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Appointment Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling

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Panel rating · 6 judges · How to read the stars

Category median

Sovereignty: not determined

0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.

by Squarespace, Inc. · acuityscheduling.com

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Acuity Scheduling: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai Acuity Scheduling: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai (dark)

Add ?theme=dark to the image address for dark backgrounds. The badge shows the category and the month of the latest evaluation, and EU-Made where that is the product’s provenance. It never shows a score.

Acuity Scheduling 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) source, captured 28 Oct 2026
Panel verdict
The AI panel rates Acuity Scheduling 2.5/5, the mean of 6 judges. Acuity Scheduling is appointment-booking software from Squarespace whose bench scores peak on the client-facing side. how scores are made
As of
Vendor pages captured 28 Oct 2026; evaluated by the panel 29 Oct 2026. all sources

Acuity Scheduling alternatives, European ones first →

Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.

The Skeptic

Weighted verdict

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.

Same scores as the panel view — this lens weights them the way this judge cares.

Scored by The Skeptic

Panel median The Skeptic This judge’s scores over the panel median. Each label opens its reasoning below.
Scores per criterion, in stars out of 5
Criterion Panel median The Skeptic
Booking page & client experience 3.5 of 5 3.5 of 5
Calendar sync & availability rules 1.5 of 5 1.5 of 5
Team, staff & location scheduling 1.5 of 5 1.5 of 5
Reminders, payments & no-show protection 3 of 5 3 of 5
Integrations, API & data export 3 of 5 3 of 5
European sovereignty 2 of 5 2 of 5
Pricing transparency 3 of 5 3 of 5

Booking page & client experience

How this is scored

What the person booking sees and can do: a booking page with the services or meeting types on offer, their durations and prices, booking questions, an embed or widget for the business's own website, time zones and languages, group or class bookings, and links to reschedule or cancel without calling.

0 — Not a booking product: no page or widget where a customer picks a slot; appointments are entered by staff only.

3 — A booking page or form exists, but the pages say little about how it works: types of appointment, booking questions, embedding and rescheduling are not described.

5 — A booking page with several appointment or service types of their own duration, custom booking questions, and a way to put it on the business's website (link, embed or widget); confirmations carry a link to reschedule or cancel.

8 — In addition: group or class bookings with seat limits, booking pages in several languages with automatic time-zone handling, branding without the vendor's logo, multi-step selection of service, staff member and location, and a booking flow the vendor states is accessible or mobile-optimised.

10 — Booking as a finished storefront: packages, memberships or recurring bookings, intake forms with conditional questions, booking from Google or other directories, a customer account with booking history, and an accessibility statement for the booking pages published.

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The Skeptic

The captured pages describe a branded online booking page with custom appointment types, client intake forms, embedding on an existing website, QR-code booking links, and clients rescheduling or cancelling themselves; packages, memberships and gift certificates are sold on the paid tiers, and client profiles with notes are described. Hiding the vendor logo on the scheduler appears among premium-tier extras rather than as an included feature. We found no public information on group or class bookings with seat limits, booking pages in several languages, or an accessibility statement for the booking flow. 2 3

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Calendar sync & availability rules

How this is scored

How the product knows when someone is free: two-way sync with Google, Microsoft 365 and Outlook, iCloud or CalDAV, conflict checks across several calendars, working hours and exceptions, buffers, minimum notice and booking windows, daily limits, and rooms or equipment that must be free as well.

0 — No calendar: no availability is kept and no sync with any calendar is offered.

3 — An internal calendar or a one-way export (iCal feed), but no stated two-way sync and few availability rules beyond opening hours.

5 — Two-way sync with Google and Microsoft calendars that blocks booked times, working hours with exceptions, and buffers or minimum notice per appointment type.

8 — In addition: several calendars per person checked for conflicts, iCloud or CalDAV, booking windows and daily or weekly limits, holidays and absences, and resources (rooms, equipment, chairs) that must be free alongside the person.

10 — Availability that runs a multi-site business: per-location and per-resource schedules, capacity rules across staff and rooms, sync behaviour and latency documented, and changes in any connected calendar reflected without double bookings, as stated in the documentation.

