Amelia is a WordPress appointment booking plugin built for service-based businesses — clinics, salons, consulting firms, and fitness studios. Unlike traditional event management plugins that focus on listing and calendar display, Amelia handles the full booking workflow: customers select a service, pick an available time slot from a real-time calendar, complete payment, and receive automated confirmations. The plugin includes front-end booking forms, employee scheduling with buffer times, and a dedicated customer dashboard. It uses Vue.js for the admin panel and React for the customer-facing booking form, making the interface responsive without full-page reloads. This puts it in a different category from event listing plugins like The Events Calendar, which focus on publishing event schedules rather than managing individual bookings.
The plugin supports multiple payment gateways out of the box including Stripe, PayPal, and WooCommerce. It integrates with Zoom and Google Calendar for automatic meeting creation, and sends email and SMS notifications via built-in templates or webhook-based providers. For developers, Amelia exposes REST API endpoints for custom integration and filter hooks for extending the booking validation flow.
Competitive Features
- Real-time availability — service providers set their working hours, and the calendar blocks off booked slots automatically
- Multiple service types — individual appointments, recurring bookings, package deals, and full-day events
- Payment integration — Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Square, Razorpay, and WooCommerce payment methods
- Google Calendar sync — two-way synchronization with Google Calendar for providers and customers
- Zoom integration — automatic meeting link generation with unique meeting IDs per booking
- Customizable notification system — email and SMS templates with placeholders, triggered on booking status changes
- Customer panel — dedicated front-end area where customers can view, reschedule, or cancel their appointments
Key Features
- Booking form shortcode — embed a multi-step booking form on any page with
[amelia]shortcode, supporting service selection, calendar picker, and payment in one flow - Employee management — create staff profiles with individual schedules, services, and buffer times between appointments
- Recurring appointments — customers can book weekly or monthly recurring slots with automatic series generation
- Custom fields — add custom form fields per service, including file uploads, dropdowns, and text fields
- Coupon system — percentage or fixed discounts with usage limits and expiration dates
- REST API — full CRUD endpoints for appointments, employees, services, and customers
- GDPR compliance — data retention policies, consent checkboxes, and export functionality for customer data
Comparison with Competitors
Amelia vs The Events Calendar Pro
| Aspect | Amelia | The Events Calendar Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Appointment booking | Event publishing |
| Booking workflow | Yes (service → time → pay) | No (listing only) |
| Payment processing | Stripe, PayPal, WooCommerce | Via tickets add-on |
| Employee schedules | Yes | No |
| Customer dashboard | Yes (front-end) | No |
| Recurring bookings | Yes | Yes (event series) |
| API | REST endpoints + hooks | REST endpoints |
Bottom line: These are complementary tools, not direct competitors. Use Amelia if you need customers to book specific time slots with a service provider. Use The Events Calendar for publishing event schedules and selling tickets. For a combined solution, Amelia handles the appointment side while The Events Calendar handles the event listing side.
Amelia vs Modern Events Calendar Pro
| Aspect | Amelia | Modern Events Calendar Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Booking engine | Built-in appointment booking | Event booking with time slots |
| Service categories | Yes (hierarchical) | Yes (taxonomy-based) |
| Employee calendar | Yes (per-staff) | No |
| Front-end submission | No | Yes (events from users) |
| Recurring events | Yes (appointments) | Yes (event recurrence) |
| Zoom integration | Automatic meeting creation | Via add-on |
Bottom line: Modern Events Calendar is stronger for community event sites where users submit their own events. Amelia is better for service businesses managing employee schedules and customer bookings.
Recommended Stack: For service businesses that sell appointment packages, integrate Amelia with WooCommerce Subscriptions to offer recurring membership plans or prepaid appointment packages.
Official Changelog (3 Last Versions)
Amelia is a premium plugin not listed on WordPress.org. Changelog data is sourced from the official Amelia website.
Version 8.2.0
Release Date: August 15, 2026
- Added new service categories with custom duration and price overrides
- Improved Google Calendar sync with event color mapping
- Fixed booking validation conflict with custom field dependencies
Version 8.1.0
Release Date: July 28, 2026
- New customer panel redesign with appointment history filtering
- Added WooCommerce HPOS compatibility for payment integration
- Fixed time zone handling for recurring appointments crossing DST
Version 8.0.0
Release Date: July 10, 2026
- Complete admin panel rewrite with Vue.js 3 composition API
- New REST API endpoints for appointment rescheduling and cancellation
- Performance optimization for large employee rosters (500+ staff)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Amelia suitable for a single-doctor clinic?
Yes. Amelia works for any scale from a single provider to hundreds of employees. For a small clinic, you set up one employee profile, define services and durations, embed the booking form on your contact page, and let customers book directly. The Google Calendar sync ensures you never double-book.
Does Amelia integrate with WooCommerce?
Yes. Amelia connects to WooCommerce for payment processing, allowing customers to pay for appointments using any WooCommerce payment gateway. The WooCommerce integration also creates order records for each booking, giving you a complete purchase history in the WooCommerce admin.
Can customers book recurring appointments?
Yes. Amelia supports recurring appointments where customers can book weekly or monthly slots in a single transaction. The recurring series is created automatically, and customers can manage their entire series from the customer dashboard. This is useful for ongoing therapy sessions, fitness classes, or consulting retainers.
What payment methods does Amelia support?
Amelia supports Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Square, and Razorpay directly, plus WooCommerce which opens up all WooCommerce payment gateways including bank transfers, cash on delivery, and offline payment methods. Partial payments and deposits are supported for services that require upfront payment.
How does Amelia handle time zones?
Amelia stores all appointments in UTC and converts them to the customer’s local time zone based on browser detection. Service providers can set their own time zone in their profile. The Google Calendar sync respects time zone offsets, and notifications include time zone information to prevent confusion.
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