Managing class schedules and bookings can be challenging for educational institutions, such as training centres and tutoring services.

Traditional methods often cause administrative headaches and booking conflicts, which can be frustrating for both staff and students.

Some institutions still use simple tools like Google Forms for class sign-ups. But now there are better solutions—booking plugins that automate and simplify the scheduling process directly on your WordPress website.

In this article, you’ll learn about the 7 best booking plugins for educational institutions, which can make schedule management easier and more reliable.

Let’s get started. 

Best class booking plugins: comparison at a glance

Booking Plugin	Best for	Free Plan	Starting Price
Booktics	Tutoring, scheduled classes, and virtual sessions	✅	Yet to decide
Amelia	Coaching & tutoring sessions	✅	$49/year
Bookly	Tutors managing individual & group sessions	✅	$33/year
BookingPress	Schools, coaches, and group class scheduling	✅	$79/year
Booknetic	Education institutes with complex needs	❌	$71 one-time
Simply Schedule Appointments	One-on-one & group educational sessions	✅	$99/year
Webba Booking	Group classes, tutoring, and multi-service bookings	✅	$89/year

What to look for in a WordPress class scheduling plugin

When selecting a WordPress class scheduling plugin, it’s essential to focus on features and qualities that ensure efficient management and flexibility tailored to your specific needs. Here’s what to look for:

• Easy setup and user-friendly interface: The plugin should be simple for administrators and students to install, configure, and use. It must also have a clear, intuitive dashboard.
• Customizable calendar and booking forms: Choose a plugin to adjust calendar views (such as day, week, or month) and personalize booking forms. Changing colours, fields, and labels helps match your brand and collect the information you need.
• Recurring and multi-day classes: The plugin should support recurring classes, multi-day events, and overlapping sessions, which are essential for schools and training centres.
• Instructor and resource management: Another must-have feature! Schools and coaching centers must be able to assign instructors, manage their schedules, and display class details, such as teacher bios and course descriptions.
• Group and individual bookings: Look for options that support group classes and one-on-one lessons to offer flexible learning formats.
• Online payments and integrations: Look for built-in support for Stripe, PayPal, or WooCommerce, which makes it easy to accept payments, offer discounts, and track transactions.
• Automated notifications and reminders: Automated email or SMS notifications for booking confirmations, reminders, and updates help reduce no-shows and keep everyone informed.
• Calendar sync and third-party tools: Syncing with Google Calendar, Outlook, or Zoom is valuable for managing schedules and offering virtual classes.
• Analytics and reporting: Look for a plugin with a reporting feature. Reports on bookings, attendance, and payments help you identify what’s working and make more informed decisions.

Why educational institutions need a booking plugin

A booking plugin for educational institutions offers a range of benefits that can simplify booking processes, smooth communication, and improve overall efficiency. Here’s why it’s crucial for modern educational environments:

• Streamlined scheduling: A booking plugin lets students, tutors, or trainers efficiently schedule, reschedule, or cancel appointments online. This significantly saves time and reduces communication hassle.
• Improved efficiency: Automating the booking process helps avoid conflicts and ensures everyone’s time is managed efficiently, especially for teachers and administrators.
• Reduced no-shows: With automatic reminders (via email or SMS), users are less likely to forget appointments. This way, you can reduce missed sessions and improve resource use.
• Better organization: The plugin keeps track of all appointments, which helps the institution maintain organized records and easy access to essential data.
• Enhanced user experience: Booking appointments independently is convenient for users, leading to a smoother experience for students, parents, and staff.
• Increased accessibility: A booking plugin operates 24/7, allowing users in different time zones or with busy schedules to book appointments at their convenience.
• Customization options: Institutions can customize this plugin to suit their specific needs, such as setting different time slots for other services or restricting access to certain appointments.

Now that we understand the importance of booking plugins for educational institutions, let’s explore some top options in detail.

Top WordPress booking plugins for educational institutions

Here’s the list of the top WordPress booking plugins built for educational use. Whether you need to schedule one-on-one sessions, group classes, or virtual lessons, these tools can help you manage everything smoothly, right from your site.

1. Booktics

Booktics is a flexible and user-friendly WordPress booking plugin, perfect for schools, tutoring services, and training centers. It makes scheduling easy, whether you’re offering one-on-one sessions, group classes, or educational workshops with its step-by-step booking wizard.

