# Acuity Scheduling — Appointment Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling by Squarespace, Inc. holds a panel rating of 2.5/5 from 6 AI judges (category median 3/5), as of 2026-10-29. Provenance: Rest of world; sovereignty: not determined.

- Vendor: Squarespace, Inc. (https://acuityscheduling.com)
- Category: [Appointment Scheduling](https://whats-best.ai/software/appointment-scheduling.md)
- Provenance (editorial classification): Rest of world
- Canonical page: https://whats-best.ai/software/appointment-scheduling/acuity-scheduling
- Alternatives: https://whats-best.ai/software/appointment-scheduling/acuity-scheduling/alternatives ([markdown](https://whats-best.ai/software/appointment-scheduling/acuity-scheduling/alternatives.md))
- Data as of: 2026-11-04 · evaluated 2026-10-29 · oldest source captured 2026-10-28

**AI-generated.** Every score, rationale and verdict here is written by a panel of AI judges from public evidence — an analysis, not a hands-on test. Every fact quotes the vendor page it was read from. No score can be bought. How scores are made: https://whats-best.ai/methodology

## At a glance

- Vendor: Squarespace, Inc.
- Headquarters: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 28 Oct 2026
- Data hosting: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 28 Oct 2026
- Free plan: Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 28 Oct 2026
- Starting price: “Starter $16/ month” (vendor’s words) [S3]

## The panel's verdict

Acuity Scheduling is appointment-booking software from Squarespace whose bench scores peak on the client-facing side. Booking experience scores run 6-7 for a branded 24/7 booking page with custom appointment types, intake forms, embedding on your website and client self-rescheduling; reminders and no-shows hold at 6 for automated email confirmations on every plan, text reminders from the Standard plan up, payment at booking and a waitlist; pricing transparency holds at 6, with three published tiers at $16/ month, $27/ month and $55/ month covering one, six or thirty-six calendars and no set-up, cancellation or support fees. The calendar layer draws the lowest scores: calendar and availability sits at 2-3 because we found no public information on sync with Google or Microsoft calendars or on buffers, minimum notice and booking windows; team scheduling sits at 3-4 with staff booking distribution and roles undocumented. Judges split 4-6 on integrations and data — the 4 cites no public information on exporting bookings and client records. Sovereignty sits at 4: non-US customers contract with Squarespace Ireland Limited in Dublin, but hosting vendors stay unnamed.

**Speaks for it:**
- A branded 24/7 booking page with custom appointment types, intake forms, embedding into an existing website, QR-code booking links and client self-rescheduling.
- Automated email confirmations and reminders on every plan, text reminders from the Standard plan up, payment at booking via Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo, and a waitlist for last-minute cancellations.
- Published pricing of Starter at $16/ month, Standard at $27/ month and Premium at $55/ month for one, six or thirty-six calendars, with a stated 20% annual saving, no set-up, cancellation or support fees, and a free trial with no credit card required.
- Packages, memberships, gift certificates and client profiles with notes extend the booking page toward a storefront.
- Google Meet, Zoom and GoToMeeting integrations, published API documentation and an extensions directory for third-party services.

**Held against it:**
- Calendar and availability scored 2-3 — we found no public information on sync with Google or Microsoft calendars or on buffers, minimum notice, booking windows or daily limits.
- Team scheduling scored 3-4 — we found no public information on how bookings are distributed among staff, or on admin roles, permissions and single sign-on.
- We found no public information on exporting bookings or client records, or on CRM connections or webhooks; one judge scored integrations and data 4 on this basis.
- Text-message credits, payment-processing fees and the enterprise tier carry no prices, so a full annual total is not computable from the public pages.
- Only payment-side processors are named (Stripe, PayPal, and Stripe, Sift, Inscribe and Plaid for financial solutions) while the data-hosting 'information technology vendors' remain unnamed with no jurisdiction; we found no public information on hosting location or ISO 27001 / SOC 2 certification.

**Best for:**
- You run a solo or small service business and want clients booking 24/7 on a branded page embedded in your website, with confirmations and reminders going out automatically.
- You sell appointment packages, memberships or gift certificates, take payment at booking, and want a waitlist filling last-minute cancellations.
- You want the price on the page before committing: published tiers scaled by calendar count, no set-up, cancellation or support fees, and a free trial with no credit card required.

