How Doris compares
Your people, your rooms.
Most booking software is built for taking bookings - and money - from the public. Doris is built for the other job: your own people booking your own rooms, without the spreadsheet.
Doris vs the free alternatives
The real competition at this end isn't other software. It's a shared calendar, a spreadsheet, or a WhatsApp group held together by one patient volunteer.
| Feature | Shared Google Calendar | Spreadsheet | WhatsApp group | Doris |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per month | Free | Free | Free | From CA$12.501 |
| Cost per room per month | Free | Free | Free | From CA$1.672 |
| Stops double-bookings | No | No | No | Yes - clashes rejected as you book |
| People book themselves | Only with full edit access | Only with full edit access | By asking a person | Yes - no edit-access free-for-all |
| Controls who sees and books what | No | No | No | Yes - private to your organization, role-based |
| Approvals | No | No | “Let me check” | Yes - per-room or org-wide |
| Recurring and block bookings | Clunky | Manual | No | Yes |
| Record of changes and cancellations | Patchy | Lost on overwrite | Lost in the scroll | Yes - full history |
| Works as a phone app | No | No | It is WhatsApp | Yes - installs as an app |
| Survives the volunteer leaving | Tied to one account | “Where's the file?” | Tied to one phone | Yes - ownership transfers cleanly |
The per-room story
Because Doris bundles rooms into tiers rather than charging per room, the cost per room falls as your organization grows - the opposite of per-space pricing.
- 5 rooms, CA$150/yr → CA$2.50 per room per month
- 10 rooms, CA$200/yr → CA$1.67 per room per month
- 15 rooms, CA$300/yr → CA$1.67 per room per month
Doris vs the paid alternatives
These are good products. They're built for a different job - taking bookings and payments from the public. Doris is built for your own people booking your own rooms.
| Feature | Skedda | Hallmaster | LemonBooking | Doris |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Hybrid offices, desks | UK venue hire | UK community venue hire | Your people, your rooms |
| Cost per month | From ~£773 | From £13.544 | From £16.255 | From CA$12.501 |
| Cost per room per month | ~£5.15 per space3 | Unlimited rooms per venue4 | ~£2.03 per facility5 | From CA$1.672 |
| Public booking page for outside hirers | Yes | Yes | Yes | No - it's for your people, not the public |
| Takes payments from bookers | Yes | Add-on | Yes | No - never touches payment data |
| Stores hirer / client data | Yes | Yes | Yes | No - holds no client records |
| Invoicing | Yes | Add-on tier | Yes | No - exports clean data, you invoice6 |
| Native mobile app | Web only | No app | Web only | Yes - installs as an app |
| Recurring and block bookings | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Approvals | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly billing option | Yes | No - annual only | No - annual only | Yes |
1Effective monthly cost when billed annually (CA$150/yr ÷ 12). Three tiers: CA$150 / CA$200 / CA$300 per year + tax. True monthly billing available at CA$15 / CA$20 / CA$30.
2Entry tier; falls to CA$1.67 per room per month at the 15-room tier. Doris caps rooms and members but includes private organization access; venue-hire tools price per facility or venue and don't cap public hirers, so per-room figures aren't strictly like-for-like.
3Skedda Starter, $99/month for 15 spaces, billed monthly (annual is cheaper); converted to GBP at an approximate rate and will move with the exchange rate.
4Hallmaster booking-only, £195/yr inc VAT, shown ex VAT for comparison (£162.50 ÷ 12). Rooms are unlimited per venue, so per-room cost falls as you add rooms.
5LemonBooking Bronze, £195/yr (reverse-charge VAT), up to 8 facilities included; extra facilities £12/yr each.
6The billing-reports add-on produces export and accounting data; invoicing stays external - Doris stops at the report.