Cal.com vs Koalendar Comparison 2026
Cal.com and Koalendar both promise a free plan with no time limit and no cap on bookings, which is rarer in this category than it should be. Cal.com's free plan also takes payment through Stripe and PayPal and connects calendars without limit; Koalendar's free plan caps calendar syncing at two and holds payments back for its paid Pro tier. Koalendar Pro is $6.99 a seat a month billed annually, cheaper than Cal.com's Teams plan at $12 a user a month even after its own 25 percent yearly discount. The free plans are close; the paid ones are not.
At a glance
- Koalendar starts cheaper, at $6.99.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Cal.com | Koalendar | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $12 | From $6.99 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial (they differ) | 14 days | 7 days |
| API |
Cal.com
Open-source scheduling you can host yourself
Cal.com does what Calendly does and publishes its source, which matters to anybody who wants booking on their own domain and their own database. The individual plan is free with no meeting cap. Self-hosting is real rather than theatre, though it is a weekend rather than an afternoon.
Our note
Taking payment for calls is free here and is a paid feature almost everywhere else. That single difference is the reason most people switch.
Only on this side
- Covers project management
Koalendar
Unlimited bookings on the free plan
Koalendar gives away the thing most booking tools meter, which is the number of appointments, and puts its paid features around payments, reminders and team routing instead. Two calendar syncs and an embeddable booking page come at no cost with no time limit. Paying adds Stripe checkout at the point of booking, custom reminders and the removal of Koalendar's branding. It is a booking link rather than a practice management system, and anybody wanting intake forms and client records will outgrow it.
Why people weigh these two
- Koalendar instead of Cal.com
- Koalendar allows unlimited bookings on its free plan with paid from $6.99, matching the no-meeting-cap deal Cal.com gives individuals.
- Cal.com instead of Koalendar
- Cal.com can be self-hosted instead of run on someone else's servers, for a developer who wants that control, at $12 a month for the hosted version.
Which one should you pick
Take Cal.com if payments matter from day one. Stripe and PayPal sit on the free plan itself, alongside unlimited event types, calendars and meetings for one user, and self-hosting is a real option if you want booking on your own domain. Two calendar syncs will not be a limit here, because Cal.com does not cap connected calendars at all.
Take Koalendar if the appointment count is what worries you and payments can wait. Bookings are unlimited on the free plan with no time limit, embedding on your own site costs nothing, and Pro at $6.99 a seat a month billed annually adds Stripe and Apple Pay at the point of booking. That is cheaper than Cal.com's paid tier, though Koalendar has no self-hosted option and only two calendar syncs before Pro removes the cap.
Common questions
- Are both free plans really unlimited?
- Bookings are uncapped on both. Cal.com's free plan also uncaps connected calendars and includes Stripe and PayPal payments. Koalendar's free plan caps calendar syncing at two and holds Stripe and Apple Pay back for its paid Pro tier.
- Which paid plan is cheaper?
- Koalendar Pro, at $6.99 a seat a month billed annually. Cal.com's Teams plan is $12 a user a month, and even with its own 25 percent yearly discount that works out to $9, still more than Koalendar charges.
- Can I self-host either one?
- Cal.com, yes: it is open source and can run on your own domain and database, though it is a weekend project rather than a quick setup. Koalendar has no self-hosted option listed; it runs as a hosted service only.
- Which one takes payment on the free plan?
- Cal.com does, through Stripe and PayPal, with no charge for the privilege. Koalendar holds payments back for Pro at $6.99 a seat a month, so a free-plan booking on Koalendar cannot collect money at the point of scheduling.
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.