Acuity Scheduling vs Calendly

Acuity Scheduling and Calendly both solve online scheduling but for different jobs. Acuity is built around a business's self-service booking page, layering in…

Best for Acuity Scheduling: Solo practitioners and service-based businesses such as salons, coaches, and wellness providers that need a self-service booking page with payments, packages or memberships, and group class scheduling.

Best for Calendly: Sales, recruiting, and customer-facing teams that need simple meeting scheduling with a free entry point, inbound meeting routing, and native CRM or marketing tool connections.

At a Glance

	Acuity Scheduling	Calendly
Primary category	Scheduling	Scheduling
Rating	Not documented	Not documented
Pricing model	Free trial + paid plans	Freemium
Starting price	$16/month	Free (Standard plan from $10/month per seat, billed annually)
Free plan	Not documented	Yes
Free trial	Yes	Not documented
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web, iOS, Android
Team collaboration	Not documented	Not documented
AI features	Not documented	Not documented
Public API	Yes	Yes

Key Differences

Free plan availability

Acuity Scheduling: No permanent free plan, only a free trial before a paid subscription is required

Calendly: A genuine Free plan at $0, limited to one event type and one calendar connection

Teams that want to test scheduling long-term without a budget commitment need an always-free option, not just a trial window

Entry-level paid pricing

Acuity Scheduling: Emerging plan starts at $16 per month billed annually

Calendly: Standard plan starts at $10 per seat per month

Per-seat versus flat per-account pricing changes the cost curve as a team grows

Core use case

Acuity Scheduling: Built around appointment-based service delivery: bookings, packages, and group classes

Calendly: Built around meeting scheduling and coordination, including payment inside a booking flow

Selling bundled services requires different tooling than coordinating one-on-one or team meetings

Packages, memberships, and group scheduling

Acuity Scheduling: Documented support for selling packages, memberships, and scheduling group classes or workshops

Calendly: Not documented in the provided facts

Businesses that sell bundled or recurring sessions need this built in rather than bolted on

Sales meeting routing

Acuity Scheduling: Not documented in the provided facts

Calendly: Round-robin routing distributes inbound meeting requests across a sales team on the Teams tier

Sales and support teams need inbound meetings distributed fairly rather than handled by one person

CRM and marketing integrations

Acuity Scheduling: Documented integrations focus on Zoom and Squarespace websites

Calendly: Native integrations with HubSpot and Mailchimp are documented

Teams running marketing or sales pipelines need scheduling to plug directly into their CRM

Multi-staff and location scale

Acuity Scheduling: Documented tiers scale from 1 staff calendar up to 36 staff calendars or locations on the top plan

Calendly: Per-seat pricing is documented, but no location-based limits are specified

Multi-location businesses need clarity on how staff and locations are counted and billed

Healthcare and compliance configuration

Acuity Scheduling: Top-tier Powerhouse plan includes a HIPAA-compliant configuration

Calendly: Not documented in the provided facts

Healthcare and wellness providers handling protected health information need a compliant booking flow

Enterprise pricing tier

Acuity Scheduling: No separate enterprise tier is documented beyond the $49 per month Powerhouse plan

Calendly: A defined Enterprise tier exists, starting at $15,000 per year

Large organizations often need custom contracts, security review, and dedicated support beyond self-serve tiers

Ecosystem tie-in

Acuity Scheduling: Owned by Squarespace, with tight integration into Squarespace websites

Calendly: Ecosystem ties documented toward CRM and marketing platforms like HubSpot and Mailchimp

Which ecosystem a scheduling tool plugs into affects how much setup work is needed alongside existing tools

Feature-by-Feature

Core Booking and Scheduling

Feature	Acuity Scheduling	Calendly
Public self-service booking page	Available	Available
Time zone auto-detection for bookers	Available	Available
Calendar sync (Google, Outlook, iCloud)	Available	Not documented

Payments and Monetization

Feature	Acuity Scheduling	Calendly
Online payment collection at booking	Available	Available
Packages, memberships, or recurring session sales	Available	Not documented
Group class or workshop scheduling	Available	Not documented

Reminders and Client Communication

Feature	Acuity Scheduling	Calendly
Automated email reminders	Available	Not documented
Automated text or SMS reminders	Available	Not documented
Custom intake forms or booking questions	Available	Not documented

Team and Sales Workflow

Feature	Acuity Scheduling	Calendly
Multi-staff and multi-location support	Available	Not documented
Inbound meeting routing or round robin	Not documented	Available
Native CRM and marketing integrations	Not documented	Available

