How Much Does An Online Booking System Cost?
July 22, 2021
The cost of an online booking system depends on the features and add-ons you need. There are free plans available if you take a small number of bookings a month, and the price can reach thousands of pounds for custom systems that meet the needs of large enterprises.
Selecting the perfect online booking system to suit the requirements of your business and budget will give you a head start over your competitors. An efficient booking process can help reduce your overheads by redirecting your workforce from handling bookings and any related queries.
However, it is just as important for your company to consider the cost and pricing structure that comes with implementing an online booking system or online booking app. BookingLive has and continues to change the way people interact with the world. As a leader in the market of online booking solutions, our flexible pricing plans ensure that any business, no matter the size, can take advantage of our powerful online booking software app. Sound financial acumen goes hand in hand with a successful business, so it is imperative that your system gives you the features you need, without squeezing the bottom line.
Overview of insights covered
In this guide, we’re going to share all the online booking system costs that come into play (including any hidden ones), allowing you to price your reservation securely and with complete peace of mind.
- Custom Booking Systems
- How Does BookingLive Compare?
- Enterprise
- Small Businesses
- Additional Options
- Services
- Extras
- Hidden Fees
- Payment Gateway Prices
- Online Booking Software Keeps Evolving
- Take advantage of free trials
1. Custom Booking Systems
A custom booking system is very rarely cost-efficient as it requires a vast amount of man-hours and expertise to incorporate even the simplest of features expected by customers, such as secure payment gateway integration. Once your system has been engineered, it is very difficult to make any amendments or add extensions without significant coding work.
Financially you will only need to fork out an initial upfront payment to cover the cost of your bespoke system, but from a long-term standpoint, you won’t be able to rely on immediate customer support or an ‘expert’ synopsis of the system.
2. How Does BookingLive Compare?
By working with a booking system provider that can be scaled up as your business grows, the software can be tweaked to match your organisation’s unique necessities and customers’ needs. Consequently, this adaptable price model enables businesses of all sizes to afford our award-winning booking platform here at BookingLive.
With customers across a range of private and public sectors including local councils, NHS trusts and schools, we have established ourselves as a trusted and reliable booking scheduling solution in over 65 countries.
We offer two affordable and scalable products to benefit any business that is dependent on booking services as part of its day-to-day operation.
3. Enterprise
BookingLive does not charge implementation fees and offers pricing options for businesses at every level. Our ‘Enterprise’ product starts from £6000 per annum, which includes the booking software and dedicated support from our support desk during working hours. You can also contact your personal Account Manager for assistance throughout your journey with us.
The final expense will ultimately be dictated by how basic you need your system to be. With an abundance of features, widgets and services available, other factors such as disk space and software hosting can also burn a bigger hole in your pocket.
It’s also important to think about your booking volume and the booking habits of your customers. Many of our clients are content to start small before expanding on their system through collaboration with our creative and marketing services. This is a practical way for you to see how a booking system can help to drive more business.
If you are looking for a more custom and feature-rich booking system, then our Enterprise offering can be relied on to seamlessly take customer bookings online and manage your most valuable customer relationships.
4. Small Businesses
With our small business pricing structure, you only pay for what you need. Using a tiered pricing model, you pay a monthly or annual fee based on the number of bookings you take a month. This is free if you take up to 25 bookings a month – you just have to pay a fee if you charge your own customers for the booking.
As your business grows and you take on more bookings, the online booking system adapts. When you move up the pricing tiers, you unlock more features such as customisable branding and Zapier integration.
Our most popular package for small businesses is the ‘Grow’ level. For just £9.99 a month, you can take 100 bookings and benefit from automated chatbot support, appointment reminders, waiting list functionality and more. All for the price of three coffees!
5. Additional Options
Our comprehensive range of additional features and services allow you to develop your system to improve the customer booking experience, as well as magnify your business capabilities to target new customer groups and grow your booking numbers.
6. Services
With 15 years of experience in developing customised booking software solutions for a range of government clients and large corporate organisations, we offer a range of services including:
- Integrating booking functionality with your business website (£6000+).
- Unlimited remote training on our booking software as part of our customer-first approach (£1000 a day).
- An Escrow service to ensure the continuity of your licensed BookingLive software products (£3000 per annum). This means that in the unlikely event that we are unable to fulfil our contractual obligations, the software is provided and maintained without disruption to your business.
7. Extras
Designed to increase customer satisfaction, our optional extras allow you to create a branded booking system which covers everything from virtual queuing (£6000 per year) to SMS reminders to help reduce no-shows (£700 per 10,000 SMS) and integration with your favourite business tools – Google Calendar, Facebook, Groupon, etc from just £3000 per year.
We can also deliver hosting for your online booking system. Basic hosting includes a maximum 12,000 bookings per year, whilst our tier four offering is mandatory for 1m+ bookings per year at a cost of £36,000 per year.
8. Hidden Fees
You will face additional charges if you exceed your disk space, bandwidth usage or support queries. There are also charges for third-party applications.
9. Payment Gateway Prices
BookingLive’s Enterprise Solution integrates with a range of payment gateways including PayPal, WorldPay and Stripe.
PayPal costs £20 a month, with a 3.4% fee per transaction.
BookingLive’s Small Business booking system has partnered with Stripe, a secure, industry leading payment gateway. On a tiered pricing structure, our solution is based on your monthly booking volume, ensuring you get the best possible value for money. Find out more about our tiered pricing here.
Shared payment gateways take your website visitors off of your website to a payment provider like PayPal, who then takes your credit card information, processes the transaction, and then sends your visitor back to your store once the transaction is complete, they typically cost £0.50 per booking.
Direct or hosted payment gateways are most commonly used, where you have a payment service built directly into your website and are usually a part of your hosting package, they typically cost £30 per month with no booking fee.
Read our comparison of booking system payment gateways here.
10. Online Booking Software Keeps Evolving
If you are still enticed by the custom-made booking system option, we would advise over-budgeting, but also be mindful of the programming language, complexity and flexibility of your solution.
However, it is this latter point that separates BookingLive from a bespoke offering, as well as many other online booking software providers. We give you the chance to experiment and understand what is going to maximise the success of your booking system.
From a technological perspective, booking systems continue to evolve. Get the basics right to begin with and then switch to an all-encompassing, more expensive option when you have the budget, or depending on what would serve your audience best.
11. Take advantage of free trials
If you’re a small business, choosing to invest in a booking system can feel like a big step. It’s beneficial if you can test out the system with a handful of bookings before you buy. This way you can learn how the features work and whether they will be suitable for your business.
With BookingLive, you can sign up to our Start tier and take up to 25 bookings per month for free. This is ideal for very small businesses that want to try out our booking system. As your business grows, you can easily upgrade your plan to suit your needs.
Get started with BookingLive
Whether you’re a small business or an international enterprise, BookingLive has a booking solution for you. We offer an online booking system that can be customised to your needs at competitive prices. Check out our pricing page for small businesses and claim a free account now. If you’d like to see the system in action, book a demo – you have no obligation to buy.
If you have questions about our pricing or anything else, call the team on 0800 1310 342 or email sales@bookinglive.com.