Acuity Scheduling review

Squarespace-owned appointment software for service businesses, with a free trial rather than a free plan.

Facts checked July 2026

Free plan: No
Free plan score: 6/100Barely free
Starting price: $16/month
Based in: United States
Company: Squarespace
Founded: 2006

Our take

Acuity is deep, business-grade appointment software with no free plan at all, so treat the trial as a trial and budget from $16 per month.

Squarespace-owned software for selling time in blocks

Acuity Scheduling is appointment software for businesses that sell time in blocks. It has been around since 2006, is owned by Squarespace, and is also sold under the Squarespace Scheduling name. Where Calendly optimises for a booking link, Acuity optimises for running a practice: intake forms, client records, packages, memberships, staff calendars, and payments in one place.

It sits on this list as an incumbent, not an alternative. There is no free plan, only a trial, and per CONTENT-PLAN rule 1 we will not call a trial free.

The service businesses Acuity is actually built for

Coaches, therapists, and consultants selling packages or memberships
Salons, studios, and clinics with several practitioners and rooms
Practices needing HIPAA compliance options, which Powerhouse covers

A trial, not a free plan: $16, $27 and $49 priced yearly

There is no free tier to describe. Acuity offers a free trial and then charges from $16 per month billed annually (as of July 2026). Emerging at $16 covers core scheduling, payments, and calendar integrations. Growing at $27 adds text reminders, packages, memberships, and gift certificates for up to 6 staff or locations. Powerhouse at $49 covers up to 36 staff or locations and adds HIPAA options and multiple time zones. Annual billing is around 20% cheaper than monthly.

The pricing is per business rather than per seat, which is the one place Acuity beats Calendly on cost once you have a handful of practitioners.

Text reminders start at $27, and two other limits

The setup is heavier than a booking link. Services, calendars, forms, and payment settings all need configuring before your first appointment, so expect an afternoon rather than five minutes.

Text reminders sit on Growing, not Emerging, which is a common surprise for a solo practitioner who assumed the $16 plan included SMS.

There is no free tier and no self-hosting, so it is the wrong tool for anyone whose starting constraint is a zero budget. For a lot of Acuity's actual users that is fine, because the software replaces a receptionist, not a calendar link.

Worth $16 if appointments are the business

Acuity earns its price if your business is appointments. Packages, memberships, and intake forms are things free booking tools genuinely do not do, and $16 a month against the admin time saved is easy maths. If you just need people to book a call with you, none of that applies and Cal.com's free plan does the job for nothing.

What Acuity Scheduling offers

Calendar sync
Group & round-robin scheduling
Payment collection
Custom booking pages
Buffers & availability rules
Video call integration
Automated reminders
Embeddable widget
Team scheduling

Not included

Self-hosting

Acuity Scheduling plans and pricing

There is no free plan, only a free trial. Annual billing saves roughly 20% against monthly. Acuity is owned by Squarespace and is also sold as Squarespace Scheduling

Emerging

$16/mo

Core scheduling, payment acceptance, and calendar integrations for a single practitioner

Billed annually; $20 per month on monthly billing

Growing

$27/mo

Adds text reminders, appointment packages, memberships, and gift certificates

Billed annually; up to 6 staff or locations

Powerhouse

$49/mo

Adds HIPAA compliance options, multiple time zones, and advanced customisation

Billed annually; up to 36 staff or locations

As of July 2026. Check current pricing on the Acuity Scheduling pricing page.

Acuity Scheduling's free plan score

How good Acuity Scheduling's free plan really is, judged on four things and weighted into one number.

6/100

Barely free

No free plan, only a trial, then $16 a month billed annually.

Free plan generosity35% of the score: 4/100
There is no free plan, only a free trial, and a trial is not a free tier. What exists instead is Emerging at $16 per month billed annually ($20 on monthly billing), Growing at $27 and Powerhouse at $49, all confirmed (as of July 2026). If your starting constraint is a zero budget, you get nothing here once the trial ends.
Feature depth for the category25% of the score: 5/100
There is no free tier, so there is nothing to measure depth against. The things Acuity does well, packages, memberships, gift certificates, intake forms tied to client records and multi-staff calendars, all sit behind a paid plan from the first day after the trial. Every other tool in this file offers something at $0.
Freedom and honesty20% of the score: 15/100
Acuity is straight about this and that counts: prices are published and the trial is never dressed up as a free plan. But there is nothing free to keep free. The trial ends and you pay, there is no self-hosted or open source path, and extras people assume are in the entry plan, like text reminders and appointment packages, start on Growing at $27.
What free users report20% of the score: 0/100
Acuity has no free plan, so there are no free users and nothing for this pillar to measure. It scores at the floor by definition rather than because of anything reviewers said. Trustpilot 3.7 and Capterra 4.8 (checked 24 July 2026) rate a product every reviewer paid for.

Scored July 2026. How we calculate the free plan score.

Frequently asked questions about Acuity Scheduling

Does Acuity Scheduling have a free plan?

No. As of July 2026 there is a free trial and then paid plans from $16 per month billed annually. Anyone listing Acuity as a free scheduling tool is describing the trial.

How much does Acuity cost?

Emerging is $16 per month billed annually ($20 monthly), Growing is $27, and Powerhouse is $49. Growing covers up to 6 staff or locations and Powerhouse up to 36, so the price is per business rather than per seat.

What does Acuity do that free booking links do not?

Packages, memberships, gift certificates, intake forms tied to client records, multiple staff calendars, and HIPAA compliance options on Powerhouse. If you sell blocks of sessions or run a clinic, those are the features free tools skip.

Latest Acuity Scheduling news

Changes that affect what you get for free: pricing, free plan limits, ownership, and whether the project is still maintained. Not every release.

We have not checked Acuity Scheduling's announcements yet. When we do, anything that changes the free plan or the price will show up here.

Reader reviews

What people who actually use Acuity Scheduling think of it.

No reviews of Acuity Scheduling yet. If you have used it, yours would be the first.

The useful part is the specifics: what you used it for, and where it got in your way.