Acuity Scheduling vs TidyCal Comparison 2026
TidyCal charges once, $29 for a lifetime licence, instead of billing monthly the way almost everything else in scheduling does. Acuity Scheduling has no free plan and no one-time option, just $16 a month and up for intake forms and payment collected at booking. TidyCal's free plan already includes paid bookings and unlimited booking types. The real question is whether Acuity's deeper paperwork tools are worth an ongoing bill TidyCal does not charge.
At a glance
- Acuity Scheduling starts cheaper, at $16.
- Only TidyCal has a free tier.
Side by side
Acuity Scheduling | TidyCal | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $16 | From $29 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Free trial, then paid | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing (they differ) | Monthly or annual | One-time purchase |
| Free trial (they differ) | 7 days | None |
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.
TidyCal
Booking pages you pay for once
TidyCal does what Calendly does for a single payment instead of a subscription, which over two years is the difference between $29 and several hundred. Paid bookings, recurring meetings and a free plan with unlimited booking types are all in. Polish is thinner and the integrations list is shorter, which is what you are trading for the price.
Our note
Why people weigh these two
- TidyCal instead of Acuity Scheduling
- TidyCal is a one-time $29 fee with a free tier to start, not a recurring bill like Acuity's $16 a month.
- Acuity Scheduling instead of TidyCal
- Acuity Scheduling adds real intake forms to the booking flow, from $16, an ongoing subscription rather than TidyCal's single payment.
Which one should you pick
TidyCal is the better buy for a creator selling consultations who does not want another monthly line item. The free plan alone covers unlimited bookings, unlimited booking types and paid bookings through Stripe or PayPal. The $29 Individual Lifetime licence adds meeting links, group bookings and ten calendar connections for one payment. After that, only a 1 percent platform fee applies to paid bookings, on top of Stripe's own cut.
Acuity Scheduling is worth the $16 a month once intake forms and packages matter, since TidyCal has no stated equivalent for selling blocks of sessions. There is no free plan on Acuity at all. Somebody just wanting to test whether people will book should start with TidyCal's free tier instead, which costs nothing to try.
Common questions
- Is TidyCal really a one-time payment?
- Yes, for the Individual Lifetime licence at $29 through AppSumo, which adds meeting links, group bookings and ten calendar connections on top of the free plan. Acuity Scheduling only bills monthly, from $16 to $49, with no one-time option.
- Does TidyCal's free plan actually take payment for bookings?
- Yes. The free plan includes paid bookings through Stripe or PayPal alongside unlimited booking types, with a 1 percent platform fee added on top of Stripe's own. Acuity also takes payment and deposits, but only from $16 a month since there is no free tier.
- Which one has intake forms before the booking?
- Acuity Scheduling does, asking the client's questions at the point of booking rather than in an email afterward. TidyCal is built around the booking link and the payment attached to it, with no stated intake form feature.
- What does TidyCal's $12 a month Pro plan add over the free lifetime deal?
- A custom domain and removal of TidyCal branding. Everything transactional, including unlimited bookings and paid bookings, is already on the free plan and the $29 lifetime licence.
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.