
Setmore is an appointment scheduling platform for service businesses. Customers self-book from a public Booking Page or an embedded website widget, pay online or in person through Square, Stripe, PayPal, or LawPay, and receive email and SMS reminders. It handles staff calendars, classes, recurring appointments, video consultations, and Google review requests, with a HIPAA-compliant configuration available.
How much does Setmore cost?
The free plan is $0 and covers up to four staff logins and 200 appointments a month. Pro is $5 per user per month billed annually, or $12 per user month to month, and removes every cap while adding SMS reminders, recurring appointments, two-way calendar sync, branding removal, API access, and the Setmore Health HIPAA option. Enterprise is a custom quote.
Is the Setmore free plan actually usable for a business?
Yes, more than most. Four staff logins, 200 appointments a month, online and in-person payments, email confirmations and reminders, a website widget, QR codes, and mobile apps at zero cost will genuinely run a two-chair salon or a small practice. The limit is volume rather than capability, which is a friendlier structure than the single-link caps Calendly and HubSpot apply. What you do not get is SMS reminders, recurring appointments, or branding removal.
What happens when I hit the 200-appointment limit?
You need the Pro plan, which removes the cap entirely along with the four-user limit. Two busy staff members can reach 200 appointments in a month more easily than owners expect, so treat the free plan as a genuine starting point rather than a permanent home if your volume is real.
Does Setmore send SMS reminders?
Yes, on the Pro plan, with multiple reminders configurable per appointment. They are not available on the free plan, which is the single biggest gap in the free offer for an appointment business, because a no-show costs a whole hour of revenue rather than a rescheduled call. SMS is a plan feature rather than a metered credit pack, so volume does not add to the bill.
Can Setmore take payments and deposits?
Yes, and payments work even on the free plan, which is unusual. Square, Stripe, and PayPal are supported, plus LawPay for legal practices, and the Pro plan adds Tap to Pay and a cash register flow for in-person transactions. Setmore takes no percentage of its own, so your cost is the processor's normal rate, typically around 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction in the United States.
Is Setmore HIPAA compliant?
There is a HIPAA-compliant configuration called Setmore Health, available on the Pro plan at $5 per user per month billed annually. That makes it the cheapest route to compliant scheduling in this dossier: Acuity reserves its HIPAA option for the $49 Premium tier. As always, the appropriate agreement needs to be in place before handling protected health information.
Can I remove Setmore branding from my booking page?
Yes, on the Pro plan at $5 per user per month billed annually, which is the cheapest unbranded booking page of any product covered here. Calendly charges $16 a seat for the same thing and HubSpot effectively charges $90. You can also embed the booking widget into your own website on the free plan, which keeps customers on your site even while branding is showing.
Does Setmore have an API?
Yes, on the Pro plan, alongside Zapier and the rest of the integration set. Getting developer access for $5 per user per month is notably cheaper than Acuity, which reserves its API for the $49 Premium plan, or YouCanBookMe, which puts API access on a per-member team tier.
Can Setmore sell packages, memberships, or gift certificates?
No. Setmore takes payments for appointments but does not run a commerce program, so there are no prepaid session bundles, recurring memberships, subscriptions, or gift certificates. If those are how your business makes money predictable, Acuity Standard at $27 a month or SimplyBook.me is the right choice instead.
Should a sales team use Setmore to book demos?
No. There is no lead routing, no qualification form, no CRM integration, and no round-robin designed for distributing inbound leads across a rep pool. Setmore is built for customers booking appointments with a business, not for prospects being routed to sellers. Use Calendly, OnceHub, or HubSpot Meetings for that.
Editorial verdict
Setmore is the value floor of appointment scheduling, and that is a compliment. The free plan is a working business system rather than a demonstration: four staff, 200 appointments a month, card payments, a website widget, and email reminders at zero cost. Pro at $5 per user per month billed annually then removes every cap and throws in SMS reminders, recurring appointments, branding removal, API access, and a HIPAA-compliant configuration, which collectively undercut every competitor in this dossier, several of them by a factor of five. The limits are equally clear. There is no commerce program, so packages, memberships, and gift certificates need Acuity or SimplyBook.me, and there is no routing or CRM layer, so sales teams should not be here at all. Buy it if you run a small service business and want the fundamentals done well for almost nothing, and revisit the decision the day you want to sell a ten-session bundle.
Written by the SaaSTracker editorial team. Awards, when shown, are judged against the published criteria in our methodology.