The plugin supports both in-person and virtual appointments, featuring service-specific scheduling and multi-step booking forms with conditional logic. It also integrates with popular tools such as FluentCRM to use customer data from your booking system. 

You can easily manage multiple education services, set custom time slots, and add buffer periods and work hours. It also includes powerful tools for tracking student details, preferences, and past bookings, providing complete control over scheduling and student management.

Key features

• Create and categorise classes and assign instructors.
• Add custom time slots, buffer times, and booking limits.
• Real-time availability updates and a public booking page to avoid double bookings.
• Daily, weekly, and monthly calendar views with drag-and-drop rescheduling.
• Fully customizable forms with conditional logic and custom fields.
• Automated email and SMS notifications for booking confirmations, reminders, cancellations, and reschedules.

What we liked most

• Schedule lessons online or in person with manual and auto approval.
• The admin dashboard gives insights into bookings, revenue, and customer trends.
• It supports PayPal, Stripe, and syncs with Google and Outlook calendars.

What could be Better 

• Relatively new, that’s why some features are still in the pipeline.

Pricing

5 domain: $39 for lifetime access.
100 domains: $99 for lifetime access.
500 domains: $209 for lifetime access.
Unlimited domains: $299 for lifetime access.

2. Amelia

Amelia is another top booking plugin for lesson and course scheduling, featuring a powerful, automated scheduling system for tutoring, lessons, and group classes.

It provides an intuitive, mobile-friendly booking calendar that allows students to easily find and book convenient time slots for one-on-one or group lessons. 

Additionally, tutors and educators benefit from features such as one-on-one sessions, group coaching with individual schedules, and control over booking windows to maintain class organization. 

Amelia also supports virtual sessions with online meeting integrations, allowing you to conduct recurring classes and manage capacity limits. It also supports popular gateways, such as PayPal and Stripe, for secure online payments.

Key features

• Accept online bookings anytime with instant auto-confirmation.
• Enable recurring bookings and deposits to minimize no-shows and ensure timely payments.
• Send automated SMS and email reminders to improve attendance.
• Support group bookings and group ticketing with ease.
• Design flexible booking forms that align with your brand’s style.

What we liked most

• Seamless calendar sync across platforms.
• Offers a user-friendly, data-rich admin dashboard.
• Sync with Google or Outlook calendars for seamless organization.

What could be Better

• Learning curve for new users.
• Payment options such as PayPal, Stripe, and WooCommerce are only available in the Pro version.

Pricing

Amelia offers a free version on WordPress.org with basic features and PayPal support. The Pro plan offers four different plans based on the domain. 

1 domain: $49 for the starter package, $89 for the standard package, and $129 for the pro package.
5 domains: $179 per year.
20 domains: $239 per year.
Unlimited domains: $319 per year.

💡Read also: WP Timetics Vs. Amelia: Which One is The Best WordPress Scheduling Plugin?

3. Bookly

Bookly is the most cost-effective tutor booking solution for WordPress on our list. It is designed to simplify scheduling for students and tutors, featuring a sophisticated booking form that enables students to book lessons online and view their schedules easily.

For tutors, Bookly eliminates scheduling conflicts with customizable session durations, manual or automatic approvals, and the ability to limit how far in advance lessons can be booked.

Bookly also supports individual and group tutoring sessions, allowing you to customize lesson durations and receive real-time availability updates for an efficient booking experience. 

That being said, Bookly is highly dependent on its paid add-ons. Features such as online payments, recurring appointments, and group bookings are exclusive to the paid version. However, the free version remains a viable option for getting started.

Key Features

• Quick online booking with easy-to-use forms.
• Add unlimited booking forms to your website.
• User-friendly admin panel for easy management.
• View bookings by day, week, or month.
• Easily filter, sort, and search student bookings.
• WPML supports multiple languages.

What We Liked Most

• You can set custom session durations.
• Real-time availability to avoid double bookings.
• 43 add-ons to expand functionality. (Paid)
• Sends automatic email and SMS reminders to tutors and students.

What could be Better

• Many desirable features and integrations require purchasing the Pro version and add-ons.

