Our morning schedules may look different, but we likely share the habit of checking calendars for the day’s meetings.
A study suggests that executives spend about 40% of their time making decisions, much of which happens in meetings.
However, manual appointment scheduling is highly inefficient, given the sheer volume of daily meetings. Imagine spending hours going back and forth to find a mutually convenient time for a meeting—utter chaos!
That’s where scheduling tools and calendar apps like Calendly and Acuity Scheduling come in, simplifying the booking process.
But which one’s better? We pit the two scheduling tools against each other to find the winner. Let’s get started!
🧠 Fun Fact: Netflix has tackled ineffective meetings by limiting their duration to 30 minutes. As a result, the company reduced meetings by over 65%, and more than 85% of employees supported the change.
Calendly Vs Acuity Scheduling: Which Scheduling Tool Is Better?
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Is Calendly?
Calendly is a leading appointment scheduling software that simplifies meeting coordination.
Calendly syncs all your calendars—personal and professional—making it easy for others to see your availability and schedule meetings. You stay in control, avoiding double bookings. Its simple design works for individuals, and its features scale to meet the needs of large enterprises, including Fortune 500 companies.
Calendly features
Calendly’s strength lies in its ability to fit into your workflow without a steep learning curve. Here’s what it brings to the table:
Feature #1: Calendar integration
Calendly syncs with your Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, and Office 365 suite to keep everything organized in one place. It updates your availability across all linked calendars in real time, helping you avoid scheduling conflicts.
Feature #2: Availability settings
You can customize your availability for different meeting types or teams—from specifying working hours, adding buffers between meetings, and adjusting for location or time zone. Customizing availability ensures you book meetings only when available, making scheduling more manageable for everyone.
Feature #3: Video conferencing integration
Calendly integrates with Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, and other video conferencing tools to add meeting links to scheduled events automatically. This eliminates manual setup and ensures that meeting links are ready when a meeting is confirmed, making remote collaboration more efficient.
Feature #4: Custom event types
You can customize event types to fit your organization’s needs by setting parameters like duration, location, and attendee requirements. You can create event types for one-on-ones, group sessions, or webinars. Add forms or questions to gather necessary information before the meeting, streamlining the scheduling process.
Feature #5: Scheduling link sharing
Calendly lets you generate a personalized link to share with clients and team members or post on your website. This link gives others direct access to your available time slots, eliminating back-and-forth emails. Anyone can easily book a meeting based on your availability, saving time and improving scheduling efficiency.
Calendly pricing
- Free
- Standard: $12/seat/month
- Teams: $20/seat/month
- Enterprise: Starts at $15k/year
💡Pro Tip: Add buffer times between meetings to prevent overlap and give yourself a breather. Non-stop meetings can drain your energy and cause you to miss essential details due to exhaustion.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Is Acuity Scheduling?
Acuity Scheduling is an online appointment scheduling tool that goes beyond basic scheduling.
It allows invitees to select available time slots and enables you to manage your availability. It also includes client database management, customizable intake forms, and invoicing. Acuity Scheduling simplifies booking and client interactions for small business owners like stylists, coaches, and therapists.
Acuity Scheduling features
Acuity Scheduling combines scheduling with tools for managing clients, payments, and branding, making it ideal for appointment-based businesses.
Feature #1: Customizable scheduling options
You can easily control your availability by setting specific booking hours, hosting virtual appointments or classes, and blocking off personal time.
Acuity Scheduling allows clients to book based on their preferences, making scheduling flexible and efficient for one or multiple locations.
Feature #2: Automated appointment management
In-built automation features that handle appointment booking, reminders, and receipts help you save time. Clients can cancel or reschedule their appointments via online calendars without your intervention. Meanwhile, automated workflows reduce no-shows and ensure a smoother scheduling experience.
Feature #3: Secure payment integration
Acuity Scheduling simplifies payments with integrations for Stripe, Square, and PayPal. It allows prepayments, tips, and deposits while storing credit cards to prevent no-shows. It also lets you create invoices and receipts and upsell services during checkout.
Feature #4: Client engagement tools
You can personalize the client experience with custom intake forms to gather relevant information before appointments. Use loyalty tools to encourage repeat bookings and offer packages, gift cards, or subscriptions that keep customers returning. These features help build stronger client relationships and drive long-term growth.
Feature #5: Powerful integrations and accessibility
Integrations for social platforms like Instagram, Google, and Facebook allow clients to book appointments directly with Acuity Scheduling. The platform also integrates with third-party apps like Zapier, MailChimp, and Google Analytics to improve workflow.
Acuity Scheduling pricing
- Emerging: $20/month
- Growing: $34/month
- Powerhouse: $61/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
📮 ClickUp Insight: 37% of workers send follow-up notes or meeting minutes to track action items, but 36% still rely on other, fragmented methods.
According to research by ClickUp, without a unified system for capturing decisions, key insights you need may get buried in communication channels like chats, emails, or spreadsheets. With ClickUp, you can turn meetings into tasks, right from ClickUp’s Calendar View.
