Tarun Nagar 
In today’s fast-paced world, effective appointment management and scheduling play a crucial role in ensuring seamless operations while maintaining productivity. Scheduling multiple appointments is challenging due to frequent missed appointments, high call volumes, and coordination with members. A gap in this not only increases errors but also causes stress.
You cannot imagine a delay in your meetings and scheduled activities, right? Even a slight degree of negligence can lead to delays or rescheduling. With an appointment booking app, you can find an appointment scheduler that helps in simplifying your bookings.
In 2022, the global appointment scheduling software market size was valued at USD 470.7 million. The continuous growth rate of this market is projected to grow from USD 546.1 million in 2025 to USD 1,518.4 million by 2032.
So, through this blog, let’s find out how you can build an appointment booking app. This blog also discusses how integrating the best features will help you, as an entrepreneur, tackle the issues that users face in appointment booking.
Let’s dive into this blog and develop an appointment booking app to streamline the scheduling process.
What is Appointment Booking App?
An appointment booking app is a software that enables users to schedule meetings or book services. This app allows users to schedule appointments efficiently, saving their time and effort. With the help of an appointment booking app, users can set bookings or meetings and can even process online payments.
This app provides ease, comfort, and convenience, enabling consumers to book appointments promptly. So, entrepreneurs, if you are looking to invest in the appointment booking app market, then you must hire dedicated developers. This will provide you with ongoing support to develop a technologically advanced appointment booking app.
Appointment scheduling is a crucial component of service-based industries, including healthcare and wellness. In an increasingly technological world, people are highly reliant on technology to reduce manual effort.
The boom in this market is providing entrepreneurs with opportunities to build an appointment booking app. So, get..set…go and find out the ways through this blog to develop a successful app.
Overview of the Global Appointment App Market
- The market for appointment scheduling software is projected to grow from its 2024 valuation of USD 11 billion to USD 471.58 billion by 2032.
- The market is anticipated to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 90% from 2025 to 2032. This is primarily driven by the growing trend of digital transformation across various industries.
- The global appointment scheduling software market size in the year is valued at USD 7 million.
- In 2024, the market size of the doctor appointment booking apps market was valued at USD 1.5 billion.
Why Do Businesses Invest in an Appointment Booking App?
Technological advancements have dramatically increased the adoption of appointment scheduling apps in the market. These apps provide user-friendly scheduling solutions, playing a significant role in reducing no-show rates and enhancing the customer experience.
Let’s find out the actual reasons that are attracting many businesses to invest in an appointment booking app.
1. Convenience & Accessibility for Customers
The demand for appointment booking apps is increasing rapidly, as consumers nowadays prefer to book appointments at their convenience, regardless of the time of day. These apps offer users the facility to receive notifications and reminders, reducing no-shows.
On a global scale, the appointment scheduling app market is expected to reach USD 471.58 billion by 2032. This growth rate is attracting many investors to this market.
2. Saves Time & Reduces Administrative Work
Many entrepreneurs are making investments in this market to capitalize on opportunities to establish their businesses and offer appointment booking app services to various industries, such as healthcare.
Enterprises are focusing on AI-powered appointment scheduling solutions, through which they aim to maximize the consumer experience and reduce manual workload, thereby saving time and cost.
3. Improves Customer Experience & Loyalty
As an entrepreneur, if you want to invest in an appointment booking app, then you must be happy to know that these apps help consumers to book their appointments easily at a low cost. This increases the number of app users, which in turn improves sales and enhances consumer loyalty.
4. Boosts Business Efficiency & Productivity
By creating appointment booking apps, businesses are harnessing the ever-growing demand for automated appointment apps in the market. By offering cloud-based platforms with scalable and remote access, many investors are enhancing productivity while ensuring competitive growth in the market.
5. Increases Revenue
The increasing demand for mobile accessibility and personalized solutions has driven the growth rate of appointment booking apps in this market. AI-powered scheduling, cloud-based solutions, and integrations with multiple payment gateways are primarily the key drivers of this market.
Offering appointment app services to various industries facilitates entrepreneurs to expand their revenue sources.
How AI Improves an Appointment Booking App?
The global appointment booking app market has been dramatically transformed by Artificial Intelligence. AI has transformed the landscape of booking apps, with intelligent scheduling, personalized recommendations, resource optimization, AI chatbots, and voice assistant integration.