**Avoid if:**
- You need two-way sync with Google or Microsoft calendars, or availability rules such as buffers, minimum notice or booking windows — calendar and availability scored 2-3, the lowest range of the seven criteria.
- Your team relies on round-robin distribution, client choice of staff member, or defined admin roles and permissions — team scheduling scored 3-4, and we found no public information on any of these.
- Bookings must reach your CRM automatically, or client records must be exportable on exit — integrations and data scored 4-6, and we found no public information on CRM connections, webhooks or data export.
- You must establish hosting location, the SMS and email delivery chain, or ISO 27001 / SOC 2 certification before signing — sovereignty scored 4, and we found no public information on these.

## Scores by judge and criterion

Scores out of 5, each judge scoring independently against the published rubric (v1). "n/r" = not rated: the vendor publishes no price, or the judge found no public information on that criterion.

| Criterion | The Practice Owner | The Salon Owner | The Sales Team Lead | The Independent Consultant | The Data Protection Officer | The Skeptic |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Booking page & client experience | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 | 3.5/5 | 3/5 | 3.5/5 |
| Calendar sync & availability rules | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Team, staff & location scheduling | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 2/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 | 1.5/5 |
| Reminders, payments & no-show protection | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Integrations, API & data export | 2.5/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 2.5/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 |
| European sovereignty | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| Pricing transparency | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| **Weighted verdict** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2.5/5** | **2/5** | **2.5/5** |

### The judges

- **The Practice Owner** (v1.0): Runs a physiotherapy practice with six therapists, two treatment rooms that must not be double-booked, and a front desk that spends its mornings on the phone. Wants patients to book and reschedule online, SMS reminders that cut the no-shows, rooms and therapists checked together, and patient data that stays in Europe under a data processing agreement the practice can show.
- **The Salon Owner** (v1.0): Owns two hair and beauty salons with eleven stylists and a Saturday that is booked out by Wednesday. Wants every service with its own duration and price on one booking page, clients who pick their stylist, a deposit for colour appointments, a fee when someone does not show, and a monthly bill that does not grow with every chair.
- **The Sales Team Lead** (v1.0): Leads fourteen account executives in three time zones and gets every demo request from the website. Wants inbound demos routed by company size and region, round-robin that is fair and can be checked, two-way sync with Outlook and Google so nobody is double-booked, a video link in every invite, and the booking written into the CRM before the call starts.
- **The Independent Consultant** (v1.0): Sells coaching sessions and workshop days on her own and books clients from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Wants a booking page that looks like her own website, payment taken when the session is booked, a buffer after every call, her private calendar respected, reminders she never has to send herself, and a price that makes sense for one person.
- **The Data Protection Officer** (v1.0): Signs off booking tools for a group of medical and legal practices, where an appointment alone reveals who is a patient or a client. Wants the contracting entity and hosting named, every subprocessor listed down to the SMS gateway and the email service, calendar access limited to what booking needs, and bookings and customer records that can be exported and deleted on request.
- **The Skeptic** (v1.0): Has seen "free forever" booking pages that put the vendor's logo in front of every client, SMS reminders that turn out to be credits sold separately, round-robin and payments locked in the top tier, and calendar sync that reads far more than free and busy. Reads the price list for what scales per seat, the subprocessor list for where the reminders are sent from, and asks how the bookings get out again.

## European sovereignty — proven facts

Built only from facts on the vendor's own pages; a dimension we could not prove is left open, never scored as zero. Headline: not determined.

| Dimension | Finding | Points | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal entity | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting location | Not determined | — | — |
| Hosting options | Not determined | — | — |
| Open source | Not determined | — | — |
| Data processing agreement | Not determined | — | — |
| Transfer impact assessment | Not determined | — | — |

## Key facts

Each fact is the vendor's own statement, cited to the source page it was read from ([S*n*] → Sources).

