by Squarespace, Inc.Scheduling and booking software
Client booking for service businesses, with payments, intake forms, packages and a HIPAA BAA on Premium, priced per account from $16 a month billed annually.
Client self-booking with payments, intake forms, packages and memberships for a service business, priced per account rather than per staff member.
Clients pick a service, a time and, if you allow it, a staff member, then pay or leave a deposit through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo and fill in your intake form. Standard, at $27 a month billed annually, covers up to 6 staff or location calendars with text reminders, a waitlist, packages, memberships and gift certificates, so a small studio or practice does not pay per seat. On Premium a health practice can sign a HIPAA BAA with Squarespace from the account settings, without a sales call.
Against 3 other products we reviewed in Scheduling and booking software: what you pay for with each, the five access facts, the plan limits we recorded and each review's bottom line. The note under the table says how each one was checked.
| Metric | Acuity Scheduling | Cal.com | Zoho Bookings | Calendly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Saves engineering timeClient self-booking with payments, intake forms, packages and memberships for a service business, priced per account rather than per staff member. | 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. | 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. | 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. |
| Overall score | 5.0 | 8.3Best | 7.0 | 6.9 |
| Free option | 7-day free trial | Free plan | Free plan | Free plan |
| Card to start | No card needed | –Not measured | No card needed | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $16/mo | $12/user/mo | $6/user/mo | $10/seat/mo |
| Pricing model | Tiered | Per seat | Per seat | Per seat |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per account, by number of calendars (staff or locations) | Per user per month; text and WhatsApp messages use credits | Per user per month; extra workspaces and resources as add-ons | Per seat per month; invitees need no seat |
| Free option | No free plan; 7-day trial, no card (14 days when added to a Squarespace site) | Free plan for 1 user (unlimited event types and calendars, payments); 14-day trial of Teams and Organizations | Free plan for 1 user (1 event type, 1 calendar); 15-day Premium trial, no card | Free plan (1 event type, 1 calendar); 14-day Teams Plus trial for new users |
| Reference scenario (3 hosts, annual) | $27/mo on Standard (up to 6 calendars), computed | $36/mo on Teams ($12 × 3), computed | $18/mo on Basic ($6 × 3), computed | $48/mo on Teams ($16 × 3), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $34 on Standard ($20 / $34 / $69 for the three plans) | $16 per user on Teams ($37 Organizations) | $8 per user on Basic ($12 Premium) | $20 per seat on Teams ($12 Standard) |
| Round robin from | Standard ($27 a month billed annually), with two or more calendars | Teams ($12 per user, billed yearly) | Basic ($6 per user, billed yearly) | Teams ($16 per seat, billed yearly) |
| Payments and SMS reminders | Stripe, Square, PayPal and Venmo on every plan; text reminders from Standard | Stripe and PayPal on every plan; SMS by credits, 750 per member a month on Teams | Payments and SMS through your own provider on Premium ($9) | Stripe and PayPal, and text reminders, from Standard |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Not stated on the pages we read | SOC 2 Type II report and ISO 27001 certificate (security page) | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for Zoho cloud services | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 (security page) |
| HIPAA BAA | Premium ($55), signed in the app | $300/mo below 15 Organizations users; included from 15 users and on Enterprise | BAA template on request from Zoho legal; HIPAA data masking on Premium | Not offered; the help center says Calendly is not designed for HIPAA |
| EU data hosting | Not offered; Squarespace stores data in US data centers | Cal.eu for Enterprise, at least 50 users, by waitlist | EU data centers (Amsterdam, Dublin), chosen by sign-up country | Not offered; the DPA says processing occurs in the US |
| SSO | Not listed | SAML and SCIM on Organizations ($28 per user, billed yearly) | SAML SSO stated in a buyer’s guide; plan not named | SAML as a Teams add-on (price not published) or on Enterprise |
| API and export | Webhooks and CSV export on every plan; API on Premium | Webhooks on every plan; API v2; Insights CSV download from Teams | API on every plan; appointments export as CSV or XLSX on every plan | API on every plan; webhooks and meeting CSV export from Standard |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Acuity Scheduling is built for service businesses: client booking with payments, intake forms and packages at one account price, and a HIPAA BAA on Premium. It lists no routing forms, collective meetings, SSO or audit reports. | 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, 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. | 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. |
Evidence: Acuity Scheduling: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Cal.com: 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; Calendly: 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.
Review from public pages
Written from Acuity Scheduling's public pages (pricing, security or privacy, and docs) as read on Oct 16, 2026. We did not sign up, and no hands-on run is published yet.
We read Acuity's pricing page and FAQ, Squarespace's DPA, security measures page, brand guidelines, GDPR guide and data storage article, and help center articles on plans and payment methods, the trial, billing changes, cancellation, access levels, staff setup, calendar pooling, HIPAA, the Enterprise plan, webhooks and the API, and exporting appointments on Oct 16, 2026; we did not sign up, start a trial or call the API for this review. The help center answered direct page loads with a bot check, so we read the same articles through its public Help Center API.
