LovingBooking vs Setmore: Which Fits Your Singapore Business?

Setmore is one of the better-known booking tools, and its official pricing currently lists a Free tier for up to four users alongside paid plans. If you are weighing it up against LovingBooking for a Singapore business, this comparison lays out where each one is stronger so you can pick on facts rather than marketing.

The short version: Setmore is a mature, global product with a wide feature list and a Free tier for up to four users on its current pricing page. We checked the official Setmore pricing page on 12 September 2026; prices and feature availability can vary by region. LovingBooking is built specifically for Singapore service businesses, with PayNow, no booking commission, and a Free plan that covers your first 200 bookings, for up to 3 people and 1 location. Which one fits depends mostly on your team size and how your customers pay.

How Setmore's pricing works

Setmore's current pricing page lists a Free tier at US$0 for up to four users, alongside paid plans. It includes the core booking essentials — a booking page, calendar, and appointment management — while the displayed terms remain region-sensitive.

The catch is the same one most freemium tools have: the features a growing business needs sit on the paid tiers, and those tiers are billed per user, in USD. Removing Setmore's own branding, SMS reminders, and higher staff counts all live behind Pro or Team plans. So the moment you add a second or third staff member and want the paid features, your monthly cost multiplies by headcount — and you are paying in US dollars, which adds currency conversion on top.

For a genuine solo operator, that Free tier may be plenty. For a team, multiply the current per-user terms by the number of people who need logins, and compare that with US$12 a month for up to 3 people, then US$12 a month for each extra person.

LovingBooking's pricing model

LovingBooking bills paid subscriptions by the people customers can book, with the first 3 people included and one bill for all your businesses, while Free covers your first 200 bookings, for up to 3 people and 1 location, and there is no commission on any booking.

• Free plan: your first 200 bookings, for up to 3 people and 1 location — no credit card required
• Pro: US$12 a month or US$120 a year for up to 3 people, then US$12 a month or US$120 a year for each extra person — no limit on bookings, locations or bookable staff, PayNow QR, custom branding, and an embeddable widget, with one bill for all your businesses and free logins for anyone without a calendar. Each owner gets one app-managed, cardless 14-day Pro trial with no automatic charge, whichever business they start it in.

The key difference is where the free line sits. Your first 200 bookings, for up to 3 bookable staff profiles and one location, are free, so a small salon can take real bookings before paying anything. There is no card rail and no booking commission on any plan either — the platform never touches the money your customers pay.

Feature-by-feature comparison

Where Setmore has an advantage

A longer feature list and video appointments

Setmore has had years to build out. It offers built-in video appointments, a broad set of app integrations, and a large template of workflows for different industries. If you run online consultations or classes and want video baked into the booking, that is a real, concrete edge — LovingBooking is built around in-person service booking.

SMS reminders

Setmore includes SMS reminders on its paid plans. LovingBooking currently sends reminders by email only. Email with a reschedule link does most of the no-show-reduction work at no per-message cost, but if your customers genuinely respond better to a text, Setmore does something here that we do not yet. We would rather say that clearly than bury it.

Global brand familiarity

Setmore operates worldwide, so some customers and staff may already recognise it. For a business with an international clientele, that familiarity has a small value.

Where LovingBooking has an advantage

PayNow, the way Singapore actually pays

This is the biggest one for local businesses. Setmore's payments run through card processors, which take a percentage of every transaction. LovingBooking lets you show your own PayNow QR on the booking page — the customer scans it in their banking app, pays your business account, uploads a screenshot as proof, and you verify the full booking balance before marking it paid. LovingBooking charges no transaction fee for this flow; your bank's PayNow terms may still apply. Our guide to accepting PayNow for bookings walks through the setup.

A free plan a small team can actually start on

Free covers your first 200 bookings, for up to 3 people and 1 location, with the booking page, email reminders and calendar sync included. For a two- or three-person salon that is a working setup, with no time limit on those first bookings. Pro is US$12 a month for up to 3 people, then US$12 a month for each extra person, and logins without a calendar are free; Setmore's Free tier currently lists up to four users.

Built for Singapore

LovingBooking is designed around how Singapore service businesses run, from PayNow to the way a salon assigns staff to services. Small margins matter, and a plan you can stay on for free while you find your feet matters more than a longer feature list.

Multi-staff booking that customers actually navigate

When a customer lands on a LovingBooking page they see your services, your team, your prices, and open slots, and they choose the specific staff member they want. That is the standard expectation for a salon or clinic, and it is native here rather than an add-on.

Which should you choose?

Choose Setmore if:

• You are a solo operator and the free plan covers everything you need
• Video appointments are central to how you work
• SMS reminders are a hard requirement today
• You want the broadest possible integration list

Choose LovingBooking if:

• You have a small team and want a free plan that covers all of it
• You want PayNow payments with no card commission
• You want a Singapore-first product rather than a global one
• You want a Singapore-built product with an embeddable widget for your site

The bottom line

Setmore is a solid, mature tool, and its official pricing currently lists a Free tier for up to four users. But for a Singapore business that wants its customers to pay by PayNow, the missing PayNow support is the fact that decides it. Once you pay, Setmore charges per user and LovingBooking per person beyond the first 3; only one settles payments the local way.

If you are also weighing other tools, our LovingBooking vs Fresha and LovingBooking vs Calendly comparisons cover the same ground for those platforms.

Try LovingBooking free at lovingbooking.com — no credit card required. Free covers your first 200 bookings, for up to 3 people and 1 location. Pro is US$12 a month for up to 3 people, then US$12 a month for each extra person, with one bill for all your businesses; the one app-managed trial lasts 14 days and never charges automatically. Current figures are on the pricing page.