When it comes to managing appointments, every business seeks a solution that is reliable, efficient, and easy to use. But with so many options out there, it can be hard to find the right one.
Regardless of the industry you are in, the goal should be to make booking as simple as possible, save time, and keep things running smoothly for both you and your clients. That’s why choosing the right scheduling software is so crucial.
In this Trafft vs. SimplyBook.me comparison, we’ll explore the factors that can make or break a scheduling system. Ultimately, we’ll help you decide which option might be the right match for your needs.
Trafft: Overview
Trafft is a comprehensive scheduling tool designed to simplify booking and appointment management. It’s suitable for business owners across various industries, including beauty salons and barbershop owners, healthcare professionals, cleaning service providers, small business owners, fitness instructors, coaches, and so many other professionals.
Known for its flexibility and ease of use, Trafft allows businesses to tailor the platform to their specific needs. You can set up personalized booking pages, define service durations, and create custom pricing structures. Besides automated notifications and reminders that help you keep clients engaged, Trafft also offers different payment integrations so you can easily accept upfront payments and deposits. Additionally, it supports features like multi-location management, calendar syncing, built-in client management tools, and many others.
Overall, Trafft offers a powerful yet user-friendly solution that helps businesses save time, reduce no-shows, and improve customer satisfaction.
Simplybook.me: Overview
Simplybook.me is an online appointment-scheduling platform designed for businesses of all sizes. It offers a simple and efficient solution for managing appointments and reducing administrative workload.
The platform allows businesses to create a personalized booking page where clients can book appointments online at their convenience. Similar to Trafft, it also lets you send automated SMS and email reminders to the clients and accepts upfront payments and deposits.
Simplybook.me offers tools for managing multiple locations, recurring appointments, gift cards, and waiting lists, but unlike Trafft, it does not offer employee management.
Feature and Integration Comparison
While both Trafft and Simplybook.me fall in the same category of scheduling tools, there are still many differences between the two. To help you make the best decision regarding which one is better for you, we’ll compare some of the key features side by side.
Booking platform
For those looking for a highly customizable booking page, the good news is that both Trafft and Simplybook.me don’t disappoint in this department.
Trafft provides a highly customizable booking page that is designed to match your brand’s look and feel. You can personalize colors, fonts, and a layout so it represents your vision. The interface is user-friendly, and you won’t have any problems setting everything up. Trafft goes a step further by allowing you to tailor service durations, define custom pricing structures, and set up different appointment types, all through the same booking page. If you want to offer discounts, promotions, or service extras, the platform makes it easy to integrate those elements.
On the other hand, Simplybook.me also offers a straightforward booking page with many customization options. You can easily add your brand colors, choose a font that you like, and browse through 20+ different themes and layouts. SimplyBook. me’s booking page is designed to be intuitive and simple, allowing clients to quickly view available slots and book their appointments.
However, it lacks the same level of depth when it comes to customizing service durations or pricing strategies. That said, a range of pre-built themes makes it easier for businesses to get started without much design effort, though those looking for more advanced customization may find it somewhat limiting.
Scheduling options
As for scheduling options, both Trafft and SimplyBook.me offer a variety of features that cater to different business needs.
Trafft allows businesses to completely customize appointment types, giving you the freedom to create custom services with unique names, descriptions, durations, and prices. It’s on you if you want to offer quick consultations, extended sessions, or specialized services, and the software can accommodate it all. Additionally, Trafft provides options for individual appointments and group bookings. All you need to do is define the maximum number of participants, and the rest will be handled.
Moreover, Trafft lets you enable recurring appointments so all your regular clients can schedule appointments that repeat daily, weekly, or monthly with just one setup, saving them time while filling up your calendar. Trafft also lets you define your own availability, including working hours, break times, and days off, ensuring that the clients can only book your services when you can accommodate them.
Simplybook.me also offers individual and group bookings as well as recurring appointments. It allows you to define availability, ensuring that clients can only book when you’re free. However, while SimplyBook.me offers some flexibility for group bookings, it doesn’t allow quite the same level of customization, and you can set service duration. Lastly, you can manage multiple locations and even create intake forms for your clients to fill out before an appointment.
While-label options
More and more agencies are looking for a way to offer their clients customizable, branded booking solutions without the need to develop their own system from scratch. Both Trafft and SimplyBook.me provide white-label options, but they approach it a bit differently.
Trafft offers a powerful white-label solution, allowing businesses to completely rebrand the platform as their own. Agencies can customize everything from the URL to the booking page, giving the end user a seamless experience that feels entirely native to their business. With Trafft, you can add your logo and brand colors and adjust the overall look and feel of the system. This gives agencies the freedom to present the booking system in a way that aligns with their identity, all while keeping the back-end functionality intact.