**Compliance**
- Climate report: yes [S4]
- Cookie policy: yes [S5]
- DPA available: Data Processing Addendum · yes [S5]
- DPA part of agreement: yes [S6]
- Dsa illegal content channel: 16 · yes [S4]
- Eea marketing consent: EEA · UK · Switzerland [S5]
- GDPR: yes [S3]
- GDPR preparedness: prepared to meet demands of global data privacy laws like GDPR [S7]
- Gender pay gap reports: 2025 · 2024 [S4]
- HIPAA: yes [S3]
- HIPAA: yes [S6]
- Https encryption: yes [S6]
- SOC 24 7 monitoring: 24/7 · yes [S7]
- Ssl free automatic: free · yes · yes [S7]
- Transparency report: yes [S4]
- User responsibility GDPR: yes [S6]

**Data**
- Deidentified commitment: yes [S5]
- Location collection: yes [S5]
- Sms optin: yes [S5]
- Third party services data: no [S6]

**Hosting**
- Data storage: Squarespace [S3]

**Integrations**
- Extensions: yes [S4]
- Reseller signup: yes [S5]
- Third party revenue share: yes [S6]

**Legal**
- Address: Dublin 8 · Squarespace House, Ship Street Great · Ireland · D08 N12C [S4]
- Company form: private company limited by shares · Ireland · 527641 [S4]
- Content license: non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable [S6]
- Contracting entities: Squarespace, Inc. · Squarespace Ireland Limited [S6]
- Controller model: Users and Customers · End User info processed for own purposes (e.g. security) [S5]
- Copyright termination: yes [S6]
- Customer controlled: data processor / service provider [S5]
- Dispute email: legal@squarespace.com [S6]
- Dispute resolution: yes · yes · yes [S6]
- Effective date: 2026-07-15 [S5]
- Effective date: 2025-03-27 [S6]
- Effective entity by region: yes [S5]
- Feedback license: yes [S6]
- Governing scope: Terms of Service · Product Specific Terms · Acceptable Use Policy · Data Processing Addendum [S6]
- Icann accredited registrar: yes [S7]
- Independent controllers: yes [S6]
- Law enforcement policy: yes [S5]
- Liability cap: 20 · amounts paid in preceding 12 months [S6]
- Owner: Squarespace [S1]
- Reseller terms: yes [S6]
- VAT number: IE 3041081MH [S4]

**Pricing**
- Annual billing: yes · yes [S3]
- Annual discount: 20 [S3]
- Auto renewal: yes [S6]
- Auto renewal cancellable: yes [S6]
- Cancellation: yes [S3]
- Chargeback termination: yes [S6]
- Currency: USD · no [S3]
- Display location: purchase (checkout) page · yes [S4]
- Enterprise: unlimited calendars · VIP account management · unlimited Scheduling Instances · additional APIs · centralized dashboard · yes [S3]
- Fee changes: no · yes [S6]
- Free plan: no [S3]
- Free trial: yes [S6]
- Hidden fees: no · no · no [S3]
- Premium extras: yes · yes · yes · yes · yes [S3]
- Premium features: 36 [S3]
- Premium price: Premium · 55 [S3]
- Refunds: sole discretion or legally required [S6]
- Standard extras: yes · yes · yes · yes [S3]
- Standard features: 6 [S3]
- Standard price: Standard · 27 [S3]
- Starter features: Stripe · Square · PayPal · Venmo · 1 · yes [S3]
- Starter price: Starter · 16 [S3]
- Taxes exclusive: no [S6]

