This article compares two ways of taking class bookings for a dog training center: Canlyo and BookWhen. Both let people reserve a place in a class from a link you share. They are not, however, the same kind of product, and the honest version of this comparison is less about features than about what each one is trying to be.
Canlyo is a dedicated platform linking dog owners to dog training centers and courses, providing a free app for handlers and a comprehensive platform for centers, schools, and trainers across every discipline. Developed by seasoned dog sports competitors who comprehend the unique difficulties of managing a dog training center.
BookWhen is a general-purpose online booking system for events, classes and activities. It gives you a hosted, customisable booking page (or a snippet to embed in your own site), takes payment through Stripe, PayPal or WorldPay, and handles waiting lists, custom booking forms and a class register — for yoga studios, workshops, schools and dog trainers alike.
TL;DR
BookWhen is a booking engine. Canlyo is what runs the center. If all you need is a page where people pick a slot and pay online, BookWhen does that well and costs less — it is the better buy for a low-volume operation, or for anyone whose bookings are the only thing that needs software. Choose Canlyo when the class is only half the job: when one handler brings three dogs at three different levels, when you sell class quotas rather than single tickets, when you want your members carrying a free app, and when you want newcomers to find you rather than only to book once they already have your link.
Cost Comparison
The two price on different units, which is the thing to understand before comparing any numbers. Canlyo charges for the classes you run. BookWhen charges for the bookings you take. A class of eight is one class in Canlyo and eight bookings in BookWhen.
| Feature | Canlyo | BookWhen |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Puppy: €8.99/month (16 classes/month) Pro: €16.99/month (32 classes/month) Championship: €29.99/month (unlimited classes) | Free: €0 (50 bookings/month, free events only, one booking page) Lite: €12 (300/month) Standard: €19 (800/month) Plus: €39 (1,800/month) Enterprise: custom |
| Testing Phase | 60 days free trial, no credit card required | 14 days free trial, no credit card required |
| Payment Structure | Monthly or annual subscription (around 20% off annually) | Monthly or annual subscription (listed prices exclude VAT) |
| Cost Predictability | Fixed monthly cost based on how many classes you run | Cost rises with how many people book |
Run it against a real center. Four classes a week with eight dogs in each is roughly 17 classes and 136 bookings a month: Canlyo Pro at €16.99, BookWhen Lite at €12. Twenty classes a week is about 87 classes and 700 bookings: Canlyo Championship at €29.99, BookWhen Standard at €19.
BookWhen is cheaper on the booking line, and it stays cheaper at most volumes a training center will reach. The question is not which invoice is smaller — it is whether the booking line is the only line, because Canlyo is also the member records, the attendance history, the quota tracking, the member app and the network listing.
Feature Comparison
| Functionality | Canlyo | BookWhen |
|---|---|---|
| Class Reservation | ✅ Tailored for dog sports | ✅ General class booking |
| Repeating Classes | ✅ One-click creation | ✅ Duplicate events feature |
| Automated Waitlists | ✅ Integrated | ✅ Integrated |
| Public Booking Page | ✅ One click, at app.canlyo.com/c/your-club | ✅ Hosted page, customisable branding |
| Embed in Your Own Website | ❌ Not yet | ✅ Code snippet for any site |
| Booking Without an Account | ✅ Name, email and dog | ✅ No login needed to book |
| Online Payments | ❌ Centers collect their own | ✅ Stripe, PayPal, WorldPay |
| Member Mobile Application | ✅ Free iOS and Android app | ⚠️ Mobile-first web, no native app |
| Several Dogs per Handler | ✅ Native support | ⚠️ Possible with custom fields |
| Class Quotas per Member | ✅ Tracked per member | ❌ Ticket-based, not quota-based |
| Attendance Tracking | ✅ Performance analytics | ❌ Basic register only |
| Communication Tailored for Dog Sports | ✅ Customized templates | ❌ Generic templates |
| Center Discovery | ✅ Listed in the Canlyo network | ❌ No directory — people need your link |
| Request for Membership | ✅ Integrated system | ⚠️ Manual process |
| Calendar Integration | ✅ Full scheduling | ✅ Google Calendar sync |
Two of those rows deserve more than a tick.
Both let people book without an account. BookWhen's own help centre is explicit that you do not need to log in to complete a booking, with an optional password offered afterwards. Canlyo works the same way on a club's public page: name, email and dog, and a link arrives by email to manage or cancel the reservation. This is not a difference between the two products, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling.
