The best reservation plugin for WordPress depends on what is being reserved. For restaurant tables, use a plugin built around seats, opening hours and party size, such as Five Star Restaurant Reservations or ReDi. For appointments with staff, Amelia, Bookly, Simply Schedule Appointments or LatePoint fit. For rooms and rentals, MotoPress Hotel Booking is the dedicated route. This guide covers twelve current options and says which kind each one is.
Three kinds of reservation plugin
People use “reservation” for three different jobs, and the plugins are built differently for each one. Choosing within the right group saves you from fighting the software later.
- Table reservations. A guest picks a date, time and party size. The plugin checks seats against capacity and opening hours. It may also manage tables, deposits and no-show rules.
- Appointments. A client picks a service and, often, a staff member. The plugin looks at working hours, service duration and calendar conflicts. Salons, clinics, tutors and consultants use these.
- Stays and rentals. A guest picks a start and an end date for a room or property. The plugin handles nightly rates, seasons, minimum stays and availability calendars.
A fourth group sells bookable products inside a WooCommerce shop. That is the WooCommerce Bookings route, covered below.
What to check before you choose
- Payments and deposits. Do you need to take money at booking, or only a deposit to cut no-shows? In many plugins this is a paid feature.
- Calendar sync. If you or your staff already use Google or Outlook calendar, two-way sync prevents double bookings. It is often paid.
- Reminders. Email reminders are common. SMS and WhatsApp reminders usually need a paid version and a messaging provider.
- Staff and locations. One person or one venue is simple. Several of each is where free versions run out.
- Cancel and reschedule. Let customers change their own booking, or your inbox becomes the booking system.
- Time zones. If clients book from other countries, check that times display in their zone.
Restaurant table reservations
1. Five Star Restaurant Reservations
This plugin gives you a booking form, available through a block or a shortcode, and a schedule of open times with exceptions for holidays. You confirm or reject bookings, add walk-ins by hand and set minimum and maximum party sizes. Guests and admins get email notifications, and you can ban customers who keep failing to show.
The free version covers the core flow. Premium adds capacity limits per dining block, custom fields for things like allergies, and exports. The top tier adds table management, SMS alerts and payment and deposit support through Stripe and PayPal. The plugin page is not fully consistent about which tier includes notifications, so check the current docs. Five Star Restaurant Reservations on WordPress.org
Best for: a restaurant that wants a clear upgrade path from a free booking form to tables and deposits.
2. ReDi Restaurant Reservation
ReDi checks every request against opening hours, capacity and free seats before it confirms, so guests only see times that are really available. You can set seat limits per weekday, run several opening periods a day, block times with a visible reason and keep a waiting list for full nights. Guests can cancel or change bookings online.
The free plan has a monthly guest limit. Paid plans lift it and add a dashboard with a tablet view for hosts, and the higher plans add table management, pre-payment to reduce no-shows and SMS and WhatsApp notifications. Read the current plan limits on the plugin page. ReDi on WordPress.org
Best for: restaurants that care about instant confirmation and a waiting list.
3. Alex Reservations
Alex Reservations is a restaurant booking plugin with a widget you can style to your brand. The free version covers one restaurant with a monthly booking cap and includes a bookings list, calendar views, shifts for breakfast, lunch and dinner, editable email templates and a multi-language widget.
The paid plan adds a floor plan builder, reminders, reviews, payments and deposits, multiple restaurants and white-label branding. The vendor says it takes no commission on bookings. You pay a flat price per restaurant, and the plugin site lists it. Alex Reservations on WordPress.org
Best for: restaurants and small groups that want a floor plan and no per-booking commission.
Appointment and service booking
4. Amelia
Amelia handles appointments and events for businesses such as salons, clinics, gyms, consultants and education providers. The free Lite version gives you online booking, a back-end calendar, working hours, services and categories, double-booking prevention and email notifications. Square payments are included in Lite.
Premium adds multiple employees and locations, recurring appointments, coupons, packages, event tickets, more payment gateways, and calendar sync with Google and Outlook, along with Zoom and Google Meet. Amelia on WordPress.org
Best for: service businesses with several staff members that expect to upgrade.
