Automate Basics

Cal.com vs Acuity Scheduling vs Zoho Bookings

Pick up to 4 tools and see their free plans, entry prices, platforms and limits in one table. Every fact comes from each vendor's own pages, checked 21 October 2026.

Compared on
Cal.com

Free plan · from $12/user/mo

Acuity Scheduling

Free trial · from $16/mo

Zoho Bookings

Free plan · from $6/user/mo

What it isScheduling with unlimited event types free for one user; its open-source edition now continues as Cal.diyClient booking for service businesses with intake forms, packages and payments, priced by number of calendarsZoho's appointment scheduler with a free one-user plan, round-robin algorithms and resource booking
Free plan1 user; unlimited event types, calendars and bookings; email and SMS notifications; 100+ app integrations; Stripe and PayPal payments; two-way Salesforce and HubSpot sync; no team featuresNo1 user; online meetings; email notifications and reminders; two-way calendar sync with Zoho, Google and Microsoft 365/Outlook.com
Cheapest paid plan$12/user/mo billed annually (Teams)Cal.com pricing$16/mo billed annually (Starter)Acuity Scheduling pricing$6/user/mo billed annually (Basic)Zoho Bookings pricing
What it coversShown as $12 per user a month on yearly billing ('Save 25%'); the pricing page does not show the monthly-billed price. Includes 750 Cal.ai credits per member a month.1 calendar; payments, email reminders, intake forms and automatic time zone conversion. Prices exclude taxes; yearly billing saves 20%.1 workspace; round robin, collective bookings and email workflows. Payments, routing forms and SMS workflows need Premium.
Free trial14-day free trial of Teams and Organizations7-day free trial, no credit card needed15-day Premium trial, no credit card needed; the account can then continue on the Free plan
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux, Browser extension, APIWeb, iOS, Android, APIWeb, iOS, Android, Browser extension, API
Integrations (vendor's figure)100+ apps, including Zapier, Make, Salesforce, HubSpot, Stripe and PayPalCalendars, payment processors, marketing, accounting (QuickBooks, FreshBooks) and video apps, plus 500+ apps through Zapier75+ Zoho and third-party apps, and 850+ apps through Zapier or Zoho Flow
Open sourceNoNoNo
Good for
  • Getting unlimited booking links free as a solo user
  • Distributing team meetings with round robin and routing forms
  • Adding scheduling to your own product through the API and embeds
  • Service businesses that take deposits or prepayment at booking
  • Selling session packages, memberships and gift certificates
  • Small multi-staff or multi-location businesses sharing one account
  • Teams already using Zoho CRM or Zoho One
  • Booking rooms and equipment alongside staff
  • Distributing appointments across staff by workload or priority
Watch out for
  • Round robin, routing forms and removing Cal.com branding need a paid plan, from $12 per user a month billed yearly
  • The pricing page shows only yearly-billed prices
  • Cal.com's own code is no longer open source; the self-hosted Cal.diy edition drops teams, round robin, routing forms and workflows and is recommended for personal, non-production use
  • 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
  • The free plan is limited to 1 user
  • Payments, routing forms, group and resource bookings, SMS workflows and white labelling need Premium
  • Basic includes 1 workspace and Premium 3; extra workspaces and resources are paid add-ons
Made byCal.com, Inc.SquarespaceZoho Corporation

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

Every tool in scheduling and booking tools is on its category page, with the written head-to-heads on Compare.