If you’ve tried Cal.com, you already know it’s a sleek, open-source scheduling tool. But it’s not the only option out there. Maybe you’ve hit its limitations, found the setup too complex, or just want a platform that better fits your workflow.
If you’re shopping for an alternative, you’re in the right place. Different teams require different tools, but figuring out what’s best for you can take time. To give you a head start, we’ve put together a comprehensive comparison guide of the Cal.com alternatives that considers features, pricing, ease of use, integrations, and more.
Let’s jump right in!
Cal.com is an open-source scheduling platform that gives you full control over how you take bookings. You can set your availability using the tool and connect it with your preferred online calendar. It also integrates with video conferencing tools. All you need to do is share a scheduling link with your meeting guests, and Cal.com does the rest.
Like any scheduling app, Cal.com brings value in certain areas but also falls short in ways that prompt teams to explore alternatives. The most common concerns include:
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You’ll gain the ability to fully showcase your brand with customization features from YouCanBookMe. You’ll be able to scale scheduling across teams and departments with Calendly. You’ll find it easier to find shared availability with Doodle. |
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Best for large enterprises |
Best budget option for teams |
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YouCanBookMe Combines deep customization with ease of use. Create branded booking pages, manage appointment types, take payments, and automate reminders—all at a price point that works for small businesses. |
Calendly With Calendly, you have robust data security, centralized control, and the ability to onboard/offboard employees at scale. |
Doodle Doodle has a free basic plan, and tiers for individuals and teams that are both under $10 a month. |
Not all scheduling tools are made for the same kind of user. Some are better for freelancers, while others work better for big companies with lots of teams. Because of this, comparing them isn’t always easy. To make things simpler, we’ve reviewed each tool based on the same set of factors:
The 8 Best Cal.com alternatives to consider in 2025 |
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1. YouCanBookMe (YCBM) Highly customizable scheduling that lets you fully brand booking pages, emails, and invites. Unlike Cal.com’s more developer-oriented setup, YouCanBookMe gives you a polished, client-ready design out of the box. Best for: small businesses that want a professional, branded booking experience. |
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2. Calendly A widely adopted platform with strong automation, integrations, and team features. It’s easier to set up than Cal.com and scales smoothly across departments. Best for: enterprises needing robust workflows with minimal friction. |
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Built for service-based businesses, Acuity includes payments, recurring bookings, and client management. These features aren’t Cal.com’s focus, making Acuity better suited for selling time-based services. Best for: service providers. |
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Makes scheduling flexible with calendar overlays, smart links, and meeting polls. While Cal.com supports overlays, SavvyCal prioritizes this as its core experience. Best for: busy professionals coordinating with external clients or partners. |
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A simple scheduling tool with a one-time payment model. Unlike Cal.com’s subscription plans, TidyCal offers cost certainty and essential features at a low cost. Best for: freelancers and small businesses on a budget. |
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Free and simple, it handles basic scheduling without extra tools. For those who find Cal.com too complex, Google Calendar is often all that’s needed. Best for: individuals or very small teams. |
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Focused on syncing multiple calendars across accounts to prevent scheduling conflicts. While Cal.com has overlays, OneCal excels at consolidated cross-calendar management. Best for: professionals juggling personal, work, and client calendars. |
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Specializes in group scheduling through polls where participants vote on meeting times. Cal.com doesn’t offer this natively, making Doodle stronger for group coordination. Best for: teams, committees, and organizations running group meetings. |
YouCanBookMe (YCBM) is designed for small businesses that care about how their booking experience looks and feels. Unlike Cal.com, which often demands technical know-how to get the most out of it, YCBM gives you branded booking pages, appointment types, and payment options straight out of the box.
Clients can choose between different services, pay upfront through Stripe, and even request tentative slots you approve before confirming. It’s not overloaded with features you’ll never use, but it covers the essentials, such as scheduling, payments, meeting confirmations, reminders, and follow-ups, without making things complicated.
