Amelia vs Simply Schedule Appointments: Service Depth vs Progressive Editions (2026)

Amelia and Simply Schedule Appointments (SSA) both let customers book appointments on a WordPress site, but they scale differently. Amelia is built as a broad booking-and-events platform. SSA starts with a straightforward free scheduling experience and moves into Plus, Professional and Business editions as integrations, payments, team scheduling and resources become necessary.

Compare	AmeliaFree; paid annual plans from $49 Remove	Simply Schedule AppointmentsFree; Plus $99 first year ($129/year renewal) Remove
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starting price	Free; paid annual plans from $49	Free; Plus $99 first year ($129/year renewal)
Free version	Yes	Yes
Sites included	1 site on Starter/Standard; 5 on Pro; 20 or unlimited on Elite options	1 site on displayed Plus, Professional and Business pricing
Lifetime option	Yes	No
Refund policy	15-day money-back guarantee	30-day money-back guarantee
Setup level	Intermediate	Beginner-friendly
WordPress.org rating	4.6/5 (790)	5.0/5 (155)
Active installs	90K+	50K+
Best for	Service businesses, salons, consultants, healthcare providers, educators, fitness businesses and event organizers that want appointments and events in one WordPress system	Consultants, coaches, tutors, clinics, service businesses, and small teams that want appointment scheduling integrated closely with WordPress.
Not ideal for	Very simple one-person calendars that only need basic appointment slots and would not use Amelia’s broader employee, payment or event tooling	Businesses centered on accommodation inventory or complex ticketed-event operations rather than appointments and staff availability.
Tested version	2.4.10	1.6.12.33
Last reviewed	2026-09-10	2026-09-25
Features
Frontend booking form	Yes	Yes
Multiple staff / hosts	Yes	Paid plan
Google Calendar sync	Paid plan	Paid plan
Zoom / Google Meet	Paid plan	Paid plan
Online payments	Paid plan	Paid plan
Group bookings	Yes	Paid plan
Recurring bookings / events	Paid plan	Limited
Customer self-service portal	Yes	Limited
Staff / host dashboard	Yes	Paid plan
Webhooks / automation	Paid plan	Paid plan
SMS notifications	Limited	Paid plan
Resource scheduling	Paid plan	Paid plan

Free scheduling and upgrade path

SSA Basic includes unlimited appointment types, blackout dates, notification emails, scheduling rules, styling and page-builder integrations. Plus adds Google Calendar, Zoom/Google Meet, custom fields, group events and time-triggered notifications. Professional adds Stripe/PayPal, SMS, webhooks and conversion tracking. Business adds team and resource scheduling.

Amelia’s free plugin also covers core booking, while paid tiers progressively unlock more automation, payments and advanced scheduling capabilities. Its plan structure is broader because it also serves event-oriented and resource-heavy businesses.

Team and resource scheduling

SSA reserves team member scheduling and resource management for Business. That makes the upgrade trigger easy to understand: a solo appointment site can stay lower in the stack, while multi-person or resource-constrained businesses move up.

Amelia’s employee model is central to the product, and Pro/Elite add explicit resource management for rooms, vehicles, equipment or other shared assets. Businesses with several services, employees and locations should compare these operational models closely.

Payments and integrations

SSA Professional supports Stripe and PayPal payments, SMS notifications, webhooks and conversion tracking. Plus covers Google Calendar, Google Meet, Zoom, MemberPress and form-plugin integrations.

Amelia supports online payments, deposits, taxes, invoices, calendar synchronization, meeting integrations and WooCommerce compatibility across paid tiers. Its service packages and recurring booking tools are relevant when appointments are sold as multi-session products rather than isolated time slots.

Pricing and refund policy

Pricing checked September 25, 2026. SSA currently shows introductory one-site pricing of $99/year for Plus, $199/year for Professional and $399/year for Business, with regular renewal prices of $129, $249 and $499. SSA provides a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Amelia currently has annual and lifetime tiers and advertises a 15-day money-back guarantee.

Which structure fits your site?

Consider SSA when you want to start with straightforward scheduling and move up only when you need integrations, payments, teams or resources. Consider Amelia when you expect a deeper service catalog, event booking, recurring appointments, packages or more complex staff/location operations.

Amelia vs Simply Schedule Appointments FAQs

Practical decision notes

Amelia is positioned around service businesses, salons, consultants, healthcare providers, educators, fitness businesses and event organizers that want appointments and events in one WordPress system, while Simply Schedule Appointments is positioned around consultants, coaches, tutors, clinics, service businesses, and small teams that want appointment scheduling integrated closely with WordPress. That difference is more useful than counting features: map the product to the workflow your site actually needs to run every week.

Watch the fit: Amelia is less suitable when very simple one-person calendars that only need basic appointment slots and would not use Amelia’s broader employee, payment or event tooling. Simply Schedule Appointments is less suitable when businesses centered on accommodation inventory or complex ticketed-event operations rather than appointments and staff availability. Treat those limits as implementation checks rather than absolute drawbacks.

Before switching or buying: Amelia currently lists Free; paid annual plans from $49; Simply Schedule Appointments currently lists Free; Plus $99 first year ($129/year renewal); the setup profiles are Amelia: intermediate and Simply Schedule Appointments: beginner-friendly. Recheck the vendor pricing page, then test the actual payment, email, permissions, automation, and data-migration path your production site depends on.