Scheduling APIs to speed up the development of marketplaces and on-demand mobile applications

10 min to read

Scheduling API is one of the key parts to develop almost any marketplace or on-demand application. So, let's see, what API can we use for these purposes.

Spurwing

Spurwing claims to be called the complete scheduling API. It has really a lot of functions for booking, scheduling and calendaring among which:

• Scheduling for multiple locations,
  
  
• Automated Scheduling,
  
  
• Employee Scheduling,
  
  
• Scheduling of resources,
  
  
• Ability to work with reservations,
  
  
• Meeting room booking,
  
  
• Group Scheduling,
  
  
• Calendar Management,
  
  
• Scheduling of appointments.
  
  

Spurwing API is compatible with almost any programming language, scalable in case of business growth, has the advanced security options and lots of settings to customize accounts for all users of the product. Spurwing can be integrated not only with programming languages but also with business tools like Zoom and Stripe. It also has the ability to synchronize data with Google Calendar, Outlook and iCal.

Among special functions and capabilities we see the next ones:

• Overview of all events for the selected period of time.
  
  
• Daily, weekly and monthly modes for viewing events in the calendar.
  
  
• Tracking of appointments including the unconfirmed ones.
  
  
• Different filters to select appointment parameters, availability, and many other parameters of the order.
  
  
• Client section with customizable fields and filters.
  
  
• Notifications about important events in the system.
  
  

Also, users of the software built upon the Spurwing API may have different access levels to the system and use the CRM if needed. Prices for using Spurwing API start from $99 per month and any pricing plan can be tried out for free for 2 weeks.

Timekit

Timekit is the alternative product to Spurwing. Also integrated with many languages and tools, also scalable, customizable and mostly used for the same purposes as Spurwing. So we decided to highlight only the specific features of this product:

• Timekit API offers specific ways to distribute bookings among the members of your team. It can be done automatically, in a certain order, one booking for multiple people, etc.
  
  
• Lots of interesting features refer to time management. For example, Timekit gives the ability to avoid simultaneous events with time buffering around all of them. Or you may set the time limit until which your customers will be able to book or choose the period during which the first time slot will be available.
  
  
• If the booking should be canceled Timekit will try to find new time slots for users' convenience.
  
  
• Admins may set up their availability with special granular filters.
  
  
• And there are a lot of other common features like team management, billing, reports, notifications, detecting of time zones, etc.
  
  

Among the other pieces, Timekit includes a library called booking.js which lets developers customize UI and is an open-source library under the MIT license. And as for integration Timekit can be easily integrated with popular process automation service Zapier, payment gateways Stripe, Braintree, Adyen, and other business services and tools.
Some users complain that the support of Timekit is not working properly. But to check out how it really works you should be a Timekit user.
The minimal price for using Timekit is $49 which is less than at Spurwing. A trial period of 14 days is available for all pricing plans except the "Enterprise".

Onsched

Onsched developers affirm that solutions built with their API are white-labeled with a single sign-on and single API key and it differs their API from many others. Also, they position Onsched as a mission-critical part of a website or app which you can run approximately in a month having lots of features maintained and tested. Here these features are:

• Dashboard as a starting point for managing most functions in the system.
  
  
• Access levels and permissions for employees.
  
  
• Time zone detecting and control.
  
  
• Supporting Oauth 2.0 for secure access.
  
  
• Single API key for all customers, locations, and sellers.
  
  
• Booking multiple locations with taking into account the travel time.
  
  
• Automated email marketing.
  
  
• Other marketing tools with conversion rate optimization.
  
  
• Custom fields in user profiles.
  
  
• Saving customer history.
  
  
• The ability for clients to select preferred staff.
  
  
• And lots of standard features like reports, calendar, and appointment management, notifications, etc.
  
  

As for integration with popular platforms, we should mention Zapier and Stripe. Synchronization of the calendars with Google and Outlook is the other useful feature. And for UI customization developers may use the javascript-based library onsched.js which is a part of the product and has its documentation to set up the UI in a short time.
Among the cons of using Onsched some developers mention:

• Lack of HIPPA compliance,
  
  
• Bug with uploading images (perhaps fixed today),
  
  
• No functionality like billing or API setup,
  
  
• Intermittent performance issues,
  
  
• No trial period.
  
  

But most reviews of the users are positive. Prices for using Onsched API start at $299 per month which makes it the most expensive product on our list. But the pricing principles are based on the number of appointments, not on resources.

Booked4.us

The last API in our review is Booked4.us. Maybe it is the simplest and the cheapest product in our list that suits even the beginning projects. Among the features you will see:

• Dashboard to manage features.
  
  
• Different types of appointments.
  
  
• Customizable durations and buffers around events.
  
  
• Additional information about customers.
  
  
• Procedures of rescheduling and cancelation.
  
  
• Time zones automatic detection.
  
  
• Confirmation request on appointments.
  
  
• Integration with Google Calendar.
  
  
• Different reports.
  
  
• Customizable UI.
  
  
• Marketing tools.
  
  
• REST-based API.
  
  
• And many other interesting but already habitual for us features.
  

Prices start at 11.90 € per month, and in total price depends on the number of calendars used. Every package has a free trial period, so if you have small needs you may try this API for free right now.
Would be glad to help choose the best scheduling APIs for your project.

https://calendly.com/cookiedev/30-min/