Best for | Solo pros and small service teams |
|---|---|
Key use | Appointment booking and calendar sync |
Price | From $16/month (billed annually) |
Calendars | 1 to 36 depending on plan |
Free trial | 7 days, no credit card |
Acuity charges a flat monthly rate tied to the number of calendars (staff or locations) you need, rather than the per-seat model most project tools use. It is part of Squarespace and is used by more than 250,000 businesses worldwide.
Acuity connects to Google Calendar, Outlook, iCloud, and Office 365. It checks every synced calendar before confirming a booking, so outside commitments block off automatically and double-bookings stop.
Clients pick a service and an open slot on your branded page and book themselves, around the clock. You control the services, durations, and buffer times.
Move an appointment to a new slot by dragging it across the day, week, or month view. Changes sync back to your connected calendars.
Set working hours, buffers, minimum notice, and daily limits so clients only see the slots you actually want to offer.
Email reminders come standard and SMS reminders are available from the Standard plan up. Both help cut no-shows.
Acuity is built around client scheduling rather than internal team collaboration, so it does not include chat, document sharing, or a shared team workspace like a dedicated PM tool. What it does offer: multi-staff and multi-location calendars so a team can run from one account, individual staff calendars, and shareable direct booking links that route clients to the right person or service. For meetings, it connects to Zoom, Google Meet, and GoToMeeting to generate video links automatically. Marketing and workflow tie-ins include Squarespace, Mailchimp, Zapier, and QuickBooks.
As a Squarespace company, Acuity operates under Squarespace’s privacy policy and terms of service. Payment details are handled by third-party processors (Stripe, Square, PayPal) rather than stored in the booking tool itself. The Premium plan supports HIPAA compliance through a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA), which matters for health and wellness practitioners handling sensitive client data. Broader certifications such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001 are not detailed publicly on the Acuity site, so buyers with strict compliance requirements should confirm specifics with the sales team.
Acuity runs in the browser, so there is no separate installed desktop program. The web dashboard is where you manage calendars, services, clients, and payments, and it works across the major browsers.
The Acuity mobile app is free on every plan and lets you manage your schedule, check in clients, and take bookings on the go. It is a strong fit for owners who work on-site or travel.
Key integrations: Google Calendar, Apple/iCloud Calendar, Outlook/Office 365, Zoom, Google Meet, GoToMeeting, Stripe, Square, PayPal, QuickBooks, Squarespace, Mailchimp, Zapier, and Google Analytics.
Acuity uses flat monthly pricing tied to how many calendars (staff or locations) you need, not a per-user seat model. Paying annually saves 20% versus monthly billing. Every plan includes a 7-day free trial with no credit card required.
Plan | Price (annual) | Calendars | Text reminders | Packages & memberships | HIPAA (BAA) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Starter | $16/mo | 1 | No | No | No |
Standard | $27/mo | 6 | Yes | Yes | No |
Premium | $49/mo | 36 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
All tiers include payments, email reminders, custom intake forms, and automatic time-zone conversion. Premium adds custom API and CSS and the option to remove Acuity branding.
Searchable guides and tutorials cover setup, calendar sync, and troubleshooting.
Support runs through the Help Center by email and ticket. Replies are not instant, but the guides answer most common questions.
A user forum lets you ask peers and browse solved threads.
Live and on-demand webinars plus a blog walk through best practices and new features.
For hands-on help, Acuity lists certified experts you can hire to set up or customize your account.
Feature | Acuity | Calendly | Vagaro |
|---|---|---|---|
Two-way calendar sync | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Built-in payments | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Drag-and-drop calendar | Yes | Limited | Yes |
Free plan | Trial only | Yes | Trial only |
Best fit | Service businesses | Meeting scheduling | Salons and spas |
Calendly is built for booking meetings: share a link and let people grab a slot, with a free tier to start. Pick Calendly if you mainly need simple meeting scheduling across a team. Pick Acuity if you run a service business that needs client intake, payments, packages, and multiple staff calendars in one place.
Vagaro targets salons, spas, and fitness studios with booking plus point-of-sale, marketing, and payroll add-ons. Pick Vagaro if you want an all-in-one salon and spa business suite. Pick Acuity if you want flexible, customizable scheduling that fits many service types and connects to tools you already use.
Acuity Scheduling by Squarespace is a polished, flexible appointment-booking tool, and its two-way calendar sync and self-service booking page are the real draw. The catch for anyone shopping a project-management comparison is that it is not a project-management tool: there are no task boards, Gantt charts, or team workflows here. If your goal is coordinating client appointments and keeping calendars conflict-free, especially as a solo pro or small service team, Acuity is worth the 7-day trial. If you need to plan projects, assign tasks, and track progress, a dedicated PM platform is the better call.
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