bk Review, Pricing & Features

Probono Booking is a one-time-purchase WordPress plugin for appointment scheduling, built for Japanese businesses with automatic holiday calendars, industry…

Category
Scheduling
Pricing
Freemium with one-time-purchase Pro upgrade (no subscription), from 0
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
August 7, 2026
WordPress IntegrationOne-Time PurchaseSMBMultilingualFreemiumTemplates

Probono Booking (sold at bk.prbn.org by developer Pellicule) is a WordPress plugin that turns any WordPress site into a booking/reservation system. It is sold under a one-time, perpetual-license model rather than a subscription: a free tier with 57 features, a Pro plan for up to 5 sites at ¥9,800, and a Pro unlimited-sites plan at ¥14,800 (both Pro tiers unlock the same 187 total features and differ only in license scope). The plugin ships with 11 industry-specific templates (beauty salons, restaurants, clinics, law offices, tax/accounting firms, real estate, hospitality, recruitment, pet services, house cleaning, and counseling) and automatically calculates Japanese national and substitute holidays from 1979 through 2099. Booking data is stored entirely inside the customer's own WordPress database, and the vendor states the plugin makes zero external HTTP calls. Pro adds repeat-customer nurturing, revenue/sales reporting, cancellation and no-show prevention (including waitlists and credit-card pre-payment), multi-staff and multi-location management, QR check-in, and membership/ticketing features.

Key Features

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • One-time purchase with a permanent license — no recurring subscription fees, unlike most SaaS booking tools
  • Deep Japanese-market fit, including automatic national and substitute holiday calculation from 1979-2099
  • Booking data stays in the customer's own WordPress database rather than an external cloud service
  • Generous free tier (57 features) lets businesses trial the plugin before buying Pro
  • 11 industry-specific templates reduce setup work for common appointment-based business types

Cons

  • Marketing site, UI, and support are built primarily for a Japanese-speaking audience, limiting accessibility for non-Japanese users
  • Requires a self-hosted WordPress site — not a fit for businesses wanting a fully managed, no-install SaaS booking tool
  • Few third-party integrations beyond a small built-in set (external shopping cart, Probono Form sync, calendar sync, card pre-payment)
  • No refunds on the digital product, per the vendor's stated policy

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