Cal.com vs Calendly

by Gralio Feb 03, 2025

Cal.com and Calendly are both online scheduling tools aimed at simplifying meeting bookings. Cal.com stands out for its affordability and open-source flexibility, while Calendly excels in user experience and broader integrations. The best choice depends on your budget and integration needs.

At Gralio.ai we help to simplify your decision-making process by offering detailed, side-by-side software comparisons like this one, to help you confidently choose the tool that aligns with your business goals.

This comparison was created by analysing 4629 reviews and 60 websites, saving 1 day, 2 hours, 13 minutes of reading.

Cal.com

Website LinkedIn Twitter

Calendly

Website LinkedIn Twitter

About

Cal.com is an online appointment scheduling software that helps you avoid back-and-forth emails when scheduling meetings. It integrates with your existing calendars to prevent double-booking and allows you to customize your availability for meetings. You can share a personalized Cal.com link with others so they can easily book time with you based on your real-time availability. It is free for individuals and offers features for teams and businesses.

Calendly is an online scheduling tool that eliminates back-and-forth emails when setting up meetings. You can share your availability with a link, customize meeting types, and set up automated reminders. Calendly integrates with popular calendars, video conferencing apps, and other business tools to streamline scheduling for individuals and teams. It's designed to save time, improve meeting attendance, and make scheduling smoother.

Summary

Main difference

Cal.com is a more affordable option with a robust free plan, making it suitable for budget-conscious individuals and smaller teams. Calendly offers a wider range of integrations and more polished user experience, making it a better choice for larger teams and businesses prioritizing seamless workflows.

Relative strengths of Cal.com (compared to Calendly)

More affordable pricing, especially for smaller teams, with a feature-rich free plan.
Open-source nature allows for greater flexibility and customization.
Strong customer support responsiveness.

Relative weaknesses of Cal.com (compared to Calendly)

Less polished user interface and experience compared to Calendly.
Fewer integrations with third-party apps and services.
Occasional reports of double-booking issues.

What companies are using Cal.com and Calendly?

No data

Who is using Cal.com and Calendly?

Kate Donnellan

Founding Marketer at Plain

Adam Robinson

CEO @ Retention.com & RB2B

Olesia Krilyshyn

Sales Acceleration Specialist at Reply.io

Who should use Cal.com VS. Calendly

Cal.com is a user-friendly scheduling tool ideal for individuals and small businesses. It simplifies appointment booking, integrates with popular calendars, and offers a generous free plan. Users praise its ease of use and helpful customer support. However, some have reported double-booking issues and limited notification customization.

Calendly is a user-friendly scheduling tool ideal for busy professionals and teams. It streamlines the process by eliminating back-and-forth emails, integrating with popular calendars, and offering automated reminders. Users appreciate its ease of use and seamless integrations, but some have noted occasional syncing issues and limitations in the free version.

Best for solopreneurs and small businesses.
Suitable for various industries.

Best for small, medium, and large businesses.
Suitable for most industries, including Healthcare, Finance, E-commerce, and more.

Cal.com and Calendly features

Supported

Partially supported

Not supported

Type in the name of the feature or in your own words tell us what you need

Recurring tasks automation

Not supported

Cal.com does not support automating recurring tasks such as content updates.

Partially supported

Calendly does not support recurring task automation natively, but integrations like Zapier can automate some recurring events.
Booking Confirmation

Supported

Cal.com supports booking confirmations, requiring explicit approval before adding to the schedule.

Not supported

Calendly does not support manual booking confirmations.
Automatic Reply and Forwarding

Not supported

Cal.com does not directly support automatic replies or forwarding booking requests.

Not supported

Calendly does not directly support automatic replies or forwarding booking requests to colleagues.
Calendar scheduling

Supported

Cal.com allows users to schedule and manage meetings through its calendar interface, as evidenced by various features like calendar integrations, availability settings, customizable booking links, and notifications.

Supported

Calendly offers robust calendar scheduling and meeting management features, including customizable scheduling, calendar integrations, and automated scheduling processes.
Meeting scheduling

Supported

Cal.com enables users to schedule meetings with team members using features like Collective Events and Round-Robin Scheduling.

Supported

Calendly enables scheduling meetings that involve multiple team members through features like team creation, shared availability, and event types designed for team collaboration. Thus it satisfies the requirement.
Appointment management

Supported

Cal.com allows users to manage appointments, reschedule them and cancel them.

Supported

Calendly supports appointment management, including reschedules and cancellations.

Qualities

Value and Pricing Transparency

+0.85

Strongly positive sentiment

-0.08

Neutral sentiment
Customer Service

+0.73

Strongly positive sentiment

+0.38

Rather positive sentiment
Ease of Use

+0.71

Strongly positive sentiment

+0.93

Strongly positive sentiment
Reliability and Performance

+0.29

Neutral sentiment

+0.7

Strongly positive sentiment
Ease of Implementation

+0.6

Rather positive sentiment

+0.53

Rather positive sentiment
Scalability

No data

-0.18

Neutral sentiment

Cal.com and Calendly Pricing

Cal.com offers a free plan for individuals and paid plans for teams and organizations. All plans include unlimited calendar connections, event types, and multiple duration options. The Teams and Organization plans offer additional features such as round robin scheduling, collective events, and data management tools. The Enterprise plan provides advanced features and support for large organizations.

Plans

User sentiment

Strongly positive

See full Pricing page

Calendly offers a free plan and three paid tiers: Standard, Teams, and Enterprise. The Standard and Teams plans are billed per seat per month, while the Enterprise plan has custom pricing starting at $15,000 per year. Calendly also offers a 14-day free trial for its paid plans.

