Best scheduling tool (2026 prices)
No star ratings. Every scheduling tool we track, its published entry price, and who the vendor itself says it is for.
Short answer: Calendly is the cheapest entry point in this category at $12/mo, and 2 of the 3 platforms here publish a free plan. The spread between the cheapest and the dearest entry plan we can read is $4 a month, for products that all do the same core job -- so the price is the first thing to sort on, not the last. Every platform here publishes a self-serve price.
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Every scheduling tools we track, by entry price
| Platform | Entry paid plan | Free plan | Best for | Not for | Where the number came from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calendly | $12/mo | Yes | Anyone who books meetings and wants the most widely recognised booking link. | Teams that need routing rules or round-robin on the free or Standard tier - that is Teams and up. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| Cal.com | $15/mo | Yes | Solo operators who want unlimited event types free, and teams that want an open-source option. | Teams that need the widest set of native integrations - Calendly's ecosystem is larger. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| Acuity Scheduling | $16/mo | No | Service businesses that take payments and SMS reminders at booking, and teams of several people. | A single person who only needs a booking link - the free tiers elsewhere cover that. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
Entry paid plan, monthly billing, read from each vendor's own pricing page on 2026-09-27. Where a vendor renders its prices with JavaScript, the figure comes from the named third-party tracker in the last column.
The ranking by entry price
| # | Tool | Entry paid plan | Best for | Where the number came from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calendly | $12 | Anyone who books meetings and wants the most widely recognised booking link. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| 2 | Cal.com | $15 | Solo operators who want unlimited event types free, and teams that want an open-source option. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
| 3 | Acuity Scheduling | $16 | Service businesses that take payments and SMS reminders at booking, and teams of several people. | first-party prices, second-party tier ladder |
A platform that publishes no self-serve price is listed last and cannot win a price ranking.
What you are actually buying
Per seat or per account. A per-seat tool is cheap for one person and expensive for a team of six; a flat-rate tool is the opposite. Count the people who need to send booking links before you compare headline prices, because that multiplication is the whole decision.
Free plans in this category
Calendly publishes a free plan. Cal.com publishes a free plan.
How we picked
Sorted by the published entry paid plan, read from each vendor's own pricing page. No scores.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest scheduling tool?
The cheapest published entry plan in our 2026-09-27 check is on the table above, read from the vendor's own pricing page.
Is a free scheduling tool enough for a team?
For one person taking meetings, often yes. Team routing, round-robin assignment and integrations are what the paid tiers buy.
Do I need a scheduling tool if I already use a calendar?
Only if other people book you. A calendar shows your time; a scheduling tool stops the back-and-forth email that fills it.
How current are these prices?
Read from the vendors' own pages on 2026-09-27 and re-checked weekly.