The difference is what happens after the booking. In BookWhen you have a booking record. In Canlyo you have a participant who has a dog, a level, a class quota and an attendance history, who can be invited into membership, and who can install a free app to see their next class. That is the whole gap in one sentence.
The Public Page, Since Both Have One
BookWhen's model is that your booking page is your booking page: hosted by them, branded by you, or embedded in a site you already run. It does that job well, and the embed snippet is something Canlyo does not offer today.
Canlyo's public club page works differently. You switch it on in the manager, pick a slug, and your center is live at
app.canlyo.com/c/your-club with its profile, disciplines and real schedule — the same schedule you already manage, so
it cannot drift out of date. The page is indexable, every class has its own shareable link, and members who sign in see
your private classes as well as the public ones. It is included on every plan and works from the first day of the
60-day trial.
What BookWhen has no answer to is what sits behind that page. A Canlyo center is also listed in the network that dog owners browse in the free app, so people can find you without already holding your link. A BookWhen page is only ever as visible as the place you paste it.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Canlyo
Advantages:
- ✅ Built for dog sports: Sport-specific features, terminology, and workflows
- ✅ Multi-dog tracking: Native support for handlers with several dogs at different levels
- ✅ Quotas, not just tickets: Sell and track class allowances per member
- ✅ Member acquisition: Listed in the Canlyo network, so newcomers can find you
- ✅ Public page included: One click, on every plan, from day one of the trial
- ✅ Free member app: Dedicated iOS and Android apps for handlers
- ✅ 60-day free trial: Extended trial period without credit card
- ✅ Expert support: Team with dog sports domain knowledge
Drawbacks:
- ❌ No online payments yet: Centers still collect their own money
- ❌ No website embed: The public page is hosted by us, not dropped into yours
- ❌ More expensive at most volumes: Higher than BookWhen on the booking line alone
- ❌ No free tier: €8.99/month is the entry point
- ❌ Dog sports focus: Not built for generic pet services
BookWhen
Advantages:
- ✅ Free tier available: Up to 50 bookings/month at no cost, for free events
- ✅ Cheaper at volume: Lower monthly cost than Canlyo at typical center sizes
- ✅ Online payments built in: Stripe, PayPal and WorldPay, plus a pay-later option
- ✅ Embeds anywhere: One snippet drops your schedule into an existing website
- ✅ Custom booking forms: Per-event fields, waivers, attachments and marketing opt-ins
- ✅ Quick setup: Genuinely running in an afternoon
- ✅ Versatile: Works for any class, workshop or event, not only dog training
Drawbacks:
- ❌ Generic system: No discipline-specific features, and no concept of a dog
- ❌ No member discovery: Nobody finds you through BookWhen
- ❌ No native app: Mobile-first web only, by their own description
- ❌ Limited dog features: Several dogs per handler means custom fields and manual care
- ❌ Basic tracking: A class register, not attendance history or skills progress
- ❌ Narrow free tier: Free events only, one team member, one booking page
Suggested Use Cases
Canlyo
- Dog training centers and schools — the specialized features justify the difference in price
- Centers with multi-dog handlers — quotas and levels per dog, not per ticket
- Growing centers — the network puts you in front of owners who are not looking for you yet
- Competition-focused centers — progress and skill tracking a booking tool has no model for
- Multiple instructors — schedules, venues and registers across a whole team
BookWhen
- Very small or occasional operations — the free tier genuinely covers a workshop series
- Anyone who must take payment online today — the clearest single reason to choose it
- Centers with a website they like — the embed keeps people on your own domain
- Multi-activity venues — a generic system handles dogs, yoga and pottery equally well
- Simple ticketed classes — no quotas, no dogs, no member records to keep
Final Recommendation
- Pick BookWhen if bookings are the whole problem. It is cheaper, it takes payments today, and it embeds in the site you already have.
- Pick Canlyo if the class is half the job. Dogs, levels, quotas, attendance, a member app and a public page that is also a listing — none of which a booking engine is trying to solve.
- Both give you a shareable page and account-free booking. Do not decide on that; neither one wins it.
- Watch the pricing unit. Classes versus bookings changes which is cheaper as you grow, in BookWhen's favour at most center sizes.
- Payments are the real gap today. If collecting money online is non-negotiable, that settles it.
For a dog training center that is running classes rather than selling tickets, Canlyo is the better long-term fit, and the 60-day free trial is long enough to find that out properly rather than to form an impression. For a small operation that wants a booking link and a card payment, BookWhen is the right tool, and there is no reason to talk you out of it.