To transform simple bookings into an appointment booking app, AI is streamlining communication while ensuring real-time updates. With the help of AI chatbots, the efficiency of the booking appointment app is increasing as it offers instant support for users’ queries. From phone tag to instant booking and one-on-one call to scalable scheduling, AI is changing the landscape of booking apps.
With Artificial Intelligence, you can offer 24/7 appointment booking chatbots that are available through which users can make bookings anytime and anywhere.
How to develop an Appointment Booking App?
After learning about the growth opportunities offered by the global appointment booking app market, it is now time to understand the step-by-step process for developing the app.
So, entrepreneurs, let’s have a look at the ways through which you can develop a highly efficient appointment booking app for users in the market.
1. Planning and Budgeting
To develop an appointment booking app, proper planning is required as it helps in having an overview of the estimated budget. The process of planning and budgeting requires an in-depth analysis of competitors’ strategies, which further enhances understanding of market competition.
This stage concludes with a blueprint that outlines the technologies, app scope, vision, functionality, and the primary objective of your app.
Important Question |
| Why is market research necessary before development? |
| What tools can assist with market analysis? |
| How long should market research take? |
2. Select platform
The primary goal of this stage is to determine the platforms on which the app will be launched. Platforms like iOS, Web, and Android help you to reach a broad base of users. However, saving cost and time investment in cross-platform development is also beneficial.
Important Question |
| What are the platforms to launch an app? |
| Why is selecting a platform important? |
| What technologies are used in selecting platforms? |
3. UX/UI Design
Sketch, Axure, Framer, and Figma are key tools that improve user experiences. The mobile app development process requires the integration of UI/UX to create an attractive visual interface and enhance user experience. Creating prototypes and wireframes helps you to offer a smooth booking experience to users.
Important Question |
| Why is a UX design important in an appointment booking app? |
| What tools help in UX design? |
| How can you test UX early? |
4. Designing and Development
This is the stage where coding begins. With proper backend and support from a mobile and web app development company, you can maximize app design scalability and visibility.
Important Question |
| Why is designing and developing important? |
| What features are essential for an appointment booking app? |
| How long does app development take? |
5. Quality Assurance Testing
This stage focuses on ensuring that the app is built as per the predefined standards. In this, quality engineering teams collaborate with business analysts, developers, testers, and other stakeholders.
This process helps in assuring the quality of the appointment booking app. By connecting with Android app development services, entrepreneurs can implement continuous quality improvement plans.
Important Question |
| What methodology is best for app development? |
| What features are essential for an appointment booking app? |
| How often should testing be done? |
6. Launch and Post-launch services
If you think hard work was over after launching your app, then wait. Immediately after the appointment booking app launches, the appointment booking app management team begins collecting feedback to identify any loopholes. This helps make the app more effective following the required updates.
Important Question |
| What are the platforms to launch an app? |
| Why are ongoing support and updates necessary after launch? |
| How often should updates be released? |
10 Popular Appointment Booking Apps
As the appointment booking market continues to expand, several companies offer facilities in the market. Let’s have a look at popular appointment booking apps.
App Name |
Rating ⭐ |
Launch Year |
Available Platforms |
| Calendly | 4.6 | 2020 | Android, iOS |
| Setmore | 4.2 | 2013 | Android, iOS |
| Zoho Bookings | 3.9 | 2018 | Android, iOS |
| Fresha | 4.7 | 2017 | Android, iOS |
| Acuity Scheduling | 4.2 | 2017 | Android, iOS |
| Appointik | 4.6 | 2017 | Android, iOS |
| Doodle | 4.1 | 2015 | Android, iOS |
| Booksy Biz | 4.1 | 2014 | Android, iOS |
| SimplyBook.me | 3.9 | 2020 | Android, iOS |
| OneCalendar | 4.5 | 2018 | Android, iOS |
10 Basic and Advanced Features to Build an Appointment Booking App
Now, it’s time to reveal the best features that must be integrate in appointment booking applications. So, let’s take a look at the basic and advanced features:
1. Automated Notifications and Reminders
As a human, it is hard to remember every scheduled booking; here appointment booking app comes as a saviour. Syncing appointments with calendar applications, email platforms, with the help of advanced project management software like Asana, Trello, and Jira, provides automated reminders.
