If you're searching for "Booked.it alternative" or "Cueselect vs Booked.it", you're probably in the middle of choosing a booking system for your snooker club or pool hall — and you'd like the honest comparison rather than two sales pitches.
We're Cueselect, so this isn't a neutral review. But we've tried to write the comparison the way we'd want one written about us — accurate, fair, and clear about where the other side wins.
Both products are real, both have real customers, and both will be the right choice for the right venue. The question is which is the right tool for your venue.
This is one of several comparisons in the broader complete UK guide to booking systems for snooker clubs — start there if you want the strategic framing.
The one-line answer: Booked.it is the right choice for larger, multi-site, multi-vertical leisure operators who want booking + CRM + marketing + loyalty in one platform with a dedicated account manager. Cueselect is the right choice for independent UK snooker and pool venues that just want booking done well, with transparent published pricing and no sales call required.
If that one-liner tells you what you need to know, you can skip to where each wins. The rest of the piece is the detail behind it.
The companies
At a glance
The basics, side by side. Drawn from each company's published website and public information as of April 2026.
| Booked.it | Cueselect | |
|---|---|---|
| HQ | London | Sheffield |
| Customer count | 600+ across leisure & hospitality | Newer; UK snooker & pool focus |
| Industries served | 25+ verticals (bowling, racecourses, escape rooms, soft play, snooker & more) | Snooker and pool only |
| Pricing model | Transaction fee (book a demo for rates) | Published subscription + all-in card fee |
| Pricing visible on website | No — demo required | Yes — Free / £29/mo / £49/mo |
| Sales process | Sales-led — book a demo | Self-serve — 14-day free trial, no card |
| Onboarding | On-site or video call with account manager | Self-serve, or 20-min setup call |
| Account manager | Yes, dedicated | No — email support |
| Notable customers | Lane7, Disco Bowl, The CUBE, Chelmsford City Racecourse, iPlay | UK snooker venues |
The most important line in that table is industries served. Booked.it is built to handle 25+ leisure verticals from karting to ice skating. Cueselect is built only for cue sports. That single fact drives almost every other difference between the two products.
Pricing
Pricing model: transaction fee vs. published subscription
Pricing is where the two products diverge most clearly.
Booked.it pricing
Booked.it markets itself as "free to use." The model is transaction-fee: they take a percentage of each booking, and you can either absorb that fee or pass it on to your customer. The fee itself isn't published — you'll need to book a demo to find out the exact percentage for your venue type.
Industry-typical rates for this kind of leisure-vertical booking platform sit somewhere in the 3–7% range plus card processing. Your actual quote may vary.
Cueselect pricing
Cueselect publishes everything on the website:
- Free tier: up to 2 tables, 3% + 20p per transaction (all-in including card processing)
- Club tier: £29/month, up to 6 tables, 2.5% + 20p per transaction (all-in)
- Pro tier: £49/month, unlimited tables, 2.5% + 20p per transaction (all-in), includes SMS
Which is cheaper for your venue?
The transaction-fee model is structurally cheaper at low online-booking volume and structurally more expensive at high volume. The subscription-plus-card-fee model is the opposite.
Because Booked.it doesn't publish their fee, we can't give exact figures. But the shape of the trade-off is clear:
| Monthly online booking revenue | Likely Booked.it cost* | Cueselect Club cost |
|---|---|---|
| £500 | ~£15–35 | £42 (£29 + ~£13 card fees) |
| £2,000 | ~£60–140 | £79 (£29 + ~£50 card fees) |
| £5,000 | ~£150–350 | £154 (£29 + ~£125 card fees) |
| £10,000 | ~£300–700 | £279 (£29 + ~£250 card fees) |
*Estimated using a 3–7% transaction-fee range typical for the vertical. Get a real Booked.it quote before deciding.
Rule of thumb: if you're a small venue doing under ~£1,000/month in online bookings, transaction-fee pricing may be cheaper. Above that, the subscription model usually wins — and the gap widens with volume. The bigger you get, the more transaction fees hurt.
Features
Feature comparison
Feature lists can be misleading — both products do the basics well, and missing features are sometimes just unmarketed ones. We've based this on what each product publicly documents on its website as of April 2026. If you're evaluating either tool, verify the specifics on a demo or in the trial.
Booking essentials (both products do these)
| Feature | Booked.it | Cueselect |
|---|---|---|
| Online bookings | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live grid / availability view | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email reminders | ✓ | ✓ |
| SMS reminders | ✓ | ✓ (Pro tier) |
| Embed widget for your website | ✓ | ✓ |
| Subdomain provision | ✓ | ✓ |
| Staff roles & permissions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reporting & analytics | ✓ | ✓ |
| CSV import for migration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multi-venue support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stripe (or similar) payments | ✓ | ✓ (Stripe) |
Cue-sports specifics (where focus matters)
| Feature | Booked.it | Cueselect |
|---|---|---|
| Table-grid view tuned for cue sports | Generic resource grid | Purpose-built for tables |
| Trusted customer / pay-at-venue mode | Verify on demo | ✓ (Club & Pro) |
| League night handling | Via custom booking journey | ✓ built-in |
| Peak/off-peak/league pricing rules | ✓ | ✓ |
| Walk-in vs. booking balance | Verify on demo | ✓ |
| Cohort discounts (junior/senior/member) | Via memberships module | ✓ built-in |
Marketing, CRM & growth (where Booked.it wins)
| Feature | Booked.it | Cueselect |
|---|---|---|
| CRM | ✓ full module | Basic customer records only |
| Email marketing automation | ✓ | — |
| Loyalty program | ✓ | — |
| Memberships module | ✓ | Basic member rate, no full module |
| Gift vouchers | ✓ | — |
| EPOS / hardware integration | ✓ | — |
| White-labelled mobile app | ✓ | — |
| Custom booking journey design | ✓ | — |
| Ticketing (events, tournaments) | ✓ | — |
This is where Booked.it pulls clearly ahead. If you need loyalty, marketing automation, gift vouchers, or a branded app — they have those modules and they're mature. We don't, and we're unlikely to build all of them. We're a booking-first product by design.
