Slotly vs Timely
Timely is purpose-built for hair salons, spas, and beauty businesses, and it shows — strong client histories, consultation and patch-test tracking, and stock/retail features that beauty pros genuinely lean on. Slotly is a broader appointment platform rather than a beauty-only suite: it covers the core booking, payments, deposits, and reminders any appointment business needs, with per-provider and per-room availability, calendar-first design, and flat pricing that doesn't climb per seat. If you're a beauty business that lives inside retail stock and consultation records, Timely is a natural fit; if you want a clean, calendar-native booking layer that isn't locked to one vertical, Slotly is the leaner choice.
Slotly vs Timely: feature by feature
| Feature | Slotly | Timely |
|---|---|---|
| Online booking page | ✓ | ✓ |
| Take payments / deposits | Built in (Stripe) | ✓ |
| No-show protection | Deposit or card on file | ✓ |
| SMS + email reminders | ✓ | ✓ |
| Google & Outlook calendar sync | ✓ | ✓ |
| Per-provider & per-room availability | ✓ | ✓ |
| Round-robin / collective events | ✓ | ✕ |
| Routing forms | ✓ | ✕ |
| Custom domain booking page | ✓ | ✕ |
| Retail stock / point-of-sale | ✕ | ✓ |
| Open / self-hostable core | Yes (Cal.com engine) | ✕ |
Why choose Slotly
- Payments, deposits, and no-show protection are built in, not vertical add-ons
- Team scheduling Timely doesn't focus on — round-robin, collective, and routing forms
- Calendar-first design with two-way Google and Outlook/Microsoft 365 sync
- Custom booking slug and custom domain, with branding removable on Pro
- Flat, predictable pricing that doesn't balloon per seat or per vertical module
Slotly trade-offs
- Not a full beauty/practice suite — no retail stock, POS hardware, or membership-management module
- Newer, less-known brand than an established beauty-industry incumbent
- No one-click importer from Timely — client lists and services are recreated or imported manually
- Smaller third-party app marketplace, though core integrations are covered
Timely strengths
- Purpose-built for salons, spas, and beauty businesses, with workflows tailored to that world
- Rich client management — histories, consultation notes, and patch-test/formula records
- Built-in retail stock and point-of-sale features beauty businesses actually use
- Established, recognized brand in the beauty and wellness industry
Timely weaknesses
- Designed around beauty/wellness — heavier than needed if you just want a clean booking layer
- Lacks team-routing patterns like round-robin, collective events, and routing forms
- No self-hostable or open core, so less data portability
- Vertical-suite pricing bundles modules you may not use
How to migrate from Timely
- Export your service list and staff from Timely, noting durations, buffers, prices, and which staff or rooms each service uses.
- Recreate your services in Slotly as event types, and set per-provider and per-room availability so real capacity carries over.
- Connect the same Google or Outlook calendar so existing appointments and availability sync in.
- Turn on Stripe payments and deposits, and enable SMS + email reminders with one-tap confirm/reschedule.
- Set your booking page slug (and a custom domain if you want), then replace your Timely booking links on your site, social profiles, and Google Business listing.
- Run both in parallel for a week, confirm bookings and reminders flow cleanly, then retire Timely.
Choose Timely if your business runs on beauty-specific workflows — detailed consultation and formula records, retail stock, and point-of-sale under one roof — because it's built precisely for that world. Choose Slotly if you want a clean, calendar-native booking layer that isn't locked to the beauty vertical: built-in payments, deposits, no-show protection, and reminders, plus team routing (round-robin, collective, routing forms) and flat pricing that doesn't climb per seat. In short, Timely is the specialist salon-and-spa suite; Slotly is the flexible appointment platform for businesses that want booking done well without the full retail/practice-management package.
Start free with SlotlySlotly vs Timely: FAQs
Is Slotly a good Timely alternative?
It depends on what you need. For core booking — a public page, payments and deposits, no-show protection, and SMS/email reminders — Slotly covers the same ground with a cleaner calendar-first design and flat pricing. Where Timely wins is beauty-specific depth: detailed client consultation records, patch-test/formula history, and built-in retail stock and point-of-sale. If those beauty features are central to how you work, Timely may still be the better fit.
Can I import my Timely setup into Slotly?
There's no one-click importer. You recreate your services as event types and set staff and room availability, then connect the same Google or Outlook calendar so existing bookings and availability carry over. Most single-location businesses can move over in an afternoon; client records are migrated manually or via export.
Does Slotly handle salon and spa bookings like Timely?
For the booking side, yes — per-provider and per-room availability, deposits and card-on-file no-show protection, group and capacity events, and automated reminders. What Slotly does not include is a full beauty suite: there's no retail stock, POS hardware, or membership-management module, so if you run inventory and retail through your booking tool, Timely is built for that and Slotly is not.
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