scinet Booking System

What the plugin does

Less back-and-forth email, more time for your work: scinet Booking lets visitors choose an appointment directly on your WordPress website. I built the plugin for people and businesses that want to manage their own booking setup. Create different offers for introductory calls, consultations or project discussions, each with its own duration, description and meeting type. All included plugin features are free, without licence keys, trials or paid unlocks.

Visitors follow a guided flow: choose a service, find an available day and time, enter contact details and book. Services can appear in a dropdown or as clickable cards. Direct links can preselect a particular appointment type. Add the booking page using a shortcode; typography and presentation can follow your WordPress theme.

You decide when appointments are available. Configure opening hours, exceptions, blocked days, minimum notice and buffers. Daily and weekly limits control booking volume, and German public holidays can be considered by federal state. Multiple Google and iCloud calendars can be checked for conflicts. New bookings are written to exactly one selected Google or iCloud write calendar. A configured write calendar is required to complete a booking, so the plugin is not entirely independent of external services.

Confirmations and reminders help with follow-up. Customers can use a personal management link to reschedule or cancel within your configured rules. Manage bookings centrally in WordPress and reuse locations with addresses and arrival instructions. Zoom is an optional integration for video appointments. Email uses the existing WordPress mail transport or a separately configured SMTP connection.

Looking for a free WordPress alternative to Calendly? scinet Booking may suit small and medium-sized businesses that need several appointment types and calendars for availability checks. For comparison, Calendly Free lists one event type and one calendar connection, while scinet Booking supports multiple appointment types and conflict calendars, with one selected write calendar. Plan comparison checked on 14 September 2026; source: https://calendly.com/pricing. Calendly also offers a free plan. This comparison covers those two features, not equivalence across the entire product range.

If these features meet your needs, scinet Booking may replace a paid scheduling subscription. The plugin itself is free; WordPress hosting, setup, maintenance and any charges from calendar, email or video providers are separate. You operate and update the WordPress solution yourself. Automatic staff allocation (round-robin), payment processing, SMS and waiting lists are not currently included. It is not a complete replacement for every team, sales or automation feature available in specialist platforms.

Booking records are stored in your WordPress database. Enabled calendar, email and video integrations transmit the data needed for their purpose to configured providers; self-hosted does not mean all data stays exclusively local. WordPress privacy exports and controlled erasure help you manage records. Privacy compliance, retention periods, backups and secure configuration remain the website operator’s responsibility.

scinet Booking is my independent product and is not affiliated with Calendly. Calendly is mentioned solely for a factual comparison.

Who it is for

For freelancers and small or medium-sized businesses offering calls and individual appointments on their own WordPress website, including consultants, agencies, studios and service providers. Particularly useful when you need multiple appointment types and conflict calendars and can maintain the website yourself or arrange technical support.

Included features

• Multiple appointment types with individual duration, description and meeting type
• Guided flow: service, day, time and contact details
• Service dropdown or cards with optional images
• Direct links that preselect an appointment type
• Opening hours, exceptions, blocked days and German public holidays
• Minimum notice, buffers, daily and weekly limits
• Multiple Google and iCloud calendars for conflict checks
• Exactly one selected Google or iCloud write calendar
• Confirmations and configurable reminders
• Personal rescheduling and cancellation links with deadline checks
• Central booking management and reusable locations
• Optional Zoom meetings for video appointments
• WordPress email or your own SMTP connection
• Setup assistant and read-only system diagnostics
• German and English interfaces, with a template for other translations
• Local basic spam protection and server-side booking validation
• WordPress privacy exports and controlled erasure

Screenshots

Installation and updates

Install and activate the ZIP; Composer is not required. Follow the setup assistant, create appointment types and opening hours, and add [scinet_booking] to a page. Connect Google or iCloud and select a write calendar and conflict calendars. Configure notifications and send a test email; connect Zoom if needed. Before permanent removal, resolve open bookings and revoke provider access. Uninstall retains bookings, settings and encrypted credentials; it is not a full data purge.

Direct ZIP releases must currently be updated manually. This website does not operate a plugin update server.

Before updating, back up your website and database. Upload the new ZIP under Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin and choose to replace the installed version. Then check settings and functions. Do not uninstall first if you want to retain your data.

Integrity and licence

Licence: GPL-2.0-or-later

© Denise Hollstein / scinet studio

Changelog