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The Skeptic

Plans are sold by calendar count — one, six, up to 36 — and multiple time zones for staff and locations sit on the Premium plan, so an internal calendar system is clearly evidenced. We found no public information on two-way sync with Google, Microsoft or Apple calendars, or on availability rules such as buffers, minimum notice, booking windows, daily limits or conflict checks across calendars. 2 3

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Team, staff & location scheduling

How this is scored

How bookings are shared out across more than one person: staff profiles and the services each offers, round-robin and collective (all-hands) meetings, routing forms that send a booking to the right person, several locations, roles and permissions for admins and staff, and single sign-on for larger teams.

0 — A single-user tool with no way to add staff or a team.

3 — Several users or staff calendars can be added, but how bookings are distributed among them and who may change what is not described.

5 — Several staff or team members with their own availability, the customer choosing a person or the system assigning one (round-robin or "any available"), and an admin role that manages the team.

8 — In addition: weighted or priority round-robin, collective bookings that need several people at once, routing by form answers, several locations with their own staff, granular roles and permissions, and reporting per staff member.

10 — Scheduling as a team system: SSO and user provisioning (SAML, SCIM), routing that takes ownership from a CRM, managed templates the organisation pushes to every member, audit logs of changes, and distribution fairness reported.

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The Skeptic

Accounts scale from one to 36 calendars, the Premium plan covers multiple time zones for staff and locations, and an enterprise tier advertises unlimited calendars with a centralized dashboard. We found no public information on how bookings are distributed among staff — round-robin, any-available assignment, or routing by form answers — or on roles, permissions, single sign-on or per-staff reporting. A team buyer cannot tell from these pages who gets the booking or who may change it. 2 3

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Reminders, payments & no-show protection

How this is scored

How the product keeps a booked slot from turning into an empty one: confirmations and reminders by email and SMS, payment or deposit at booking, cancellation and late-cancellation policies, fees for no-shows, waiting lists that refill cancelled slots, and follow-ups after the appointment.

0 — No notifications to the person booking: no confirmation, no reminder.

3 — Email confirmations are sent, but reminders, payments and cancellation rules are not described.

5 — Automatic email reminders with configurable timing, SMS reminders (included or as a paid add-on), and payment at booking through at least one named provider such as Stripe or PayPal.

8 — In addition: deposits or partial prepayment, a cancellation deadline the system enforces, no-show or late-cancellation fees, a waiting list that fills freed slots, and follow-up or review messages after the appointment.

10 — No-show protection as a measured process: no-show rates reported, card-on-file or pre-authorisation charged by policy, reminder channels per customer (email, SMS, messenger), refunds and vouchers handled in the product, and the cancellation and payment terms shown to the customer configurable per service.

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The Skeptic

Automated email confirmations and reminders are on every plan, text reminders from Standard upward, payments at booking via Stripe, Square, PayPal and Venmo, a waitlist fills last-minute cancellations, clients must accept cancellation policies at booking, and gift certificates and payment plans are sold. We found no public information on deposits, system-enforced cancellation deadlines, no-show or late-cancellation fees, or follow-up and review messages after the appointment. 2 3

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Integrations, API & data export

How this is scored

What the product connects to and how the data gets out again: video-meeting links (Zoom, Teams, Google Meet), CRM and marketing tools, automation platforms (Zapier, Make), a documented API and webhooks, website and app-store integrations, and an export of bookings and customer records.

0 — No integrations and no export; bookings stay in the product.

3 — A few named integrations or an export of bookings, but no API or webhooks described.

5 — Video-meeting links created automatically for at least one named tool, a connection to an automation platform or a few named CRM or marketing tools, and an export of bookings or customers.

8 — In addition: a documented public API and webhooks, native CRM integrations named (HubSpot, Salesforce or similar), an integrations directory, and a full export of bookings, customers and booking-form answers.

10 — Built to be connected and left: an API covering every object with its documentation and rate limits published, embeddable components or an SDK, a self-hosting or open-source option or a stated migration path, and the complete account data exportable in a documented format.