Onboarding & support
| Booked.it | Cueselect | |
|---|---|---|
| Sign-up process | Book demo → contract | Self-serve free trial |
| Free trial available | Demo only | 14 days, no card required |
| Onboarding | On-site or video call | Self-serve, optional 20-min setup call |
| Time-to-live | Days to weeks (depending on package) | Under an hour |
| Dedicated account manager | ✓ | — |
| Phone support | ✓ | Email primarily |
| UK-based support team | ✓ (London) | ✓ (Sheffield) |
Two different philosophies. Booked.it's enterprise-style sales and onboarding suit venues that want hand-holding and have the time for a multi-stage process. Cueselect's self-serve model suits venues that want to sign up tonight and be live by tomorrow morning.
Verdict
Where each one wins
Choose Booked.it if…
- You operate multiple venues, especially across leisure verticals (e.g. bowling + snooker, or snooker + escape rooms)
- You want booking + CRM + marketing + loyalty + EPOS in one platform
- You need a branded mobile app for your venue
- You prefer a guided sales and onboarding process with an account manager
- You're running 12+ tables across one or more sites and have a marketing budget
- Your online booking volume is low enough that transaction-fee pricing is competitive
Choose Cueselect if…
- You run an independent UK snooker or pool venue, single or multi-site
- You want transparent published pricing with no sales call
- You'd rather sign up tonight and be live by tomorrow than spend two weeks on demos
- You don't need (or want) CRM, loyalty, marketing automation, or EPOS built in
- Your online booking volume is high enough that transaction fees would dominate your bill
- You value cue-sports-specific design over enterprise breadth
Neither product is "better." They're built for different operators. A 25-table multi-vertical leisure group choosing Cueselect would outgrow it. A 6-table independent snooker club choosing Booked.it would pay for nine modules they'd never use. Match the tool to the venue.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Is Cueselect really a credible alternative to Booked.it?
For independent UK snooker and pool venues, yes. We're a focused product built specifically for cue sports — and for the use case of "we just want booking done well," we hold our own. For 12+ table multi-vertical operators wanting CRM + marketing + loyalty in one platform, Booked.it is the more mature choice; we'd be the first to say so.
Can I export my data if I switch?
Both platforms support data export. Customer records, booking history, and pricing rules should all be portable. Verify the specifics with each vendor before signing; the right answer is "yes, full export, anytime, no extra fee."
What if I'm currently on Booked.it and want to try Cueselect?
Start the 14-day free trial in parallel. You don't have to cancel Booked.it to evaluate Cueselect. Import your customer list via CSV. We can help you set up your tables and pricing rules in a 20-minute call. After two weeks you'll know which fits.
Does Booked.it charge for SMS reminders?
Not published on their site — verify on demo. Cueselect includes SMS reminders on the Pro tier (£49/mo) at pass-through cost (~3–5p per message).
Will I get the same level of support from Cueselect?
Different model. Booked.it gives you a dedicated account manager — useful for larger venues with complex needs. Cueselect provides email support with typical same-day response, and a 20-minute setup call to anyone who wants one. For most independent clubs, that's adequate. For multi-site operators with intricate workflows, Booked.it's account-managed model is the better fit.
What about the other UK booking systems — CueBooking, SnookHeroes, CuePal?
Covered in the complete UK guide. Each suits a slightly different venue type. The shorthand: CueBooking is snooker-specific but less actively developed; SnookHeroes leans toward back-office management; CuePal is strong on tournaments and leagues.
Wrap-up
Next steps
The most useful thing you can do is run a free trial of Cueselect alongside a Booked.it demo, then decide which fits your specific venue. They're different products built for different operators — there's no objectively "better" answer, only the right tool for your situation.
Start a 14-day free trial of Cueselect — no card required, your tables and rates live in under an hour.
For the broader landscape including all the other UK options, see our complete guide to booking systems for snooker clubs.
This comparison was last updated April 2026 using publicly available information from each company's website. If you spot something inaccurate, please email hello@cueselect.com — we'd rather be corrected than wrong. Made in Sheffield, UK.
Related guides
- Booking System for Snooker Clubs: The Complete UK Guide (2026) — the strategic pillar this comparison sits under
- How to reduce no-shows at a UK snooker club
- Peak vs. off-peak pricing for snooker tables: a UK guide