Square Appointments vs Acuity vs Calendly: the short version
These three are the tools small service businesses ask about most. They overlap, but they start from different places. Square Appointments starts from payments and a point of sale. Acuity Scheduling starts from the appointment. Calendly starts from the meeting.
We read each vendor’s own pages in October 2026 and report what they say. Prices are US dollars. We have no partnerships or referral deals with any of them. For the wider picture of reminders, no-shows and follow-up, see our guide to online booking for service businesses. For more tools, see best online booking software for service businesses.
Square Appointments vs Acuity vs Calendly: side by side
| Square Appointments | Acuity Scheduling | Calendly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes (Free, solo professionals) | No (“doesn’t offer free appointment scheduling”) | Yes (one event type, one calendar) |
| Paid plans | Plus $49/mo per location; Premium $149/mo per location | Starter $16/mo; Standard $27/mo; Premium $55/mo (annual). $20, $34, $69 monthly | Standard $10 per seat/mo; Teams $16 per seat/mo (billed yearly) |
| Staff and calendars | Unlimited staff calendars | 1 (Starter), up to 6 (Standard), up to 36 (Premium) | Per seat; a seat is needed to connect calendars and host |
| Payments | Square processing: in person 2.6% to 2.4% + 15 cents, online 3.3% or 2.9% + 30 cents by plan | Stripe, Square, PayPal and Venmo, on all plans | Stripe and PayPal on Standard |
| Reminders | Appointment reminders on Free; text marketing on Plus (500 texts a month) and Premium (2,500) | Email on Starter; SMS from Standard | Automations and reminders on Standard |
| Packages and memberships | Not listed on the pricing page | Packages, memberships, subscriptions, gift certificates from Standard | Not listed |
| Waitlist | Plus | Standard | Not listed |
| Intake forms | Not listed on the pricing page | Custom intake forms on Starter | Not listed |
| BAA for HIPAA | Conditional, see below | Premium | No; terms bar health information (see below) |
| Trial | Days not shown | 7 days, no card | Not stated |
Square Appointments: bookings and card payments in one account
Square’s pricing page describes three tiers. Free is for solo professionals taking payments and managing schedules, with a booking site, reminders and unlimited staff calendars. Plus is for growing teams and adds a cancellation policy with no-show fees, multi-staff appointment booking and a waitlist. Premium adds a future bookings report, service cost tracking and resource management. The monthly fee is per location: $0, $49 and $149.
The features page also lists class booking, recurring appointments, QR code booking, Instagram and Facebook booking and multi-location scheduling. Text message marketing is not available on Free; Plus includes 500 texts a month and Premium 2,500, then per-text fees.
Card rates on the pricing page fall as you move up. In person it is 2.6% + 15 cents on Free, 2.5% on Plus and 2.4% on Premium. Online it is 3.3% + 30 cents on Free and 2.9% + 30 cents on Plus and Premium. That ties your booking tool to Square’s payment processing, which is convenient if you already use Square at the counter.
Acuity Scheduling: appointments, packages and your own processor
Acuity has no free plan and offers a 7-day trial on each paid plan. Starter has one calendar and lists payments through Stripe, Square, PayPal and Venmo, email reminders, custom intake forms and automatic time zone conversion. Standard lifts you to six calendars and adds SMS reminders, a waitlist, appointment packages, memberships and subscriptions, and gift certificates. Premium, up to 36 calendars, adds an AI booking assistant, a business associate agreement, hiding the Acuity logo, multiple time zones and API access.
Acuity’s home page also lists add-ons, discount coupons, calendar sync to prevent double-booking, and integrations with tools such as Zoom, Mailchimp, QuickBooks and Zapier. You pay the payment processor’s rates, which Acuity’s pricing page does not list. Check your processor’s current rates.
Calendly: meetings, consultations and quotes
Calendly’s free plan allows one event type, one calendar connection and one-on-one scheduling. Standard ($10 per seat a month billed yearly) adds unlimited event types, connected calendars, automations and reminders, and Stripe and PayPal payments. Teams ($16 per seat) adds round-robin and team scheduling, lead routing and centrally managed event types. Enterprise starts at $15,000 a year.
Calendly’s features page says it handles one-on-one appointments, multi-host demos and group classes with pre-built event types, and lists built-in buffers and a website embed. Its pricing page does not list packages, memberships, waitlists or intake forms. It is a clean way to let a client pick a time for a consultation, an estimate or a call. It is a thinner fit when a customer buys a bundle of sessions. Invitees do not need a seat; only the people hosting do.
Pricing by team size (illustration)
These are our arithmetic from the list prices above, not vendor quotes. They exclude payment fees and taxes.
| Team | Square Appointments | Acuity | Calendly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 person | Free: $0 | Starter: $16 (annual) or $20 | Standard: $10 (yearly) |
| 3 people | Free: $0, or Plus $49 for no-show fees and waitlist | Standard: $27 (annual) or $34 | Standard: $30 (3 seats, yearly) |
| 8 people | Plus $49 or Premium $149 per location | Premium: $55 (annual) or $69 | Standard: $80 (8 seats, yearly) |
On price alone, Square and Acuity cost less as the team grows, because Acuity counts calendars and Square counts locations, while Calendly counts seats. The real cost for Square is the card rate; for Acuity and Calendly it is the processor you connect.
HIPAA and health information
If you handle health information, such as a chiropractor or a med spa, this decides the choice. Acuity lists a business associate agreement (BAA) on Premium only. Square’s BAA covers Square Appointments only in configurations Square identifies as HIPAA-enabled. Calendly’s customer terms (effective August 5, 2026) ask customers to warrant that their data contains no protected health information, and in a July 2026 community post a Calendly community manager wrote that it does not currently offer a BAA. This is not legal advice. Get the BAA in writing and keep health details out of reminders unless it covers them. Our comparison of scheduling software for dental, chiropractic and PT clinics has the vendor-by-vendor BAA table and the details of each statement.
Which one fits your business
- Solo service provider who also takes card payments in person. Square Appointments Free, because bookings and the card reader are in one account.
- Salon, spa or studio selling packages or memberships. Acuity Standard, which lists packages, memberships and gift certificates. See salon and med spa booking software for tools built for beauty.
- Consultant, coach, estimator or accountant booking calls. Calendly Free or Standard.
- Clinic or wellness practice needing a BAA. Acuity Premium, with the BAA in writing, or a clinic-specific system.
- A team that wants no-show fees and a waitlist. Square Plus or Acuity Standard.
- Home services with trucks and routes. None of these three is a job management system. See field service scheduling software.
Before you decide
- Pick a free trial or free plan for two of the three and book five real appointments.
- Make a test booking from your phone and read the reminder your client receives.
- Check where the money goes, and the processor’s rate.
- Ask what happens if you grow: calendars, seats, locations.
- If you take health information, ask for the BAA before you set anything up.
Reminders and deposits cut no-shows more than the choice of tool; see how to reduce no-shows.
How Magnet Mint helps
We do not sell or resell Square, Acuity or Calendly. We connect the tool you already use to your website, set up confirmations and reminders, or help you choose. Our booking setup is from $600, and the software subscription is billed to you at cost by the vendor. See booking software setup, or ask for a free demo: a short call, then a demo for your business, free and with no obligation.
Published . Updated .