2. Secure Payment Processing Options
Research indicates that integrating built-in payment gateways enhances user satisfaction. The integration of multiple payment methods helps boost the app’s conversion rate.
Hybrid mobile app development companies in this stage help you to develop an appointment booking app with several in-built payment options. These companies use the tools mentioned below to mitigate the risk of fraud.
3. Video/Virtual Appointments
High-quality video streaming paved the way for an appointment booking app. These apps are widely used in industries such as healthcare.
4. Integration with Communication Tools
To make an appointment booking app, you need to hire dedicated developers. This will help entrepreneurs to ensure integration with Zoom, Google Meet, or the built-in video chat in the app.
5. Customizable Booking Pages
By partnering with an MVP development company, you can enhance the visibility of your desk booking software. These companies offer custom pages facilities that include typography, colors, logos, service descriptions, and videos, which help create a strong connection with users.
6. Seamless Two-Way Calendar Integration
Mobile and web app development companies, through a dedicated team of developers, integrate a two-way calendar booking platform with personal calendar apps like Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCal.
7. Mobile-Responsive Design
To create an appointment booking app, entrepreneurs need to have a responsive design that adapts to the device’s screen size. This helps start-ups to increase users’ convenience by providing them with an app optimized for smaller screens.
8. Zone and Time Management
The integration of advanced features, such as handling different time zones and daylight saving time changes, maximizes the scalability of your appointment booking app. Popular appointment booking apps reduce errors by offering app services to users in their local time zone.
9. Verified Patient Reviews & Ratings
To facilitate decision-making for users, it is essential to include a public forum section in your appointment booking app. To book appointment app, app users primarily rely on reviews and ratings. Verified patient reviews help you to influence the decision-making of users.
10. AI Chatbots
By partnering with an on-demand app development solution, you can experience virtual assistants and advanced capabilities like composing emails and drafting reports. AI chatbots in your app also offer instant responses to users’ queries.
The cost to build an Appointment Booking App
The appointment booking mobile app development cost is around $8,000 to $25,000. The cost to develop a Chatbot mainly differs based on the entrepreneur’s requirement to add basic, standard, or custom app features.
So, entrepreneurs, by examining the table below, let’s determine the cost of developing an appointment booking app.
App Type |
Estimated Cost |
Development Time |
| Basic MVP App | $8,000 – $12,000 | 2 – 3 Months |
| Standard App | $13,000 – $20,000 | 3 – 5 Months |
| Feature-Rich App | $20,000 – $25,000 | 5 – 6 Months |
| Custom Enterprise-Grade App | $26,000 – $30,000 | 6 – 8 Months |
Factors Affecting the Cost of Appointment Booking App
Several factors influence the overall cost of developing appointment booking apps. Factors like features, platforms, and UI/UX design are among them. You need to understand the importance of these factors and integrate them into your app as required.
1. App Features and Complexity
By seeking professional support from Doctor-on-demand app development companies, you can integrate secure sign-up/login and basic profile information without any complexity. However, adding advanced features such as AI recommendations and loyalty programs increases future costs.
Feature Complexity |
Development Cost |
Timeline |
| Basic Listings & Search | $3,000 – $5,000 | 1 – 1.5 Months |
| Intermediate (Chat, Filters, Profile) | $6,000 – $10,000 | 2 – 3 Months |
| Advanced (AI, AR, Blockchain) | $6,000 – $10,000 | 3 – 4 Months |
2. Platform(s) Targeted
It is essential to consider the platforms on which you will launch your online appointment booking app. Several platforms, including Android, iOS, and the Web, have separate costs. Additionally, using a cross-platform framework is comparatively more expensive than others.
Feature Complexity |
Development Cost |
Timeline |
| iOS or Android only | $3,000 – $5,000 | 1 – 1.5 Months |
| Both (Native) | $6,000 – $10,000 | 2 – 3 Months |
| Cross-Platform | $6,000 – $10,000 | 3 – 4 Months |
3. UI/UX Design
The app for booking appointments needs to be visually attractive to attract more users. However, the cost associated with highly interactive, custom, and animated designs is higher than that of a simple design.Experienced designers utilize UI tools such as Sketch, Adobe XD, and Figma to craft high-quality user interfaces.
