Nobody wants to book a meeting or appointment in 2024 unless they can do it online. There are plenty of scheduling apps available—and two of the most recognizable names are Calendly and Acuity. Both platforms are intuitive and reliable and allow users to automate booking, sync with calendar apps, and even accept payments.

But while the two apps may look really similar at first glance, they each have their own strengths and target users. 

I've been using Calendly almost exclusively since I started my business a few years ago—and I'd argue it's an ideal choice for people like me. But Acuity is an equally powerful tool in its own right.

I've been updating this article for the past couple of years, and I spent time this year testing and exploring both apps, comparing their strengths and weaknesses. Here, I'll walk you through the main differences between Calendly and Acuity—and who each tool is right for—so you can find the best fit for you.

Calendly vs. Acuity at a glance

This comparison table outlines the main differences in the Acuity Scheduling vs. Calendly showdown. For more details about my experience testing each tool, keep reading—or you can always scroll to the end for my detailed recommendations of each app's ideal user.

Calendly is better for simple meeting scheduling

First, let's establish a subtle but important difference between the purposes of these two tools: meeting scheduling vs. appointment booking. Plenty of people use these terms interchangeably, but here's a quick way to differentiate them:

• Meeting schedulers are specifically used to schedule meetings or calls (often held over a video conference tool like Zoom). 

• Appointment booking apps are built for a variety of appointment types, usually between a customer/client and a business. These appointments might include a menu of services, could involve group classes, and almost always include payment.

While either tool could be used for either purpose, Acuity shines as an appointment booking app—and Calendly is more of a meeting scheduler. 

Undoubtedly, Calendly is the minimalist choice. If you're looking for a tool with a virtually nonexistent learning curve and no superfluous features, you'll probably be happier with Calendly.

Both Acuity and Calendly have a relatively intuitive interface, but Calendly's is extremely simple. Your home page displays your event types, and you can navigate through tabs to view your upcoming schedule, automated workflows, analytics, and routing forms (more on these later).

Calendly does away with the bundle of business tools Acuity offers, focusing instead on its core feature: scheduling. So if your use case is focused more on virtual meetings than client appointments, you might be overwhelmed by Acuity's menu features, while Calendy's focused approach will be a better fit for you.

Calendly also offers more points of access—like browser extensions and apps for iPhone and Android—which makes remote video conferencing even easier. And with collaborative tools like shared events and polls, Calendly simplifies the process of finding a time to meet with your team, industry contacts, or prospective clients.

Essentially, Calendly is a calendar that lets other people schedule meetings with you—albeit with a few helpful integrations and automations that streamline the process.

One exception: Calendly has powerful routing logic that lets those on the Teams or Enterprise plan create forms directing customers to an event type, custom message, or custom URL. These routing forms are very easy to set up, and particularly useful if you want to pre-qualify leads or need different lengths of time for various meeting types. 

Acuity has more business tools, making it better suited for appointment scheduling

Acuity's offerings go beyond a simple calendar with bookable meeting times: it offers client management tools, invoicing, and complex service customizations.

For example, Acuity's Clients tab makes it easy to keep track of client information, notes, and an at-a-glance list of all appointments they've booked with you. While you could use Calendly's integrations with third-party CRM tools to the same basic effect, Acuity keeps everything a little more streamlined. 

And with a paid plan, you can generate invoices and accept payments for services, all through the same app. 

While Calendly does allow users to accept credit card payments via integrations with Stripe and PayPal, Acuity's payment features are better for retail and service businesses. You can accept payments online or in-person through a Square point-of-sale (POS) portal, as well as charge memberships and subscriptions on a recurring basis. It also lets you set up multiple locations, create customized events and group types, and offer packages and subscriptions.

Since Acuity is a part of Squarespace, it's easy to connect your appointment booking platform to your Squarespace website. Or if you don't have a website, you can build a site from scratch using one of Squarespace's templates.

Generally, the bundle of business features built into Acuity make it a good choice for smaller or growing service businesses that want to consolidate multiple administrative functions into one app.

Both tools integrate with Zapier, but Calendly has more native integrations (especially with virtual meeting tools)

Both tools come with a wide range of native integrations, though Calendly has Acuity beat, with 115+ integrations to Acuity's 40. These integrations let you connect your scheduling tool to various payment, CRM, video conferencing, and social platforms. (Both tools also come with automated workflows to send appointment reminders and thank-you messages via email and/or SMS.)

Compared to Acuity, Calendly offers more integrations with virtual meeting tools, including Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, GoTo Meeting, and Webex. Acuity offers video conferencing integrations as well, but with less variety. And as I was testing, I also noticed that not only is it easier to set up video conferencing with Calendly, but when a video link is involved, the client's confirmation page looks a lot more professional with Calendly than with Acuity.

But since Calendly and Acuity also integrate with Zapier, you can connect them both to thousands of other popular tools and create customized workflows for you and your team. Learn more about how to automate Calendly and how to automate Acuity, or get started with one of these pre-made workflows.

Calendly is more budget-friendly

Acuity used to have a free plan, but that option is no longer available. If you want a free way to schedule appointments or meetings, you'll want to go with Calendly.

Calendly's free plan is robust and more than enough for a solo user, with unlimited meetings, polls, and one-off meetings on one event type. Free users can also sync with one calendar and add Slack, Intercom, and video conferencing integrations. You'll also get a customizable booking link, automated event notifications, and embedded website scheduling. 

And if you want to add more advanced features, like multiple calendars and event types, automated workflows, and more integrations, paid plans start at $10/month. Compared to Acuity's cheapest plan at $16/month, Calendly's subscription options are much better suited for budget-conscious users.

Acuity vs. Calendly: Which is best for you?

Overall, Acuity is the best choice for businesses that need to book appointments. If you're a retail business that offers a menu of services, you'll be in good hands with the ability to offer things like gift certificates, packages, and memberships. Acuity is also a good option if you're looking for a single tool to manage multiple administrative functions. It lets you send invoices, manage clients, set up an integrated website with Squarespace, and more.

On the other hand, Calendly is a better choice for solopreneurs and businesses whose primary goal is to schedule meetings (especially virtual ones). The tool keeps things simple, focusing on minimalist features like meeting scheduling and automations—but it offers more integrations and points of access than Acuity. Perhaps you're a freelancer (like me) who just needs a tool to schedule Zoom meetings with clients. Or maybe you're a bigger business that already has dedicated apps to handle your invoicing and client management. If your goal is to find a reliable scheduler for virtual meetings, Calendly is probably the choice for you.

Related reading:

• How small businesses can benefit from using scheduling software

• 3 ways to streamline your appointment scheduling (with any booking app)

• Calendly vs. Doodle: Which should you use?

• Calendly vs. Google Calendar appointment schedule

• Microsoft Bookings vs. Calendly: Which is best?

This article was originally published in January 2023. The most recent update was in February 2024.