CalybeeCalendly vs Acuity Scheduling: which one fits a business that sells its time?
Calendly and Acuity look alike from a distance: both give clients a page to pick a time. Up close they were built for different people. Calendly was made for meetings between companies. Acuity was made for businesses that sell appointments.
The short answer
- Choose Calendly for sales calls, interviews and free discovery calls, especially across a team.
- Choose Acuity if clients pay when they book, buy packages or memberships, or fill in detailed intake forms.
- Choose neither if you also need a website, reviews and reminders in one place. Calybee does all of it from $19 a month, with 0% commission.
Calendly vs Acuity, side by side
| Calendly | Acuity Scheduling | Calybee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made for | Meetings and sales teams | Paid appointments | Businesses that sell their time |
| Free plan | Yes, one event type | No (free trial) | No (7 days free, and you can build before you pay) |
| Paid from | $10 a seat a month | $16 a month | $19 a month |
| How a team is priced | Per seat; round robin from $16 a seat | Per plan: 6 calendars for $27, 36 for $55 | One price for 5 people on Teams Bee, then $10 each |
| Payments | Stripe, PayPal (paid plans) | Stripe, Square, PayPal | Your own Stripe or PayPal, 0% commission |
| Packages, memberships, gift cards | No | From $27 a month | Yes, on both plans |
| Group classes | Group events | Yes | Yes, with places left and a waitlist |
| Website | No | Separate Squarespace plan | Included on every plan |
| Reviews | No | No | Imported from 30 places and requested after each session |
| HIPAA | No | Premium plan, with a BAA | No |
Prices billed yearly, US dollars, from each pricing page in October 2026.
Where Calendly wins
Calendly is the fastest way to stop the back-and-forth of "does Tuesday work?". Its booking flow is the simplest of the three for the person booking, its Free plan is genuinely free forever, and its integrations with sales tools (HubSpot, Salesforce) are the deepest. If your bookings are free calls that lead to a proposal, Calendly is hard to beat.
Its limits are the same reasons service businesses outgrow it: the Free plan allows one type of meeting, payments need a paid seat, and there is nothing to sell beyond the meeting itself.
Where Acuity wins
Acuity was built for appointments that cost money. It takes payments on every plan, lets clients buy packages and memberships, and has some of the most detailed intake forms in the category. Its pricing is per plan, which makes it cheaper than Calendly once you have a few people taking bookings. It is also the only one of the three that offers HIPAA support, on its Premium plan.
Where it shows its age: the booking page is functional more than beautiful, and everything around the booking (the website, reviews, a newsletter) is somewhere else. Acuity is owned by Squarespace, so the website usually means a second Squarespace subscription.
The third option: the website and the booking in one
Most people comparing Calendly and Acuity are really asking how clients will find them, trust them, book and pay. A scheduler answers one part of that. This is the gap we built Calybee for.
- The Bee builds the site. Describe your business, or paste your old site or price list, and Calybee's AI sets up the pages, services, hours and reminder emails. You change anything by asking, or by hand, and every change is one click to undo.
- Clients book and pay on your own site. Single sessions, packs, memberships, classes with a waitlist, deposits, gift cards and discount codes, paid into your own Stripe or PayPal. Calybee takes nothing from the booking.
- Reviews come in by themselves. Import the ones you have from Google, Facebook, Trustpilot and 27 more places, and every client gets a review request after their session.
- Or keep your website. Calybee's booking calendar, reviews and buttons drop into WordPress, Wix, Squarespace or any site.
Coming from Calendly or Acuity? Calybee imports your clients and upcoming bookings from either one's export without emailing anybody.
Which one to pick
| If you are… | Pick |
|---|---|
| A sales team booking demos | Calendly |
| A clinic that needs HIPAA | Acuity Premium, or a dedicated practice tool |
| On Squarespace and happy there | Acuity |
| A coach, consultant or tutor who needs a site that sells | Calybee |
| A salon, barber or studio selling packs, memberships and classes | Calybee |
| Just starting, with no budget yet | Calendly Free, or build on Calybee first and start its 7 free days when you are ready |
Questions people ask
Is Acuity or Calendly better for coaches?
Acuity, if you sell paid sessions, packages or memberships: it takes payments on every plan and has deeper intake forms. Calendly is better for free discovery calls and sales meetings. If you also need a website, Calybee includes one with booking and payments for $19 a month.
Which is cheaper, Calendly or Acuity?
For one person, Calendly's Standard plan is $10 a month billed yearly and Acuity's Starter is $16. For a team, Calendly charges per seat while Acuity charges per plan (up to six calendars for $27 a month), so Acuity is usually cheaper once you have three or more people.
Can Calendly take payments?
Yes, on its paid Standard plan and above, through Stripe or PayPal. It does not sell packages, memberships or gift cards.
Is Acuity Scheduling HIPAA compliant?
Acuity offers HIPAA support with a signed business associate agreement on its Premium plan, $55 a month billed yearly. Calendly says it should not be used to process protected health information. Calybee is not built for HIPAA either.
Is there one tool that does scheduling and the website?
Yes. Calybee is a website builder and booking system in one: the Bee builds your site, then clients book and pay on it. Wix with Wix Bookings is the other common choice.
Try Calybee on your own business
Tell the Bee what you sell and it builds your website, booking calendar and payments in a few minutes. Build everything first; your 7 free days start when you go live. From 19 a month, and Calybee takes 0% of your bookings.
Start 7 days free See pricingWe make Calybee, so read this with that in mind. Prices and plans of other products are taken from their own pricing pages on 24 October 2026 and change often; check them before you decide. Product names belong to their owners and are used here only to compare.