Setmore is appointment scheduling software with a branded booking page, automatic reminders and payment collection, aimed at businesses that sell time rather than products.
At IdealOnlineBusiness, we have worked through what the free plan genuinely covers and what actually forces an upgrade. The short version is that the four-user cap, not any missing feature, is what moves most businesses onto Pro.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free plan for 4 users: permanently, with unlimited appointments. | Four-user cap: a fifth hire moves everyone onto Pro. |
| Payments on the free tier: rare among scheduling tools. | SMS reminders are Pro only: the feature that most reduces no-shows. |
| Unlimited appointments everywhere: meters users, not bookings. | Calendar sync needs Pro: manual reconciliation until then. |
| Branded booking page and app: included at no cost. | Monthly billing costs 140 percent more: 12 dollars against 5. |
| Pro is cheap annually: 5 US dollars per user per month. | Live Receptionist is US-only: and priced separately at 99 a month. |
| 24/7 priority support on Pro: unusual at this price point. | Less customisable than Acuity: on forms and booking logic. |
Setmore has one of the few genuinely usable free plans in this category, and Pro at 5 dollars a user annually is cheap for what it adds. Count your staff, not your features: four users is the line that decides whether you pay anything at all.
The free plan covers up to four users with unlimited appointments, a branded booking page, email reminders and payment acceptance. For a small salon, clinic or studio that is a working product rather than a teaser.
Appointments are unlimited on every plan including free. Setmore meters users, not bookings, which is the opposite of most scheduling tools and much friendlier to a busy small business.
You get a branded booking page and a branded mobile app even on the free tier. Customers book without creating an account, which removes the main point of drop-off in online scheduling.
Taking payment at the point of booking is included on the free plan. Plenty of competitors reserve payments for a paid tier, so this is one of the genuine reasons to look at Setmore first.
SMS reminders are Pro only. If no-shows are your actual problem, that single feature is the reason to upgrade, because email reminders alone do noticeably less to reduce them.
Two-way sync with Google and Office calendars is a Pro feature. Without it you are manually reconciling availability, which becomes untenable once more than a couple of staff share a calendar.
A Live Receptionist add-on at 99 US dollars a month has real people answer your calls. It is US-only and priced separately from the plans, so treat it as a distinct service rather than a tier.
Pro is 5 US dollars per user per month on annual billing but 12 if you pay monthly. That is a 140 percent premium for monthly flexibility, one of the widest gaps in this category, so decide on the billing period deliberately.
Two plans and one add-on. Free costs nothing, permanently, and covers up to four users with unlimited appointments, a branded booking page and mobile app, email reminders and confirmations, integrations and payment acceptance. Pro is 5 US dollars per user per month billed annually, or 12 per user billed monthly, and lifts the user cap entirely while adding SMS reminders, recurring appointments, two-way calendar sync, removal of Setmore branding, customer blocking, Google reviews, custom notifications and 24/7 priority support. A Live Receptionist add-on costs 99 dollars a month in the US, and Enterprise is quoted.
Two numbers matter. The free plan caps at four users, so a fifth staff member is what usually forces the upgrade rather than any feature. And Pro costs more than twice as much billed monthly as annually, which is an unusually wide gap worth deciding on deliberately.
Walkthroughs covering setting up your booking page, connecting a calendar, taking payment at the point of booking and switching on SMS reminders.
Setmore is appointment scheduling for businesses that book people into time slots. These are the jobs it covers.
Free is 0 US dollars permanently, covering up to four users with unlimited appointments, a branded booking page and app, email reminders, integrations and payment acceptance. Pro is 5 dollars per user per month billed annually, or 12 billed monthly, with unlimited users and the addition of SMS reminders, recurring appointments, two-way calendar sync, branding removal and 24/7 support. Live Receptionist is a separate 99 dollar a month US-only add-on.
What usually triggers the upgrade is the four-user cap rather than a feature. If you are a solo practitioner or a team of three, the free plan is genuinely complete and you can run a business on it. The moment you hire a fifth person, you are on Pro for everyone.
The billing decision matters more here than at most vendors. At 5 dollars annually versus 12 monthly, paying month to month costs 140 percent more for the same product. A five-person team pays 300 dollars a year annually or 720 monthly. If you are confident you will still be using it in six months, annual is the only sensible choice.
Scheduling tools split between free-plan generalists and specialists built for a particular trade.
On this site, our Harmonizely review covers the lighter meeting-scheduling route, and Buddy Punch, reviewed here is the better fit if tracking staff hours matters more than taking bookings.
Common questions about Setmore pricing, what the free plan really includes, and when the upgrade to Pro becomes necessary.
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