Tool matchup
Acuity Scheduling vs TidyCal for consultants. Compare two Ops & Finance tools on pricing, setup speed, strengths, and Curalo score.
Appointment scheduling with payments, intake forms and packages. No free plan; Starter is $16/mo billed yearly ($20 monthly), with a 7-day free trial.
Prices checked October 23, 2026acuityscheduling.com pricing page
Lightweight scheduling tool with a one-time lifetime deal. Book meetings, sync calendars, and accept payments — Calendly alternative without recurring costs.
Prices checked October 22, 2026tidycal.com pricing page
Acuity Scheduling leads by 5 points (close call).
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Best fit
Best for: Consultants who sell paid sessions, packages or memberships and want clients to pay and fill in an intake form when they book.
Why pick it: Payments, client forms and email reminders are on the entry plan, and packages and memberships on Standard, so booking, paying and onboarding happen in one step.
Watch for: There is no free plan. If you only need a free booking link, Cal.com's or Calendly's free plan is enough.
Best for: Solo consultants who want Calendly-level scheduling without a monthly subscription.
Why pick it: The $29 lifetime deal is the standout. For a solo consultant doing 10-20 client calls/month, TidyCal handles booking links, calendar sync, timezone detection, and buffer times — everything Calendly does at the Standard tier, paid once.
Watch for: No round-robin routing, no team scheduling, no Salesforce integration. If you need multi-person scheduling or enterprise features, Calendly is the right choice.
Swipe sideways to compare all columns.
Acuity Scheduling | TidyCal | |
|---|---|---|
| Quick facts | ||
| Pricing sanity | From $16/mo | Free, paid from $12/mo |
| Integrations | 5+ | 5+ |
| Score breakdown | ||
| Outcome fit | 22/25 | 18/25 |
| Setup speed | 18/20 | 18/20 |
| Pricing sanity | 11/15 | 15/15 |
| Integrations | 10/15 | 8/15 |
| UX polish | 13/15 | 12/15 |
| Trust & support | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| Summary | ||
| Best for | Consultants who sell paid sessions, packages or memberships and want clients to pay and fill in an intake form when they book. | Solo consultants who want Calendly-level scheduling without a monthly subscription. |
| Key strength | Strong on setup speed | Strong on pricing |
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Limits (vendor's wording) |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $16 per account / month, billed annually$20 per account / month, billed monthly | 1 calendar; payments via Stripe, Square, PayPal and Venmo; email reminders; custom client forms; automatic time zone conversion; 7-day free trial |
| Standard | $27 per account / month, billed annually$34 per account / month, billed monthly | Up to 6 calendars; adds text reminders, appointment waitlist, packages, memberships and gift certificates |
| Premium | $55 per account / month, billed annually$69 per account / month, billed monthly | Up to 36 calendars; adds AI Booking Assistant, signed BAA for HIPAA, hide the Acuity logo, multiple time zones for staff and locations, custom API and CSS |
Prices checked October 23, 2026acuityscheduling.com pricing page
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free | Free |
| Pro | $12 per account / month (billing period not stated) |
Prices checked October 22, 2026tidycal.com pricing page
Cost calculator
$16 per month · $192 per year
Cheapest plan that fits: Starter, $16 per seat or user
$12 per month · $144 per year
Cheapest plan that fits: Pro, $12 per seat or user
The vendor does not say whether this price is billed monthly or annually.
Uses list prices from each vendor's pricing page, before tax and discounts. Free plans and custom-quote plans are left out.
Method
Common questions
Acuity Scheduling scores 82/100 and TidyCal scores 77/100 on Curalo's consultant rubric. The biggest gap is Trust & support: Acuity Scheduling 8/10 vs 6/10.
Acuity Scheduling's cheapest paid plan is Starter at $16 per account / month, billed annually. TidyCal's cheapest paid plan is Pro at $12 per account / month (billing period not stated).
Acuity Scheduling lists no free plan. TidyCal has a free plan.
Acuity Scheduling: $16 a month on Starter. TidyCal: $12 a month on Pro. Annual list prices where available, before tax.
There is no free plan. If you only need a free booking link, Cal.com's or Calendly's free plan is enough.
No round-robin routing, no team scheduling, no Salesforce integration. If you need multi-person scheduling or enterprise features, Calendly is the right choice.
Guides
Your tool needs change at every growth stage. A practical guide to the technology, processes, and decisions that take you from solo consultant to small firm — without losing what made you great.
The Consultant's Pricing Playbook: From Hourly to Value-BasedA framework to evaluate five pricing models, calculate what to charge, and build tiered packages — with formulas, scripts, and sourced benchmarks for solo consultants.
Stop Copy-Pasting Between Five Tabs: How to Connect Your Consulting StackThe practical guide to wiring your consulting tools together. Which integrations actually matter, what to automate first, and the mistakes that silently break your workflow.
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