Calendly vs Acuity: which scheduler fits your business?
Calendly if people are booking a conversation with you: calls, consults, meetings. Acuity if people are booking a service: intake forms, deposits, packages, a few staff calendars. And check first, because the booking tool you need might already be inside something you pay for.
This one shouldn't take two weeks to decide. Here's how I'd think about it. Hope this helps.
Founder, Handled. Greenville, SC. Updated October 2026, 6 min read.
The short version
Calendly is a link. Acuity is a booking system.
| Category | Calendly | Acuity Scheduling |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Consultants, sales calls, B2B meetings | Appointment businesses: wellness, salons, trainers, therapists |
| Price | Free, then $10 to $16 a seat per month (billed annually) | $20, $34 or $61 a month, priced by calendars, not seats |
| Free plan | Yes, one event type | No, 7-day trial |
| Stand-out features | Dead simple, round-robin for teams, HubSpot on Standard | Intake forms, deposits, packages and gift certificates |
| My pick | If you book meetings | If you book services |
Pulled from Calendly's and Acuity's own pricing pages in October 2026. Scheduling tools tweak their plans a lot, so check again when you sign up.
Calendly: the link everyone already knows
Connect your calendar, set your hours, send a link.
Free: one event type. If you just need "pick a time with me," you might never upgrade.
Standard, $10 a seat per month billed annually ($12 monthly): unlimited event types, payments through Stripe and PayPal, automated reminders, and a HubSpot connection.
Teams, $16 a seat billed annually: round-robin scheduling (spreading bookings across your team) and Salesforce.
- Ten minutes to set up. Clean for you, clean for whoever's booking.
- A real free plan. One event type with no clock running.
- Good for sales teams. Round-robin and CRM connections on Teams.
- Per-seat pricing. Every person who takes bookings is another seat.
- Light intake. A few questions, not a real intake form.
- Not built for packages. Session bundles and memberships aren't its thing.
Acuity: built for appointment businesses
Owned by Squarespace, priced by calendars.
Heads up if you read an older comparison: Acuity renamed its plans. They used to be Emerging, Growing and Powerhouse.
Starter, $20 a month ($16 billed annually): one calendar, intake forms, payments, email reminders.
Standard, $34 a month ($27 annually): up to six calendars, text reminders, and packages, memberships and gift certificates.
Premium, $61 a month ($49 annually): up to 36 calendars, custom code options, and the option to sign a BAA for HIPAA.
- Real intake forms. Get the info you need before they walk in.
- Sells more than a time slot. Deposits, packages, gift certificates.
- Flat pricing for a team. Six calendars on Standard costs less than six Calendly seats.
- No free plan. Seven days, then you're paying.
- Text reminders start at Standard. Starter is email only.
- Feels older. The admin side isn't as polished as Calendly.
Which one should you pick?
Start at the top. Most businesses stop at step one.
Square, your CRM, your practice software and Google Calendar all have some form of booking. If one of them covers it, turn it on and skip the new subscription.
- Calendly for meetings, sales calls and anything solo and simple.
- Acuity for services, intake forms, deposits and a few staff calendars.
If booking is tangled up with your inventory, your memberships or a system neither tool connects to, that's when a custom booking flow can make sense. A custom flow can pull from the systems you already run, so nobody has to type the same booking in twice.
What the pricing pages don't tell you
Payment fees are on top. Stripe charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per card payment, whichever scheduler you use.
Calendly's CRM features are split across plans. HubSpot is on Standard, Salesforce and round-robin are on Teams. Check which one you need before you pick a plan.
Acuity's HIPAA option is Premium only. If you collect health info in your intake form, budget for Premium and confirm the BAA with Acuity.
A half-set-up tool is the expensive one. If you pick Acuity for intake forms, actually build the forms. Otherwise you're paying extra for a fancy Calendly link.
Questions people ask me
Got one that isn't here? Ask me on a free call →
Is Calendly or Acuity better for a small business?
Calendly if you book meetings: sales calls, consults, check-ins. Acuity if you book appointments for services: intake forms, deposits, packages, more than one staff calendar. If you can't decide, ask whether your customers are booking a conversation or booking a service.
Is Calendly free?
Yes, Calendly has a free plan with one event type. Standard is $10 a seat per month billed annually or $12 monthly, and Teams is $16 a seat billed annually. Acuity has no free plan, just a 7-day trial.
What does Acuity cost?
Starter is $20 a month ($16 billed annually) for one calendar. Standard is $34 ($27 annually) for up to six calendars and adds text reminders. Premium is $61 ($49 annually) for up to 36 calendars. It's priced by calendars, not per user, which gets cheaper than Calendly as your team grows.
Is Acuity HIPAA compliant?
Acuity lists signing a BAA for HIPAA compliance on its Premium plan, not Starter or Standard. If you handle health information, confirm the details with Acuity before you put any of it in a booking form. Calendly's pricing page doesn't mention HIPAA, so ask them directly if you need it.
Can I take payments at booking?
Yes on both. Calendly collects payments through Stripe and PayPal on Standard and up. Acuity takes payments on its paid plans, and Standard and Premium add memberships, packages and gift certificates.
When you don't need me
Most people can set either one up themselves in an afternoon.
You just need a booking link. Calendly free. Done.
Your current software already books appointments. Turn on its reminders and use it.
You're one person with one service. Acuity Starter or Calendly Standard will handle it without any help from me.
What changed
- October 2026: rewritten top to bottom. Calendly prices updated ($10 Standard and $16 Teams billed annually). Acuity's HIPAA option corrected to Premium only, and packages corrected to Standard and up. Removed the no-show, hours-saved and example-business numbers we couldn't back up.
- March 2026: first published.
Sources
Every price and outside fact on this page comes from the sources below, checked October 3, 2026. Prices change often, so check before you buy.
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Best AI CRM for Small Business
And whether you need one at all.
Start with what you have. Build what's missing.
If booking is tangled up with the rest of how you run things, tell me how people book with you today, from first message to walking in. I'll tell you honestly whether you need a scheduler, a setting you already have, or something built to fit.
Book a free call15 minutes. No sales pitch.
Get the free missed-money checklist.
Seven places a service business quietly leaks revenue, with the actual text message for each one. None of them are about working harder, and none of them involve firing anybody. Steal the templates and change the words so they sound like you.
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