Acuity Scheduling Pricing: Starter, Standard and Premium Plans, and the Cost per Calendar

Acuity Scheduling is an online booking page and appointment calendar for businesses that sell their time: coaches, therapists, tutors, consultants, trainers and small studios. It is part of Squarespace, whose privacy policy covers it, but it works on its own with any website.

Its pricing is simpler than most, with one twist. Acuity does not charge per user. You pick one of three plans, and the plan sets how many calendars you get, one for each staff member or location. Prices below are the US dollar list prices on Acuity's pricing page, which states "All prices are in USD" and excludes taxes.

Acuity Scheduling pricing at a glance

Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial, no credit card needed. There is no free plan. Acuity lists no setup fees, cancellation fees or support fees, and you can cancel at any time.

Monthly vs annual billing

Paying for a year up front saves 20%. You start on the trial, and Acuity says you switch to annual billing in your account settings. Over a year the difference is:

Your billing cycle starts on the day you sign up; if you start on the 15th, every invoice falls on the 15th.

Starter: $16 a month for one calendar

Starter is for one person taking bookings. It already includes the features that make Acuity worth paying for:

• Payments at booking through Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo, including deposits.
• Email confirmations, reminders and follow-ups.
• Custom intake forms, so a new client can fill in their details and agree to your terms before the session.
• Unlimited services and appointments, and links to Google Meet, Zoom and GoToMeeting for online sessions.
• Automatic time zone conversion, so a client in another state sees times in their own zone.
• Your logo, colors and wording on the scheduling page.

What Starter lacks is text reminders, packages and the waitlist. If no-shows are your problem, the text reminders on Standard may be worth the extra $11 a month on yearly billing.

Standard: $27 a month for up to 6 calendars

Standard is the plan most small teams need. It raises the limit to 6 calendars and adds:

• Text message reminders. Acuity notes that availability varies by country, so check yours before you count on them.
• An appointment waitlist, which notifies clients on the list when a slot opens.
• Packages and memberships, including payment plans and recurring billing, for selling five sessions at a time or a monthly membership.
• Gift certificates your clients can buy and send.

A calendar does not have to be a person. Acuity suggests one per employee or per location, so a coach with two offices can use two calendars, or a studio can give a room its own calendar.

Premium: $55 a month for up to 36 calendars

Premium is for larger teams and for health practices. It raises the limit to 36 calendars and adds:

• A signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for HIPAA compliance. If you are a therapist, dietitian or other covered provider storing patient information, this is the plan you need.
• Removal of the "Powered by Acuity Scheduling" footer from your scheduling page.
• Different time zones for each staff member or location.
• Custom API and CSS access, to restyle the scheduler or connect your own software.
• The AI Booking Assistant, a chat bot that helps clients book.

Premium costs twice as much as Standard. If you need fewer than 7 calendars and none of the above, stay on Standard.

What Acuity costs per calendar

Because the price is per plan, the cost per person falls as you fill your calendars:

The last column divides the monthly price by the plan's calendar limit, so it applies only once every calendar is in use. A team of three on Standard pays $9 a calendar.

Three example businesses

Plan prices are easier to judge against a real practice. All three examples use yearly billing and leave out taxes and payment fees.

A solo career coach. One calendar, clients pay $200 a session at booking and fill in a short intake form first. Starter covers all of that for $16 a month, $192 a year. The coach would move to Standard ($27) only to send text reminders or sell a five-session package.

A tutoring center with four tutors. Four calendars, parents buy packages of ten lessons, and a waitlist fills cancelled slots. That needs Standard: $27 a month, $324 a year, or about $6.75 per tutor. Two more tutors can join before the plan changes.

A therapy group with eight clinicians. Eight calendars and a BAA for HIPAA, so Premium is the only fit: $55 a month, $660 a year, or about $6.88 per clinician. The group can grow to 36 calendars at the same price.

When you outgrow a plan

The calendar limits create two price jumps. A second staff member moves you from Starter to Standard, from $16 to $27 a month on yearly billing. A seventh moves you from Standard to Premium, from $27 to $55, more than double, even if you need none of Premium's other features.

