Quiz: What is the best Calendly alternative for your business?
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.
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!
