Amelia vs Bookly
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Amelia v2.4.13 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.6/5 Visit Details | Bookly v28.6 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.4/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 90,000+ | 60,000+ |
| Last updated | October 22, 2026 | October 13, 2026 |
| Editions | Amelia Lite · Amelia Starter ($) · Amelia Basic ($) · Amelia Pro ($) · Amelia Developer ($) | Bookly · Bookly Pro ($) · Bookly Cloud ($) |
| Pros | Booking forms for appointments and events via shortcodes, blocks and Elementor widgets; Square payments and email notifications work in the free Lite edition; Customer data stored in dedicated tables, with optional SMS credits service; Usage tracking stays off unless the admin opts in on the free edition | Complete booking form, calendar and customer list in the free plugin; Gutenberg block, Elementor widget and Divi module for the booking form; Usage statistics are only sent when the admin turns them on |
| Cons | Most payment gateways, Google and Outlook sync, Zoom and coupons require a paid licence; Very large codebase (over 6,700 files) with dozens of custom database tables; Lite settings for payments and limits are reset to defaults on save | Free version limited to one staff member and five services; Online payments need Bookly Pro or the paid Bookly Cloud Stripe service; Many admin screens advertise Pro and Cloud products |
| Mentioned in our posts | 1 | 1 |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Booking, catalog and events shortcodes, Gutenberg booking and events blocks, Elementor booking widgets, Email notifications via wp_mail, SMTP or Mailgun, SMS notifications through the Amelia SMS service (prepaid credits), Coupons ($), Recurring appointments and events ($), Custom booking fields ($), Service packages and resources ($), Waiting lists ($), Webhooks ($), MCP server / abilities registration for AI agents | Booking form shortcode bookly-form, Booking form and AI assistant Gutenberg blocks, Elementor widget and Divi module, One staff member without Pro, Five services without Pro, Pay on site (local) payments, WP dashboard appointments widget, SMS notifications through Bookly Cloud ($), WhatsApp and voice notifications through Bookly Cloud ($), AI booking assistant via Bookly Cloud ($), WPML string translation support |
| Integrations | ||
| Payment | Square, Stripe ($), PayPal ($), Mollie ($), Razorpay ($) | Stripe (Bookly Cloud) ($) |
| Mailchimp ($), Mailgun | — | |
| E-commerce | WooCommerce ($) | — |
| Plugins | Elementor | Elementor, Divi, WPML |
| Other | Google Calendar ($), Microsoft Outlook Calendar ($), Zoom ($), Google reCAPTCHA ($) | Zapier (Bookly Cloud) ($) |
| Requires WordPress | 6.5 | 3.7 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 5.3.7 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | Only if you agree | Only if you agree |
| External services | smsapi.wpamelia.com, store.melograno.io, bi.melograno.io, middleware.wpamelia.com, www.iplocate.io, api.mollie.com, exp.host, api-m.sandbox.paypal.com, api-m.paypal.com, connect.squareup.com, graph.microsoft.com, login.microsoftonline.com, api.razorpay.com, auth.razorpay.com, www.googleapis.com, api.stripe.com | hub.bookly.pro, cloud.bookly.pro, app.bookly.pro |
| Blocks | 9 | 2 |
| Shortcodes | 16 | 2 |
| Custom tables | 61 | 33 |