On top of that, YCBM makes it easy to stay organized. You can password-protect booking pages, set meeting buffers and minimum notice periods, or offer a choice between in-person and online meetings. Plus, with integrations across calendars, video platforms, and more than 6,000 apps via Zapier, YCBM fits neatly into most workflows.
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You have access to a lot of great features that allow for customizing the appearance and look and sending automatic reminders and emails to everyone when you make an appointments"
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Where Cal.com often feels like a tool built for developers, YouCanBookMe is built for small businesses that just want scheduling to work. Instead of spending time configuring plugins or managing self-hosting, YCBM gives you ready-to-use booking pages, integrated payments, and automated reminders without extra setup. Its focus is on giving clients a smooth experience, which can directly improve how professional your business feels from the first interaction.
Cal.com may appeal to teams who want to customize everything down to the code, but that comes at the cost of added complexity. YCBM keeps things straightforward: it covers the essential scheduling features, connects with all major calendars, and scales neatly from solo consultants to larger teams. For most businesses that care about efficiency and presentation, it is the more practical option.
YouCanBookMe offers a free-forever plan that includes branded booking pages, calendar sync, customizable notifications, and even Stripe payments. Its paid tiers start at $8.10/month for the Individual plan, rising to $11.70 for Professional and $16.20 per user for Teams. Each plan adds clear value, like more calendar connections, group sessions, advanced workflows, analytics, and role-based team management. There are also monthly, yearly, and 2-yearly billing options, providing discounts when you commit for longer.
Calendly is a scheduling automation tool that simplifies booking meetings without back-and-forth emails. Founded in 2013 in Atlanta, it helps individuals and teams coordinate availability, connect calendars, and streamline appointment workflows across various industries.
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The reason many users prefer Calendly over Cal.com is its speed and simplicity. You can be up and running in minutes, with a clean interface and native integrations that just work with tools like Google Calendar, Zoom, and CRMs. Cal.com offers the same core scheduling power, but setup can feel more hands-on, especially if you’re self-hosting or tailoring it to complex workflows.
The real difference shows in customization. Calendly lets you adjust branding and workflows enough to look professional without overwhelming users. Cal.com, on the other hand, is open-source and built for control, meaning you can change the frontend, backend, or even host it yourself if data sovereignty matters.
Another Calendly strength is how smoothly it scales for teams with round-robins, routing forms, and admin roles. Cal.com scales too, but with more manual setup in exchange for deeper flexibility and compliance options.Both Calendly and Cal.com offer free plans, but Cal.com’s is more generous with unlimited calendars, event types, workflows, and Stripe payments, while Calendly limits you to one calendar and one event type.
On paid tiers, Calendly is cheaper at the entry level with Standard at $10/month per user and Teams at $16/month per user, compared to Cal.com’s Teams plan at $15/month per user.
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“I love how easy and intuitive Calendly is to use, both for me and for the people booking with me. The automatic time zone adjustment, calendar syncing, and custom availability features have saved me hours of back-and-forth emails.” – Pily U. |
Acuity Scheduling is an online appointment scheduling platform that streamlines client bookings, payments, reminders, and branded booking pages. It was founded in 2006 and later acquired by Squarespace in April 2019.
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Acuity is built to be simple and easy, especially for service providers like salons, coaches, or wellness businesses. It gives you ready-to-use tools like branded booking pages, custom intake forms, and various payment options. Everything works smoothly without needing extra setup. Scaling is easy too—you can manage multiple staff, services, and locations all from one dashboard.
Cal.com, on the other hand, is made for teams that want more control. Since it’s open-source, you can easily change the design and even the backend if you have developer help. It also connects with lots of other tools through plugins and APIs, but setting these up takes more effort. Automations are possible but often need coding or extra setup.
Acuity has no free option. Its entry plan starts at $16/month, while Cal.com offers a free plan and then a Teams plan at $15/month per user that already includes team scheduling and routing. Acuity’s Standard ($27) and Premium ($49) plans add extras like reminders, packages, and subscriptions, while Cal.com’s Organizations plan ($37/user) is built for larger teams with compliance, analytics, and white-labeling.
