Service businesses need booking software that understands employees, resources, and schedules — not just a calendar form. Amelia is the enterprise-tier option: multi-employee scheduling, services and packages, events with ticketing, customer panels, and payment integrations from Stripe to Mollie and Razorpay. For salon, clinic, and agency workflows it competes directly with lighter tools like Vik Booking Pro — but where Vik Booking targets accommodation, Amelia is built for appointments.
The 9.x line shows the product maturing. The 9.8 release added full white-label rebranding with a SuperAdmin role — a feature agencies have asked for for years — and booking form shortcodes now render visual previews in Gutenberg, Elementor, and Divi 5 instead of raw text.
Competitive Features
- Multi-employee scheduling. Employees with individual schedules, services, breaks, and days off, plus per-employee service assignments.
- White label. Agencies can fully rebrand Amelia with a new SuperAdmin role, centralized branding settings, and hidden Amelia-specific links and shortcodes.
- Events with ticketing. Run events alongside appointments in the same system, with public event pages and capacity control.
- Booking form previews. Shortcodes display visual previews in Gutenberg, Elementor, and Divi 5 editors.
- Packages. Sell service bundles with per-package pricing and savings calculations.
- Wide payment coverage. Stripe (including Apple Pay and Google Pay), Mollie, Razorpay, on-site payments, and waiting-list-aware flows.
- Customer panel. Self-service booking management for clients with passwordless login.
- WhatsApp notifications. Notification templates for the booking lifecycle, including coupon placeholder lookups.
Key Features
- Payment resilience. Recent releases fixed edge cases where bookings failed with disabled payment methods, on-site gateway rejections via API, and duplicate orders during WooCommerce checkout races.
- Employee Panel attachments. Customer files uploaded through custom fields download directly from the Employee Panel.
- Variable pricing display. An optional “From” price prefix communicates pricing ranges for services.
- Waiting list logic. Waiting-list bookings work correctly with online-only payment setups.
- Security posture. Security fixes ship in nearly every release, with explicit “update immediately” recommendations when vulnerabilities close.
- Catalog booking form. An “All” services view lets customers browse the full service catalog.
- Customer activity view. All appointments and events booked by a specific customer, visible in one place.
- Zoom integration. Virtual meetings attach automatically to booked services when enabled.
Comparison with Competitors
Amelia vs Vik Booking Pro
| Feature | Amelia | Vik Booking Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | Appointments and events | Hotel/accommodation PMS |
| Multi-employee | Core feature | Less central |
| White label | Yes (9.8+) | Not built in |
| Payment gateways | Stripe, Mollie, Razorpay, more | 60+ via own framework |
| Channel management | No | Yes, certified OTA connections |
| Best for | Salons, clinics, agencies | Hotels, B&Bs, rentals |
Both are serious systems. The choice follows the business model: appointments go to Amelia, rooms go to Vik Booking.
Amelia vs Bookly Pro
| Feature | Amelia | Bookly Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Booking UX | Modern step-by-step forms | Classic step flow |
| Events | Built in with ticketing | Separate addon |
| Packages | Built in | Addon |
| White label | Yes | Pro addon |
| Editor previews | Gutenberg, Elementor, Divi 5 | Gutenberg basic |
| Notifications | WhatsApp templates | SMS via addons |
Bookly is modular — you assemble the feature set from addons. Amelia bundles the complete stack, which is simpler to manage and often cheaper overall.
Recommended Stack — bookings generate customer data worth keeping. Amelia pairs with FluentCRM for follow-up marketing, and MonsterInsights to see which channels actually drive bookings.
Official Changelog
Version 9.8.2
Release Date: September 9, 2026
- Fixed: Bookings failed when all payment methods were disabled for an entity; the default payment method from General Settings is now applied instead.
- Fixed: API bookings using the on-site payment gateway were incorrectly rejected with a payment error when on-site payments were disabled for the entity.
- Fixed: Waiting list bookings failed when only online payment methods were enabled.
- Fixed: Booking deletion was triggered incorrectly when navigating back in the browser during the Mollie payment flow.
- Fixed: Resolved security vulnerabilities and implemented additional security improvements.
- Additional minor bug fixes and overall stability improvements.
Version 9.8.1
Release Date: August 26, 2026
- Fixed: The Packages step was missing from the Step-by-step booking form when only one employee existed or was preselected via shortcode.
- Fixed: Bookings failed when using Stripe payments with Google reCAPTCHA enabled.
- Fixed: An issue with the IvyForms integration.
- Fixed: Resolved security vulnerabilities.
- Additional minor bug fixes and overall stability improvements.
Version 9.8
Release Date: August 17, 2026
- Feature: White Label — agencies can now fully rebrand Amelia with a new SuperAdmin role, centralized branding settings, and hidden Amelia-specific links and shortcodes.
- Feature: Booking form preview — shortcodes now display a visual preview directly in the Gutenberg, Elementor, and Divi 5 editors instead of raw shortcode text.
- Improvement: Added support for additional payment methods through Stripe.
- Improvement: Uploaded customer files attached through custom fields can now be downloaded directly from the Employee Panel.
- Improvement: Added an optional “From” price prefix for services with variable pricing.
- Improvement: Coupon placeholder search in WhatsApp notifications now uses remote loading, matching other notification channels.
- Fixed: Past events were incorrectly displayed as upcoming.
- Fixed: Passwordless login to the Customer Panel failed when HTTP Basic Authentication was enabled.
- Fixed: Razorpay bookings were not created if payment succeeded but the browser was closed immediately afterward.
- Fixed: Free time slots were unavailable during WooCommerce checkout.
- Fixed: A race condition in WooCommerce checkout that could create duplicate orders.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of businesses is Amelia designed for?
Any appointment-based business: salons, clinics, spas, consultants, agencies, and training centers. It also runs events with ticketing, so businesses that mix appointments and events manage both in one system.
Does it support multiple employees with individual schedules?
Yes. Each employee has their own working hours, breaks, days off, and assigned services. The booking form shows only the time slots that match the selected employee’s real availability.
Can agencies rebrand the plugin?
Yes. The 9.8 release introduced full white-labeling: a new SuperAdmin role, centralized branding settings, and the ability to hide Amelia-specific links and shortcodes from clients.
Which payment methods are supported?
Stripe (including Apple Pay and Google Pay), Mollie, Razorpay, on-site payments, and more. Recent releases hardened the edge cases around disabled payment methods and waiting-list bookings.
Do customers manage their own bookings?
Yes. The Customer Panel gives clients self-service access to their appointments, with passwordless login supported.
Is the GPL version the complete plugin?
Yes. The download includes the full enterprise feature set — employees, packages, events, payments, and white label — for unlimited sites under the GPL.
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