Feature Complexity |
Development Cost |
Timeline |
| Basic UI | $1,500 – $2,500 | 2 – 3 Weeks |
| Custom & Responsive UI/UX | $3,000 – $5,000 | 1 – 1.5 Months |
| High-End Interactive Design | $6,000 – $8,000 | 2 Months |
4. Third-Party Integrations
So, entrepreneurs, if you’re looking to build your appointment booking app, consider connecting with IT consulting services. Professionals of these services utilize feasible integration tools, such as Boomi, to develop a strong connection between two or more applications. However, any additional feature directly increases your overall app development cost.
Feature Complexity |
Development Cost |
Timeline |
| Basic Backend (CRUD APIs) | $2,500 – $4,000 | 2 – 3 Weeks |
| Scalable Backend + DB | $5,000 – $8,000 | 1 – 1.5 Months |
| Third-party Integrations | $4,000 – $7,000 | 1 – 2 Months |
5. Testing & Quality Assurance
To create an appointment booking app, one crucial consideration is to ensure that app testing is conducted efficiently. Entrepreneurs need to hire mobile app developers so that the responsiveness of their app can be tested on real devices.
This will help in determining issues with layout and other challenges. However, resolving issues will cost more than the expected budget for app development.
Feature Complexity |
Development Cost |
Timeline |
| Manual Testing Only | $1,000 – $2,000 | 2 Weeks |
| Manual + Automated Testing | $2,000 – $4,000 | 3 – 4 Weeks |
| Advanced Testing + Security Audits | $4,000 – $6,000 | 1 Month |
6. Maintenance and Updates
To make an appointment booking app highly efficient, regular maintenance is required. In this, mobile and app development companies conduct bug fixes, feature improvements, ongoing OS compatibility updates, and security updates. However, add-on maintenance increases cost.
Feature Complexity |
Development Cost |
Timeline |
| Basic (Bug Fixes, Minor Updates) | $2,000 – $3,000 | Ongoing Monthly |
| Standard (Feature Updates, Monitoring) | $4,000 – $6,000 | Ongoing Monthly |
| Premium (24/7 Support) | $7,000 – $10,000 | Ongoing Monthly |
How To Make Money From an Appointment Booking App?
So now, as you all know the cost to develop an appointment booking app, it’s time to understand how you can generate revenue while assuring continuous support and development of your appointment booking app.
1. Subscription-Based Model
This is a widely accepted monetization model, where you can offer your users exclusive access to premium tools and features. This strategy enables start-ups to establish a reliable income stream, ensuring their longevity in the market.
2. In-App Purchase
This is one of the commonly used monetisation strategies in which users can use real money to purchase features or items. Start-ups can integrate in-app purchase options for users by partnering with iOS app development companies. It offers benefits to entrepreneurs, including repeat customers.
3. In-App Advertising
For better results and targeting capabilities, this monetisation strategy will help you to drive revenue in the market. By paying extra to your mobile and app development companies, you can generate a source of revenue from your appointment booking app. Developers integrate video ads, banner ads, text ads, and interstitial ads into the app, resulting in higher reach.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, building an appointment booking app requires a systematic approach that starts with defining the business objectives and selecting the right mobile and app development partner.
The cost to build an appointment booking app varies based on several factors, including third-party integrations, UI/UX design, app feature maintenance, updates, and more. It is essential to understand the significance of all these factors to implement in the booking app according to your requirements.
FAQs
Q1. What’s the average cost of developing an appointment booking app?
The average cost which is required to build an appointment booking app is $8,000 to $25,000. This cost fluctuates based on UI/UX design, developers’ costs, app maintenance, and updates.
Q2. How long does it take to build an appointment booking app?
To build an appointment booking app, nearly 2-3 months are required. However, mobile app maintenance services requires regular updates, and if any issues or gap are identified, it may take more time.
Q3. What features are essential for an appointment booking app?
Some of the key features that are crucial for your appointment booking app are secure payment processing options, video/virtual appointments, and customizable booking pages.
Q4. How does an appointment booking app make money?
To make money from an appointment booking app, you select the suitable one from several strategies that include in-app purchase, subscription-based model, and in-app advertising.
