Whether you run your own large or small business, a simple step towards success is finding the best booking system. From scheduling and organising to calendar synchronisation and widget integration, the right booking software will have many helpful features that will be valuable to your business.
Usually an excel spreadsheet is just not enough as it doesn't send out email confirmations or link booking data. This is why most teachers opt to use a robust digital booking system for their classes to keep things organised and save them valuable time.
Finding the right booking software is just as important for small businesses as it is for larger organisations! The perfect booking software can help businesses with scheduling, calendar integration, double-booking prevention and so much more. From email marketing to branding, the best class booking software will help you build and manage your business efficiently.
There are so many class booking systems out there, so how do you know which is the best class booking system for you? Luckily we have listed the pros and cons of just a few booking systems, making it simple and easy to find the right class booking system for you and your business.
Founded: 2021
HQ: London
Looking for a booking software that helps you manage in-person and online classes as well as events and experiences? Then look no further! Baluu is a booking software that can help you do just that and so much more.
Introducing Baluu's game changing booking widget!
Baluu is about to change the way you take bookings. If you're tired of clunky integration and don't want an entire page messing with your UX, Baluu has the solution for you. Its fully customisable booking widget isn't only effortless to integrate, but comes back with all of the software's features. Slick, unintrusive, and quick to respond, this innovative app lets you manage your events and timetables, incorporate your brand messaging, utilise marketing tools, and more. Don’t believe us? All features are free—see for yourself!
This simple yet powerful software has many features which make scheduling, managing and growing your business easy! With Baluu, you don't have to waste precious time doing admin, instead this digital booking system does all of that for you. Below is a list of some of the sophisticated features Baluu has to offer,
Baluu is a versatile booking system that suits versatile bookings. From online classes and in-person workshops to experiences and events, businesses that need to manage different kinds of bookings can effortlessly use this booking software to organise all of the above! This makes Baluu the best booking system for businesses that host a range of different events and classes.
Discover more about the Baluu booking system with a free demo call. Quickly get set up and start taking bookings for your classes in no time.
Founded: 2019
HQ: New York
Booknetic is the best online class booking software for WordPress websites. Its extensive features let you host online and in-person classes and deliver 1:1 or group classes within the appointment booking plugin.
Both Booknetic's pricing plans work on lifetime bases where you only pay when you purchase them. Booknetic Standard works for companies with single websites. At the same time, Booknetic SaaS is perfect for businesses to streamline their appointment booking systems via Booknetic.
Booknetic offers a lot of benefits for businesses of any size to scale their appointment system. Not only does it let you easily receive appointments, but it also lets you simplify payments, and communication, and evaluate your staff with ratings to keep everyone in the appointment booking loop.
From booking management to online payments, Booknetic offers many features that will help course owners to streamline their business. Modern design lets users easily install and use the plugin.
Unlimited bookings, including all types of appointments. By indicating the types of services, you can let people book in-person or online, group or individual classes.
With the multi-service feature, you can offer many types of classes such as art, fitness, photography, and more. Once you add the list of services when installing the plugin, those services will be available in the booking form.
Multi-booking service is a new feature that lets users book more than one service (class) and pay once at the end of the booking cycle. This creates a faster booking and payment experience for users.
Workflow management is one of the most distinguishing features of Booknetic in comparison to other plugins. By enabling workflow trigger once, you can respond to any changes during the booking cycle. A notification management system sends notifications and reminders to staff and clients. You need to set up what types of events and receivers of the notifications, and the system will automatically send them once the changes happen.
Employee rating is a good customer success metric that you can track within Booknetic. At the end of the appointments, users are asked to give feedback and rate staff. The ratings of staff will be visible on the staff profiles and staff booking page as well.
Comprehensive payment management. Booknetic integrates with 5 international payment gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, Mollie, Square, and Razorpay, and also lets you receive on-site payments. This allows businesses to easily receive online payments and invite wider audiences to their platforms.
As you’d say, Booknetic works for schools, courses who streamline online and in-person classes. Whether you offer 1:1 or group classes, you can easily set up bookings, manage classes, and receive payments within the plugin.
