Acuity Scheduling alternatives: where to go and how to switch without losing anything
Eight destinations, one per reason for leaving, and a seven-step migration plan.
The short answer: SimplyBook.me if you want the closest match to Acuity (booking site, packages) with a HIPAA BAA on a $24.90 plan, Setmore if a team of up to four needs a free plan, Cal.com if you work solo and want SMS and payments for $0, Vagaro if you run a salon or spa. Before you pick, know this: Acuity has no free plan, keeps SMS reminders for Standard ($27 a month billed yearly) and puts the signed BAA, the API and removing its branding on Premium ($55). We compared the eight destinations in this guide on their official pricing pages in 2026.
The ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link changes a score.
Why people leave Acuity, and what keeps them
Acuity is still a solid tool for practitioners: intake forms, packages, online payments. Plenty of users like it. People leave over tier pricing, support, and a product that has moved slowly since Squarespace bought it. Six reasons, each checked against the pricing page or public reviews in 2026.
No free plan, a 7-day trial
Acuity has no free tier. You get a 7-day trial with no card, then Starter costs $16 a month billed yearly ($20 monthly), taxes excluded, for one calendar. That's $192 a year before your first client, while Setmore, Cal.com and Zoho Bookings all have a free plan with no end date.
SMS and the BAA cost a tier jump
Starter reminders go out by email only. SMS reminders, the waitlist, packages, subscriptions and gift certificates need Standard: $27 a month billed yearly ($34 monthly). The signed HIPAA BAA, the API, custom CSS and removing the "Powered by Acuity Scheduling" footer need Premium: $55 ($69 monthly). A therapy practice pays $660 a year just to get its BAA.
Calendar caps that jump hard
Starter covers 1 calendar, Standard up to 6, Premium up to 36. Past that, Enterprise is quote-only. Adding a second provider takes the bill from $16 to $27 a month. And Premium is $55 a month billed yearly in 2026: many comparison posts still show $49, an outdated price.
Ticket-only support
The complaint keeps coming back in public reviews: no live chat, no phone, answers that take days. On Trustpilot, Acuity sits at 3.6 out of 5 on about 700 reviews, 18% of them one star. One user puts it bluntly: "Every time I email with an issue, I am told there is no fix and no other option." (Trustpilot UK review).
A product that moves slowly
Even happy users notice: "development of new features has slowed since being acquired by SquareSpace" (Trustpilot, 4 stars). Others report confirmations that stopped arriving after a reschedule, or losing the ability to edit an appointment once a deposit is paid. On Hacker News, one user regrets the lack of hooks into standard CalDAV calendars.
Few payment processors
Acuity takes payments through Stripe, Square, PayPal and Venmo. That covers most US practices, but if your processor isn't on the list, you're stuck. SimplyBook.me, for comparison, lists more than a dozen gateways, including Authorize.net, with no transaction fee on top.
You're leaving because… go to…
The right Acuity Scheduling alternative depends on what's pushing you out. Usually one row fits. Each card jumps to the full write-up below.
Booking site, packages, HIPAA features from Standard.
Your team of 2 to 4 has no budgetSetmoreFree for up to 4 users, 500 SMS a month on Pro.
You work solo and want to pay nothingCal.comFree forever for 1 user, SMS and Stripe included.
You run a salon or spaVagaroBuilt for beauty and wellness, plus a free marketplace listing.
Your appointments are really meetingsCalendlyThe default for sales and consulting calls.
You hate subscriptionsTidyCalPay $29 once and keep it.
Acuity Scheduling alternatives, one by one
For each tool: why switch to it, who it's for, its limit, how to move from Acuity, and what it costs. Prices are the ones shown on each official pricing page in 2026, before tax.
SimplyBook.me: the closest match to Acuity, for less
Closest matchWhy switch. It covers more of Acuity's feature set than any other tool here: a booking website, payments, packages, gift cards and coupons as add-on features. Its Standard plan is $24.90 a month billed yearly ($29.90 monthly) and already includes HIPAA features, with a BAA available on request. Acuity puts the BAA on Premium, at $55.
