Calenday vs Acuity Scheduling
Acuity is built for service businesses that sell time: salons, clinics, studios, coaches with packages. Calenday is a general scheduling tool with a one-time price. If you sell memberships, packages or gift certificates, Acuity is the better product and this page will say so repeatedly.
· competitor pricing verified August 6, 2026
The short version
Acuity charges $16, $27 or $49 a month depending on how many calendars you need, and has no free plan. Calenday costs $99 once with a free plan underneath. Acuity has vertical features Calenday does not; Calenday has multi-brand isolation and self-hosting.
| Criterion | Calenday | Acuity Scheduling |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One-time payment | Subscription, per calendar |
| Entry paid plan | $99 once | $16 / month |
| Cost per extra user | Included | By calendar tier |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Event types on the free plan | Unlimited | No |
| Connected calendars on the free plan | Unlimited | No |
| Separate brands in one account | Free plan | No |
| Round-robin distribution | Free plan | No |
| Collect payment for a booking | Paid plan | Yes |
| Automated workflows | Paid plan | Paid plan |
| Video conferencing | Paid plan | Yes |
| Remove vendor branding | Paid plan | Higher plan |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Open source | No | No |
Which one should you pick?
The question is whether you are selling appointments or selling time as a product. A discovery call is an appointment. A ten-session package with a gift certificate is a product, and Acuity handles that whole model natively.
| If you need… | Choose |
|---|---|
| A one-time price instead of a monthly one | Calenday |
| Several client brands kept separate | Calenday |
| A free plan to start on | Calenday |
| To run it on your own server | Calenday |
| To sell packages, memberships or gift certificates | Acuity Scheduling |
| A signed HIPAA business associate agreement | Acuity Scheduling |
| SMS reminders out of the box | Acuity Scheduling |
| Many staff calendars with individual schedules | Acuity Scheduling |
What each one costs over 36 months
Acuity does not bill per seat but per calendar tier, so cost is driven by how many calendars a team of that size needs: Starter for one, Standard for five, Premium for twenty. That makes it more competitive at scale than a per-seat vendor.
| Solution | Plan used | 1 person | 5 people | 20 people |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calenday | Lifetime | $99 | $99 | $99 |
| Acuity Scheduling | Starter · Standard · Premium | $576 | $972 | $1,764 |
Acuity figures come from acuityscheduling.com/pricing. Removing the Acuity logo from your booking page requires the Premium plan at $49 a month.
What Acuity Scheduling does better
Acuity is a specialised product for businesses whose revenue is booked time, and it does things Calenday has no plans to do. For a salon, a clinic or a studio, that specialisation is worth more than a one-time price.
Packages, memberships and gift certificates
Sell ten sessions, a monthly membership or a voucher, and let the system track consumption. Calenday charges for one appointment at a time and nothing more.
A HIPAA business associate agreement
Available on the Premium plan for US healthcare. Calenday holds no HIPAA certification and offers no BAA.
SMS reminders included
Text reminders on Standard and Premium. Calenday sends email only today.
Multi-location and multi-staff scheduling
Up to thirty-six calendars with individual schedules and time zones per staff member or location. Calenday handles teams but not this depth of resource scheduling.
Intake forms and client records
Detailed client intake attached to each appointment — the backbone of a practice. Calenday has contacts and custom questions, which is a lighter model.
What Calenday does better
Outside the vertical, three differences stand out — and the branding one is the sharpest, because Acuity keeps its logo on your booking page until you reach its most expensive plan.
A one-time price
$99 once against $16 to $49 a month. Acuity Standard costs $972 over three years, Premium $1,764.
Your branding without the top plan
Removing the Acuity logo requires Premium at $49 a month. In Calenday, the $99 licence removes ours permanently.
Separated brands
Several client brands in one account, isolated in the database. Acuity has one business identity per account.
A free plan and self-hosting
Acuity has neither: it starts at $16 a month and is hosted only. Calenday has an uncapped free plan and ships a Docker image.
Migrating from Acuity Scheduling
The most demanding migration on this site, because Acuity holds more than scheduling data. Check what you actually use before committing — if packages or memberships are involved, the answer may be to stay.
What carries over automatically
- Your calendar, once Google or Microsoft is reconnected.
- Confirmed appointments, which exist in your calendar.
- Client details, through a CSV export and import.
What you have to redo — or lose
- Packages, memberships and gift certificates have no equivalent in Calenday. Outstanding balances must be honoured elsewhere.
- Detailed intake forms become custom questions on an event type, which is a simpler model.
- SMS reminders have no equivalent today.
- Services, durations, staff calendars and availability must all be recreated.
Calenday vs Acuity, in short
- Is Calenday suitable for a salon or a clinic?
- Usually not. If you sell packages, track memberships, need a HIPAA BAA or run many staff calendars with individual schedules, Acuity is built for that and Calenday is not. Calenday fits professionals booking meetings, not practices booking treatments.
- What does Acuity cost?
- Starter is $16 a month for one calendar, Standard $27 for six, Premium $49 for thirty-six. There is no free plan, and a seven-day trial. Removing the Acuity logo requires Premium.
- Why is Acuity cheaper than Calendly for a large team?
- Because it bills per calendar tier rather than per seat. Twenty people on Acuity Premium cost $1,764 over three years, while twenty on Calendly Standard cost $7,200. Acuity’s model punishes calendar count, not headcount.
- Can I take payments with both?
- Yes. Acuity includes Stripe, Square and PayPal on every plan. Calenday includes Stripe and PayPal with the $99 licence, connected through OAuth so funds land in your own account. Neither takes a cut of what your clients pay you.
- Which is better for an agency?
- Calenday, because it holds several client brands in one account with real isolation. Acuity is designed around a single business identity, so an agency would need one subscription per client.
Start on the free plan. Decide later.
Unlimited bookings, no card, no countdown. If Calenday earns the $99, you will know within a week.