As of 13 August 2026, AI can choose booking software for your UK business.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open a spreadsheet or document and record your business type, services, staff availability, booking rules, customer channels, required integrations, budget and migration constraints.
   2. Open the official websites, pricing pages, terms, privacy notices and security or data-processing pages for the booking systems you are considering, then copy the relevant text and links into the chatbot with your requirements.
   3. Paste the supplied prompt and ask the chatbot to build a comparison table that separates verified supplier facts, supplier claims and unknowns.
   4. Remove any option that fails a must-have such as required payments, calendar integration, cancellation handling, accessibility, data handling or staff permissions.
   5. Open the remaining suppliers in separate browser tabs and compare the drafted prices, features, contract terms and data-processing statements against the current official pages before accepting the shortlist.
   6. Create test accounts or trials for the remaining options and run a real booking journey from customer booking through confirmation, payment, cancellation, rescheduling, staff calendar updates and reporting.
   7. Ask the chatbot to update the comparison with your test results, unresolved supplier answers and switching effort, then choose the option that meets every must-have and send the final questions to the supplier before signing.

   Prompt

   Act as a procurement analyst helping me choose booking software for a UK business. Do not make a recommendation until you have compared the options against my requirements. Business type: [describe the business and services]. People taking bookings: [number and roles]. Booking rules: [availability, appointment length, buffers, deposits, cancellations, refunds, recurring bookings, group bookings and waiting lists]. Customer channels: [website, phone, social media, Google or other channels]. Required integrations: [calendar, payments, accounting, CRM, marketing and video tools]. UK requirements: [GBP pricing, UK payment methods, VAT needs, UK data protection and any industry-specific needs]. Budget: [amount or range, and whether monthly or annual]. Existing system and migration needs: [details]. Must-have features: [list]. Nice-to-have features: [list]. Constraints: [staff skills, accessibility, branding, support and contract requirements]. Research the current official product pages, pricing pages, terms, security and data-processing information where available. Separate verified facts, supplier claims and unknowns. Compare at least five plausible options if enough exist, including total ongoing costs without inventing figures. Mark any price or feature that needs confirmation. Score each option against my must-haves, identify deal-breakers, explain the main risks, and recommend one option only if it passes the must-have checks. Then give me a shortlist table, questions to ask suppliers, a trial script using a realistic booking journey, and a final decision checklist. Do not claim that a product meets a requirement unless the source supports it, and do not treat a free trial as proof of production suitability.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.