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“I find it really easy to use Acuity Scheduling when I am scheduling for meetings, whether with work colleagues or with my clients. It is very easy to use and takes less time to schedule, especially with the auto-scheduling function. Acuity Scheduling has offered me the most impeccable experience I could have ever asked for.” – Shari R. |
SavvyCal offers a modern scheduling experience. It features calendar overlays, personalized links, team modes, automation, and intuitive availability tools that simplify booking for both you and your booker. If you’re interested in a detailed breakdown, here’s our SavvyCal vs Cal.com comparison guide.
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If you’re after a tool that feels effortless, you’ll be looking at SavvyCal. Setup takes minutes, and the booking experience is smooth for invitees. Features like calendar overlays, ranked availability, and polished links make scheduling feel simple instead of stressful. Team options like round robin or group scheduling are ready to go, so you don’t have to fuss with extra setup. SavvyCal is the choice if you want scheduling that works beautifully right out of the box.
But if you want a tool you can bend to your own rules, Cal.com will be a better option since it’s open-source, supports plugins and APIs, and can even be self-hosted for full control.Unlike Cal.com, SavvyCal doesn’t offer a free plan. Their entry-level plan starts at $12/month per user, with the Premium plan at $20/month. Cal.com’s paid tiers start at $15/month per user for team scheduling and routing, and the Organizations plan at $37/month with advanced compliance, analytics, and white-labeling.
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“When using SavvyCal, I noticed that its prices are somewhat high, but I must admit that it offers satisfactory and effective features. You may sometimes experience some delays in accessing the service. But in other respects, it is excellent and easy to use.” – Osama R. |
Next on our list is TidyCal, a super simple scheduling tool known for its unbeatable value. Built by AppSumo, it’s designed for freelancers, consultants, and small businesses who want an easy way to book meetings without paying ongoing subscription fees. Its biggest draw is the one-time lifetime deal for $29, which unlocks premium features other platforms charge yearly for.
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TidyCal is a super affordable option if you just need the basics. It offers unlimited booking types, calendar connections, group scheduling, reminders, and even paid bookings—all in a simple interface that’s easy for anyone to set up. If you’re a freelancer who doesn’t need advanced features, TidyCal is ideal.
That said, it falls short on integrations, compliance, and customizations that larger teams often require. Cal.com is a stronger choice if you need enterprise-grade compliance, advanced customization, and detailed routing. Of course, that power comes with more setup and a steeper learning curve.
TidyCal keeps pricing simple with a Free plan, a one-time $29 Individual plan for freelancers and consultants, and a one-time $79 Agency plan with team features like round robin and collective meetings. Compared to Cal.com’s ongoing subscription model, TidyCal is the far more affordable choice if you only need the basics.
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“The #1 best thing about TidyCal is its affordability. It does all the basic things, plus a little extra that would be needed with a calendaring tool. I appreciate the simplicity of sharing a link, embedding information on a website or in an email, and the ability to create meeting pools. It was very simple to set up and use.” – Wil D. |
Google Calendar is one of the most widely used scheduling tools in the world, built directly into Google Workspace. It brings all your calendars into one place, making it easy to manage work, personal, and shared events from a single view. Designed for both individuals and teams, it combines smart scheduling, automation, and integrations to save time and keep you organized.
The tool offers a broad range of features, including booking appointments via social media, ready-to-use booking website templates, and a built-in CRM system to manage customer information and track booking history.
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Google Calendar is ideal if you want a free, reliable scheduling tool that integrates tightly with Gmail, Meet, and the rest of Google Workspace. It’s easy to share calendars, auto-add events from emails, and manage tasks, making it great for everyday use.
But while features like appointment booking and time insights exist, most advanced options sit behind Workspace’s paid tiers. Branding is almost non-existent, and there’s no built-in way to collect payments or fully customize the booking experience.
