Acuity Scheduling vs SimplyBook.me Comparison 2026
SimplyBook.me prices by how many bookings and providers you have, starting free at 50 bookings a month for one provider. That suits a salon or clinic with staff to schedule. Acuity Scheduling has no free plan and no booking cap, starting at $16 a month with intake forms and payment built in for anyone selling their own time. The unit each one counts is the real difference: SimplyBook counts bookings and staff, Acuity counts calendars.
At a glance
- SimplyBook.me starts cheaper, at $11.90.
- Only SimplyBook.me has a free tier.
Side by side
Acuity Scheduling | SimplyBook.me | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $16 | From $11.90 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free trial, then paid | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial (they differ) | 7 days | 14 days |
Acuity Scheduling
Booking pages with intake forms
Acuity handles the part of booking that Calendly leaves out: intake forms, packages, deposits and paid appointments, with the money taken before anybody shows up. Squarespace owns it now and the two share an account. There is no free plan, so it is bought by people whose calendar already earns.
Our note
No free plan at all is the clearest difference from everything else here. Setmore and Cal.com take bookings for nothing, so the $16 is worth paying only when the intake form and the payment at booking are the point.
SimplyBook.me
Booking for a business with staff
SimplyBook.me is built for the appointment business rather than the meeting: several providers, a service list, deposits taken at the point of booking, and an app for the client. Its plans are counted in bookings a month instead of seats. That is the right unit for a studio with four staff and the wrong one for a consultant taking four calls a week.
Our note
Why people weigh these two
- SimplyBook.me instead of Acuity Scheduling
- SimplyBook.me is built for a business with staff on the calendar, not just one person, from $11.90 a month with a free tier.
- Acuity Scheduling instead of SimplyBook.me
- Acuity adds intake forms and packages around the booking, starting at $16 with no free tier, closer to SimplyBook.me's staff-and-service shape than a bare calendar link.
Which one should you pick
SimplyBook.me is the pick for a business with several providers and a room or chair to fill, like a salon, studio or clinic. The free plan covers 50 bookings for one provider, and Basic at $11.90 a month raises that to 100 bookings and five providers. Read the custom feature count before choosing a tier. Payments, HIPAA and memberships are each counted as a module rather than included outright.
Acuity Scheduling is the simpler choice for one person selling their own time, like a coach or consultant. There is no booking cap to watch and no provider count to plan around. Just $16 a month, with intake forms and deposits from day one. Anybody without staff or a physical space to book against is carrying more machinery than the job needs on SimplyBook.
Common questions
- What is the booking limit on SimplyBook.me's free plan?
- Fifty bookings a month for one provider and one custom feature. Acuity has no free plan and no booking cap at all, starting at $16 a month instead.
- Which one is built for a business with staff, not just one person?
- SimplyBook.me. Its plans are priced by provider count, from one on the free tier up to thirty on Premium at $49.90 a month. Acuity charges by calendar and staff member too, but its intake forms and payment tools suit one person selling their own time.
- Does Acuity charge extra for things like payments or memberships?
- No, payment and deposit collection are built into every paid Acuity plan from $16. SimplyBook.me counts modules like payments, HIPAA compliance and memberships as custom features, so a cheap tier can be the wrong one if it lacks the modules you need.
- Is either one free to start?
- SimplyBook.me is, for 50 bookings a month with one provider. Acuity has no free plan at all, only a 7-day trial with no card, then $16 a month.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.