Who it's for. Wellness centers, class studios, therapy and physio practices selling single sessions and bundles.
Who it's not for. A high-volume business on a small plan: every plan has a monthly booking cap.
Its limit. The caps: 50 bookings a month on Free, 100 on Basic ($11.90 billed yearly, $13.90 monthly), 500 on Standard, 2,000 on Premium ($49.90). SMS costs extra, $8 per 100 credits.
How to move. Client import is a paid-plan feature: load Acuity's client CSV, rebuild services and packages, then re-enter each client's remaining sessions. SimplyBook.me also sells a full done-for-you setup. To connect it to the rest of your tools, see our SimplyBook.me and Make guide.
- Free
- 50 bookings/month
- Standard
- $24.90/mo billed yearly
- HIPAA
- from Standard, BAA on request
- Limit
- SMS paid separately
Setmore: free for a small team
Free for teamsWhy switch. The free plan takes up to 4 users, with unlimited appointments and online or in-person payments through Square, Stripe, PayPal or LawPay. On Acuity, two providers already mean Standard at $27.
Who it's for. A small practice or salon of two to four people that wants a shared calendar at no cost.
Who it's not for. Businesses that sell packages, memberships or gift certificates the way Acuity Standard does: Setmore doesn't feature them on its pricing page.
Its limit. No SMS on Free, and one email reminder. Pro is $5 per user a month billed yearly ($12 monthly), with 500 SMS credits a month per team member, two reminders, deposits and 24/7 human support. Every staff calendar counts as a user. There's also a Live Receptionist add-on at $99 a month, US only.
How to move. Import Acuity's client CSV, then rebuild services and each person's hours. Keep Acuity open until already-booked appointments have passed.
- Free
- up to 4 users
- Pro
- $5/user/mo billed yearly ($12 monthly)
- SMS
- 500 credits/month on Pro
- Limit
- no SMS on Free
Cal.com: the most generous free plan for a solo pro
Free for solosWhy switch. The free-forever plan covers one user with unlimited event types and calendars, email and SMS notifications, and Stripe and PayPal payments. That's most of what Acuity charges $27 for. The code is open source, so a technical team can self-host it.
Who it's for. Coaches, consultants and solo therapists who sell video sessions.
Who it's not for. A center selling session bundles, gift cards or running a waitlist: Cal.com thinks in meetings, not services.
Its limit. Teams is $12 per user a month billed yearly, with a 14-day trial. SOC 2, HIPAA and ISO 27001 compliance is listed only on Organizations, at $28. And one-click import only covers Calendly, not Acuity.
How to move. Rebuild each appointment type by hand, with durations and questions, then swap your booking link everywhere.
- Free
- 1 user, SMS and Stripe
- Teams
- $12/user/mo billed yearly
- HIPAA
- Organizations plan ($28)
- Limit
- no Acuity import
Vagaro: built for salons and spas
Salons and spasWhy switch. Acuity is a general scheduler. Vagaro is built for beauty and wellness businesses, and your business gets a free listing on the Vagaro marketplace, where clients search for appointments.
Who it's for. US salons, spas, barbers and studios with a front desk.
Who it's not for. A coach or consultant who books video calls.
Its limit. One location costs $30 a month ($23.99 for the first six months), plus $10 per bookable calendar, up to seven. SMS pricing isn't shown on the pricing page, so ask before you sign.
How to move. Use the 30-day free trial to load your client list from Acuity's CSV and rebuild services before paying. For the bigger picture, see our Fresha alternatives and Mindbody alternatives.
- Price
- $30/mo per location
- Calendars
- +$10 each, up to 7
- Trial
- 30 days
- Limit
- SMS pricing not shown
Calendly: when your appointments are meetings
MeetingsWhy switch. If you mostly take discovery or consulting calls, Acuity is overkill: intake forms, packages and gift certificates sit unused. Calendly does one thing, the meeting, and keeps it simple.
