Calendly and Acuity Scheduling are two of the most-searched booking tools. They look similar at a glance — both let you share a link and have customers pick a time — but they’re built for different use cases.
Here’s the detailed comparison.
TL;DR
- Calendly: built for B2B / professional bookings (sales calls, consultations, recruiting). Simpler, faster setup, better integrations.
- Acuity Scheduling: built for service businesses (salons, trainers, therapists). Deeper feature set, more flexibility, steeper learning curve.
If you’re booking meetings, Calendly. If you’re booking services, Acuity. If you need both at low cost, look at Zedule.
Pricing comparison
| Tier | Calendly | Acuity (Squarespace) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1 event type | None |
| Lowest paid | $10/seat/month | $20/month |
| Mid tier | $16/seat/month | $34/month |
| Top tier | $30/seat/month | $61/month |
| Annual | $120-360/seat/yr | $240-732/yr |
Calendly charges per seat (each user pays). Acuity charges per business but includes 1, 6, or 36 staff members per tier.
For a 5-person team:
- Calendly Standard: $50/month = $600/year
- Acuity Growing: $34/month = $408/year (up to 6 staff)
For solo: Calendly Standard $120/year vs Acuity Emerging $240/year — Calendly wins on solo simplicity.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Calendly | Acuity |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar sync | Google, Outlook, iCloud, Office 365 | Google, Outlook, iCloud, Office 365 |
| Multi-staff scheduling | ✅ (Teams plan) | ✅ |
| Class / group bookings | Limited | ✅ |
| Customer intake forms | ✅ | ✅ (more flexible) |
| Custom branding | Basic | Custom CSS |
| Custom domain | ❌ | ❌ |
| Embed on website | ✅ | ✅ |
| Stripe / Square payments | ✅ | ✅ |
| Package / subscription billing | ❌ | ✅ |
| Reminders | Email free; SMS paid | Email + SMS |
| API | ✅ | ✅ |
| Zapier | ✅ (extensive) | ✅ (extensive) |
| Workflow / automations | ✅ (best-in-class) | Basic |
| Salesforce integration | ✅ | ❌ |
| HubSpot integration | ✅ | Basic |
| Round-robin assignment | ✅ | ❌ |
| Resource booking (rooms/equipment) | ❌ | ✅ |
| Recurring appointments | ❌ | ✅ |
| Gift certificates | ❌ | ✅ |
| Multiple locations | Limited | ✅ |
Where Calendly wins
- Simpler UX. Setup in 5 minutes. Calendly is famous for this.
- Round-robin scheduling. Auto-assign to whichever team member is available. Killer feature for sales teams.
- Workflow automations. Trigger emails, Slack messages, CRM updates based on booking events. Best in class.
- Salesforce integration. Native, deep. Acuity doesn’t match.
- Per-meeting analytics. Conversion tracking, drop-off analysis at each step.
- Better for B2B sales. Built for the professional-meeting use case.
Where Acuity wins
- Recurring appointments. Native support; Calendly doesn’t do recurring.
- Resource booking. Rooms, equipment, treatment chairs.
- Class scheduling. Group sessions with capacity limits.
- Customer intake forms. Conditional fields, file uploads, deeper customisation.
- Package / subscription. Sell 10-class packs, monthly unlimited, etc.
- More flexible service types. Variable duration, custom buffers, prep time.
- Better for service businesses. Built for salons, trainers, therapists.
Where neither is great
- Custom domain branding. Neither supports
book.yourbusiness.comnatively. Both rely oncalendly.com/yourbusinessoryourbusiness.as.me. - Multi-tenant / franchise. Neither was designed for multi-location chains with separate calendars per location.
- No-staff fees. Both charge per user, which gets expensive.
- Basic-tier limitations. Both gate critical features (custom branding, SMS) behind paid tiers.
Where Zedule fits
Zedule is the alternative for businesses who want:
- Per-business pricing ($100/year flat, no per-seat fees)
- Custom domain (
book.yourbusiness.com) at no extra cost - BYO email + SMS providers (no markup, send from your domain)
- Per-tenant data isolation (each business gets its own Cloudflare D1 database)
- Both meeting-style AND service-style bookings
Zedule isn’t trying to replace Calendly’s Salesforce integration or Acuity’s gift-certificate flow. It’s the booking layer with the basics done well at much lower cost.
Decision tree
Pick Calendly if:
- You’re a B2B professional booking sales calls or consultations
- Salesforce / HubSpot integration is critical
- You need round-robin / team scheduling
- Setup speed matters more than feature depth
Pick Acuity if:
- You run a salon, spa, fitness studio, or coaching practice
- You sell packages or recurring services
- You need class / group bookings
- You’re already in the Squarespace ecosystem
Pick Zedule if:
- You want both styles of booking at low cost
- Custom domain branding matters
- You want to keep email/SMS routing on your own providers
- You don’t need the deep Salesforce / package / workflow features