Plans

User sentiment

Neutral

-0.08

See full Pricing page

Cal.com and Calendly review insights

4594 reviews analysed from and

Users love

User-friendly interface and easy setup process.
Seamless integration with popular calendar platforms like Google Calendar.
Highly responsive and helpful customer support.
Generous free plan with more features compared to competitors.
Open-source nature allows for flexibility and custom integrations.

Easy to set up and use.
Seamless integration with Google Calendar.
Automated email reminders and confirmations are helpful.
Customizable meeting types and scheduling options.

Users dislike

Double booking issues have been reported by some users.
Some users find the interface confusing and difficult to navigate.
Limited customization options for email notifications and branding.
Calendar invites lack customization and appear basic, especially on Microsoft 365.

Appointments sometimes don’t show up on the calendar, and confirmation emails are not reliably sent.
Inability to print meeting notes to PDF.
Limited functionality in the free version.
Per user pricing can be expensive, especially when adding team members.

Cal.com and Calendly Ratings

G2

4.6/5

(31)
TrustPilot

4.6/5

(35)

G2

4.7/5

(2184)
Capterra

4.7/5

(2409)

Company health

Employee growth

No change in the last year

No data

Web traffic

No data

Financing

No data

How do Cal.com's open-source features compare to Calendly's integrations?

Cal.com's open-source nature allows for extensive customization and the creation of bespoke integrations, giving it greater flexibility compared to Calendly's pre-built integrations. While Calendly offers a wider range of ready-to-use integrations with popular platforms, Cal.com's open-source architecture allows developers to tailor integrations to very specific needs, potentially exceeding the functionality of Calendly's existing integrations.

Which product offers better reliability for preventing double-bookings?

Calendly offers better reliability for preventing double-bookings. While both products integrate with calendars to avoid conflicts, user reviews for Cal.com mention double-booking issues, while Calendly's reviews, despite some mentioning issues with calendar syncing, do not specifically report double-booking problems. Additionally, Calendly has a higher reliability and performance score (0.7) compared to Cal.com (0.29).

What are the advantages of Cal.com?

Cal.com offers a more generous free plan compared to Calendly, making it more attractive for individual users or smaller teams with budget constraints. Users appreciate Cal.com's user-friendly interface and easy setup process. Being open-source, Cal.com allows for greater flexibility and customization through custom integrations, which may be beneficial for teams with specific integration needs.

What are the disadvantages of Cal.com?

Cal.com has reported issues with double booking, which can disrupt schedules and lead to frustration. Some users find the interface confusing to navigate, and there are limited customization options for email notifications and branding. Calendar invites are considered basic, particularly for Microsoft 365 users. Lastly, Cal.com's reliability and performance have received lower scores compared to alternatives.

Alternatives to Cal.com and Calendly

CalendarHero

CalendarHero is a smart scheduling tool designed to streamline the process of booking meetings. It eliminates back-and-forth emails by considering your availability and preferences, then lets invitees easily book a time that works for everyone. CalendarHero integrates with popular calendar apps, video conferencing tools, and other business software to automate tasks like sending reminders and providing meeting briefs. It's suitable for individuals and teams in any industry looking to save time and increase productivity.

BambooHR

BambooHR is an HR software platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It brings together various HR functions like hiring, onboarding, payroll, benefits, and employee data management into one system. This allows for streamlined workflows, automated tasks, and easier access to employee information. BambooHR aims to simplify HR processes, improve data accuracy, and enhance the employee experience. It is used by companies in various industries and boasts features like custom reporting and integrations with other software.

YouCanBookMe

YouCanBookMe is an online appointment scheduling software designed to simplify the booking process for both you and your clients. It offers a customizable booking page to reflect your brand and availability. YouCanBookMe automates reminders, follow-ups, and integrates with popular calendars and apps, saving you time and reducing administrative tasks. It's suitable for businesses of all sizes looking to streamline their appointment scheduling. A free plan is available with the option to upgrade for additional features.

Leadmonk

Leadmonk is a sales automation tool for mid-sized B2B companies that helps turn leads into meetings. It works with your existing web forms and marketing tools to qualify potential customers, automatically routing them to the right salesperson and simplifying appointment scheduling. Leadmonk promises to reduce unqualified sales calls, shorten the sales cycle, and improve conversion rates. It integrates with popular CRM and marketing automation platforms.

Rippling

Rippling is a comprehensive employee management platform designed for businesses of all sizes. It streamlines and automates various HR, IT, and finance processes, including payroll, benefits, device management, and expense tracking. By centralizing these functions, Rippling aims to simplify employee lifecycle management, reduce administrative burden, and improve operational efficiency for businesses. The platform is particularly valuable for companies with global operations, offering localized solutions for international payroll, benefits, and compliance.

Sidekick Ai

Sidekick AI is a scheduling software that uses AI to simplify the process of booking meetings. It offers various scheduling methods, including individual and team scheduling pages, direct email forwarding for automated scheduling, and a feature that suggests suitable meeting times based on user availability. Sidekick AI integrates with popular tools like Google Calendar and Microsoft Teams and offers features such as automated reminders, calendar invites, and branding customization options.

Page co-authored by

Michal Kaczor

CEO at Gralio

Michal has worked at startups for many years and writes about topics relating to software selection and IT management. As a former consultant for Bain, a business advisory company, he also knows how to understand needs of any business and find solutions to its problems.

Tymon Terlikiewicz

CTO at Gralio

Tymon is a seasoned CTO who loves finding the perfect tools for any task. He recently headed up the tech department at Batmaid, a well-known Swiss company, where he managed about 60 software purchases, including CX, HR, Payroll, Marketing automation and various developer tools.

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