5. Bookly
Bookly is a modular appointment system. The free version gives you unlimited booking forms, calendar views, a customer list, email and SMS notifications, and Elementor and block editor support. It is limited to five services and one staff member, and it does not include online payments.
The paid Bookly Pro add-on lifts those limits and adds payments through providers such as PayPal, Stripe and Mollie, plus Google Calendar and WooCommerce integrations. Further paid add-ons cover deposits, coupons, group bookings, recurring appointments and waiting lists. The pieces add up, so price the full set you need. Bookly on WordPress.org
Best for: teams that want to pick only the modules they use.
6. Simply Schedule Appointments
This plugin focuses on a quick setup. The free edition covers unlimited booking calendars and customisable notifications, with blackout dates and embedding through the block editor or page builders.
Paid editions add group and class bookings, team and resource booking, Stripe and PayPal payments, Twilio SMS, Zoom and Google Meet, and webhooks. Google Calendar sync is also paid, and it checks your personal calendar for conflicts. Simply Schedule Appointments on WordPress.org
Best for: freelancers and small teams that want a simple setup and can wait to pay.
7. LatePoint
LatePoint gives you a multi-step booking form, custom schedules and holidays, a customer dashboard and an activity log. The free plugin handles a single location and takes payments through Stripe, PayPal and Razorpay, with a pay later option and deposits.
The Pro version adds multiple locations and staff, recurring and group bookings, service packages, rescheduling, more gateways, SMS and WhatsApp notifications, and two-way calendar sync with Google, Outlook and Apple calendars. The vendor states that payments go straight through your gateway. LatePoint on WordPress.org
Best for: a single-location business that wants payments in the free version.
8. Fluent Booking
Fluent Booking works like a self-hosted scheduling link for one-on-one meetings, with weekly availability, buffer times, booking limits and time zone conversion. It connects to Fluent Forms, FluentCRM and FluentBoards.
Group, round-robin and one-off events, calendar and payment integrations, SMS and video conferencing links are in the paid version. Stripe, PayPal and wallet payments are paid features too. It suits consultants and sales teams more than shops with physical resources. Fluent Booking on WordPress.org
Best for: consultants, coaches and sales teams who book meetings.
9. Appointment Hour Booking
This plugin is for time-slot bookings. The free version lets you set up calendars, open hours and holidays visually, define several services with their own prices and durations, and prevent double bookings. It also supports services with a capacity above one, CSV reports and a printable appointment list.
Payments, the visual form builder and integrations such as WooCommerce and Mailchimp are in the paid versions. The paid payment options include PayPal, Stripe and several others. Appointment Hour Booking on WordPress.org
Best for: tutors, doctors and consultants who need precise time slots.
Rooms, stays and rentals
10. MotoPress Hotel Booking
MotoPress Hotel Booking is built for hotels, guesthouses and vacation rentals. The free Lite version supports unlimited properties or rooms, seasonal and weekend rates, minimum and maximum stay rules, bookable extras, coupons and taxes. Payments through PayPal, pay on arrival and bank transfer are included, with full or deposit payment.
Two-way iCal calendar sync to avoid overbooking across platforms, extra payment gateways and backend editing of bookings are in the paid version. MotoPress Hotel Booking on WordPress.org
Best for: accommodation owners who need nightly rates and stay rules.
11. WP Simple Booking Calendar
This one is an availability calendar, not a booking engine. Visitors see which dates are free, and you update the dates by hand. That is enough for a holiday home with a few enquiries a month. The free version has one calendar. The paid version adds unlimited calendars and iCal sync with platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com.
It does not take payments or online reservations. If you need those, use a full plugin. WP Simple Booking Calendar on WordPress.org
Best for: a single rental where you only need to show availability.
Bookable products in a store
12. WooCommerce Bookings
WooCommerce Bookings adds a bookable product type to a WooCommerce store. Availability, duration, pricing, people and resources are set on the product. Resources such as staff or rooms can be shared across products so they are not double-booked, and the extension syncs with Google Calendar. It works with WooCommerce’s payment gateways.
It is a paid extension. Choose it when you already run WooCommerce and want bookings to share the cart, checkout and gateway, or when you sell a mix of products and bookable services. See our checkout plugin guide if you also want to tune that shared checkout. WooCommerce Bookings on woocommerce.com
Best for: shops that sell bookable services next to physical or digital products.