If you are at six people and planning to hire, compare that jump with your options first:

• Do all seven need their own calendar? A calendar is for each person or location that clients book. Staff who never take appointments do not need one.
• Would a per-user tool cost less? Seven people on Setmore Pro cost $35 a month billed yearly and on Zoho Bookings Premium $63, against $55 for Acuity Premium. Above seven, Acuity's flat price pulls further ahead.
• Does Premium pay for itself anyway? If you would use the HIPAA BAA, logo removal or separate time zones, the jump buys more than calendars.

Above 36 calendars, Acuity's Enterprise offering adds unlimited calendars, VIP account management and a central dashboard for several scheduling accounts. Acuity does not publish its price; you contact its Enterprise team.

Taxes, cancellation and the trial

Listed prices exclude applicable taxes, which are added to your invoice. The trial lasts 7 days with no credit card, and Acuity says you are not charged when it ends until you choose a plan. You can cancel at any time and Acuity stops charging you; its pricing page does not mention refunds for the unused part of a yearly plan, so ask before paying a year up front if that matters to you.

Payment processing fees

Acuity does not process payments itself. You connect your own Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo account, and that processor takes its usual fee from each payment. Acuity's pricing page does not mention a fee of its own on top. At Stripe's standard US rate of 2.9% + 30¢ per domestic card payment, a $150 session costs you $4.65 in fees.

Over a month, fees can exceed the plan. A coach taking 40 payments of $150 pays about $186 to Stripe, against $27 for Standard. Shop on processing rates as well as plan price, and ask clients to pay for a package of sessions once rather than session by session: fewer payments means fewer 30¢ charges.

How Acuity compares on price

Most scheduling tools charge per user, which is where Acuity's flat plans come out ahead for a team. Monthly prices on yearly billing:

The rows multiply each tool's per-user price ($10 for Calendly Standard, $5 for Setmore Pro, $9 for Zoho Bookings Premium, all billed yearly) by the team size.

For one person, Acuity is the most expensive option here. For six, only Setmore costs about the same, and Acuity's Standard plan includes intake forms, packages, memberships and gift certificates; if you would use them, check whether a cheaper tool covers them before you compare prices alone. Calendly is built for booking calls rather than paid appointments, but takes payments through Stripe or PayPal from Standard. Our appointment scheduling software roundup compares all seven tools, including Google Calendar, Microsoft Bookings and Square Appointments, on free plans, payments and reminders.

Acuity vs Calendly for a solo practice

The comparison most solo professionals make is Acuity Starter against Calendly. Both take payments at booking, but they get there differently.

Calendly Standard is $6 a month cheaper on yearly billing, and enough if you book calls and take a payment. Acuity's Starter plan is closer to a small booking system: custom intake forms, deposits through four processors and unlimited services. Acuity also gets cheaper than Calendly per person from the third team member, when Standard's flat $27 for up to 6 calendars beats three Calendly seats at $30.

How to keep your Acuity bill down

1. Use the trial for setup. Build your services, forms and payment connection in the 7 free days, then choose a plan.
2. Count calendars, not staff. Only the people or rooms clients book need a calendar.
3. Switch to yearly billing once you are sure. It saves 20%, from $48 a year on Starter to $168 on Premium.
4. Sell packages instead of single sessions on Standard or Premium: one payment of $750 for five sessions costs one 30¢ fixed fee at Stripe's rate instead of five.
5. Do not buy Premium for a 7th calendar alone before checking whether a per-user tool costs less for your team size.

The Acuity Scheduling app

Every plan includes Acuity's mobile admin app, under "Acuity Scheduling" in the App Store and Google Play, where you view and manage appointments away from your desk. You can use it during the trial too. Clients do not need an app: they book on your scheduling page, which you link from your website, emails and social profiles. If your site is on Squarespace, our Wix vs Squarespace guide compares the two builders' plans.

Is Acuity worth it?

Choose Acuity if clients pay before they arrive, you sell packages or memberships, or you need intake forms before a first session. Standard is the plan to compare with other tools: $27 a month billed yearly for up to six people, with text reminders.

Look elsewhere if you only need people to book a call with you (Calendly's free plan or $10 Standard is cheaper for one person), you run a salon with retail products and commissions (see salon software), or you mostly take card payments in person, where Square Appointments has payments built in.

Try any plan for 7 days, connect your payment processor during the trial, and book a test appointment yourself before you switch to annual billing.