Who it's for. Sales reps, consultants, teams sharing meetings across several people.
Who it's not for. A practitioner who charges per session, sells bundles and sends a health form first.
Its limit. Free covers one event type and one calendar. Standard is $10 per seat a month billed yearly, with automated reminders and Stripe or PayPal payments; Teams is $16. See Calendly alternatives for its own limits, and our best sales meeting schedulers.
How to move. Rebuild your event types and questions, then swap the link on your site, email signature and socials.
- Free
- 1 event type
- Standard
- $10/seat/mo billed yearly
- Teams
- $16/seat/mo billed yearly
- Limit
- no packages
Zoho Bookings: the lowest price per person
Budget per seatWhy switch. Basic is $6 per user a month billed yearly ($8 monthly), Premium $9 ($12). One user gets a free plan. If you already run Zoho for your CRM or invoicing, everything connects.
Who it's for. Small teams already on Zoho, and anyone who wants a very low per-person price.
Who it's not for. A practitioner who wants to be live in an hour: the interface is plainer.
Its limit. Online payments are positioned on Premium, not Basic. Resources (rooms, equipment) are a paid add-on.
How to move. Import clients by CSV, then rebuild services and each person's availability.
- Free
- 1 user
- Basic
- $6/user/mo billed yearly
- Premium
- $9/user/mo
- Limit
- payments on Premium
TidyCal: a lifetime license for a tiny budget
One-time priceWhy switch. Pay $29 once and you're done with subscriptions: 10 calendar connections, booking pages, Stripe payments (with the same 1% platform fee as Free). Next to $192 a year for Acuity Starter, the math is easy.
Who it's for. A solo pro with a few bookings a week who wants the lowest cost.
Who it's not for. Anyone relying on SMS reminders at volume.
Its limit. The $29 license sends no SMS. The $79 Agency license sends 10 a month, to US and Canadian numbers only. Free and both lifetime licenses take 1% on Stripe payments; only Pro ($12 a month or $99 a year) removes that fee, and it adds unlimited SMS.
How to move. Rebuild appointment types and questions; keep email reminders on.
- Free
- 1 calendar, 1% on payments
- Lifetime
- $29 once
- Pro
- $99/year
- Limit
- SMS US and Canada only
Zeeg: if your data must stay in Europe
EU hostingWhy switch. Zeeg stores appointments, contacts and form answers end-to-end encrypted on Telekom servers in Germany. If you serve European clients who ask where their data lives, that's a clean answer.
Who it's for. Consultants and small teams with European clients.
Who it's not for. US healthcare practices that need a BAA, or centers selling packages.
Its limit. Prices are in euros: Professional is €10 per user a month billed yearly (€12 monthly), excluding VAT. The free Starter is limited to 2 booking pages, and reminder workflows start on Professional.
How to move. No Acuity import: rebuild booking pages, import contacts, and use the 14-day no-card trial to check everything.
- Free
- 2 booking pages
- Professional
- €10/user/mo billed yearly
- Hosting
- Germany
- Limit
- priced in euros
The 8 alternatives side by side
Our default pick: SimplyBook.me if you sell packages or need a cheaper BAA, Setmore if a small team wants free. For scale, take a two-provider practice that wants SMS reminders: Acuity Standard costs $27 a month billed yearly, Setmore Pro $10 ($5 per user), SimplyBook.me Basic $11.90 plus SMS credits. One row per tool: free plan on the left, first paid price and how to move on the right.
