Setmore vs Whenbird

Setmore has two plans. Free: $0 for up to 4 users, capped at 200 appointments per month, with one email reminder and payments included. Pro: $5 per user per month with annual billing, unlimited users and appointments — monthly billing costs more; see setmore.com for current rates. And “user” is defined broadly: Setmore's FAQ says “Each staff calendar counts as a user even if the owner/assignee does not have login permission.”

Whenbird has two plans as well: Free — a shareable booking page, up to 2 active services, automatic email reminders, forever — and Pro at $19/month flat with unlimited services, card payments at booking, and Whenbird branding removed. No user count, no per-booking fee, no revenue share.

The honest math for a solo professional: Setmore Pro at $5/user/mo (annual billing) is cheaper than Whenbird Pro at $19/mo, and we won't pretend otherwise. The per-user model compounds with staff — four calendars on Setmore Pro is $20/mo at annual rates, past Whenbird's flat $19 — though Whenbird itself is a single-professional tool today, with no team scheduling. What the $19 buys that the $5 doesn't: payments that settle directly into your own Stripe account, with you as merchant of record.

Setmore's feature list is broad: a website booking widget, branded booking page and mobile app on both plans, group classes on both plans, two-way calendar sync, SMS reminders, recurring and video appointments, and iOS, Android, and desktop apps.

Whenbird's core: one shareable booking page, services with duration, buffer time, price, minimum notice and booking window, weekly hours with date overrides, database-level double-booking prevention, rescheduling from your dashboard, one-click Stripe refunds, and no-show and revenue tracking in the dashboard.

What Setmore has that Whenbird doesn't: two-way calendar sync, SMS reminders, recurring appointments, class booking, team scheduling across up to 4 free users, and a mobile app. What Setmore also has: payments on its free plan, where Whenbird gates paid services behind Pro — a real Setmore win, stated plainly.

Both tools charge clients at booking. Setmore processes through Stripe, Square, PayPal, or LawPay on both plans. Whenbird processes through Stripe Checkout, with funds settling directly into your own Stripe account — you're the merchant of record and Whenbird takes 0% commission, leaving only Stripe's standard processing fee. Whenbird never holds your money.

Check each provider's processing rates and payout terms for your country before deciding — payment-processor fees are separate from the subscription price on every tool in this comparison, ours included.

Setmore is the pick if free capacity matters most: 4 users and 200 appointments a month at $0, payments included — against Whenbird Free's 2 services, with payments reserved for Pro. Its Pro tier at $5/user/mo (annual billing) is cheaper than Whenbird Pro for a single user, and adds SMS reminders, two-way calendar sync, recurring and video appointments, class booking, and remove-branding.

For salons, studios, and small teams — Setmore's home turf — that bundle is hard to beat. Whenbird is solo-first: one professional, one booking page in five languages, and payments that land in your own Stripe account. Different tools for different shapes of business.

Choose Setmore if you want the most scheduling capacity for $0, SMS reminders, calendar sync, or room for staff calendars. Choose Whenbird if you're a solo coach, consultant, or tutor who charges per session and wants a flat $19/month, card payments settling in your own Stripe account with 0% commission, and a booking flow in five languages. Both have free ways to start — run a paid test booking on your own card before you commit.