For scheduling software, choose Acuity if you want deep branding and HIPAA; pick Calendly if you prefer fast team routing and a free plan.
Acuity Scheduling
Calendly
Budget Solo
- Needs one seat or simple booking.
- Wants quick setup and a clean link.
- Okay with light branding.
Calendly Standard
Appointments‑First Business
- Sells paid sessions with deposits.
- Wants SMS reminders and packages.
- Needs 2–6 bookable calendars.
Acuity Standard (Growing)
Privacy‑Sensitive Clinic
- Needs a BAA and stricter controls.
- Handles PHI securely.
- Manages many staff calendars.
Acuity Premium (Powerhouse)
Appointment tools shape how you sell time, avoid no‑shows, and keep teams in sync. Acuity leans into branding control and multi‑calendar depth. Calendly leans into quick invites, team routing, and a generous starter path. You’ll get the fast verdict and the trade‑offs that nudge buyers one way or the other.
In A Nutshell
Pick Acuity if your business runs on branded intake, paid appointments, and many staff calendars. Pick Calendly if you care most about easy links, team events, and lead routing from forms. HIPAA needs steer you to Acuity Premium. Simple solo scheduling with a free tier points to Calendly.
Side‑By‑Side Specs
Numbers come from current U.S. pricing pages and feature grids. Calendly’s free tier includes 1 event type and 1 calendar connection. Acuity offers a free trial, then paid tiers with calendar limits per plan.
Acuity Scheduling — What We Like / What We Don’t Like
✅ What We Like
- Deep branding: color and copy control with the option to remove the label on Premium.
- Calendars scale from one to thirty‑six per account, which suits multi‑staff clinics and studios.
- Payments built in: Stripe, Square, and PayPal with deposits and packages.
- HIPAA path with a signed BAA on Premium or Powerhouse for healthcare use.
⚠️ What We Don’t Like
- No forever‑free plan; only a short trial before you choose a tier.
- Lead routing isn’t native; intake forms don’t branch invitees to the right staffer.
- API access sits on the top plan, which can push cost up for dev‑heavy setups.
- Extra calendars require a higher tier; you can’t add a single calendar à la carte.
Plan names and limits appear in the official help and pricing pages; Premium includes removing the label and the BAA option, with up to 36 calendars.
Calendly — What We Like / What We Don’t Like
✅ What We Like
- Free forever tier with 1 event type and a single calendar connection.
- Team features: round‑robin, collective scheduling, and form‑based routing on business plans.
- Broad integrations: Salesforce and HubSpot paths for sales teams; dev tools and webhooks.
- Clear per‑seat pricing; connect up to six calendars per person on paid plans.
⚠️ What We Don’t Like
- No HIPAA path and no BAA, which rules it out for PHI.
- Brand removal and payments sit behind paid plans.
- SSO requires an add‑on on Teams or a move to Enterprise.
- Enterprise has a high yearly entry point, which smaller groups rarely need.
Calendly lists the free limits, per‑seat calendar connections, and plan gating for routing, Salesforce, and SSO on its pricing and help pages.
Acuity Or Calendly: Which Fits You Better
Automation & Flows
Both automate emails before and after appointments. Calendly’s Workflows cover reminders and follow‑ups on paid plans, and pair well with round‑robin or collective events for teams. Acuity handles confirmation, reminder, and follow‑up emails across tiers, with text reminders kicking in on the mid plan and up. If you run recurring services, Acuity’s subscriptions keep billing and booking in sync.
Segmentation & Personalization
Acuity’s intake forms let you capture custom questions and agreements right at booking, which fits service businesses that need waivers or detailed notes. Calendly’s Routing Forms can screen visitors and place them with the right host or event type, a big win for sales and recruiting flows; Salesforce lookup is an Enterprise perk for account matching.
Integrations & APIs
Calendly connects to Zoom/Google Meet, Stripe/PayPal, Salesforce, HubSpot, and more, with webhooks and developer tools for custom work. Acuity integrates with Stripe, Square, PayPal, and major video platforms; custom API access sits on the Premium tier for deeper builds. If your plan is to sync meetings to CRM and route by ownership, Calendly’s stack is ready on Teams and above.
Team Roles & Permissions
Calendly offers org‑level controls, shared event templates, managed workflows, and SSO/SCIM at the higher tiers. SSO is an add‑on for Teams and included on Enterprise. Acuity manages staff calendars with per‑calendar permissions and scales up to 36 calendars per account on Premium. For groups that live in Salesforce or HubSpot, Calendly’s admin layer pairs cleanly with routing.
Data Model & Objects
Acuity is calendar‑centric. Each calendar maps to a person, room, or location. Plan tiers control the number of calendars (1, 6, 36). That model makes it simple to carve availability by staffer or store. Calendly is seat‑centric. Each seat can connect multiple calendars, and teams publish shared event types for round‑robin or collective booking.
Reporting & Attribution
Calendly includes team scheduling analytics and routing form analytics at business tiers, which helps sales teams measure conversion from forms to booked meetings. Acuity offers appointment reports for volume, no‑shows, and performance from within its dashboard. If pipeline visibility is the goal, Calendly’s analytics and CRM hooks give it the edge.
Pricing & Seats
Calendly’s listed annual rates start at $10 per seat per month for Standard and $16 for Teams, with Enterprise from $15k per year; the free tier remains for basic needs. Acuity lists Starter at $20 monthly ($16 with annual billing), Standard at $34 ($27 annual), and Premium at $61 ($49 annual). Acuity doesn’t offer a forever‑free plan.
Acuity HIPAA & BAA are available on Premium/Powerhouse. Calendly’s HubSpot routing support sits on Teams and Enterprise, with Salesforce lookup on Enterprise.
Help & Onboarding
Both offer clear guides, video walkthroughs, and live chat on paid tiers. Calendly lists 24/7 email and chat coverage on business plans. Acuity runs webinars and a searchable help hub for setup and daily tasks. If your team expects org‑wide templates and admin consoles, Calendly’s Admin Center feels made for that.
ℹ️ Good To Know: Calendly’s free tier allows one event type and one connected calendar. If you need more, Standard unlocks unlimited event types and up to six connected calendars per seat.
Price, Value & Ownership
For a single seat, Calendly’s annual Standard plan costs less. For multi‑calendar storefronts, Acuity’s Standard tier can be the better cash trade for six calendars under one price. Numbers exclude sales tax and payment‑processor fees.
Where Each One Wins
🏆 Branding & Intake — Acuity
🏆 HIPAA Path — Acuity
🏆 Free Starter — Calendly
Decision Guide
✅ Choose Acuity Scheduling If…
- You want branded booking with custom intake and stronger control of copy and colors.
- Your setup is calendar‑heavy (staff, rooms, or locations) and you need up to 36 calendars.
- You need a BAA for PHI or plan to scale clinic‑style operations.
✅ Choose Calendly If…
- You want painless links, team pages, and round‑robin without managing dozens of calendars.
- Your inbound flow needs form‑based routing to the right rep, plus CRM hand‑offs.
- You prefer a free starter tier or low per‑seat pricing for a small team.
Best Fit For Most Teams
For fast meeting links, group availability, and sales routing, Calendly is the easier lift. It shines when reps share load through round‑robin or when forms need to steer visitors to the right person. If your business sells appointments as the product — salons, clinics, coaches — Acuity’s calendar model, intake control, and HIPAA path make it the steadier pick. That split sends most sales teams to Calendly and most appointment‑led storefronts to Acuity.