What is the best Amelia alternative for appointment booking on WordPress?

Amelia is a popular, well-crafted appointment plugin; if you use its paid version, in particular for Google Calendar or Outlook sync, there are good reasons to stay. An alternative such as GDA Kraft Booking, published by Global Digital Agency, becomes interesting if you are on Amelia Lite and want to take payments through Stripe (cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay) without a licence, with team, group sessions and waiting list included. On the other hand, two-way Google Calendar sync and SMS are not among the announced features of GDA Kraft Booking to date, and appointment mode requires a free Kraft GDA account (the plugin downloaded from the client area includes it, with no add-on to install).

What Amelia does well

According to its wordpress.org page (verified on 12 October 2026 on wordpress.org):

• Amelia offers a free Lite version, with more than 90,000 active installations;
• it integrates with Elementor, Divi and Gutenberg;
• it handles appointments and events;
• in the Lite version, free online payment goes through Square only;
• Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce and Google Calendar and Outlook sync belong to the paid version.

When should you stay on Amelia?

• You keep your schedule in Google Calendar or Outlook and the paid version's sync is essential to you.
• You take payments through PayPal.
• You use Square for your in-store till and want to keep everything with that provider.
• You need SMS reminders.
• You do not want to use a beta product: GDA Kraft Booking is in public beta 0.1, with version 1.0 planned for June 2027.

When should you look at an alternative?

• You are on Amelia Lite and want Stripe without upgrading to a paid version.
• You want a cost proportional to what you collect rather than a licence: with GDA Kraft Booking, the service fee is 0.9% per transaction, reduced to 0.45% until 30 June 2027, shown to the client, plus Stripe's fees; nothing on payments taken on site and recorded manually.
• You also want to offer nightly accommodation (B&B, holiday cottage) on the same site.
• You want to give each team member limited access to their own schedule (a WordPress account with the Team role linked to their staff record).

What changes in practice

How it works in detail is covered in Setting up appointments and Group sessions, waiting list and reminders.

How do I migrate from Amelia to GDA Kraft Booking?

Migration is manual: the Kraft Booking › Migration screen only covers accommodation, and no import from an appointment plugin is announced to date.

1. List your services with duration, price, buffer times and associated staff members.
2. After installing the plugin downloaded from your client area and linking the site to your free Kraft GDA account (appointment mode depends on it), create the services in Kraft Booking › Services, each with its “Deposit at booking (%)” (100 = full payment). The choice between online payment and no online payment is made in the “Payment” option of the form placed on the page.
3. Create the staff members, tick their services, then enter their working hours, breaks and upcoming time off.
4. Recreate your events as group services (“Capacity (places per slot)” greater than 1, “Scheduling” set to “Dated sessions only (events)”); each date is added one by one with “Add the session”, with no recurrence.
5. Carry over upcoming appointments in Kraft Booking › Appointments (“New appointment” section). For those already paid, keep a record of the payment in your accounts.
6. Adapt the look of your emails (logo, colours) in Settings › “Email design and content”: appointment emails have fixed text but use this design. See Customise booking emails.
7. Replace the Amelia form with your builder's Appointments element, run a full test, then deactivate Amelia.

If you used Amelia's Google Calendar sync, decide before the switchover where the reference schedule will be kept: with GDA Kraft Booking, it is the Kraft Booking › Appointments calendar; each staff member's iCal feed only lets you display their appointments in Google Calendar, read-only.

For an overview of the tools, see the comparison of appointment booking plugins.

Frequently asked questions

Does GDA Kraft Booking accept Square?

Square is not among the announced payment methods: online payment goes through Stripe via Kraft Pay. Payments taken on site, whatever terminal you use, can be recorded manually with no service fee.

Can I run Amelia and GDA Kraft Booking side by side?

It is not recommended for the same services: two separate calendars end up contradicting each other. If you are testing, do it on a copy of your site.

Will my clients need to create an account?

No. They receive a secure link by email to view, reschedule or cancel their appointment within the deadlines you have set.

Does the service fee apply to appointments paid on site?

No. Only payments collected online carry the service fee of 0.9%, reduced to 0.45% until 30 June 2027.