Scheduling Software for Coaches Who Charge per Session
One link for the free discovery call, another for the paid session. Clients pick a time, pay if the session costs money, and receive the video link and every reminder automatically.
Updated 22 October 2026
Why do coaches lose clients between the enquiry and the first session?
Someone reads your site, decides they want to talk, and sends an email. You reply the next morning with three times. They answer two days later, and one of the three has gone. By the time the discovery call happens, the person who was ready to start has cooled off. That gap is where coaches lose clients. With Tymeslot, the discovery call books straight from your availability, the video link is in the confirmation, and a reminder goes out before the call.
Why mainstream scheduling tools fit coaching awkwardly
Most scheduling tools grew up around sales calls, where every meeting is the same 30-minute slot. A coaching practice runs two different kinds of meeting. The discovery call is free, short and open to strangers. The coaching session is paid, longer, and meant for people who have already said yes. They need different links, different notice and different rules about money.
Put both on one generic link and the problems are predictable. Strangers book paid-length slots for a chat, existing clients book the free call to avoid paying, and sessions get booked for tomorrow morning when you need a day to prepare. Tymeslot treats them as separate meeting types. The discovery call is public and free. The paid session charges its full fee via Stripe as the client books, stays off your public page, and only accepts bookings with the notice you set.
Everything coaches need. Nothing they don't.
Free Calls and Paid Sessions, Kept Apart
Give the discovery call and the coaching session their own meeting types, each with its own link, duration and price. Mark the paid session as private so only clients you have sent the link to can book it.
No Payment, No Booking
On Pro, connect Stripe once and put a fixed price on the coaching session. A client who has not paid has not booked, so every hour you hold is already covered, and cancelling from your side refunds them in the same step.
Video Link in Every Confirmation
The moment a session is booked, Tymeslot sets up the call in Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Zoom or Jitsi and adds the link to the confirmation email and the calendar entry.
Preparation Time You Set Once
A minimum notice of 24 hours stops sessions landing before you have read the client's answers, and a buffer between bookings leaves time to write up notes.
Paid and Pro Bono Hours, Told Apart
The ICF's ACC credential asks for 100 hours of coaching with at least eight clients, 75 of them paid. Run pro bono coaching as its own meeting type and each calendar entry already says which kind of hour it was, and with whom.
Booking on Your Own Website
Embed booking inline on a page, in a popup or behind a floating button, or share the link in your newsletter, email signature and social profiles.
See the difference
Without Tymeslot
With Tymeslot
Common scheduling scenarios
How do coaches set up a free discovery call?
The discovery call is where a prospect decides whether to work with you. It should be easy to book, short, and kept to times that do not crowd out paying clients.
- Create a "Discovery call" meeting type of 20 to 30 minutes with no payment, and share its link on your website, in your email signature and in your social bios.
- Add two or three booking questions on Pro, such as what the person would like to work on and how they heard about you, so you start the call with some context.
- Give the discovery call its own availability schedule, for example two afternoons a week, so it never takes a slot a paying client could have had.
- Tymeslot creates the video link and sends a reminder before the call, so you do not have to.
How do coaches keep track of hours for an ICF credential?
A coach working towards an ICF credential keeps a coaching log: for each client, the name, contact details, the start and end of the relationship, and the paid and pro bono hours. Rebuilding that from memory at application time is miserable; letting the booking tool sort the hours as they happen is not.
- Next to the paid "Coaching session", create a private "Pro bono session" of the same length and send its link only to the people you coach for free.
- Tymeslot names each calendar entry after the meeting type plus the client's name, so your calendar shows paid and pro bono hours apart without a spreadsheet.
- Set a weekly limit on pro bono sessions, for example three, so volunteered hours build your log without taking the slots paying clients want.
- Once a month, copy names, dates and hours from your calendar into the log; the client's email address is in the booking if you need their contact details.
How do coaches cut no-shows on paid sessions?
A missed 60-minute session is an hour you kept free and cannot sell again. Two things help most: a reminder the client cannot miss, and a session that is already paid for.
- Tymeslot sends a confirmation as soon as the client books, then reminder emails at lead times you pick, say 48 hours and 2 hours ahead.
- On Pro, take the session fee at booking through Stripe, so the client has already committed money to the hour.
- A client who needs to move a session picks a new time via the confirmation email, which opens the old hour for another client to book.
- Spell out how much notice you expect for a change in the session description; Tymeslot shows your terms but leaves enforcing them to you.
See Tymeslot in action
A starter setup for coaches
| Meeting type | Duration | Buffer | Minimum notice | Bookable ahead | Payment at booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery call | 30 min | 10 min | 12 hours | 2 weeks | None |
| Coaching session | 60 min | 15 min | 1 day | 6 weeks | Full fee at booking |
| Pro bono session | 60 min | 15 min | 1 day | 6 weeks | None |
Intake questions
- What would you like to work on?
- Have you worked with a coach before?
- How did you hear about me?
- Which time zone are you in?
Only the discovery call is public; both session types are private links you send after a yes. The paid and pro bono sessions share their length, buffer, notice and horizon, so one availability schedule serves both, while the discovery call's shorter notice and two-week horizon need a second schedule.
Tymeslot compared with Paperbell and Calendly
For a coach, the choice between Tymeslot, Paperbell and Calendly comes down to money: how a session gets paid for, what the tool costs each month, and how much you can do before paying anything. Paperbell is a whole coaching back office at one price, with payment plans and set-up fees. Calendly is a general scheduler that keeps payments for its paid plans. Tymeslot books and charges one session at a time. If you sell six-session packages paid in instalments, Paperbell handles that and Tymeslot does not.
| Feature | Tymeslot | Paperbell | Calendly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deposit or payment at booking | Pro: full session fee, discovery call stays free | Yes: payment plans and set-up fees; first payment taken at purchase | Paid plans only: Stripe or PayPal at booking |
| Entry price | Pro €9 a month; self-hosting costs nothing | One plan, billed $97/month or $970/year | $10/seat/month, billed yearly |
| Free plan | Unlimited discovery calls and unpaid sessions on Free | Free account to set up, before choosing a paid plan | Yes, limited to 1 event type and 1 calendar |
Sources checked 5 October 2026.
How much time could you save?
A rough estimate, not a promise.
150
minutes saved per week
130.0
hours saved per year
€15,600
annual value of saved time
Which calendars and video apps do coaches use with Tymeslot?
Start free, upgrade when you're ready
A coach who invoices clients at the end of each month pays nothing: discovery calls, private session links and reminders are all on Free. Paying for Pro (€9/month) makes sense once the coaching session in this setup takes its fee at booking, or once you want to know what a prospect hopes to work on before the call.
Free
€0 / month
Pro
€9 / month