Already have Growth or Pro?
You want the main Getting Started guide instead — it covers publishing a public booking page, which isn't part of Free or Starter.

What's included on Free vs. Starter

Both plans give you the full dashboard for managing appointments, clients, and invoices manually. Here's what's actually different between them:

Free

  • Up to 10 appointments per month
  • Full dashboard access
  • 3 invoice reminders per month
  • 5 trial SMS total (not renewing) — enough to test reminders, not to run on
  • No quotes/estimates, no custom reminder message, no online booking page

Starter — $42/mo

  • 75 appointments per month
  • Business name shown in reminder texts
  • 875 SMS/month included, 1 automatic reminder per appointment
  • 20 invoice reminders per month
  • Quotes & estimates
  • Up to 2 staff members
  • 30-day analytics history
  • No online booking page, no MMS, no custom reminder message or timing

The main thing both plans have in common: there's no public booking page. That's a Growth-plan feature. On Free and Starter, you are the one entering appointments into the system — clients book with you the way they always have (phone, text, email, in person), and you log it in ApptGuard so it's tracked, reminded, and invoiced properly.

Step 1 — Create your account

Getting started is free and takes about two minutes.

1

Register

Go to apptguard.nihnyx.com/register and enter your name, email, and a password (8+ characters, one uppercase letter, one number, one special character).

2

Verify your email

Click the link in the verification email. Check spam if it doesn't arrive within a few minutes.

3

Sign in

Head to apptguard.nihnyx.com/login and sign in to land on your dashboard.

Step 2 — Set up your business profile

From Settings, fill in your business name, phone number, and reply email — these appear on invoices and any reminder texts you send. A logo is optional; on Free and Starter it shows up on invoices (MMS with your logo on texts is a Growth-plan feature).

Step 3 — Adding appointments manually

Since there's no public booking page on these plans, appointments get added by you (or your staff, on Starter) directly in the dashboard. This is normal and works well for businesses that book over the phone or take walk-ins.

1

Go to Appointments

Open the Appointments page from the sidebar and click + Add Appointment.

2

Fill in the client and time

Enter the client's name and phone number, pick a date and time, and choose or describe the service. This is also where a new client record gets created automatically.

3

Save

The appointment now appears on your dashboard. On Starter, it'll also queue a reminder text closer to the appointment time, using your included SMS.

Watch your appointment cap
Free is capped at 10 appointments/month and Starter at 75. When you're close to the limit, the dashboard will flag it. If you're consistently hitting the ceiling, that's usually the clearest sign it's time to look at upgrading.

Step 4 — Sending invoices and quotes

From the Invoices page, click + New Invoice, search for an existing client or fill in their details manually, add line items, and send. Free includes 3 invoice reminders per month; Starter includes 20 and also unlocks quotes/estimates from the same area of the dashboard — useful for sending a price before a job is booked.

Step 5 — Understanding your SMS reminders

SMS is the area where Free and Starter differ most from each other:

  • Free gets 5 trial texts total, not per month — enough to see how reminders look and feel, not to run ongoing reminders. After that, reminders won't send until you upgrade.
  • Starter includes 875 SMS/month and sends 1 automatic reminder per appointment, using a fixed message template (the wording isn't customizable on this plan — that's a Growth feature, along with choosing when the reminder goes out).

You can check usage any time under Settings → Reminders.

Next steps

  • Get comfortable with manual entry — it takes a few appointments to build the habit of logging bookings as they come in.
  • Use invoices from day one — even on Free, tracking invoices from the start gives you a clean record once you're ready to look at reports.
  • Watch your usage — appointment count, SMS, and invoice reminders all reset monthly (except Free's 5 trial texts, which don't renew).
  • Know what Growth unlocks — a public booking page clients can use themselves, custom reminder wording and timing, MMS with your logo, a branded client portal, and up to 5 staff. See the plan comparison when you're ready.
Common mistakes on Free & Starter
  • Forgetting appointments don't add themselves — without a booking page, nothing shows up on the dashboard until you enter it
  • Running Free past the 5 trial texts and wondering why reminders stopped sending
  • Not using quotes on Starter before a job — it's included and gives clients a clear price up front
  • Waiting too long to check whether you've outgrown the appointment cap