**Product**
- Automated notifications: Standard · yes · yes [S2]
- Beta features: yes [S6]
- Biometric no access: no [S5]
- Booking assistant AI: Premium · AI booking chatbot [S2]
- Cancellation: Cancellation or auto-renewal disable available at any time [S4]
- Cancellation policies: yes [S2]
- Card details limitation: last four digits · country of issuance · expiration date [S5]
- Client profiles: yes [S2]
- Client self reschedule: yes [S2]
- Cookie privacy panel: cookie banner · imprint page · yes [S7]
- Core capabilities: Book appointments, take payments, automate busywork [S1]
- Custom API: yes · yes [S3]
- Custom appointment types: custom appointment types [S2]
- Custom code: yes [S6]
- Customization: yes · yes · yes [S3]
- Dos protection uptime: fully-managed cloud · yes · 99.9 [S7]
- Embed existing site: yes [S2]
- Experts third party: no [S6]
- Extensions directory: yes [S6]
- Feature opt out: yes [S6]
- Included domains: www.squarespace.com · www.acuityscheduling.com · www.unfold.com · www.biosites.com [S6]
- Intake forms: yes [S2]
- Integrations meetings: Google Meet · Zoom · GoToMeeting [S3]
- Login activity panel: yes [S7]
- Minimum age: 16 [S6]
- Mobile app: yes · yes [S3]
- Online booking 24 7: yes [S2]
- Password protected pages: yes [S7]
- Product list: Website Templates · Websites · Domains · AI Website Builder · Design Intelligence · Online Stores [S4]
- Qr code booking: custom link · scannable QR code [S2]
- Region availability: yes [S6]
- Registrar accreditation: yes [S4]
- Services: Invoicing · Scheduling · Content & Memberships · Donations · Payments · Marketing Tools · Professional Email [S4]
- Sibling products: Acuity Scheduling · Bio Sites · Unfold · Email Campaigns [S4]
- Subscription selling: yes · yes [S3]
- Third party signup: Apple · Facebook · Google [S5]
- Time zones multi: Premium · yes [S2]
- Two factor authentication: yes [S7]
- Vulnerability disclosure: yes [S7]
- Waitlist: Standard · yes [S2]
- Website builders: Squarespace · other preferred website builders [S2]

**Subprocessors**
- Financial solutions: Stripe · Sift · Inscribe · Plaid [S5]
- Payment processors: Stripe · PayPal [S6]
- Payments: Stripe · PayPal [S5]

**Support**
- API docs: yes [S3]
- Dedicated 24 7: help center · contact support · webinars · 24/7 [S7]
- Docs: Help Center · Forum · Webinars · Hire an Expert [S4]
- System requirements: yes [S4]

## Questions

### Is Acuity Scheduling European?

No. whats-best.ai classifies Acuity Scheduling as Rest of world.

### Where does Acuity Scheduling store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 28 Oct 2026.

### Does Acuity Scheduling have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 28 Oct 2026.

### What are the best alternatives to Acuity Scheduling?

As of 3 Nov 2026, the panel rates [zeeg (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/appointment-scheduling/zeeg), [YouCanBookMe (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/appointment-scheduling/youcanbookme) and [SimplyBook.me (3.5/5)](https://whats-best.ai/software/appointment-scheduling/simplybook-me) highest among the other 18 Appointment Scheduling products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is [zeeg](https://whats-best.ai/software/appointment-scheduling/zeeg) (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: [how scores are made](https://whats-best.ai/methodology#ordering). The full list, with European products first: [Acuity Scheduling alternatives](https://whats-best.ai/software/appointment-scheduling/acuity-scheduling/alternatives).

## What this page leaves out

- 37 product facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 6 integrations facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 5 compliance facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 4 pricing facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 legal facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 support facts could not be confirmed on the vendor’s page as captured and were left out of this page and of the panel’s material.
- 2 sovereignty dimensions could not be confirmed on the vendor’s own pages and are shown as unknown.
- 6 of the readings below were written against an earlier fact sheet — a fact has been corrected, added or pulled since. Until the panel next runs on this product you are reading the older judgement.

## Sources

- [S1] Vendor homepage: https://acuityscheduling.com/ (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S2] Product features: https://acuityscheduling.com/features (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S3] Pricing page: https://acuityscheduling.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S4] Legal notice: https://www.squarespace.com/imprint (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S5] Privacy policy: https://www.squarespace.com/privacy (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S6] Terms of service: https://www.squarespace.com/terms-of-service (checked 2026-10-28)
- [S7] Security / trust page: https://www.squarespace.com/security (checked 2026-10-28)

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Cite as: whats-best.ai, "Acuity Scheduling — Appointment Scheduling", AI panel analysis, as of 2026-11-04. https://whats-best.ai/software/appointment-scheduling/acuity-scheduling

Corrections: https://whats-best.ai/correct/1097?target=page