The best way to take bookings online for a Maltese small business.

Cost: “free.” Except it isn’t — you’re the booking system. Every enquiry needs a human reply, availability lives in your head, and bookings arrive at midnight expecting answers. It works until you’re busy, which is exactly when it breaks. No reminders means no-shows stay high, and no-shows are pure lost revenue.

Cost: €0–€15/month. Genuinely great for simple cases — one person, standard slots, no payments. If you’re a consultant or therapist with a straightforward calendar, start here today. The wall you’ll hit: multiple staff, rooms or equipment limits, deposits, seasonal hours, services with different durations. The moment your business has rules, generic tools make you bend the business to fit the tool.

Cost: monthly fees and/or commission per booking, forever. These fit their niche well and bring some marketplace visibility. The trade-offs are real though: commission compounds as you grow (200 bookings a month at €2–4 each is serious money annually), your customer data lives on their platform, and you’re one policy change away from new fees. Do the maths on a busy month, not a quiet one.

Cost: a one-time build, then hosting pennies. Built around your exact rules — staff, buffers, deposits, cancellation policy, Gozo pickups. Bookings come from your website and Google profile with live availability, confirmations and reminders go out automatically, everything syncs with your calendar, and there’s no per-booking tax ever. The trade-off is honest: more up-front cost than a subscription, which pays back over time and scale. More detail in the booking systems guide.

One person, simple slots, no payments → Calendly-style tool, done. The marketplace genuinely feeds you customers → industry platform, but re-do the commission maths every year. Multiple staff or resources, deposits, custom rules, or fees that sting → custom system. It stops being a luxury the day the subscription tools start fighting your reality.