Pricing

Free: Up to 5 services
Pro: $33 per year with unlimited staff and services.

4. BookingPress

BookingPress is another leading WordPress class scheduling plugin, designed for tutors, coaches, and educational institutions of all sizes. It helps manage private lessons, group classes, and workshops with ease.

You can create individual tutor profiles, set flexible schedules with buffer times, holidays, and location-based availability with multiple class bookings in a single reservation. The plugin also includes a clean backend for managing students’ data, courses, bookings, and performance reports.

Unlike Bookly, the free version of BookingPress supports an unlimited number of appointments and PayPal integration. Additionally, its Pro version offers over 20 payment gateways and more than 50 feature add-ons to extend its functionality. 

Key features

• Build a flexible tutoring schedule with personal tutor profiles..
• Multiple calendar views (day, week, month).
• Easy vacation and day-off settings.
• Supports online sessions with virtual meeting options.
• Add buffer time between classes.

What we liked most

• Easy setup with support for multiple locations.
• Clean and user-friendly backend for class scheduling.
• Automatically send reminders and important messages to students and teachers.

What could be Better

• Limited customization in lower-tier plans.

Pricing

Free Version: Available on their website with basic features and PayPal integration.

1 site: $79 per year
3 sites: $129 per year.
20 sites: $249 per year.

5. Booknetic

Booknetic is one of the top appointment scheduling plugins for WordPress, offering powerful features for scheduling lessons, tutoring sessions, and group classes. It supports an unlimited number of students and tutors, customizable booking forms, and recurring appointments, making it ideal for managing diverse educational needs. 

With two-way Google Calendar sync, automated email and SMS notifications, and seamless online payment integration (including WooCommerce), Booknetic streamlines administration and improves communication. 

Its Zoom integration enables easy virtual classes, while a user-friendly customer panel allows students and parents to manage bookings independently. It’s also simple to customize, which helps make class scheduling easier for both teachers and students.

Key Features

• Allows multiple appointments in a single booking session.
• Two-way Google Calendar sync for one-time, recurring, or group lessons.
• Allows recurring and multiple bookings for easier management.
• Drag-and-drop form builder to add custom fields to the booking form.
• Add unlimited students and tutors without restrictions.

What we liked most

• Fully customizable booking wizard.
• Supports RTL languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, for improved accessibility.
• Let you send customizable email and SMS updates to students and tutors.

What could be Better

• The initial setup and learning period can be challenging.

Pricing

Booknetic doesn’t offer a free plan. Four premium plans, each tailored to specific features, are available for a one-time payment.

Basic: $71
Standard: $199
Premium: $349
Elite: $573

6. Simply Schedule Appointments

Simply Schedule Appointments is another excellent booking plugin for educational websites that allows students to book one-on-one or group sessions based on availability easily. Its extensive offerings also include support for multiple instructors, capacity limits, and resource booking, like classrooms or equipment.

You can automate scheduling with precise control, like setting availability, blocks of dates, daily booking limits, and adding buffer time. You can also create multiple booking calendars for different classes or sessions, such as introductory classes or longer sessions, and automatically prevent double bookings.

With built-in timezone support and full control over your data (GDPR-compliant), Simply Schedule Appointments is an innovative, privacy-friendly booking solution for educational institutions seeking flexible and scalable scheduling solutions.

• Optimize visitor flow for more conversions before planning a lesson.
• Set lesson availability by day.
• Group or class event booking
• Manage schedules for multiple students.
• Virtual meeting integrations with Zoom and Google Meet for distance learning.

What we liked most

• Supports various appointment types.
• Enables students and teachers to cancel and reschedule directly.
• Automated email and SMS notifications for confirmations and reminders

What could be Better

• Costly premium options.
• Basic reporting features.

Pricing

A Free version is available at WordPress.org.

1 site: $99-$399 per year
25 sites: $149-$499 per year
1000 sites: $199-$699 per year

7. Webba Booking

Webba Booking is the last addition to our list. It is a powerful and flexible tutor booking plugin that supports unlimited lessons, tutoring sessions, and group classes. You can add as many bookable services as you like and categorize them with customizable booking forms. 

With its flexible scheduling options, you can easily set business hours, manage multiple calendars for different tutors or classrooms, and handle recurring or group bookings with ease.

