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Acuity Scheduling vs Calendly

A side-by-side of Acuity Scheduling and Calendly on pricing and our methodology scores, drawn from each tool's category Listings. They compete in Appointment Scheduling Software.

The verdict

Acuity Scheduling is the stronger overall pick. In the Appointment Scheduling Software ranking it scores 3.85 to Calendly's 3.82 out of 5. That said, Calendly wins on individual criteria below, so read the breakdown against your own priorities.

At a glance

Acuity Scheduling Calendly
Starting price $16/mo Free
Free tier No Yes
Appointment Scheduling Software score 3.85 (#2) 3.82 (#3)

Head to head: Appointment Scheduling Software

scored / 5
Calendar Integration 25% weight
Acuity Scheduling 4.5

Real-time two-way sync with Google, Outlook, Office 365, and iCloud rates highly and is repeatedly credited with preventing double-bookings; the only recurring gripe is occasional setup delay.

Calendly 5.0

The standout strength — reviewers across the board cite reliable, double-booking-proof sync with Google, Outlook, Office 365, and iCloud.

Scheduling Flexibility 20% weight
Acuity Scheduling 4.0

Individual and paid bookings, packages, memberships, and subscriptions are strongly rated, but group-class scheduling scores lower and a few scaling businesses find it limiting.

Calendly 4.0

Strong for solo and small-team booking, but round-robin and pooled group availability are gated to paid tiers and the free plan's single event type barely qualifies as a scheduler.

Routing & Forms 15% weight
Acuity Scheduling 3.5

Customizable intake forms earn consistent praise for collecting client info before sessions, though there's little evidence of round-robin or team distribution rules.

Calendly 3.5

Routing forms genuinely help qualify inbound demos, but they are paywalled to the Teams tier and the advanced conditional logic reads as bolted-on rather than native.

Branding & Booking Pages 15% weight
Acuity Scheduling 3.5

Booking-page branding rates above average and brand colors and logo come on every plan, but deeper customization can require CSS or HTML and reviewers flag the design options as limited.

Calendly 2.5

The most common complaint — you cannot mask that you are using Calendly, customization is limited to logo and color, and removing its branding requires a paid plan.

Value for Money 25% weight
Acuity Scheduling 3.5

Reviewers call it good value for startups and rate it well overall, but the missing free tier, features gated behind pricier upgrades, and being roughly double a competitor's price all recur as complaints.

Calendly 3.5

Good value for professionals and small businesses, but per-seat costs scale fast and renewal price increases are a recurring gripe on the paid tiers.

Acuity Scheduling

Pros

  • Takes deposits and full payment at booking through Stripe, Square, or PayPal
  • Bidirectional sync with Google, Outlook, Office 365, and iCloud rates highly for stopping double-bookings
  • Customizable intake forms gather client info and surface your cancellation policy before the session
  • Handles 1:1 sessions, group classes, packages, memberships, and subscriptions out of the box

Cons

  • No free tier; entry pricing starts at $16/month and reviewers call it expensive versus competitors
  • Deeper booking-page design often needs CSS or HTML that non-technical owners find awkward
  • Group-class scheduling rates noticeably weaker than individual appointments
  • Growing businesses occasionally hit a ceiling and describe the feature set as basic

Calendly

Pros

  • Calendar sync with Google, Outlook, Office 365, and iCloud is the most-praised feature and reliably prevents double-bookings
  • Turns three back-and-forth emails into zero for one-on-one and group bookings
  • Routing forms qualify inbound demo requests and send each visitor to the right booking page
  • Round-robin and pooled team availability handle distribution once you are on the Teams tier

Cons

  • The free plan caps you at one event type and one calendar, so it works as a demo more than a daily scheduler
  • Round-robin, routing, and custom branding all sit behind paid tiers — the useful team features start at Teams ($16/seat/month)
  • Booking pages stay recognizably Calendly; you cannot remove its stamp or restructure the layout without paying, and even then it is mostly logo-and-color tweaks
  • Per-seat pricing climbs fast and renewal increases are a recurring complaint — a 10-person Teams deployment runs $1,920/year before the SSO add-on

FAQ

Is Acuity Scheduling or Calendly better?
Acuity Scheduling edges ahead in our scoring. In the Appointment Scheduling Software ranking Acuity Scheduling scores 3.85 and Calendly scores 3.82 out of 5. Calendly still wins on specific criteria, so the right pick depends on what you weight most.
Is Acuity Scheduling cheaper than Calendly?
Calendly has the lower entry price: Acuity Scheduling starts at $16/mo and Calendly starts at Free.
What is the difference between Acuity Scheduling and Calendly?
Acuity Scheduling is positioned as Scheduling built for service businesses with paid bookings. Calendly is positioned as The default category-leading scheduling tool. They go head to head in Appointment Scheduling Software.
Read the full Acuity Scheduling review → Read the full Calendly review →

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