To discover more about how Booknetic works and see it in practice, you can check out Booknetic Demo.
Founded: 2014
HQ: New York
Teachable is one of the best online class booking systems for pre-recorded course content. With online distance learning becoming more popular, many teachers are choosing to teach with online classes, courses and workshops. If your style of teaching is delivering content through pre-recorded courses, this booking system has many features that can benefit you.
Teachable has a class booking software which prioritises helping teachers record and deliver online content which is fully customised. Their features make creating and managing pre-recorded class content effortless. We have outlined the noteworthy features that Teachable's class booking system provides:
As you may have guessed, Teachable is one of the best booking systems for teachers who run online pre-recorded classes. Their booking software is designed with the priority of optimising pre-recorded classes as well as the intention of helping teachers manage and track their courses.
Founded: 2012
HQ: Vancouver
Thinkific is an online education platform used by creators to grow their business with online course. It is an all in one booking system, so you can create, market and sell classes using the tools that they provide.
Do you primarily teach online courses? Thinkific may have some features that will help improve how you manage and run your virtual classes. This class booking system aims to make online classes more interactive and engaging. Below are the key features Thinkific provides teachers,
Thinkific is the best class booking software for teachers looking for simple customisation tools and student engagement in online classes. This booking system allows both students and teachers to get the most out of online learning. Their website builder helps teachers create their own completely branded and customised website with very straightforward steps, while their online classes provide many opportunities for students and teachers to communicate online.
Founded: 2016
Airbnb Experiences have a great all round system if you teach in-person classes. With this system, simply create an account and add you classes. These are then advertised on their broad marketplace. This booking system also allows you to create a widget for you to add to your website enabling direct customers to book on.
Airbnb allows teachers to run exciting and innovative teaching experiences. Teachers, or rather 'hosts', can teach in whatever style suits them. From cooking classes to hikes around historic landmarks, teachers are free to teach students about whatever inspires them. The features Airbnb include are,
Airbnb Experiences want to help their hosts manage and create their experiences in the most simple way possible. Airbnb Experiences have a range of resources that help teachers and hosts create an engaging experience page. Their resources also advise teachers on how to navigate their booking system.
As you can see in the above image, Airbnb Experiences help teachers set up their experiences in easy steps. First decide if you would like to teach in-person or online classes. Then, the 'Basics' tab will ask you to choose which city your experience will be in and which languages you will teach in. Now it's time to select a theme! There are many themes to choose from including culture, entertainment, food, animals and many more.
Once you have created your experience, you will need to include a short video demonstration of your experience. This will then be submitted along with your experience page information and reviewed to assess whether your experience meets Airbnb Experiences teaching standards. If it is accepted then you can begin scheduling and taking bookings!
However, if it is not accepted then there may be some changes you need to make to meet their guidelines. But don't worry! You can edit and resubmit your application.
Your experience pages are all in one place, making it easy to keep track of your upcoming experience events and classes.
Instead of offering a payment plan, Airbnb Experiences charge a 20% commission fee. Teachers can set the price of their experience and class, then Airbnb Experiences will automatically calculate and take a 20% service fee charge. Teachers receive the money they have earned through the experience 24 hours after the experience or class, with the 20% service fee already deducted.
This booking system has many benefits for teachers who choose to use this software. However, the main perk for teachers using Airbnb Experiences, is that teachers have the opportunity to explore new approaches to teaching. Therefore, this software is best for teachers who enjoy being challenged with different teaching methods and styles.
Founded: 2008
HQ: San Francisco
Known as a marketplace to sell tickets to events, Eventbrite also has its own booking system which is used by teachers to sell classes!
Similar to Airbnb Experiences, you can easily add you classes as listings which appear on the Eventbrite marketplace. You can also use this listing on any other websites, including your own, to take bookings.
