Scheduling and booking software · Comparison
Cal.com vs Calendly vs Zoho Bookings
3 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Cal.com | Calendly | Zoho Bookings |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceA free plan that already takes paid bookings, team routing and round robin from $12 per user, and SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a HIPAA BAA with a published price. | Saves engineering timeBooking links with round robin, routing forms and CRM routing for sales and recruiting teams, backed by Calendly’s own SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001. | Worth the priceRound robin and collective team booking from $6 per user, backed by Zoho’s SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 audits and connected to Zoho CRM and other Zoho apps. |
| Overall score | 8.3Best | 6.9 | 7.0 |
| Free option | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | –Not measured | No card needed |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $12/user/mo | $10/seat/mo | $6/user/mo |
| Pricing model | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per user per month; text and WhatsApp messages use credits | Per seat per month; invitees need no seat | Per user per month; extra workspaces and resources as add-ons |
| Free option | Free plan for 1 user (unlimited event types and calendars, payments); 14-day trial of Teams and Organizations | Free plan (1 event type, 1 calendar); 14-day Teams Plus trial for new users | Free plan for 1 user (1 event type, 1 calendar); 15-day Premium trial, no card |
| Reference scenario (3 hosts, annual) | $36/mo on Teams ($12 × 3), computed | $48/mo on Teams ($16 × 3), computed | $18/mo on Basic ($6 × 3), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $16 per user on Teams ($37 Organizations) | $20 per seat on Teams ($12 Standard) | $8 per user on Basic ($12 Premium) |
| Round robin from | Teams ($12 per user, billed yearly) | Teams ($16 per seat, billed yearly) | Basic ($6 per user, billed yearly) |
| Payments and SMS reminders | Stripe and PayPal on every plan; SMS by credits, 750 per member a month on Teams | Stripe and PayPal, and text reminders, from Standard | Payments and SMS through your own provider on Premium ($9) |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate (security page) | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 (security page) | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for Zoho cloud services |
| HIPAA BAA | $300/mo below 15 Organizations users; included from 15 users and on Enterprise | Not offered; the help center says Calendly is not designed for HIPAA | BAA template on request from Zoho legal; HIPAA data masking on Premium |
| EU data hosting | Cal.eu for Enterprise, at least 50 users, by waitlist | Not offered; the DPA says processing occurs in the US | EU data centers (Amsterdam, Dublin), chosen by sign-up country |
| SSO | SAML and SCIM on Organizations ($28 per user, billed yearly) | SAML as a Teams add-on (price not published) or on Enterprise | SAML SSO stated in a buyer’s guide; plan not named |
| API and export | Webhooks on every plan; API v2; Insights CSV download from Teams | API on every plan; webhooks and meeting CSV export from Standard | API on every plan; appointments export as CSV or XLSX on every plan |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Cal.com gives the most for the money here: a usable free plan, team routing from $12 per user and audits in its own name. SSO and audit logs start on Organizations, text messages run on credits, and a few pages place HIPAA and EU hosting differently. | From its public pages, Calendly is a full-featured scheduler for sales and recruiting teams, with routing, round robin and CRM integrations on Teams and audits in its own name. It costs more per host than the other per-user tools here and offers no HIPAA BAA or EU hosting. | From its public pages, Zoho Bookings is the lowest-cost way here to give a 3-host team round robin and collective booking, with Zoho’s audits and EU hosting behind it. Payments, text messages, routing forms and the audit log sit on Premium, and the plan for SSO is not stated. |
Evidence: Cal.com: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Calendly: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Zoho Bookings: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Cal.com review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Cal.com when
- You want a free plan that takes payments, round robin at $12 per user billed yearly, and a HIPAA BAA with a published price.
- Pick Calendly when
- You want SAML SSO added to the round-robin plan rather than a plan change, and Salesforce and Marketo on Teams.
From our Cal.com review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Cal.com when
- You want routing forms, payments, text messages and branding removal on the round-robin plan.
- Pick Zoho Bookings when
- You want the lowest cost for 3 hosts ($18 a month on Basic, billed yearly) and EU hosting chosen at sign-up.
From our Calendly review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Calendly when
- You want SAML SSO added to the round-robin plan rather than a plan change, and Salesforce and Marketo on Teams.
- Pick Cal.com when
- You want a free plan that takes payments, round robin at $12 per user billed yearly, and a HIPAA BAA with a published price.
From our Calendly review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Calendly when
- You want routing forms, payments and text reminders on the round-robin plan.
- Pick Zoho Bookings when
- You want the lowest cost for 3 hosts ($18 a month on Basic, billed yearly) and EU data hosting.
From our Zoho Bookings review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Zoho Bookings when
- You want the lowest cost for 3 hosts ($18 a month on Basic, billed yearly) and EU hosting chosen at sign-up.
- Pick Cal.com when
- You want routing forms, payments, text messages and branding removal on the round-robin plan, and a BAA with a published price.
From our Zoho Bookings review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Zoho Bookings when
- You want round robin at $6 rather than $16 per user billed yearly, EU hosting and a path to a HIPAA BAA.
- Pick Calendly when
- You want routing forms, payments and text reminders on the round-robin plan, and 24/7 chat support from Standard.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- Cal.comTeams$12/user/moBilled yearly; $16 month to month; 14-day trial
- 1 team with shared availability
- Round robin, collective and managed event types
- Routing forms, Insights, no Cal.com branding
- 750 messaging credits per member a month
- CalendlyStandard$10/seat/moBilled yearly; $12 month to month
- Unlimited event types, 6 calendar connections
- Group and collective meeting types
- Reminders, workflows and text reminders
- Stripe and PayPal payments, webhooks, no Calendly branding
- Zoho BookingsBasic$6/user/moBilled yearly; $8 month to month
- Unlimited event types, 2 synced calendars per user
- Round robin (four distribution methods) and collective bookings
- User roles, pooled availability and booking reassignment
- Email workflows, Zapier and Zoho CRM sync
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Cal.com 2026-10-16, Calendly 2026-10-16, Zoho Bookings 2026-10-16.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Cal.comSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 3 self-serve products here (8.3/10).
- If you want to try it without entering a card
- Zoho BookingsFree plan, no card needed; scored 7.0/10.
- Lowest starter price
- Zoho Bookings$6/user/mo for the Basic (billed yearly) plan.
- Highest overall score
- Cal.com8.3/10 (Excellent). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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