Compliance and Industry Fit

Feature	Acuity Scheduling	Calendly
HIPAA-compliant configuration	Available	Not documented

Platform and Extensibility

Feature	Acuity Scheduling	Calendly
API access	Available	Not documented
Native iOS and Android apps	Available	Not documented
Zoom or video conferencing integration	Available	Not documented

Pricing Structure

Feature	Acuity Scheduling	Calendly
Permanent free plan	Unavailable	Available
Entry-level paid plan price	Available	Available
Defined enterprise pricing tier	Not documented	Available

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

Acuity Scheduling

Starter — $16/month Annual (or $20/month billed monthly)

Standard — $27/month Annual (or $34/month billed monthly)

Premium — $49/month Annual (or $61/month billed monthly)

Calendly

Free — $0 N/A

Standard — $10/month per seat (annual) or $12/month (monthly) monthly or annual

Teams — $16/month per seat (annual) or $20/month (monthly), 1-30 seats monthly or annual

Enterprise — Custom annual

Pros & Cons

Acuity Scheduling

Pros

Deep customization of booking pages and client workflows
Wide range of native integrations, including payments and video conferencing
Backed by Squarespace's infrastructure and support
Built-in tools for selling packages, memberships, and gift certificates

Cons

Pricing scales with number of calendars, which can get costly for larger teams
HIPAA compliance and full branding removal are limited to the top-tier Premium plan
No permanently free plan — only a short trial period

Calendly

Pros

Market-leading brand recognition with a large integration ecosystem
Easy to set up for individuals with a generous free tier
Strong team scheduling features (round-robin, collective, routing forms)
Enterprise-grade security and Salesforce routing for large organizations

Cons

Free plan is limited to a single event type and one connected calendar
Per-seat pricing on Teams and Enterprise can add up quickly for larger organizations
Advanced routing and compliance features are reserved for the Enterprise tier

Use Cases

Choose Acuity Scheduling: Solo practitioners and service-based businesses such as salons, coaches, and wellness providers that need a self-service booking page with payments, packages or memberships, and group class scheduling.

Choose Calendly: Sales, recruiting, and customer-facing teams that need simple meeting scheduling with a free entry point, inbound meeting routing, and native CRM or marketing tool connections.

Need both: An organization that both delivers paid client appointments and runs a sales process, such as a wellness or coaching business with a sales team, could reasonably run Acuity for client bookings and Calendly for prospect and team meetings.

Acuity Scheduling

Solo service providers — Coaches, therapists, and stylists managing their own booking calendar and payments.
Multi-staff wellness businesses — Spas, salons, and fitness studios coordinating bookings across multiple staff and locations.
Healthcare and HIPAA-sensitive scheduling — Practices needing signed BAAs for compliant appointment booking.

Calendly

Sales Demo Booking — Sales teams use routing forms and round-robin scheduling to book demos and route leads to the right rep.
Recruiting & Interview Scheduling — Recruiters share booking links so candidates can self-schedule interviews around interviewer availability.
Client Meeting Management — Consultants, coaches, and freelancers use a personal booking page to manage client meetings without email back-and-forth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheaper, Acuity Scheduling or Calendly?

Calendly is cheaper to start because it offers a genuinely free plan, while Acuity Scheduling has no permanent free tier and requires a paid plan starting around $16 per month after its free trial ends.

Does Acuity Scheduling have a free plan like Calendly?

No, Acuity Scheduling only offers a free trial rather than an ongoing free plan, so continued use requires subscribing to one of its paid tiers, unlike Calendly's permanent Free plan.

Which tool is better for sales teams booking meetings?

Calendly is the better documented fit for sales teams, since it offers round robin routing of inbound meetings on its Teams plan along with native HubSpot and Mailchimp integrations, features not documented for Acuity Scheduling.

Which tool is better for service businesses like salons or coaches taking payments?

Acuity Scheduling is the better documented fit for service businesses, since it supports packages, memberships, group class scheduling, and payment collection through Stripe, PayPal, or Square at the time of booking.

Does Calendly support HIPAA compliance like Acuity Scheduling?

Based on the documented facts, Calendly does not have a confirmed HIPAA-compliant configuration, while Acuity Scheduling offers one on its top-tier Powerhouse plan.

Can both tools collect payment at the time of booking?

Yes, both tools support payment collection during booking, with Acuity Scheduling integrating Stripe, PayPal, and Square, and Calendly integrating Stripe and PayPal on its Standard plan and above.

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