Eventbrite has three plans for teachers and those wanting to use their booking software to choose from. Their free plan has 3.5% commission fee alongside £0.49 per ticket sold. The Professional plan costs a 6.5% commission fee as well as £0.49 per ticket sold. Finally, their Premium package is POA and therefore doesn't have a set cost.
This booking system also has an option for teachers and organisers to 'pass on the fees' to the attendees of the events and students who book classes using this software.
This booking software is used by many teachers to sell and organise their classes. Their many features are available for teachers to use across the globe, as Eventbrite is available internationally. Below is a list of many of the features Eventbrite offer to their teachers and event organisers,
From one off workshops to regular recurring classes, teachers who teach often or only every now and again can use Eventbrite's straightforward features. However, if you are just hosting a one off class or event then this is a really quick and easy way to build a listing and sell tickets. Which is why we still think it's one of the best booking systems!
Founded: 2006
HQ: New York
Now we couldn't have a list of the top ten best booking systems is we didn't mention Acuity Scheduling! This super user-friendly system with robust features makes for a brilliant booking system.
This booking system has many features which make scheduling and organisation straightforward. The calendar in the image above shows how Acuity Scheduling can reduce teachers admin time as their scheduling is made easy! The top features this software offers include,
This class booking software is best for integrations. Teachers who are already familiar with other complimentary platforms may find that Acuity Scheduling is a very useful tool as it allows them to integrate with other platforms they are already using.
Founded: 2011
HQ: New Zealand
Timely is the perfect class booking tool for you if you like to see a visual calendar. This is a seamless system which handles payments and sends out confirmation and reminder emails. It also allows you or your students to easily book directly into the free space in your calendar.
This booking software has many features which will help teachers in many ways, from managing their employees to managing bookings. We have listed some of the key features this booking software boasts,
Although group bookings are not available on this booking software, we believe that this booking system is very valuable for teachers who only have one-to-one private workshops. Students being able to book a time that suits both them and the teacher shows how Timely's booking system is designed to suit the schedule of individual students as well as the teacher.
Founded: 2000
HQ: California
If you teach a wellbeing class then look no further, the Mindbody booking system was designed for you. It has a wellbeing marketplace targeting this unique demographic in your local area who look to participate in wellbeing activities such as mediation, yoga, and mindfulness.
Teachers who celebrate health, fitness and wellbeing have been using Mindbody's many features to organise their bookings as well as market their classes to grow their sales. Below are some of Mindbody's fascinating features,
As a booking software, Mindbody is best for teachers who have colleagues that help them manage their bookings and classes. This booking software is ideal for teachers who work with a collaborative team. This is because there is an unlimited number of colleagues that can log in to the software, therefore teachers can ask their colleagues to help them manage their bookings.
Founded: 2013
HQ: Kansas
This booking system makes it simple for customers to book appointments and easy for teachers to keep track of their bookings. Whether teachers run one-to-one or group classes, this booking software will help them stay organised effortlessly.
GigaBook is a really great online appointment scheduling booking system. They have lots of really useful features including a to-do list, automatic reminders, text message reminders and many others as listed in the image below.
GigaBook has one paid plan which costs $15 USD a month when paid monthly or $12 USD a month when paid yearly. There is an additional cost for teachers that choose to add members of staff to the booking system. This additional cost is $8 USD when paid monthly or $7 USD a month when paid yearly per member of staff added. They also offer a 14 day free trial!
This booking software has many features that make it stand out. However, if we had to say which service this booking system is best for, it would have to be the booking resources feature. GigaBook allows students to book many of the facilities a teacher may offer. Have a studio students can book? Then this software is for you.
*All pricing outlined in this article was accurate to the best of our knowledge and sourced from the aforementioned website's pricing page at the time of writing.
The right booking software will do more than schedule your classes! Booking systems make it easy to stay organised, email students and build your business. As well as listing and creating classes, a digital booking system can also be an essential tool for managing and marketing your business. If you’re looking for a simple way to efficiently organise and grow your business, Obby’s online class booking system is here to help and support you every step of the way!
We have you covered with a wide range of tips to help you grow your teaching business. Check out some of our related guides below:
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