You can also instantly turn conversations into actionable tasks across all your tasks, chats, and docs—ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
Summarize this article for me pleaseCalendly vs. Acuity Scheduling: Features Compared
Both tools cater to scheduling needs but focus on different strengths. Here’s how they compare on key features:
| Feature/Plan | Calendly | Acuity Scheduling |
| Scheduling types | Unlimited 1-1 (Free), multiple types | Appointment-based (in-person or online) |
| Integration | Over 100 integrations (Zoom, Stripe, etc.) | Stripe, Square, PayPal, and other integrations |
| User management | Basic to advanced features | Client management tools, appointment tracking |
| Mobile and extension access | Mobile app and browser extension | Mobile app |
| Advanced features | Reporting, automation (Teams/Enterprise) | Payments, client management, branding tools |
| Trial availability | Free basic plan, trial for premium | Free trial for the scheduling software, not for appointments |
Feature #1: Ease of use
Calendly is celebrated for its simplicity. The platform offers a minimalist, intuitive interface that lets you start in minutes. From embedding your calendar on a website to setting up multiple event types, Calendly keeps the learning curve short.
On the other hand, Acuity Scheduling caters more to users who require advanced customization options despite its simplicity. Its features, like intake forms and client self-scheduling, can be overwhelming for first-time users but are valuable for businesses.
🏆 Winner: Calendly’s straightforward interface and accessibility make it a clear pick for individuals and smaller teams. However, Acuity Scheduling is better for those who prioritize customization over simplicity.
Feature #2: Customization and branding
While Calendly supports some branding options, its customization capabilities are limited. You can tweak colors and add a logo, but it doesn’t offer depth for tailored client interactions.
When it comes to tailoring the scheduling experience, Acuity Scheduling leads the pack. It allows users to customize appointment confirmations, reminders, and intake forms extensively. Businesses can also add custom branding elements, such as logos and color schemes, to provide a cohesive experience for clients.
🏆 Winner: Acuity Scheduling for its robust customization and branding features, which cater to businesses that want the booking experience in tune with their brand identity.
Feature #3: Integrations and automation
Both tools shine in this department, but their focus varies.
Calendly integrates with major calendar platforms and tools like Zoom, Slack, and Salesforce. If you have a larger team that works across multiple time zones and requires round-robin scheduling, Calendly makes work easy.
However, Acuity Scheduling takes automation a notch higher with workflows like requiring client payments or filling out forms before appointment confirmations. Its integration with payment processors like Stripe and PayPal gives it an edge for businesses with transactional needs.
🏆 Winner: It’s a tie. Calendly is better for general scheduling and team workflows. On the other hand, Acuity Scheduling’s integrations and automation cater more to service-oriented businesses requiring payment or detailed client data upfront.
Feature #4: Payment processing
Calendly also offers payment collection with Stripe and PayPal. However, its features are better for more straightforward transactions and are less versatile than Acuity Scheduling’s.
For businesses requiring payment upfront, Acuity Scheduling is the stronger contender. Its integration with Stripe, Square, and PayPal lets you collect fees or deposits during scheduling. This feature is ideal for consultants, therapists, or any service-based professional.
🏆 Winner: Acuity Scheduling, for its mature and flexible payment processing capabilities.
Feature #5: Group scheduling and classes
Acuity Scheduling offers more advanced features for group scheduling, making it perfect for businesses that host classes, workshops, or group appointments. You can set capacity limits, manage waitlists, and allow clients to book spots in shared sessions.
Calendly also supports group events but in a more basic form. It’s effective for team-based events like webinars or meetings but lacks the complexity to manage group classes.
🏆 Winner: Acuity Scheduling, for its tailored tools for managing group events and classes
Feature #6: Mobile accessibility
Both platforms offer mobile scheduling apps, but their experiences differ.
Calendly’s app is lightweight and focuses on core functionality, like managing event types, availability, and notifications. While Acuity Scheduling’s app may be a bit more complex, it offers additional features like a client information manager and access to intake forms on the go.
🏆 Winner: Calendly, for its streamlined and user-friendly mobile app
Feature #7: Pricing and value
Calendly offers a straightforward pricing structure, with a free basic plan for individual users and affordable paid team plans.
Acuity Scheduling does not have a free tier. However, even its basic pricing slab includes features like client management, online meeting tools, and payment collection.
🏆 Winner: Depends on your needs. Calendly is ideal for cost-conscious users, while Acuity Scheduling offers more bang for your buck if you need its advanced tools.
Summarize this article for me pleaseCalendly vs. Acuity Scheduling on Reddit
Discussions on Reddit reveal a mix of praise and frustration for Calendly and Acuity Scheduling.
Many Acuity Scheduling users appreciate its robust feature set, especially for businesses requiring recurring appointments, payment processing, and website integration.
