Create a free booking link in minutes, then share it with confidence
A quick-start guide to setting up your first booking link on the Calenix Free plan, plus a checklist to run before you send it to anyone.
A free booking link lets clients pick a time that suits them from your real availability, without the back-and-forth of emails or phone calls. You can create one in a few minutes, and you don’t need a website, a card or any technical skills to do it.
This quick-start guide walks you through creating a free booking link on the Calenix Free plan: what’s included, the decisions to make before you start, the setup steps in plain terms and a first-share checklist so your link works properly the first time a client clicks it. It’s aimed at sole traders, freelancers and small practices in the UK and Australia getting started with online booking.
What is a free booking link, and what do you get?
A booking link is a web address that opens a page showing the times you’re available for a particular kind of appointment. A client picks a slot, enters their details and gets a confirmation. Behind the scenes, the tool checks your calendar so the time is genuinely free, then adds the booking to it.
What the Calenix Free plan includes
The Free plan is free forever, with no card needed and no 14-day expiry. For a booking link, the parts that matter are:
- One user and one connected calendar, so your busy times block slots automatically.
- One booking page with one event type, such as a 30-minute intro call.
- Unlimited one-to-one bookings on that event type.
- Email confirmations and basic reminders for every booking.
- Date polls for finding a time with several people.
- A service page and starter landing page, one digital business card, one email signature and one LinkDock page, all of which can carry your link.
Free pages show Calenix branding. Custom branding, a branded domain, unlimited event types, paid bookings and deposits, and group meetings start on the Individual plan.
Decide before you start
Because Free gives you one event type, choose the appointment that brings in the most business. For most people that’s a first conversation: an intro call, a consultation or a quote visit. Decide its length, where it happens (phone, video or in person) and the hours you want to offer it. Keep it simple: a short, free first appointment is easy for new clients to say yes to, and you can always add paid sessions later.
Next, pick the calendar you actually live in. If it’s Google, our guide to syncing your booking calendar with Google Calendar explains what the connection does. If you use Outlook, see syncing Microsoft Outlook with your booking page.
Why a booking link beats back-and-forth emails
Arranging a single appointment by email often takes several messages: you offer times, they reply with a different day, you check your diary again, and by the time you agree, one of the original slots has gone. Each round adds delay, and some clients simply drift away before a time is fixed.
A booking link replaces that with one step. The client sees your genuinely free times and picks one. They get an email confirmation straight away, you get the booking in your calendar and neither of you has to remember to follow up.
It also works outside your hours. Someone reading your email signature at 9pm in Perth or scanning your digital card at a Saturday market in Bristol can book there and then, while they’re interested, rather than waiting for you to reply on Monday.
Some illustrative maths: if arranging each new-client call takes you ten minutes of emails and you book eight a week, that’s over an hour and a quarter a week, or more than 60 hours a year, spent on scheduling admin. A booking link doesn’t remove every conversation, but it removes most of that shuffling.
Starting free also lowers the risk. You can test whether clients use the link, see how bookings arrive and decide later whether you need paid features, without committing to a subscription on day one.
What a free booking link gives you
No cost to start: the Free plan has no card requirement and no trial expiry.
Real availability: your connected calendar blocks busy times so clients only see free slots.
Instant confirmations: every booking triggers an email to you and your client.
Fewer emails: clients choose a time themselves instead of negotiating by reply.
Bookings out of hours: clients can book when they’re interested, even when you’re offline.
Room to grow: move to a paid plan later for more event types, payments or branding.
How to create your free booking link in 6 steps
Create your free account — Sign up for Calenix, which you can do with an email address or by signing in with Google or Microsoft. No card is needed for the Free plan.
Connect your main calendar — In your Calenix settings, connect the Google or Microsoft Outlook calendar you use every day, so existing commitments block booking slots automatically.
Set your working hours — Choose the days and times you want to take bookings, and set your time zone, such as GMT or BST in the UK, or AEST, AEDT or AWST in Australia.
Create your event type — Give it a clear name, a duration and a location such as a phone call, an in-person address or a video meeting link. Add a buffer if you need breathing room between bookings.
Add a short description and questions — Explain what the appointment is for and what the client should prepare, and add one or two custom booking questions to collect the details you need.
Test, then copy your link — Open your booking page on your mobile, make a test booking, check the confirmation email and calendar entry, then copy the link ready to share.
Free plan vs Individual plan for a booking link
| Feature | Free | Individual |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to start | Free forever, no card | Paid plan |
| Connected calendars | 1 | Up to 6 |
| Event types | 1 | Unlimited |
| One-to-one bookings | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Reminders | Email confirmations and basic reminders | Advanced reminders and workflows |
| Paid bookings and deposits | Not included | Included |
| Branding | Calenix branding | Custom branding and 1 branded domain |
| Group meetings | Not included | Included |
First-share checklist for your booking link
Book a test appointment yourself and check the confirmation email reads clearly.
Confirm the booking appears in your calendar at the right time and in the right time zone.
Check the page on a mobile, since many clients will open it from their phone.
Make sure the event name and description say exactly what the client is booking.
Block holidays and days off in your calendar before you share the link widely.
Add the link to your email signature, digital card and social profiles in one go.
Tell a friend to book a slot and ask what, if anything, confused them.
Mistakes to avoid with your first booking link
Connecting a calendar you rarely use, so real commitments don’t block slots.
Leaving the default hours in place and offering times you don’t want to work.
Giving the event type a vague name like ‘Meeting’ that doesn’t tell clients what to expect.
Forgetting the location details, so clients don’t know whether to ring, join online or travel.
Sharing the link before testing it, then discovering the confirmation has missing details.
Setting the wrong time zone, which shifts every slot by hours for you or your clients.
Example: a freelance bookkeeper in Glasgow
Take a fictional freelance bookkeeper in Glasgow who has been arranging new-client calls by email. Enquiries arrive from her website contact form and LinkedIn, and she often loses a day or two agreeing a time.
She signs up for the Calenix Free plan using her Google account and connects her Google Calendar. She sets her hours to Monday to Thursday, 9:30am to 3pm, with her time zone set to UK time so it follows GMT and BST automatically. Her single event type is a 20-minute ‘New client intro call’ by phone, with a 10-minute buffer afterwards to write notes. She adds two booking questions: ‘What kind of business do you run?’ and ‘Which software do you use now, if any?’.
She books a test call from her mobile, checks the confirmation email, and sees the booking appear in her calendar. Then she shares the link: in her email signature, on her digital business card, in her LinkedIn profile and as a button on her website, following our guide to adding a booking button to your website. For networking events, she adds it to her card using our steps on adding a booking link to a digital business card.
As an illustration: if she was spending about ten minutes on emails for each of five new enquiries a week, the link saves close to an hour a week. When she later wants a separate paid review session, she’ll need a second event type, which is the point to look at the Individual plan. For more ideas on where to put the link, read our guide on how to share a meeting booking link.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Free forever
Create your free booking link today
Connect your calendar, set your hours and share a link clients can book from in minutes. No card, no trial expiry.