Acuity Scheduling vs zcal

Acuity Scheduling is an online appointment booking tool for service businesses. It was founded by Gavin Zuchlinski and acquired by Squarespace in 2019, and it is also sold inside Squarespace as Squarespace Scheduling. Clients pick a service, a staff member and a time from a booking page, fill in intake forms, pay a deposit or the full price, and receive email and SMS reminders, while the business manages availability, buffers and booking rules per staff member and location.

Beyond basic booking, Acuity handles the commercial side of appointments: packages, gift certificates, memberships and subscriptions, coupons, and payments through Stripe, Square or PayPal. Intake forms support conditional questions, which matters for clinics, therapists and coaches. Plans are tiered by the number of staff calendars: Starter (formerly Emerging) covers one, Standard (formerly Growing) up to six and Premium (formerly Powerhouse) up to 36 with multiple locations. There is a free trial but no permanent free plan.

Acuity fits salons, spas, therapists, tutors, fitness studios and consultants who sell time to individual clients. It is less suited to B2B sales teams that need round-robin routing and CRM enrichment, where Calendly or Chili Piper are stronger. Compared with Square Appointments it is more flexible on forms and packages, and compared with SimplyBook.me it offers a cleaner client experience, though its admin interface feels dated in places and SMS reminders have limits.

zcal is an online scheduling tool that offers well-designed booking pages for free. It positions itself as a no-cost alternative to Calendly for individuals and small teams who want a professional booking link without paying a monthly subscription for the basics.

Users connect their Google or Outlook calendars, create event types with custom durations, buffers and availability, and share a personal booking page. Unlike many free plans, zcal includes unlimited booking pages, group events, meeting polls for finding a time with several people, custom intake questions and reminders. Video conferencing links for tools such as Zoom and Google Meet are added automatically. The Pro plan, at a low monthly price, removes zcal branding and adds workflows and further customization.

zcal fits freelancers, creators, consultants, recruiters and founders who want a clean scheduling page and polls without another subscription. It is a small company with fewer integrations than larger competitors, team routing and round-robin features are limited, and payment collection is basic, so sales teams and appointment-based service businesses should look elsewhere. Calendly remains the standard with the widest integration catalog, Cal.com is the open-source option that can be self-hosted, SavvyCal focuses on a recipient-friendly booking experience, and Acuity Scheduling or SimplyBook.me suit businesses that sell appointments with payments and intake forms.