How do I set up a free booking page with Google Calendar?

01 / WHAT THE STARTER DOES

A page that only shows the times you are free

You set the hours you take visits. Google turns them into a page with open time slots, and hides any slot where your calendar is already busy. Google sums it up in one line: "When someone books an appointment, it’s added to your calendar." Nobody has to answer the phone to fit someone in.

02 / WAYS TO START

What the free version does, and what Google charges for

Every Google plan below uses the same appointment schedules. The free version covers one kind of visit well. Paid Google plans add more pages, reminders and payments.

From Google's own chart, Compare premium features for appointment schedules, and Require payments for appointments, checked October 13, 2026. Google links each plan from that chart; check its current price there before you choose.

A paid scheduling tool is one more monthly bill beside the others. Here is how to add up what your whole stack costs, hours included.

03 / BUILD IT FREE

The free version in seven steps

These are Google's own steps from Create an appointment schedule, in the order a service business needs them. You need a Google account and a computer.

1. Use a computer and the business account

   Google says "You can't create an appointment schedule in the Calendar app for Android or iPhone and iPad." Open Google Calendar in a browser instead.

   Sign in with the Google account your business uses. "Your booking page is always public." It shows that account's name and profile photo, so you want your business name there, not your personal one.

2. Create the schedule

   At the top left, click Create, then Appointment schedule. Give it a title customers will understand, such as Free estimate visit: anyone with the link sees it. Under Appointment duration, pick how long a visit takes, or choose Custom.

3. Set your hours

   Under General availability, set the hours you take visits on one day, then use Copy time to all and mark the days you do not work as unavailable. Under Adjusted availability, block holidays and days off.

   Under Scheduling window, set how far ahead people can book and how much notice you need. "By default, there is a 4-hour minimum lead time to schedule an appointment." Many trades want more, such as a full day, so a booking does not surprise you mid-job.

4. Leave room between visits

   Under Booked appointment settings, tick Buffer time and enter the time you need to pack up and drive, then set Maximum bookings per day so the page cannot fill your whole day. Google's page on updating your availability covers both.

   Under Calendars, keep Check calendars for availability ticked, so any job already on your calendar hides that slot.

5. Fill in the booking page

   Under Location and conferencing, choose In-person meeting for a visit or Phone call for a call. Write a short Description: it shows on the page and in the confirmation email. The first prompt in section 04 drafts it.

   Under Booking form, first name, last name and email are already required. Click Add an item for the rest, such as phone number, address and what the problem is. The second prompt in section 04 helps you pick them.

6. Save it and book yourself

   Click Save. Under Booking pages on the left, hover over the page and click Copy link. Open the link in a private browser window, book a slot as if you were a customer, and check that the visit lands on your calendar and the email reads right. Then cancel the test booking from the event.

   If today shows no times, that is the minimum notice at work, not a fault.

7. Put the link where customers look

   Paste the link into your email signature and the emails you already send, such as a quote follow-up. For your website, Google's page on sharing your appointment schedule gives two options under Sharing options, then Website embed: Button with popup or Inline booking page. Copy the code and paste it into your site's HTML.

04 / PROMPTS

Prompts for the fiddly parts

Paste these into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini. Replace the parts in square brackets first. None of them needs a customer's details.

Write the booking page description

I run a [kind of business] in [your area]. Customers will book a [kind of visit, for example: free estimate visit] on my Google Calendar booking page. Write the description that appears on the page and in the confirmation email.

Rules:
- Under 80 words. Plain and friendly.
- Say what happens at the visit and roughly how long it takes.
- Say what the customer should have ready, for example [access to the unit, the gate code, pets inside].
- Say that we will call if we need to move the time.
- No discounts, no promises about price or timing.

Two emails I have written before, so you can match how I sound:
[paste two of your own emails]

Choose the booking form questions

I run a [kind of business]. Customers book a [kind of visit] through a Google Calendar booking form that already asks for first name, last name and email.

Suggest up to five more questions so I arrive prepared, for example [the address, the kind of equipment, what is wrong, the best phone number]. For each, give the question as the customer sees it, say whether it should be required, and keep it short enough to answer on a phone.

Turn your week into booking hours

Here is how my week usually runs:
[describe it, for example: jobs 7am to 3pm, estimates after 3pm on weekdays, Saturday mornings sometimes, emergencies come in without warning]

I want customers to book [kind of visit], which takes about [length]. Suggest the weekly hours I should open on a Google Calendar booking page, a buffer time between visits, a maximum number of bookings per day, and how much notice to require. Leave room for drive time and emergency calls. Explain each choice in one line.

05 / GOOGLE'S OWN PAGES

Google's help pages, for each part

Everything in this post comes from these pages. Keep them handy when you change a setting later.

• GOOGLE HELP Create an appointment schedule

  Google's own steps, and every setting on the schedule and the booking page explained one by one.

  support.google.com/calendar/answer/10729749
• GOOGLE HELP Share your appointment schedule

  Google's steps to copy the link, add a booking button to your site or embed the whole page, with the website builders it supports.

  support.google.com/calendar/answer/10733297
• GOOGLE HELP Update your availability for appointments

  Google's page on start and end dates, days off, buffer time and a daily maximum.

  support.google.com/calendar/answer/11423292
• GOOGLE HELP Compare premium features for appointment schedules

  Google's chart of what each Google One and Workspace plan adds, and which plans cannot create schedules at all.

  support.google.com/calendar/answer/16287038
• GOOGLE HELP Require payments for appointments

  Google's steps to connect Stripe and take payment when someone books, on eligible Workspace plans.

  support.google.com/calendar/answer/13762729
• GOOGLE HELP Cancel appointments on your calendar

  Google's steps to cancel a booking or delete a schedule, and what the customer is sent when you do.

  support.google.com/calendar/answer/10737245

06 / WHERE THE STARTER STOPS

Where the starter stops

• One page, one kind of visit. With a free account, Google says "you can create a single booking page to let others schedule appointments on your calendar." An estimate and a tune-up of different lengths need a paid plan.
• No reminders on the free plan. Automatic reminder emails come with paid plans, and even then "You can't edit the text of the reminder emails." On the free plan, a customer who forgets is a wasted drive.
• One calendar checked. Google says "To check availability from secondary calendars, you need to have an eligible Google Workspace or Google One plan." If your jobs live on a shared crew calendar, the free page cannot see them.
• No idea where the job is. A slot is a time and nothing else. The page does not check that the address is in your area, and the only gap between visits is the fixed buffer, whether the next job is two streets away or forty minutes.
• Spam bookings. Email verification is a Workspace feature, and "By default, email verification is off." On the free plan, anyone with the link can fill your day with fake bookings.
• Forwarded emails can cancel. If a customer forwards the confirmation email, Google says "the recipient can cancel the booked appointment." The slot then opens again on your page.
• Deleting it breaks the link. If you delete the schedule to start over, "Links to booking pages you shared no longer work." Edit it instead, so the link on your website keeps working.
• It stops at the calendar. A booking is a calendar event, not a customer record or a job. The address, the phone number and the problem stay in the event until someone types them into wherever you track work.

07 / BUILT FOR YOUR BUSINESS

What a version built to run your business adds

The starter puts visits on your calendar. A version built for your business is part of how you take work: each service books the way it should, the booking becomes a job, and the customer sees your business at every step.