| Free plan | First paid plan and migration | |
|---|---|---|
| Acuity SchedulingStarting point | None, 7-day trial with no card | Starter $16/mo billed yearly ($20 monthly), 1 calendar, email reminders; SMS from Standard at $27 |
| SimplyBook.mePackages and site | 50 bookings/month, 1 provider | Basic $11.90/mo billed yearly; client import on paid plans |
| SetmoreSmall team | Up to 4 users, 1 email reminder | Pro $5/user/mo billed yearly ($12 monthly); CSV import |
| Cal.comSolo | 1 user, SMS, Stripe and PayPal | Teams $12/user/mo billed yearly; rebuild event types |
| VagaroSalons and spas | None, 30-day trial | $30/mo per location + $10 per calendar |
| CalendlyMeetings | 1 event type, 1 calendar | Standard $10/seat/mo billed yearly |
| Zoho BookingsBudget per seat | 1 user | Basic $6/user/mo billed yearly; CSV import |
| TidyCalOne-time price | 1 calendar, 1% on payments | Lifetime license $29, 1% fee on payments stays |
| ZeegEU hosting | 2 booking pages | Professional €10/user/mo billed yearly, excl. VAT |
Entry prices before tax, as shown in 2026 in each vendor's currency. Always check against your number of providers and bookings.
Switching from Acuity Scheduling in seven steps
Order matters. Each step protects something: your clients, their prepaid sessions, your upcoming appointments, and your data.
Export clients and appointments to CSV first
Day 1In Acuity, appointments export from Reports, Import/Export: pick a wide date range, include canceled ones or not, filter by intake form if needed. The client list comes from Clients, Import/Export, Export client list. Run both and store the files outside Acuity.
Tip: export past appointments for the year too. They hold each client's history and intake form answers.
- Files
- clients + appointments CSV
- Risk if rushed
- lost history
Record packages, gift certificates and subscriptions by hand
CriticalThis is the step everyone forgets. Acuity doesn't import packages, gift certificates or subscriptions, and nothing shows a clean export of those balances either. Before leaving, note what each client has left: sessions in a bundle, gift card amount, membership renewal date.
A client who prepaid ten sessions and finds zero in your new tool is a dispute waiting to happen. A simple sheet, one row per client, does it.
- Risk if rushed
- upset clients
- Rebuild
- packages, cards, memberships
Rebuild appointment types, forms and reminders
Day 1No tool here imports appointment types from Acuity, and Cal.com only imports from Calendly. Recreate each service with its length, price and buffer, then your intake questions and reminders.
Use it as a cleanup: an appointment type nobody booked this year doesn't need to come along.
- Time
- about half a day
- Risk if rushed
- wrong prices or lengths
Sign the new BAA before importing any health data
HealthcareIf you had Acuity Premium for its BAA, sign your destination's BAA before a single client record goes in: SimplyBook.me offers one on request from Standard, Cal.com on Organizations. Don't import intake answers into a tool that hasn't signed.
- SimplyBook.me
- from Standard
- Cal.com
- Organizations plan
Import clients, then re-enter upcoming appointments
Day 2Import the client CSV. Future appointments have to be re-entered: none of the tools in this guide imports them straight from Acuity. Start with the next two weeks.
Send each affected client a short note: new link, same time. Missed confirmations are one of the complaints about Acuity, so don't recreate that problem during the switch.
- Priority
- next 2 weeks
- Risk if rushed
- double bookings
Swap your booking link everywhere
Switch dayWebsite, Google Business Profile, socials, email signature, the QR code at your front desk: the Acuity link is everywhere. Replace it on the same day, then run one paid test booking end to end.
If Acuity fed other tools, rebuild those automations. Our Acuity Scheduling and n8n guide and Acuity and Make guide show what was wired in.
- Test
- 1 paid booking end to end
Cancel Acuity, don't delete it
After 1 monthCanceling isn't deleting. A canceled account keeps its data; deletion is permanent and support can't restore it. Cancel first and keep the account a month in case you need old history.
If Acuity is tied to a Squarespace site, they're two separate subscriptions: canceling Acuity doesn't cancel the site. If you're leaving the site too, read Squarespace alternatives.
- Wait
- 1 month after the last appointment
- Squarespace
- separate subscription
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
What makes an Acuity move go wrong
The same mistakes come up again and again. None of them is technical: they're oversights, and each costs more than the time it would have taken to avoid it.
Forgetting prepaid balances
Bundles, gift certificates, memberships: none of it moves by itself. Record every balance before canceling and recreate it in the new tool. This is the mistake that hurts your best clients, the ones who paid upfront.
