Missed appointments cost the U.S. healthcare system $150 billion every year, by one estimate.
In one case, a clinic lost a million dollars because of 14,000 no-shows over the course of a year.
Medical scheduling software can help with this problem. Practices save money by reducing the number of cancelled appointments, and patients miss fewer appointments—which ensures that they will get the care they need.
Small medical practices or solo practitioners might not have the budget for a full appointment scheduling system or electronic medical records (EMR) system, so free appointment scheduling software is a great way to get started if a clinic is not quite ready to pay for something or if they’re not sure they’ll use it.
This article looks at four of the most popular free medical scheduling software options. See the full list of free medical scheduling solutions here.
Remember, many EMRs and medical practice management systems (of which there are quite a few quality free options) already include medical scheduling as part of their entire suite of functionality. However, if a practice wants something specifically for appointments, here’s a list of the top free medical scheduling options, presented in alphabetical order.
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
10to8 is a cloud-based booking and scheduling software solution for small to large businesses in a variety of industries. While not specifically designed for medical practices, its features work well for any practice that is looking for appointment scheduling software. It provides users with a customized booking website where a patient can schedule appointments, pay for events and services, and access existing bookings.
Appointments are automatically synced with user calendars, and 10to8 integrates with Gmail, Outlook, iCal, and more. Patients can receive email and text message reminders. Users can maintain multiple calendars, if necessary, and can store notes, questionnaires, and other patient data.
Booking buttons and forms can be embedded into existing websites, and practices can also access a direct chat feature to talk with patients. Reporting features allow practices to track confirmed appointments, unpaid bills, and more. 10to8 also provides multi-language support and allows users to customize their dashboard with some of their pricing plans.
The free version of this scheduling software includes SMS and email reminders for patients, two-way calendar sync, online payments, and integrations with over 1,500 other applications. It includes two staff logins and comes with 100 appointments per month.
The free version doesn’t include customizable branding, so if a practice needs that or more than two staff logins, 10to8 has paid versions practices can upgrade to for an additional cost.
Email and phone support are offered.
Key features:
Appointment scheduling/online scheduling
Automated scheduling
Billing and invoicing
Confirmation and reminders
HIPAA compliance
Live chat
Mobile access
No-show tracking
Patient intake
Patient portal
Patient records management
Physician management
Recurring appointment
Video conferencing
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Picktime is a cloud-based appointment scheduling software solution that enables medical practices to streamline processes related to staff management, meetings, reservations, appointments, customers, and more. A medical office can utilize the platform to share booking links with a patient, send email or text reminders, and reschedule medical appointments using a drag-and-drop interface.
Picktime's online calendar allows healthcare professionals to book or rebook appointments per availability, manage holidays or leave using labels, and manage any recurring medical appointment across multiple locations. It lets users send custom SMS reminders about upcoming appointments to staff members and patients with the aim of reducing no-shows, double booking, and late check-in rates.
Picktime integrates with several third-party systems such as Facebook, WordPress, Stripe, Mailchimp, Weebly, and more. It lets practices request customer reviews, assign tasks to staff members, and manage permissions. Administrators can create, print, and download invoices with details about discounts, special offers, or products offered. It also helps businesses gain visibility into revenue and services on a centralized dashboard.
All of Picktime’s scheduling software features are unlocked immediately and are included in its free version. If a practice doesn’t have a website that has appointment scheduling, it offers a website creator as well.
Picktime is ideal for practices looking to move away from manual scheduling to a more automated system in order to decrease errors, such as double booking, that are caused by manual methods. It can also help improve staff management and reduce waiting times.
Key features:
Appointment scheduling and reminders
Automated scheduling
Billing and invoicing
Client management
Employee management
Group scheduling
Online booking and payments
Patient scheduling
Physician management
Recurring appointments
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Sagenda is a cloud-based medical appointment scheduling software solution designed for a variety of businesses, including medical practices. It offers appointment booking solutions so that any patient can easily schedule appointments.
Practices can use Sagenda to share appointment booking links with a patient and send email and text reminders. The tool gets downloaded and installed onto existing clinic or practice websites, so it’s ideal for practices that already have a website.
Sagenda is optimized for mobile devices as well, so patients will have a smooth experience no matter where they’re booking from. Other features include unlimited appointment scheduling, email notifications to confirm and remind patients about an upcoming patient appointment, customizable service options, repeating scheduling, and reservation management.
Sagenda is simple and clean, and integrates as a plugin with a variety of different applications such as any HTML website, API, Drupal, Facebook, JavaScript, Joomla!, Squarespace, Typo3, Weebly, Wix, and WordPress.
The software is totally free, so users get access to every single feature right away.
While not the most robust solution as far as features are concerned, Sagenda does offer a clean medical scheduling software system that is completely free. It’s easy to integrate and if all a practice needs is appointment scheduling and simple email reminders, it will be set.
Key features:
Appointment scheduling
Confirmation reminders
Online booking
Patient scheduling
Physician management
Trial/Free Version
- Free Trial
- Free Version
Device compatibility
Setmore is another cloud-based scheduling software platform designed for a variety of business sizes and industries. Again, though, it works perfectly fine for medical practices as a software scheduling tool.
Setmore’s customizable online booking page makes it simple to connect with patients for free. Practices can embed the online appointment booking functionality into their website or Facebook page.
Healthcare organizations can list availability and services offered, accept appointments 24/7, send automated appointment service reminders via email, and receive real-time updates about any upcoming medical appointment on either desktop or mobile. Other features include an online calendar, dashboard for staff member hours and costs, and push notifications.
The software also integrates with Teleport.video, allowing users to meet with clients virtually. Users can increase traffic to booking pages by adding a "book now" button to their website and social media platforms.
The free version is limited to up to four staff members, but also includes unlimited appointments, email reminders, payments with Square, a custom booking page, video meeting integration, and social media integration.
If text reminders are crucial for a practice’s success, SMS reminders are available, but only for paid users. If a practice does want to upgrade, it’s relatively inexpensive at just $9 per user, per month for one to two users, and just $5 per user, per month for three or more users. Both of the paid versions unlock every feature.
Key features:
Appointment management
Appointment scheduling/automated scheduling
Calendar and reminder system
Client database
Online booking and payments
Patient scheduling
Physician management
Point of sale (POS)
Real-time scheduling
Recurring appointments
Website integration
Additional resources for your medical scheduling software hunt
Our list of the top four free medical scheduling software systems can get you started on your software search. Reducing the missed appointment number is important for healthcare providers to not only provide a better patient experience, but to save money. To choose the one that best fits your needs, follow these steps:
Try out the features of the free versions and get feedback from your team members before deciding to upgrade.
Be sure to check out pricing information on Capterra's software directory as well as vendor websites.
Read user reviews for specific products in Capterra's directory and explore other highly-rated medical scheduling software tools.