Top 5 Best Calendly Alternatives and Competitors in 2023
It seems that daily life continues to get busier and busier. It’s an issue that’s causing many managers, business owners, entrepreneurs, and busy bees to go searching for a proper scheduling tool. In this article, we will talk about meeting scheduling services such as Calendly and the top 5 best Calendly alternatives and competitors in 2023.
One of the more popular scheduling tools currently available is Calendly. Calendly leads the way in terms of scheduling solutions and provides its users the ability to book meetings, sort availability preferences, send reminders, set buffer times, and avoid double bookings for all schedule-related matters.
While Calendly is undoubtedly a popular choice when it comes to scheduling solutions, many people are still in search of other tools because of Calendly’s pricy plans and limited features. In this article, we’re going to take a deep dive into the best Calendly alternatives and explore all they have to offer.
What is Calendly?
Calendly
Calendly is known as one of the more prominent online scheduling applications. The platform provides a simple way to book 1:1 meetings, which makes it a useful application for many businesses, teams, and entrepreneurs.
Calendly makes it extra simple for their users to create bookings by taking all the hands-on work out of the equation. Users need only to choose a subscription plan, input their availability, and preset the kind of appointments they want to offer, such as a 30-minute consultation call.
Once all the basic information has been put in, Calendly creates an easy-to-navigate custom booking page for their users. Users can easily share their Calendly scheduling links with customers or other team members. It’s a simple yet effective scheduling model that works well for most small business teams and entrepreneurs.
Calendly also offers a number of third-party integrations, such as Google Calendar, Office 365, Outlook, Zoom, and PayPal. Overall, it’s a great platform for most 1:1 business applications, but it still has its limitations.
Pros
Cons
Pricing Plans
- Free Plan
- Premium: $8-$10/month
- Professional: $10-$15/month
- Teams: $16-$20/month
Top Calendly Alternatives and Competitors
There is no denying Calendly’s hold on the online scheduling marketplace, but that isn’t stopping people from finding better alternatives. Here are a few of the best alternatives and competitors of Calendly, as of 2023.
1. Zoho Bookings
Zoho Bookings
Zoho Bookings may be the second most popular scheduling platform next to Calendly. It provides a comprehensive free plan and affordable paid plans. Zoho Bookings allows users to schedule both one-on-one and group meetings.
Zoho Bookings is a fantastic platform for both individuals and teams to communicate more effectively. The versatility in functionality allows sales teams to sell more, recruiters to find more candidates, and team managers to coordinate operations better down the line. For small business owners and entrepreneurs, it eliminates the chances of double bookings and no-shows, not to mention the time saved from avoiding back-and-forth emails.
Where Zoho Bookings really stands out is in the realm of personalization. In contrast with Calendly, Zoho provides an extremely customizable booking page. Users can take advantage of plug-and-play personalization tools to optimize their own booking page, domain, and emails. Zoho Bookings also integrates well with all other Zoho applications alongside a few other third-party applications.
Pros
Cons
Pricing Plans
- Free Plan
- Basic: $6/month
- Premium: $9/month
2. Simply Book
Simply Book
Simply Book (officially SimplyBook.me) is a scheduling platform best suited for small businesses and enterprises in service-providing industries. The scheduling tool makes customization easy by offering a variety of appealing and responsive website templates. Simply Book sets itself apart in this regard, as it can act as a booking app and business landing page all in one.
As the name suggests, Simply Book provides a simple solution for all scheduling needs. Simply Book also provides a set of special features under its membership package. These special features enhance the customization on both ends of the meeting interaction. For example, it allows business owners to offer both discounts and treats to their members. It can help business owners and managers offer special pricing packages to customers and clients – a feature that many other scheduling platforms lack.
Simply Book integrates extremely well with 3rd party platforms such as Google and QuickBooks. It even allows clients and customers to make bookings through Facebook and Instagram. Its versatility allows Simply Book to be one of the better options for small businesses and it meets all configuration requirements for teams inside large enterprises.
Finally, Simply Book offers over 40 payment processors, including PayPal, Stripe, and Square. Its wide range of payment processors and versatile application allows Simply Book to be a suitable scheduling tool for both big and small operations.
Pros
Cons
Pricing Plans
- Free Plan
- Basic: $8.25/month
- Standard: $24.9/month
- Premium: $49.9/month
- Premium Plus: $82.5/month
3. Acuity Scheduling
Acuity Scheduling
Acuity Scheduling is a robust and fully equipped Calendly alternative. It’s ideal for businesses, enterprises, or any solopreneur looking to customize their own site. Acuity Scheduling allows users to create their own custom URL and embed it directly into their existing website. It can also be embedded with all major social media platforms and a number of other third-party integrations.
Some unique features Acuity Scheduling offers include customized emails, SMS notifications, and customizable intake forms. In comparison to Calendly, Acuity Scheduling acts more like a personal assistant. It’s set of features and long list of integrations make it a premium option for many business professionals. Whether it’s being used for solopreneurs or large medical offices, Acuity Scheduling is more than a capable solution.
Pros
Cons
Pricing Plans
- Emerging: $14/month
- Growing: $23/month
- Powerhouse: $45/month
4. Doodle
Doodle
Doodle was one of the earliest digital scheduling tools to hit the market. As they provide affordable pricing, simple booking, and a fantastic mobile application, Doodle has remained one of the top choices for scheduling solutions.
Doodle offers polls and surveys for its users – a feature that’s missing with many other scheduling tools. Polls are a handy resource for many team managers because they make it easy to find an ideal time to meet with a large group of people. Furthermore, surveys make it easy to gather all the opinions from that group of people. These features can enhance the effectiveness of your meetings and simplify logistical issues.
Doodle is also highly regarded for its customer service and priority support. Their paid plans guarantee a success manager, 99.9% uptime, and priority customer support – a list of promises that have gained Doodle many contracts with universities and other large organizations.
Pros
Cons
Pricing Plans
- Free Plan
- Pro: $6.95/month
- Team: $8.95/month
- Enterprise: custom price
5. Picktime
Picktime
Picktime (officially Picktime.com) is possibly the best free scheduling tool on our list. It offers a detailed set of robust features in an easy-to-use application. Like most scheduling tools, it works best for small to medium-sized service-based businesses that sell one primary product. Salons, medical offices, dental offices, freelancers, and rental centers all thrive on Picktime.
All important features are centralized within Picktime. The platform makes it extremely simple for its users to create appointments, reschedule, or set specific preferences for locations all from one place. Like Doodle, Picktime also makes it easy for teams to coordinate efforts across different time zones.
Picktime also offers a highly rated free plan, but if you are looking for a more advanced set of features, you’ll still be able to find that with one of their paid plans.
Pros
Cons
Pricing
- Free Plan
- Starter: $9.99/month
- Pro: $19.99/month
Looking Forward
There is no denying Calendly’s popularity as a scheduling tool, but it still has its limitations. If you are looking for a more advanced set of features or better pricing, you’ll likely be able to find it in one of our Calendly alternatives.
It’s important to consider all of your own needs and requirements in a scheduling application before deciding which one is best for you. Whether you need a better way to schedule sales calls, office meetings, or anything else, the right scheduling tool will help you do it faster and easier.
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