Cal.com vs SimplyBook.me

Cal.com is an open-source scheduling platform positioned as the Calendly alternative you can own. The hosted version is free for individuals with unlimited event types; teams pay per seat for round-robin, routing forms and workflows. The code is on GitHub, and companies can self-host or embed scheduling into their own products with Cal.com Platform APIs and atoms.

It supports many calendars and conferencing tools, includes its own Cal Video, and offers payments, workflows (reminders), and dynamic group links. Development is fast and public.

The product occasionally feels less polished than Calendly, and self-hosting requires maintenance, but for price, openness and embeddability it leads the category.

Cal.com offers an Enterprise plan with SSO and dedicated support, and exposes bookings, availability and routing through a public API and webhooks. That is why product teams often treat it as scheduling infrastructure rather than a standalone booking link, which is the clearest difference from Calendly. For individuals the practical advice is simple: start on the free plan and pay only when you need team features such as round-robin or routing forms.

SimplyBook.me is an online appointment booking system for service businesses such as salons, clinics, fitness studios, tutors and consultancies. It started in Iceland in 2009 as a local project to move service bookings online, and SimplyBook.me Ltd is now headquartered in Limassol, Cyprus, with offices in Iceland and Ukraine. Its core job is to give a business a mobile-friendly booking page and widget so clients can pick a service, provider and time slot and pay without a phone call.

The admin side covers calendars for several providers and locations, automatic email and SMS reminders, intake forms and client records. Optional custom features add packages, memberships, gift cards, coupons, waiting lists, tips and a point-of-sale module with Tap to Pay. Plans are priced in euros and capped by monthly bookings: the free plan covers 50 bookings and one provider, while Basic, Standard and Premium raise booking limits, providers and the number of custom features you can switch on.

It fits small and mid-sized service businesses that want booking, payments and light POS in one subscription. The admin interface is dense, the feature toggles take time to learn, and booking caps push busy studios up the tiers quickly. Calendly suits meeting scheduling for knowledge workers better, Acuity Scheduling is simpler for solo practitioners, and Setmore is easier for small teams that only need a calendar.

Buying tip: count your monthly bookings before picking a tier, because SMS credits, a custom domain and your own SMS gateway are sold separately.