The pricing page is clear: three plans priced per account, not per user, with annual and monthly prices and a 7-day trial without a card. The plan you need depends on how many calendars you run, usually one per staff member or location: 1 on Starter, up to 6 on Standard, up to 36 on Premium. The pooling article explains how a team shares bookings: with two or more calendars, clients can choose "Any available", and Acuity assigns the appointment to the calendar with the fewest appointments that day or by a set priority.
A few points are worth knowing before you start. During the trial Acuity cannot send emails or automated text messages, so reminders cannot be tested until you subscribe. The trial lasts 14 days instead of 7 when Acuity is attached to a Squarespace website. The Squarespace pages we read describe PCI-DSS compliance for payments and two-factor authentication for Squarespace accounts, but name no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 report.
Standard covers up to 6 staff or location calendars for $27 a month billed annually.
vs Calendly: Calendly and Cal.com charge per user: 3 hosts cost $48 and $36 a month on their round-robin plans (billed yearly, computed).
Starter already takes payments and deposits through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo.
vs Zoho Bookings: Calendly connects Stripe and PayPal from Standard; Zoho Bookings takes payments on Premium.
Standard adds packages (including payment plans), memberships, gift certificates and a waitlist for fully booked times.
Premium accounts sign the BAA in the app and can download it at any time.
vs Calendly: Calendly says it is not designed for HIPAA; Zoho sends its BAA template on request.
The plans article says text messages Acuity sends to you or your clients are free to you; clients pay their standard messaging rates.
vs Cal.com: Cal.com charges credits for text messages beyond 750 per member a month on Teams.
The pricing page and plan table list client self-scheduling and intake forms, but no bookings with several staff members at once and no routing forms.
Workaround: Pooled "Any available" booking spreads appointments across staff calendars, and intake forms collect client details before the appointment.
API access, custom CSS and hiding the "Powered by Acuity Scheduling" footer need Premium ($55 a month billed annually).
Workaround: Webhooks for booking and purchase activity are available on every plan.
Acuity accounts log in through Squarespace with Google, Apple or an email address, and Squarespace stores data in data centers across the United States.
Workaround: Access levels (View Only, View & Edit, Admin) limit what each staff member can see and change.
Emails and automated text messages are off during the trial, so reminders can only be tested after you subscribe.
Workaround: Monthly billing allows a first month before committing to a year, and Squarespace-billed annual plans cancelled within 14 days are refunded in full.
Acuity bills the account, not each user, and the price steps up with the number of calendars; annual terms are about 20% below monthly (the page says "Save 20%"). For our scenario, 3 hosts with their own calendars need Standard (up to 6 calendars): $27 a month billed annually ($324 a year), or $34 month to month (computed), before tax. That covers payments, text reminders, a waitlist, packages, memberships and gift certificates. Premium ($55 billed annually, $69 monthly) is needed for more than 6 calendars, the HIPAA BAA, hiding the Acuity logo, per-staff time zones and the API. Payment processors charge their own fees, which Acuity does not add to; text messages are free to you. Enterprise, for more than 36 calendars or several locations under one dashboard, is priced by sales. The FAQ lists no setup, cancellation or support fees.
Appointments export as a CSV file from Reports (a date range, cancelled appointments optional, intake form answers included), and the client list exports from Clients. After a Squarespace-billed subscription ends, you can still view past appointments and export client data, but clients cannot book. Squarespace-billed annual plans cancelled in the first 14 days are refunded in full.
From its public pages, Acuity Scheduling is built for service businesses: client booking with payments, intake forms and packages at one account price, and a HIPAA BAA on Premium. It lists no routing forms, collective meetings, SSO or audit reports.
| Limit | As recorded |
|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per account, by number of calendars (staff or locations) |
| Free option | No free plan; 7-day trial, no card (14 days when added to a Squarespace site) |
| Reference scenario (3 hosts, annual) | $27/mo on Standard (up to 6 calendars), computed |
| Month-to-month price | $34 on Standard ($20 / $34 / $69 for the three plans) |
| Round robin from | Standard ($27 a month billed annually), with two or more calendars |
| Payments and SMS reminders | Stripe, Square, PayPal and Venmo on every plan; text reminders from Standard |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Not stated on the pages we read |
| HIPAA BAA | Premium ($55), signed in the app |
| EU data hosting | Not offered; Squarespace stores data in US data centers |
| SSO | Not listed |
| API and export | Webhooks and CSV export on every plan; API on Premium |
Read from the vendor's public pages on Oct 16, 2026. No hands-on run is published yet. How we check
We have not published a sign-up run for Acuity Scheduling yet. The access facts above were read from its sign-up and pricing pages on Oct 16, 2026.
We have not published API calls for Acuity Scheduling yet.
Acuity Scheduling lists 4 plans. The cheapest paid plan, Starter (billed annually), costs $16/mo.
Prices as listed, USD, excluding tax; observed 2026-10-16.
Source: acuityscheduling.com pricing page. Prices change; the observed date above is when our agent read them.
We read the pricing, security, legal, help center and developer pages of three scheduling tools on the same day and scored them on the same six indicators. What 3 hosts cost, where routing, payments, SSO and HIPAA sit, and who should pick which.
