Calendly vs Acuity Scheduling
Calendly or Acuity Scheduling? Here is how they compare on price, free plan, platforms and the jobs each does best, from each vendor's own pages.
| Compared on | Visit | Visit |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Booking-link scheduler with routing forms, Stripe and PayPal payments, and AI add-ons for notes and email | Client booking for service businesses with intake forms, packages and payments, priced by number of calendars |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $10/seat/mo billed annually (Standard)Calendly pricing | $16/mo billed annually (Starter)Acuity Scheduling pricing |
| What it covers | Unlimited event types, multiple calendar connections, automations and reminders, HubSpot and Mailchimp, Stripe and PayPal payments. Seats are needed only for people who connect calendars and host meetings, not for invitees. | 1 calendar; payments, email reminders, intake forms and automatic time zone conversion. Prices exclude taxes; yearly billing saves 20%. |
| Free trial | 14-day free trial; the account then moves to the Free plan | 7-day free trial, no credit card needed |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension, API | Web, iOS, Android, API |
| Integrations (vendor's figure) | 100+ integrations, including Zoom, Google Calendar, Outlook, Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Stripe, PayPal and Zapier | Calendars, payment processors, marketing, accounting (QuickBooks, FreshBooks) and video apps, plus 500+ apps through Zapier |
| Open source | No | No |
| Made by | Calendly LLC | Squarespace |
Choose Calendly if…
- You want a free plan: Acuity Scheduling does not have one.
- The job is sharing a booking link so clients and prospects pick a free time.
- The job is taking payment when someone books a session.
Choose Acuity Scheduling if…
- The job is service businesses that take deposits or prepayment at booking.
- The job is selling session packages, memberships and gift certificates.
Still weighing it up?
If neither is quite right, Calendly and Acuity Scheduling are also compared with their other rivals: Calendly vs Cal.com, Calendly vs Microsoft Bookings and Calendly vs SavvyCal.
To see them doing real work, read Send a Feedback Survey After a Calendly Meeting Ends and Add a Zoom Link Automatically to Calendly Bookings.
What Calendly does
- Booking links and pages with event types, buffers, daily limits and custom availability
- Connects Google, Outlook and Microsoft calendars to avoid double bookings
- Automated email and text reminders, and follow-ups
- Payment at booking through Stripe or PayPal, on Standard and above
- Round-robin and team scheduling, with routing forms that qualify and route leads, on Teams
- Notetaker: recordings, transcripts, meeting recaps and draft follow-up emails (Plus plans)
Watch out for
- Free plan: 1 event type and 1 calendar connection, with no payments
- Round robin, team scheduling and routing forms need Teams, from $16 per seat a month billed yearly
- Notetaker and Callie come only with the Plus plans, are available only in English, and Callie is in beta
What Acuity Scheduling does
- Branded booking page clients use around the clock, embedded on your website or shared as a link or QR code
- Client intake forms, terms and cancellation-policy acceptance, and client profiles with notes
- Prepayments, deposits and stored cards through Stripe, Square or PayPal, plus in-person payments and tipping
- Packages, subscriptions, memberships, gift certificates, coupons and add-ons
- Email reminders on every plan; SMS reminders and waitlists from Standard
- AI Booking Assistant chat bot that books clients, on Premium
Watch out for
- No free plan; the free trial lasts 7 days
- Starter has 1 calendar and Standard up to 6; more staff or locations need Premium (36 calendars) or Enterprise
- Text reminders, waitlists and packages need Standard; the HIPAA BAA, AI Booking Assistant and removing Acuity branding need Premium
Questions
Is Calendly or Acuity Scheduling cheaper?
They price different things, so neither is simply cheaper. Calendly's entry price, $10/seat/mo billed annually (Standard), is per user or seat; Acuity Scheduling's, $16/mo billed annually (Starter), is for the whole plan. Price the number of people, channels or contacts you have on each.
Do Calendly and Acuity Scheduling have free plans?
Calendly does; Acuity Scheduling does not, though it offers a 7-day free trial, no credit card needed.