Simplybook.me, in comparison, offers a white-label solution but with a bit more complexity. Agencies can also remove the SimplyBook.me branding, upload their own logo, and change the theme, but the level of customization is not as extensive or intuitive. The platform requires a deeper understanding of its settings, and some users may find the process a bit harder to navigate.
So, while both options technically offer white-label solutions, we must highlight that Simplybook.me puts less emphasis on this solution, and it seems to be much harder to set up properly.
Integrations
Selecting the right software for your business should involve looking into the integrations each option offers. When we take a look at Trafft, the integration set is truly impressive. The list includes seamless connection to Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and Apple Calendar synchronization. As for payments, Trafft offers integrations with the following:
- Stripe
- Square
- PayPal
- Mollie
- Authorize.net
Truly an impressive list that will give you full flexibility when it comes to online payments and deposits. But that’s not all. Trafft also offers a plethora of marketing tools you can connect, including Google Analytics, Mailchimp, Sendfox, etc. To help your business grow even further, you can easily connect Reserve with Google, Facebook Pixel, or Google Tag Manager.
Conversely, Simplybook.me offers Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar synchronization, which is great if you are not an Apple user. You can also use Reserve with Google, Google My Business, and Google Analytics to grow your company. There are also many payment gateways, including Paypal, Alipay, Stripe, Square, and Skrill. Besides Instagram photo sharing and Facebook booking, there aren’t many marketing tools you can take advantage of.
In conclusion, Trafft stands out with its wider range of integrations and marketing tools, offering more options to help businesses automate and grow. On the other hand, SimplyBook.me provides a more focused set of integrations that could be ideal for businesses with less complex needs.
Pricing
Pricing is often a key deciding factor when choosing scheduling software, and for a good reason. After all, you don’t have to pay a small fortune just so you can use some basic features. The good news is that both Trafft and SimplyBook.me offer flexible pricing models that cater to different business needs.
Trafft
There are four different Trafft pricing plans: Free, Starter, Scaling, and Enterprise. As the name suggests, the free plan is lifetime free of charge. It includes up to five users, five custom features, a mobile app, notifications, and many other features. It’s a great option if you want to give Trafft a try but are still not ready to commit to a paid plan. Starter and Scaling plans cost $29 and $69, respectively, when billed monthly. They include all that Trafft can offer at a tempting price point. Both of them are a great option for businesses looking to grow and need a solution that can accommodate their every need.
Simplybook.me
As for Simplybook.me, it offers three paid plans and a free plan. However, on a free plan, you only have one custom feature and 50 bookings, which is quite limiting, even if you just want to try out the tool. The rest of their plans, Basic, Standard, and Premium, cost $9,9, $29,9, and $59,9, respectively when billed monthly. They differ in the number of custom features and options you can enable. But keep in mind that all plans have a limited number of included bookings you can use in a month, so even if you want to sign up for a smaller plan, that may not be enough for your needs.
Ultimately, while both Trafft and Simplybook.me have affordable paid plans, it’s important to mention that Trafft doesn’t limit the number of bookings. So, while Simplyook.me may seem cheaper at first glance, that’s usually not the case.
Rating and Reviews
The last point in our Trafft vs. Simplybook.me comparison includes other users’ experiences. Let’s examine how well each platform performs in real-world scenarios.
Across the board, Trafft users rave about its ease of use and robust features. It has a 4.9-star rating on Capterra, 4.5 on Trustpilot, and 4.7 on G2. These impressive numbers showcase how versatile and feature-rich Trafft is, regardless of the industry. Users appreciate the platform’s customizable booking pages, real-time calendar synchronization and praise customer support. Many users highlight how Trafft helped them minimize no-shows, ultimately boosting their revenue.
Simplybook.me also received solid ratings, with a 4.6-star rating on Capterra, 4.3 on Trustpilot, and 4.4 on G2. Users find this solution quite customizable and praise how easy it is to schedule an appointment from the client side. However, many also find it a bit limiting in the amount of add-ons you can enable with a certain plan. Moreover, many find that the support team is hard to get a hold of when a problem in the app arises.
Final Thoughts on Trafft vs. Simplybook.me
With a deeper dive into both Trafft and Simplybook.me, it’s clear they each offer valuable booking solutions tailored to different business needs. Trafft emerges as the clear winner for businesses seeking a highly customizable, feature-packed system with powerful integrations that support growth and expansion.
On the flip side, Simplybook.me stands out for businesses that want a more budget-friendly solution and don’t need many options or don’t expect a large number of bookings. While it may not offer as many advanced features or customization options, it can deliver exactly what smaller businesses or startups need: reliability without complexity.
Ultimately, the final decision comes down to your business size, needs, and long-term goals.