However, a common theme is a lack of a responsive customer support team. A user, martinmick, writes:
Meanwhile, Calendly ranks higher on Reddit for its ease of use and minimalist design. Users who prioritize straightforward task-scheduling software lean toward the app. Says a user, Celeron Hubbard:
Acuity Scheduling seems a favorite for recurring meetings, and class scheduling. However, Calendly has an edge for its free tier, which is robust enough for solopreneurs and smaller businesses to have one-off meetings.
Summarize this article for me pleaseMeet ClickUp: The Best Alternative to Calendly vs. Acuity Scheduling
If Calendly and Acuity Scheduling feel limited because they focus solely on scheduling, ClickUp might be the perfect solution. It’s the everything app for work!
ClickUp goes beyond bookings, offering tools that blend scheduling with task management, team collaboration, and a project management calendar.
Here’s a look into why ClickUp stands out as a good alternative to Calendly and Acuity Scheduling:
ClickUp’s One Up #1: ClickUp Calendar View
More than just a scheduling tool, ClickUp’s Calendar View is a centralized hub for your time and tasks. Unlike Calendly or Acuity Scheduling, which operate as standalone scheduling tools, ClickUp’s calendar integrates with your assignments, projects, and workflows.
- Customizable filters: View events and tasks based on assignees, work priority, or due dates
- Real-time updates: Keep your schedule dynamic and accurate as projects evolve, with your calendar automatically reflecting any changes
- Multiple calendar views: Toggle between day, week, or month views to suit your planning needs, offering flexibility no matter the scope of your projects
- Color-coded calendar items: Differentiate between events, tasks, and reminders using customizable color labels
- Real-time collaboration: Assign calendar events or deadlines to team members, who can update them in real time, ensuring everyone is on the same page
- Zoom integration: Schedule meetings and join them directly from your calendar while attaching relevant project tasks or files
ClickUp’s One Up #2: ClickUp Meetings
ClickUp Meetings’s features are designed to make every meeting purposeful and actionable beyond simple appointment scheduling. This all-in-one approach ensures meetings are no longer isolated events but integral parts of your workflow.
- Linked tasks and projects: Tie meeting agendas directly to ongoing tasks or projects so every discussion is actionable and trackable
- Recurring meeting templates: Use customizable daily planner templates for weekly team meetings or client check-ins to save time and maintain consistency
- Comprehensive meeting notes: Collaborate on documents during meetings and link them to projects for context and accountability
- Actionable follow-ups: Assign follow-up tasks or notes to specific team members during the meeting, ensuring nothing gets missed
- Recurring meeting management: Plan recurring meetings easily while tying them to larger goals or tasks, eliminating manual re-entry
ClickUp’s One Up #3: ClickUp Calendar Planner Template
The ClickUp Calendar Planner Template simplifies managing complex schedules by offering a ready-to-use structure for various planning needs.
- Marketing campaign planning: Schedule and track marketing tasks, deadlines, and campaign launches, with the ability to adjust dates on the fly
- Event coordination: Plan events and manage deadlines with ease, assigning specific tasks to team members while tracking progress
- Integrated task tracking: Link planned calendar events with broader project tasks, ensuring no deadlines slip through the cracks
- Progress tracking: Visualize task completion rates directly in the calendar, enabling you to monitor progress in real time
ClickUp’s One Up #4: ClickUp Time Management
Beyond the simple scheduling functions, ClickUp Time Management provides a holistic approach to managing time and resources.
- Built-in time tracking: Track the time spent on individual tasks or projects, which is especially helpful for client billing or resource planning
- Time blocking: Allocate specific time slots for deep work or meetings, ensuring your day is structured and focused
- Workload visualization: View team members’ workloads and availability to optimize scheduling and avoid overloading resources
- Automated reminders: Receive alerts for upcoming deadlines, meetings, or overdue tasks, ensuring nothing’s missed
ClickUp’s One Up #5: ClickUp Calendly Integration
Are you already working with Calendly? With ClickUp’s Calendly Integration, you can continue scheduling your meetings and embed them into ClickUp’s productivity ecosystem.
- Create tasks from Calendly bookings: Automatically generate tasks in ClickUp when a new appointment is scheduled in Calendly
- Synchronize schedules: Link Calendly events to ClickUp’s calendar for a unified view of all meetings, tasks, and deadlines
- Automate workflows: Use ClickUp Automations to trigger follow-up tasks or reminders based on Calendly appointments
Summarize this article for me pleaseChoose ClickUp Over Calendly and Acuity Scheduling
Calendly and Acuity Scheduling are great tools for appointments but do not integrate into the larger picture of productivity.
With ClickUp, you’re not just scheduling appointments—you’re embedding them into a more holistic system that integrates with the rest of your work. You can link every meeting to actionable tasks, visualize every deadline alongside your broader workload, and track every minute for maximum efficiency.
Unlike Calendly and Acuity Scheduling, ClickUp offers dynamic calendar views, built-in time management templates, and integrations that connect your schedules to your workflows.
If you’re looking for a platform that doesn’t just manage your time but helps you achieve more with it, ClickUp is the clear choice. Sign up for ClickUp for free to get started.
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