SimplyBook.me vs Timely
Both columns come from each company's own website. "Not published" means we could not find it there.
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 3.2/5 (15 of 24 checks) | 3.4/5 (16 of 24 checks) |
| What it is | General online booking system with a booking website, payments and add-on custom features | Booking, payments and consultation forms software for hair, beauty and aesthetic clinics |
| Starting price | Free plan; Basic $13.9/mo billed monthly | $26 per staff/mo |
| How it charges | Free plan, or a monthly or annual subscription tiered by bookings and providers | Monthly subscription per bookable staff member, plus a fee per card transaction |
| Setup fee | None required; an optional Full Setup service is $499 one time | Not published |
| Extra costs | Not published | Card reader transactions at 2.29% + 30¢ plus the cost of the reader; online payments at 2.80% + 30¢ |
| Minimum term | No contract; pay monthly or annually | No fixed-term contract |
| Cancellation | A paid subscription can be cancelled at any time; purchases are final and non-refundable except at the company's discretion | Fees are charged monthly in advance and are non-refundable; no refunds or credits for partial use |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Free demo or audit | Yes | Yes |
| Coverage | Businesses in 200+ countries | Not published |
| Founded | 2009 | 2011 |
| Support | Live chat, Email, Help center | Help centre, Help form, Requested call |
| Support hours | Live chat 24 hours a day on weekdays; chat answered twice a day at weekends | Not published |
| Pricing transparency | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Terms and commitment | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| Med spa fit | 1.0 | 3.0 |
| Proof and track record | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| Support and onboarding | 3.8 | 2.5 |
The short version
SimplyBook.me is a general online booking system with a booking website, payments and optional custom features, sold in tiered monthly plans to service businesses, spa salons among them. Timely sells booking, payments and digital consultation forms to hair, beauty and aesthetic clinics, priced per bookable staff member plus a fee per card transaction. Both publish a 14-day free trial and no fixed-term contract. On med spa evidence, Timely has an aesthetic clinic page and a named skin clinic customer, while SimplyBook.me's site has a spa salon page and names no med spa clients.
Pricing
SimplyBook.me publishes a free plan with 50 bookings, 1 provider and 1 custom feature, then three plans priced by bookings and providers: Basic at $13.9/mo billed monthly or $11.9/mo billed annually, Standard at $29.9/mo or $24.9/mo, and Premium at $59.9/mo or $49.9/mo. Standard is the first tier with HIPAA features. A custom Enterprise plan adds multi-location access and an account manager. No setup fee is required; an optional Full Setup service is a $499 one-time fee. Its site does not publish card processing rates.
Timely prices three plans per bookable staff member: Build at $26 per staff/mo, Elevate at $39 and Innovate at $47, with 100, 200 and 350 SMS per month included. Its published extra costs are card reader transactions at 2.29% + 30¢ plus the reader, and online payments at 2.80% + 30¢. Its site does not state a setup fee.
Work out both totals for your own headcount and booking volume.
Contract and cancellation
SimplyBook.me says there are no long-term binding contracts and that you choose monthly or annual billing. Its terms let you cancel a paid subscription at any time, with purchases final and non-refundable except at the company's discretion.
Timely says there are no obligations or fixed-term contracts, just one monthly subscription. Its terms charge fees monthly in advance, non-refundable, with no refunds or credits for partial use.
On getting data out, SimplyBook.me's site says clients can be exported to Excel. Timely's site does not state a data export.
Built for med spas
Timely has an aesthetic clinic page and lists digital consultation forms, client photos and documents, before and after photos, aftercare follow-up messages, and deposits to secure bookings. It publishes a customer story from Loft Skin Clinic.
SimplyBook.me has a spa salon page, no med spa page and names no med spa clients. It does publish a HIPAA position: HIPAA features are available from the Standard plan, are off by default, and compliance is the customer's responsibility. Timely's site does not state a HIPAA position.
On booking basics, SimplyBook.me lists recurring appointments, memberships, packages and gift cards, intake forms and a waiting list. Timely lists deposits and cancellation fees, a waitlist, add-on services at booking, booking buttons for Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, and targeted SMS campaigns.
Which one to look at first
Look at SimplyBook.me first if you want to start on a free plan, price by booking volume and number of providers rather than per staff member, and see a published HIPAA position and client export before you pay.
Look at Timely first if you want per-staff pricing, an aesthetic clinic page, digital consultation forms and before and after photos, and a named skin clinic customer. Ask it two things its site does not answer: whether it supports HIPAA compliance, and how you export your data.
Neither site publishes a case study with a stated result, so ask each for a reference practice of your size. See every option in booking and payments software.
Scores count what each vendor publishes, not how well it performs. How we score.
Questions and answers
Which is cheaper, SimplyBook.me or Timely?
At the published starting prices, SimplyBook.me has the lower headline: a free plan, then Basic at $13.9/mo billed monthly, priced by bookings and providers. Timely starts at $26 per staff/mo, so its total grows with each bookable staff member. Timely also publishes processing rates of 2.29% + 30¢ on card reader transactions and 2.80% + 30¢ online, while SimplyBook.me's site does not publish processing rates.
Do SimplyBook.me and Timely require a contract?
Neither site requires a fixed-term contract. SimplyBook.me says there are no long-term binding contracts and that you choose monthly or annual billing, and its terms let you cancel a paid subscription at any time. Timely says there are no obligations or fixed-term contracts, just one monthly subscription. Both publish non-refundable terms: SimplyBook.me makes purchases final and non-refundable except at its discretion, and Timely charges fees monthly in advance, non-refundable, with no refunds or credits for partial use.
Do SimplyBook.me or Timely support HIPAA compliance?
SimplyBook.me's site says HIPAA features are available from the Standard plan, are not active by default, and that compliance remains the customer's responsibility. Timely's site does not state a HIPAA position. Whichever you pick, ask for a signed BAA before you load patient data.
Which of SimplyBook.me or Timely shows more med spa evidence?
Timely's site has an aesthetic clinic page and lists digital consultation forms, client photos and documents, before and after photos and aftercare follow-up messages, plus a customer story from Loft Skin Clinic. SimplyBook.me has a spa salon page and lists intake forms, memberships, packages and gift cards, but no med spa page. Its HIPAA features start on the Standard plan at $29.9/mo billed monthly.