Comparison at a glance
| Plugin | Type | Free version |
|---|---|---|
| Five Star Restaurant Reservations | Restaurant tables | Yes, with paid tiers |
| ReDi Restaurant Reservation | Restaurant tables | Yes, with a monthly guest limit |
| Alex Reservations | Restaurant tables | Yes, with a monthly booking cap |
| Amelia | Appointments and events | Yes, Lite |
| Bookly | Appointments | Yes, with limits |
| Simply Schedule Appointments | Appointments | Yes, Basic |
| LatePoint | Appointments and events | Yes |
| Fluent Booking | Meetings | Yes, core scheduling |
| Appointment Hour Booking | Time slots | Yes |
| MotoPress Hotel Booking | Rooms and rentals | Yes, Lite |
| WP Simple Booking Calendar | Availability display | Yes, one calendar |
| WooCommerce Bookings | Bookable products | No, paid extension |
How to choose
Match the plugin to the thing being reserved. A restaurant needs seats and shifts, so use a table plugin. A salon needs staff and services, so use an appointment plugin. A guesthouse needs nights and rates, so use a stay plugin. Using an appointment plugin for a hotel will work for a week and frustrate you for a year.
Then decide what you cannot live without and check the plan that includes it. Payments, calendar sync and SMS are the usual paywalls. A free plugin that lacks calendar sync can cost you more in double bookings than a paid one costs in a year. Last, think about who will use it daily. A restaurant host on a tablet and a solo consultant on a laptop need different admin screens, so try each one with your real staff.
If you list events or run a calendar on the same site, see our guide to WordPress calendar plugins. If bookings are part of a members area, our membership plugin guide covers the access side. For recurring bookings or packages that people pay for monthly, see subscription plugins.
If you run a community or membership site and want members to RSVP to meetups instead of booking a slot, Eventonomy is our free events plugin with RSVPs and attendee management, and you can see how Reign styles it.
Reduce no-shows
- Take a deposit. A small prepayment cuts no-shows more than any reminder.
- Send reminders. Email works. SMS and WhatsApp reminders usually need a paid plan and a provider.
- Let people cancel easily. A one-click cancel frees the slot for someone else.
- State your policy at booking. Show the cancellation rules before the guest confirms.
- Keep a waiting list. Some restaurant plugins fill cancelled tables automatically from it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free reservation plugin for WordPress?
It depends on the job. For restaurants, Five Star Restaurant Reservations is a good free start. For appointments, Amelia Lite, Simply Schedule Appointments and LatePoint all have usable free versions. For rooms, MotoPress Hotel Booking Lite is the dedicated choice.
What is the best plugin for restaurant table reservations?
Choose one built for tables, such as Five Star Restaurant Reservations, ReDi or Alex Reservations. They manage seats, opening hours and party size, which general appointment plugins do not.
Can I take payments or deposits with a reservation plugin?
Yes, but check the plan. LatePoint includes Stripe and PayPal in its free version. Many others, including Bookly and Simply Schedule Appointments, put payments in paid versions.
Will a booking plugin sync with Google Calendar?
Most do, but usually in the paid version. Simply Schedule Appointments, LatePoint, Amelia and Fluent Booking list calendar sync as a paid feature.
What is the difference between a reservation and an appointment plugin?
A reservation plugin usually reserves a place, such as a table or room, while an appointment plugin reserves someone’s time. Some plugins do both, but each is stronger at one.
Do I need WooCommerce for bookings?
No. Most plugins here work without it. WooCommerce Bookings needs it, and it makes sense if you already sell products and want bookings in the same checkout.
Can customers cancel or reschedule on their own?
In many plugins, yes. ReDi lets guests cancel or change bookings online, and LatePoint offers rescheduling in its paid version. Check this before you buy.
Which plugin works for a vacation rental?
MotoPress Hotel Booking handles rates, seasons and stay rules. For a simple availability display with no payments, WP Simple Booking Calendar is enough.
Next steps
List what you are reserving, pick the matching kind of plugin and test two candidates with a real booking from start to finish. If you want to see how a full site with members, events and directories looks in a real theme, open our live demos.