Microsoft Bookings alternative: when is it time to switch?

Microsoft Bookings comes with most Microsoft 365 business plans, so for many businesses it is the booking tool they already have. It works with Outlook, creates a Teams link for online appointments, and costs nothing extra if you already pay for Microsoft 365. For a lot of teams, that is enough.

Businesses that take paid appointments from customers, such as clinics, salons, consultancies and law firms, often hit the same limits, though: no way to take payment when someone books, a booking page that looks like Microsoft rather than like them, and extra work as soon as there is a second address. This post looks at when Bookings is the right choice, where it falls short, and what to look for if you switch. Details about Bookings are from Microsoft’s own documentation as of October 2026.

What Microsoft Bookings does well

• It is already in your plan. Bookings is included in Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Business Standard and Business Premium, and in most Enterprise and Education plans (Microsoft Learn).
• Outlook and Teams are built in. Bookings works with your staff’s Outlook calendars, and every appointment booked as an online meeting gets its own Teams link.
• Your data stays in Microsoft 365. Bookings stores its data in Exchange Online and follows the same data storage policies as the rest of Microsoft 365. Wherever your Microsoft 365 data is stored, your Bookings data is stored too.
• It suits internal meetings. You can limit a booking page to people with an account in your organisation, which works well for IT support, training or HR meetings.

When to stay with Bookings

If all of these apply to you, Bookings is probably the better choice, and switching would only add a cost:

• You already pay for Microsoft 365, and it is where your team works.
• Most bookings are internal meetings or free consultations.
• You have one location, and a standard Microsoft booking page is fine for your customers.

Common reasons to switch

No payment or deposit at booking

Bookings has no built-in way to take a payment or a deposit when a customer books. It used to offer online payments, but Microsoft retired the feature, as a Microsoft community moderator confirmed, and the current documentation lists no payment option. If no-shows cost you money, or you sell paid sessions, you have to collect payment some other way.

It comes with Microsoft 365

Bookings is part of a Microsoft 365 subscription, and Microsoft 365 business plans are priced per user. If your business runs on Google Workspace, or the booking page is all you need, that is a subscription for a tool you don’t otherwise use.

Basic branding

On the booking page you can add your logo and pick a colour theme (Microsoft Learn). The layout is Microsoft’s, and the page lives at an outlook.office365.com address. For an internal page that doesn’t matter. For a salon or a clinic, whose booking page is its shop window, it may.

SMS reminders only in some countries

Bookings sends email confirmations and reminders everywhere. SMS notifications are only available in North America and the United Kingdom, and need an extra Teams Premium licence (service description). Elsewhere, Bookings reminds customers by email. So does Tempari: it sends email reminders only, so if SMS is a must for you, it won’t solve that either.

More than one location

Each shared booking page in Bookings is its own calendar with its own mailbox. A second address therefore usually means a second booking page, with its own services, staff and settings to set up and keep in step.

What to look for in an alternative

• Outlook calendar sync, so bookings land in the calendar your staff already use
• A Teams link per booking, created automatically, not one fixed link pasted into every invitation
• Payment or a deposit at booking, for paid services and to cut no-shows
• Request-to-book, so you can approve some bookings before they are confirmed
• Hosting in the EU and a data processing agreement, since your customers’ data moves to a new supplier
• How the price grows: per user, like Microsoft 365, or flat per business or branch
• A booking page per location, if you have more than one address

Microsoft Bookings vs Tempari

Tempari is a booking system built in Denmark for businesses that live off appointments. It syncs with Outlook, and online services get a Teams link automatically once you connect Outlook with a Microsoft 365 work or school account. Your team keeps working in Outlook and Teams; only the booking side changes.

Tempari prices exclude VAT. Team includes unlimited staff, so the price stays the same when you hire.

Where Bookings wins: if you already pay for Microsoft 365, it costs nothing extra, and it can keep a booking page private to your organisation. Where Tempari wins: payments at booking, a page with your branding, and several branches in one account. You can also choose per service whether a booking waits for your approval.

Also looking at Calendly? Our post on Calendly alternatives hosted in the EU covers how Calendly handles Microsoft 365 and Teams.

How to move from Bookings

1. Take your data with you. Bookings lets you download a report of your booking activity as a TSV file, covering four months at a time (Microsoft Learn). Keep a copy of your customer list as well.
2. Set up your services. Recreate your services with their durations, prices and booking questions, add your staff, and connect each person’s Outlook calendar. Switch the services that should be online to get a Teams link.
3. Run both for a short while. Let existing appointments take place in Bookings, and take new bookings in the new system.
4. Switch the link. Replace the Bookings link or button on your website, in your email signature and on your Google Business Profile. Then unpublish the Bookings page.

Read more about online meetings with Teams links and booking pages for several branches, or see Tempari’s pricing.