Assuming SMS works everywhere
Some tools limit SMS by country: TidyCal to US and Canadian numbers, Microsoft Bookings to the US, Canada and UK. Setmore says availability varies by country. Send yourself a test reminder before switching.
Deleting instead of canceling
A deletion can't be undone, not even by support. Cancel, wait a month, then delete if you want.
Thinking Acuity and Squarespace close together
They bill separately, and the standalone-or-attached choice is made during the trial and can't be changed later. Check both invoices.
Comparing prices without the same unit
Acuity prices per tier of calendars, Setmore, Cal.com and Zoho per user, Vagaro per location plus calendars, SimplyBook.me per plan with a booking cap. Run your own numbers: providers, bookings a month, SMS volume.
Picking a tool built for another job
A salon selling in person, a coach on video and a therapy practice don't need the same tool. For activity businesses, our best activity booking software ranking goes further; for clinics, see Doctolib alternatives; for in-person payments, Square alternatives.
- Clients and appointments exported to CSV and stored outside Acuity
- Package, gift certificate and membership balances recorded client by client
- Appointment types, forms and reminders rebuilt
- BAA signed with the destination if you handle health data
- Test SMS reminder received on your own phone
- Next two weeks of appointments re-entered, clients notified
- Booking link swapped everywhere, paid test booking done
- Acuity canceled, not deleted, kept for a month
- Squarespace subscription checked separately
Acuity Scheduling alternatives: frequently asked questions
How much does Acuity Scheduling cost?
$16 to $55 a month billed yearly, taxes excluded: Starter $16 ($20 monthly) for 1 calendar, Standard $27 ($34) for up to 6 calendars with SMS reminders, Premium $55 ($69) for up to 36 calendars with the signed BAA and the API. Past 36 calendars, Enterprise is quote-only. A two-provider practice that needs SMS pays $324 a year on Standard.
Does Acuity Scheduling have a free plan?
No. Acuity only offers a 7-day trial with no card, then Starter at $16 a month billed yearly ($20 monthly), taxes excluded. There are no setup or cancellation fees. If you want a lasting free plan, Setmore, Cal.com and Zoho Bookings have one.
What's the cheapest HIPAA-ready Acuity alternative?
SimplyBook.me. Its HIPAA features come with Standard, at $24.90 a month billed yearly, with a BAA on request. Acuity needs Premium at $55, and Cal.com lists HIPAA on Organizations at $28 per user.
When should you stay on Acuity Scheduling?
Stay if you really use Standard's features: packages, subscriptions, gift certificates, a waitlist and intake forms, all for $27 a month billed yearly and up to 6 calendars. Few tools bundle all of that at that price. Stay too if your site runs on Squarespace and the built-in link works for you. Switching only pays off when a specific limit hurts: price, SMS, support or payment processors.
Is Acuity the same as Squarespace Scheduling?
Yes, Acuity belongs to Squarespace and can be attached to a Squarespace site. But they're two separate subscriptions, and the choice is made during the trial with no way back.
What happens to packages and gift certificates when I leave?
They don't move on their own. Acuity doesn't even import them, and there's no clean export of those balances. Record every balance before canceling, then recreate them. SimplyBook.me handles packages and gift cards as add-on features.
Can Microsoft Bookings or Google Calendar replace Acuity?
For simple needs, maybe. Google Calendar offers a free booking page, but email reminders and paid bookings need a paid subscription. Microsoft Bookings comes with some Microsoft 365 business plans, but SMS only reaches US, Canadian and UK numbers and needs Teams Premium.
Acuity or Calendly: which should I pick?
Acuity if you sell services (sessions, bundles, intake forms), Calendly if you take meetings. Calendly Standard costs $10 per seat a month billed yearly. Our Calendly alternatives page compares its own options.
Is there an open-source Acuity alternative?
Yes, Cal.com. Its code is open and can be self-hosted, and its hosted free plan covers one user with SMS and payments. It's built for meetings, though, not packages or gift cards.
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