Cal.com will offer deeper customization for teams that want full control, thanks to features like white-labeling, compliance certifications, and developer APIs that go far beyond what Google Calendar provides, but they also come with higher costs.
Google Calendar is free for individuals and affordable for businesses, starting at $7/month per user with Workspace. It’s hard to beat on price, but you’re limited to Google’s ecosystem, with little customization, no branding, and no built-in payments.
Cal.com also has a free plan, yet its paid tiers begin at $15/month per user and rise steeply. The trade-off is flexibility—white-labeling, compliance, and full customization that Google doesn’t offer. Put simply, Google Calendar is cheaper and more straightforward, while Cal.com costs more but delivers the control larger teams and enterprises may need.
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“I have been using Google Calendar for both my personal life and business needs for over a decade. I use it daily and couldn't imagine life without it. Google Calendar keeps my life and head organized, ensuring I don't miss due dates, deadlines, or engagements and commitments.” – Jessica R. |
OneCal is a calendar synchronization tool. It enables real-time syncing of Google, Outlook, and iCloud calendars, helping users avoid scheduling conflicts and streamline appointment management.
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OneCal and Cal.com both help streamline scheduling, but they serve different needs. OneCal is built for simplicity: connect Google, Outlook, or iCloud calendars, create unlimited scheduling links, and customize each with branding, rules, and notifications. It’s better suited for individuals, freelancers, or small teams who want something quick to set up without technical hurdles.
Cal.com, by contrast, leans into flexibility and enterprise control. It supports advanced features like routing forms, compliance certifications (SOC2, HIPAA), and developer APIs. While OneCal favors affordability and ease, Cal.com scales further with customization and automation options, though often at the cost of higher pricing and more complex setup.
OneCal doesn’t offer a free plan, but keeps pricing low:
At these levels, OneCal is generally the cheaper, better-value option for individuals and small teams, while Cal.com only becomes worthwhile if you need its enterprise-grade features.
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“I love that I can both connect + sync my calendars and manage my booking links all in one spot. The customer service is very helpful. It was very easy to set up and I like all the options for syncing my calendars. It's a little pricey, especially if you need to connect 5+ calendars.” |
Doodle is an online scheduling tool that simplifies finding mutually available meeting times through group polls. Founded by two ETH Zurich students, it has grown into a widely used platform for coordinating meetings and events.
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If your priority is speed and simplicity, Doodle is hard to beat. It’s designed for fast, fuss-free scheduling (especially with large groups), using intuitive polls and one-click links. Setup is quick, integrations with tools like Zoom and Teams work seamlessly, and there’s a free plan that covers the basics well. It’s perfect for users who want a straightforward solution without touching any code.
Cal.com, on the other hand, is built for teams that want complete control over their scheduling experience. While it can match Doodle’s functionality and then some, it often requires manual setup or developer input, especially if you self-host.
Doodle offers a Free plan for individuals, with paid tiers starting at $6.95/month per user, a Team plan at $8.95/month per user, and an Enterprise plan with custom pricing. Cal.com also provides a Free plan, but its paid tiers start higher, with the Teams plan at $15/month per user and the Organizations plan at $37/month per user.
Doodle is the cheaper option at the entry and team level.
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“Doodle has made it much easier to "poll" what dates and times work best for meetings. It has saved us a lot of time and stress with trying to find the best times to meet for larger groups of people with varying calendars.” – Shae P. |
Switching from Cal.com often comes down to the details: clunky booking flows, limited invite customization, or rules that don’t quite match how you work. Other platforms fix some of those gaps—Calendly is easier to scale but can feel rigid at lower tiers, Acuity is strong on payments yet pricey, and TidyCal is cheap but quickly runs out of steam once your needs grow.
YouCanBookMe finds the middle ground. It gives you the polish Cal.com lacks and adds practical features small businesses actually use, such as appointment types so clients can choose exactly what they need, Stripe integration to take payments at the time of booking, and request-only slots you can approve before confirming. You can even password-protect booking pages or export booking data to track performance.
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