Webba Booking can be customized for virtual education with tools like Zoom. Its free version contains everything except payment, while the premium version offers additional features, including Google Analytics, user dashboards, and more.

Key Features

• Book multiple appointments and group services in one session.
• Manage bookings easily, including approval, editing, or cancellation with a single click.
• Customize settings with buffer zones, time blocks, and more.
• Control your availability with powerful scheduling tools.

What we liked most

• Sync calendars both ways to prevent double bookings.
• Automatically track bookings and conversion events with GA4 integration.
• Send appointment confirmations and reminders via SMS using Twilio.

What could be Better

• The free version has limited features, with advanced options available only in the premium version.

Pricing

There is a free version available at WordPress.org

1 website: $19 per month, $239 one-time payment.
3 website: $39 per month, $599 one-time payment.
5 website: $69 per month, $799 one-time payment.

💡Read also: Why Booktics is the Best Online Booking Plugin for Service-Based Businesses

How we tested these plugins

To ensure the accuracy and reliability of our plugin recommendations, we followed a rigorous testing process that included several key steps. This is because we want you to trust us.

Here are those steps:

• Plugin installation and configuration: We installed each plugin in the staging environment and configured it according to its recommended settings. This included setting up demo content and testing various features to ensure they worked as expected.
• Compatibility testing: We checked for compatibility issues by activating each plugin alongside other commonly used Learning Management System (LMS) plugins and themes. This helped identify any potential conflicts that could affect performance or functionality.
• Feature evaluation: We evaluated each plugin based on its core features, user interface, and ease of use. This included assessing customization options, integration capabilities, and any unique functionalities that distinguished it from others.
• Performance and security checks: We utilized tools such as WordPress’s built-in Health Check & Troubleshooting plugin to evaluate the health and security of our staging site, with each plugin installed. This helped identify any performance bottlenecks or security vulnerabilities.
• User feedback and testing: We gathered input from a small group of users to gauge real-world usability and identify any issues that might not be apparent during initial testing. This provided valuable insights into the user experience, helping to refine our recommendations.

💡Read also: How to Use AI in WordPress to Automate Your Website with AI Tool Recommendation

FAQs about best booking plugins for educational institutions

Can I use a free booking plugin for a school?

Yes, free booking plugins like Bookly can be an excellent option for small schools or basic needs. However, for advanced features like automated emails, payments, or reporting, a premium plugin like Booktics is a more suitable option.

Do booking plugins integrate with Zoom or Google Meet?

Almost every booking plugin offers built-in Zoom or Google Meet integrations, enabling the automatic creation and scheduling of meeting links for online classes.

How secure are these plugins for student data?

Most reputable booking plugins, such as Booktics, Amelis, and Bookingpress, follow standard security practices, including data encryption, GDPR compliance, and secure payment processing. Always choose plugins from trusted developers and keep them updated.

What’s the difference between class booking system and class scheduling?

Class booking often involves payments and confirmations. Class scheduling focuses more on organizing class times and resources. Many plugins combine both functions into one seamless tool.

What makes the online class booking plugin different from traditional booking methods?

Online booking plugins automate the entire process from scheduling and registration to payment and reminders, reducing manual work and errors. Unlike paper-based or spreadsheet systems, they also offer real-time availability and access from any device.

Final thoughts: Which booking plugin should you choose?

Booking plugins offer significant benefits to educational institutions. They simplify administrative tasks, reduce errors, and simplify scheduling for teachers, students, and administrators.

We’ve discussed seven booking plugins suitable for tutors, students, and instructors. But which one is best for you? Let’s break it down clearly.

1. If you run a large training centre and need advanced features, Booktics is an excellent choice. It offers powerful tools, including automated emails, payment integration, detailed reports, and seamless website integration, making it ideal for managing multiple classes and registrations.
2. For smaller institutions, schools, or tutoring services that prefer simple scheduling tools, BookingPress or Schedule Appointments provide easy-to-use interfaces with essential features.
3. And if you’re starting or have occasional bookings, free or flexible options like Bookly and Amelia offer useful features without being complicated.

Ultimately, choose a plugin that aligns with your workflow, streamlines your processes, and enhances scheduling for everyone involved. Still unsure? Feel free to ask questions in the comments below!