Top 10 Calendly alternatives for 2024

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Updated on:
January 4, 2023
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What is Calendly?

Calendly is a software tool that makes scheduling appointments and events easier. It gets rid of the hassle of having to send emails back and forth just to set a time and date. For instance, recruiting officers can simply share their calendars with the applicants to let them know of their availability. Even those without Calendly will still be able to access the calendar, see the available time slots and select a mutually workable time and date to meet. 

This cloud-based app and its freemium online scheduling service take time management to another level. It eliminates any need for worrying about conflicting appointments and schedules.

The smart calendar integration constantly keeps your schedule updated across applications. Being able to customize the time slots that you’re available allows you to gain full control over your own time. You and your clients can book appointments suitable for both of you without even lifting a finger. 

Businesses choose to use Calendly for: 

Embedded Scheduling and Routing - A scheduling page and route forms are embedded in your business website to make for faster scheduling and a reduced customer drop-off rate 

Workflow Management - Calendly automates tasks such as booking and rescheduling appointments, and sending reminders or thank-you notes to clients and team members, enabling a smoother workflow

Multiple Integrations - With Calendly, you can integrate your calendar with other software and apps to automate your appointments from beginning to end 

That being said there are multiple drawbacks to using Calendly. For instance, on the free tier you are restricted from choosing a different default setting than the standard 30 minute meeting which isn't ideal for 1:1 client coaching sessions which may be shorter or longer. Additionally, live support is virtually non-existent with nearly 100% of support occurring via email which can be a big challenge for businesses that need support right away for a critical problem.

Here is our list of alternatives to Calendly

If you’re looking for other software similar to Calendly, here is our list of high-quality alternatives

  • Bonsai 
  • Acuity Scheduling 
  • MixMax  
  • Vocus.io 
  • Youcanbook.me  
  • Meetingbird 
  • Hubspot sales 

Let’s take a better look at the different alternatives to Calendly.

Bonsai

Pros: Total ecosystem integration (invoicing, accounting, task tracking, etc)

Cons: Part of an all-in-one package, so expensive for just a calendar solution

Best for: Scheduling software for coaches and users looking to do more than just scheduling

This is an all-in-one appointment booking software that allows for calendar integration, making it great for client meetings. Also, since Bonsai provides an entire suite of tools, you can record coaching session notes, track time for the call, and bill for your meeting time all without ever leaving the Bonsai platform. Other than scheduling appointments, Bonsai stands out because of its features that integrate with your time and task tracking, invoicing, accounting, and the creation of proposals and contracts.

Trusted by over 500,000 small businesses and self-employed workers, Bonsai enables you to focus on your passion instead of on your paperwork. 

Appointment Scheduling Software

Acuity Scheduling

Pros: automation

Cons: extremely limited customization options

Acuity Scheduling is an all-in-one appointment management tool that lets you automate things, from payments to reminders. It’s easy to use and works as a good support for your business. You also won’t have to worry about reminder emails and texts resulting in you being charged extra. It also allows for the integration of Google calendars, allowing you to sync the Acuity scheduling app with your Google appointments.

However, one of the downsides to this is that searching for your previous appointments is exhausting and can take a lot of time. The sync time with calendars can also take a while and has very limited customization. 

MixMax

Pros: Has a free tier

Cons: Extremely limited customization options

Best for: Someone looking to try out a bare bones scheduling platform

MixMax sits at the top as the number one sales engagement platform for Gmail. It helps get rid of busy work and encourages real management. With MixMax you can share your calendar, track emails, automate your work, embed surveys and polls, schedule email sequences, and sync the tools that you use most often. Out of all the open-rate trackers available, MixMax has one of the most usable and unobtrusive interfaces. It’s also able to give valuable insight into your client management processes. 

However, its read receipts may be prone to glitching, marking the email as having been viewed by the recipient when it was you who opened it. It also doesn’t automatically add additional invitees when you send calendar options and availability to clients. Instead, you have to manually add them which can prove to be frustrating. 

Vocus.io 

Pros: Has tracking for great follow up capability

Cons: Volatile platform prone to crashing

Best for: Small businesses relying on 1 browser type and 1 email client

With Vocus.io, you can easily integrate automatic follow-up emails. It also allows the use of snippets while writing an email, saving you a lot of time when sending out emails with follow-ups. Vocus also lets you track email or link openings, giving you the chance to monitor client engagements. 

The downside to Vocus is that sometimes it crashes without warning and can conflict with other apps, prompting you to sign in every time you turn off the add-on and then turn it back on. It also does not work in several browsers and email clients, which can cause a stagnant workflow for entire teams. 

Youcanbook.me

Pros: Provides a pre-meeting questionnaire

Cons: Cannot easily reschedule meetings, must cancel and rebook

Best for: Someone looking to try out an economical platform with minimal custom functionality

Youcanbook.me offers an easy setup and an incredibly smooth interface. It also allows you to sync your availability with a calendar like Google Calendars. If you prefer, you can customize your booking fields so you can better understand your client before the actual meeting. Email signatures come with a link that you can give out to your clients or colleagues to enable them to book a meeting with you. 

The thing is that you can’t really customize your booking times. It limits you to specific time blocks with similarly spaced paddings. This could lead to overbooking or underbooking and finding a balance can prove to be a struggle. You also cannot reschedule appointments from your end but instead, have to cancel your appointment with a client and ask them to reschedule from their end.

