Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover scheduling & booking. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| TidyCal | zcal | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $29 | From $7 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | One-time purchase | Not stated |
| Free trial | None | 14 days |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Scheduling & Booking, Digital Products & Storefronts | Scheduling & Booking |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
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
For most creators this is the correct purchase and Calendly is the habit. Buy the $29 lifetime licence, spend twenty minutes moving your links, and never think about scheduling costs again.
Only on this side
Scheduling with most of it on the free plan
zcal is a booking page in the Calendly shape, and its argument is how much sits on the free tier: the paid plans are mostly about branding, teams and payments rather than about how many event types you may have. Booking pages carry a designed cover rather than a plain form. For one person sending a link, the free plan is usually the whole product.
Our note
Start on free and expect to stay there if you are one person, because the paid tiers are aimed at teams rather than at power users. Cal.com is the alternative worth weighing, and it is open source if self-hosting matters to you.
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.