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The Skeptic

API documentation is linked, a custom API for developers and an extensions directory are published, and Google Meet, Zoom and GoToMeeting integrations are named. We found no public information on webhooks, on named CRM or automation-platform connections, or on any export of bookings, customer records and intake-form answers — the part a buyer needs before committing their client list to the product. 3 4 6

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European sovereignty

How this is scored

Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where booking and customer data is hosted, and who the subprocessors are: hosting, the SMS gateway, email delivery, payment providers, video tools and analytics. Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; booking data names who sees a doctor, a lawyer or a therapist and when, so the whole chain counts, not only the database.

0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, no data processing agreement offered, and neither hosting location nor subprocessors stated.

3 — A privacy policy and a data processing agreement exist, but the vendor and hosting are outside the EU (or hosting is unstated) and subprocessors are not listed.

5 — A data processing agreement and a subprocessor list are published, and either EU hosting or an EU contracting entity is stated, while parts of the chain (SMS, email, analytics, support) run through non-EU providers.

8 — EU contracting entity and EU hosting on named infrastructure, subprocessors listed with their locations, a data processing agreement published, and security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) stated.

10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, hosting and every subprocessor including SMS and email, data export and deletion documented, and certifications published with their scope rather than implied.

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The Skeptic

Non-US customers contract with Squarespace Ireland Limited — a private company limited by shares under Irish law, Dublin address and Irish VAT number — and a Data Processing Addendum forms part of the terms, but the group's owner is Squarespace, Inc. in New York. The privacy policy leaves the data-hosting information technology vendors unnamed with no jurisdiction, and only billing processors Stripe and PayPal (plus Stripe, Sift, Inscribe and Plaid for financial solutions) are named. We found no public information on where booking data is hosted, on the SMS or email delivery chain, or on ISO 27001 or SOC 2 certifications — the 24/7 Security Operations Center described is monitoring, not an attestation. 4 5 6 7

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Pricing transparency

How this is scored

Whether a buyer can compute the real annual cost from public pages alone: price per user, staff member, location or calendar, what the free plan covers, which features (SMS reminders, payments, round-robin, SSO, branding removal) sit in which tier, the cost of SMS credits and payment fees, setup and minimum term.

0 — No public prices at all; every customer is a sales call.

3 — A starting price or a free plan is published, but what scales the cost (users, staff, bookings, SMS) and what each tier includes is unclear.

5 — Tiers are public with their prices per user, staff member or location and their main features, while at least one commonly needed piece (SMS credits, payment fees, an enterprise tier) is unpriced or "on request".

8 — Every tier priced publicly with its scaling unit, add-ons and SMS credits priced, monthly and annual prices both shown, and VAT treatment and minimum term stated.

10 — Complete price computability: annual cost derivable for a given team size, location count and SMS volume, with every add-on, setup, support and payment fee and the cancellation and data-return terms published.

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The Skeptic

The pricing page is unusually readable: Starter $16/ month, Standard $27/ month and Premium $55/ month, each with calendar counts and main features, pay annually saves 20%, all prices in USD excluding taxes, no set-up, cancellation or support fees, and cancellation at any time. But text reminders carry a check-global-availability note with no credit price, payment processing fees are unpriced, and the enterprise tier with unlimited calendars and additional APIs is described with no figure at all. Three common cost lines — SMS, payment fees, enterprise — stay unpriced, so a full annual total is not derivable from the public pages. 3 6

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European sovereignty — proven facts

0 of 6 dimensions proven

Built only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.

Hosting location Not determined — uncited Report an error
Hosting options Not determined — uncited Report an error
Open source Not determined — uncited Report an error
Data processing agreement Not determined ⚠ unverified — uncited Report an error
Transfer impact assessment Not determined — uncited Report an error

Questions about Acuity Scheduling

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), YouCanBookMe (3.5/5) and SimplyBook.me (3.5/5) 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 (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made. The full list, with European products first: Acuity Scheduling alternatives.

Where this could be wrong

What we left out

A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.

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Sources (7)

The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.

  1. 1 Vendor homepage acuityscheduling.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
  2. 2 Product features acuityscheduling.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
  3. 3 Pricing page acuityscheduling.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
  4. 4 Legal notice www.squarespace.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
  5. 5 Privacy policy www.squarespace.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
  6. 6 Terms of service www.squarespace.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →
  7. 7 Security / trust page www.squarespace.com Checked 28 Oct 2026 Details →