Meetingbird

Pros: Ability to embed meeting times in email

Cons: Not a plug and play solution with long ramp up & set up times

Best for: Google business suite-dedicated businesses

With a simple interface and powerful integrations, Meetingbird allows you to save time scheduling meetings and booking appointments. You can embed meeting times in your email without having to leave your inbox or install a browser plug-in. It also has a Gmail add-on that conveniently lets you make minimal or more detailed changes to the event you propose to your clients. Meetingbird also seamlessly integrates with your Google calendar. 

However, it doesn’t have the most intuitive user interface. It also has a lot of redundant click paths when inserting meeting times into an email, which defeats the purpose of the app. Setting it up can also be a bit confusing for those who aren’t tech-savvy.

Hubspot Sales

Pros: Reporting & analytics capabilities

Cons: Non-intuitive user interface, Expesive

Best for: Sales teams

Hubspot Sales has fully featured sales CRM, quote and CPQ functionality, sales engagement tools, reporting and analytics and other features that help optimize your sales process. With this tool, you can track emails and tools and manage your documents to better connect with your clients. You can also create templates from your best sales emails, which you can personalize and share with your team.

One downside to Hubspot Sales is that it can take a while to get used to its interface and navigate the software. Contacts can also cost a lot more when your business starts to scale up. Hubspot Sales also does not have a feature that allows you to monitor files and hits on landing sites. 

Pricing Comparisons

Let’s take a look at the pricing plans for each Calendly alternative.

Bonsai

Starter -$25 per month

*Perfect for freelancers and new contractors

Includes:

All templates

Invoicing and payments

Client CRM

Up to five project collaborators

Unlimited clients and projects

Proposals and contracts

Tasks and time tracking

Expense tracking

Professional - $39 per month

*Ideal for growing independent businesses

Includes:

Every feature in the Starter plan

Forms and questionnaires 

Client portal

Calendly integration

Custom branding

Workflow automations

Quickbooks integration

Zapier integration

Business - $79 per month

*Perfect for businesses and agencies

Includes:

Everything in the Starter and Professional plans

Hiring agreement templates

Talent pool

Accountant access

Unlimited subcontractors

Subcontractor management

Subcontractor onboarding

Connect multiple bank accounts

Acuity Scheduling

Emerging - $14 per month

Includes:

Client self-scheduling

Payments and deposits through Square, Stripe or Paypal

Advanced features

Automatic time zone conversion for clients

Unlimited services and appointments

Google meet, GoToMeeting and Zoom integrations for meetings

Confirmation, reminder, and follow-up emails

Growing - $23 per month

Includes:

Everything in the Emerging plan

Worldwide text message reminders

Subscriptions, memberships and gift certificates

Appointment packages

Powerhouse - $45 per month

Includes:

Everything in the previous plans

Multiple time zones for different locations and staff 

MixMax

Free Plan - $0

Includes:

Instant scheduling

Unlimited meeting templates

Tracks 100 emails per month

Email templates

Email polls and surveys

SMB - $24 per month

Includes:

Everything in the Free plan

Unlimited email tracking 

Sidechat

Removal of the ‘MixMax’ signature

Mail merge sequences

Shared email templates

Shared email scheduling

CRM auto-bcc

Growth - $49 per month

Includes:

Everything in the previous plans

Sequence personalization

Round robin calendaring

Custom branding

Reporting and analytics

Growth + Salesforce - $69 per month

Includes:

Everything in the previous plans

Salesforce integration

Enterprise – custom pricing 

Includes:

Everything in the previous plans

Tasks and automation

Admin controls

Delegated sending

Dialer 

Vocus.io

Basic - $5 per month

Includes:

Email tracking

Unlimited email scheduling and reminders

Salesforce and CRM integration

Unlimited templates and snippets

Automated follow-ups (50)

Teams

Starter - $10 per month

Includes: 

Everything in the Basic plan

100 automated follow-ups

Personalized bulk email campaigns

Professional - $10 per month

Includes:

Everything in the previous plans

500 automated follow-ups

Campaigns with follow-ups and attachments

Branded URLs 

Youcanbook.me

Free - $0

Includes:

Basic scheduling features and functionality

One linked Google or Microsoft calendar

One personalized booking page

Paid - $10 per month

Includes:

Everything in the Free plan

All supercharged features

Responsive account management and support

Powerful automation and custom notifications 

Meetingbird

Basic - $9 per month

Includes:

All features 

Hubspot Sales

Starter - $45 per month

Includes: 

Live chat

Documents

Meeting scheduling

1-to-1 email

Conversation routing

Multiple currencies

Repeating tasks and task queues

Stripe integration

Professional - $450 per month

Includes:

Everything in the Starter plan

Sales analytics

Sales automation

Required fields

Forecasting

Teams

Standard CRM interface configuration

Custom reporting

Sequences

Smart send times

One-on-one video messaging 

ABM tools and automation

Product library

eSignature

calculated properties

Enterprise - $1,200 per month

Includes:

Everything in the previous plans

Custom objects

Sandboxes

Hierarchical teams

Advanced permissions

Playbooks

Predictive lead scoring

Conversation intelligence

Wrap Up

There are plenty of alternatives to Calendly that offer their own unique benefits but ultimately achieve the same goal: improving business workflow.

Bonsai is a fully integrated, native invoice and billing software that connects to the ecosystem of business tools available to you. If you want to see if Bonsai is the software for you, start your free trial today

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