Question 1

Why do people look for Acuity Scheduling alternatives?

Accepted Answer

Users typically seek Acuity Scheduling alternatives for several common reasons. The most frequent complaint is interface complexity—Acuity has an overwhelming number of settings, configuration options, and features that make simple scheduling tasks unnecessarily complicated. Many users report spending hours trying to configure what should be straightforward appointment booking.
‍
Since Squarespace acquired Acuity, users have experienced longer support response times and less personalized assistance compared to when Acuity was an independent company. The support system now goes through Squarespace's tiered structure rather than direct access to scheduling specialists.
‍
Another major limitation is white-label branding. Many professional service businesses like law firms, agencies, and studios need to present scheduling as part of their own brand, not as a third-party tool. Acuity's white-label options are limited and expensive. Even on the highest-tier Powerhouse plan at $61 monthly, Acuity branding still appears in email footers and other areas. CozyCal offers complete white-label capabilities at $25 per user monthly, allowing you to set custom booking page domains like book.yourcompany.com, send white-label email notifications from your own domain without any CozyCal branding, and remove all CozyCal references from the client-facing experience. This creates a seamless, professional brand experience that makes scheduling feel like a natural extension of your business.
‍
Finally, businesses needing resource management alongside staff scheduling find Acuity inadequate. Law firms that need to book attorneys and conference rooms together, or studios coordinating photographers with studio space, discover Acuity lacks hybrid booking capabilities. These businesses need scheduling software that handles both people and places in one seamless flow, which is exactly what CozyCal provides.

Question 2

Is CozyCal simpler to use than Acuity Scheduling?

Accepted Answer

Yes, significantly simpler. CozyCal is intentionally designed with minimalist configuration. You can set up your entire scheduling system in ten to fifteen minutes versus the hours many Acuity users spend navigating settings. We prioritize essential features over feature bloat, which means fewer overwhelming options and clearer workflows.
‍
Acuity Scheduling has evolved over years to accumulate extensive features for every possible use case, resulting in complex menus, nested settings, and configuration options that most users never need. This "Swiss Army knife" approach creates a steep learning curve. Users frequently report frustration finding basic settings buried in Acuity's interface.
‍
CozyCal takes a focused approach. We built specifically for service businesses that need appointment scheduling, team coordination, and resource management. Every feature serves a clear purpose without redundant options. Our onboarding takes minutes, not hours. New users consistently tell us they appreciate being able to start scheduling immediately without watching tutorial videos or reading extensive documentation. The interface feels intuitive because we removed unnecessary complexity while maintaining powerful capabilities like hybrid booking, round-robin distribution, and package sales that Acuity either lacks or makes overly complicated.

Question 3

How does CozyCal's team scheduling compare to Acuity?

Accepted Answer

CozyCal's team scheduling is more flexible and easier to configure than Acuity's team features. CozyCal supports three team scheduling modes that Acuity either lacks or makes unnecessarily complex.
‍
Round-robin booking automatically distributes appointments evenly across available team members, ensuring fair workload distribution. When clients book with "any available team member," CozyCal assigns to whoever has received the fewest bookings for that specific event type. You can create multiple round-robin groups for different departments: one group for attorneys, another for paralegals, another for consultants with each rotating independently.
‍
Priority ranking lets you designate which team members receive bookings first before distributing to others. Set your senior photographer as Priority 1 and junior photographers as Priority 2. CozyCal books your senior team member first, only assigning to junior staff when the senior is fully booked. This maximizes revenue from your most experienced team members.
‍
Multi-host collective scheduling pools availability when multiple team members need to attend the same meeting. Instead of booking each person separately, CozyCal shows only time slots when everyone required is available simultaneously. You can configure this with reserved hosts plus round-robin groups. For example, all consultations require your senior staff (reserved) while CozyCal round-robins the junior member assignment among your three junior staff . This ensures the key person always attends while distributing support roles evenly.

Acuity has basic team scheduling, but these advanced assignment methods are either absent or buried so deep in complex settings that users give up. CozyCal makes sophisticated team scheduling accessible with clear, intuitive configuration that takes minutes instead of hours.

Question 4

Does CozyCal work better for law firms than Acuity?

Accepted Answer

Yes, CozyCal is substantially better for law firms for several specific reasons. First, CozyCal's hybrid booking lets you schedule attorneys and conference rooms simultaneously in one booking flow. Acuity requires separate scheduling for people and rooms, creating coordination headaches and frequent conflicts where an attorney is booked but no conference room is available.
‍
Second, CozyCal integrates directly with Clio Manage for seamless two-way calendar sync with your practice management system. Acuity has no Clio integration, forcing law firms to manually coordinate between systems or use workarounds like Zapier that create delays and potential sync errors.
‍
Third, professional branding is critical for law firms, and CozyCal's white-label features at $25 per user monthly deliver complete brand control. Set up custom booking domains like book.yourfirm.com, send client appointment confirmations from your firm's email domain without any third-party branding, and remove all CozyCal references from the client experience. This maintains the professional, polished image law firms require. Acuity's Powerhouse plan at $61 monthly still shows Acuity branding in email footers and doesn't offer custom booking domains.
‍
Law firms also benefit from CozyCal's event request feature for reviewing new client intake before confirming appointments, ensuring you control which consultations get scheduled. The combination of hybrid booking for attorneys and conference rooms, Clio integration, accessible white-label branding, and direct founder support makes CozyCal the clear choice for legal practices over Acuity's complex, wellness-focused platform.

Question 5

Can CozyCal handle photography studio scheduling better than Acuity?

Accepted Answer

Yes, CozyCal excels for photography studios because of hybrid booking that coordinates photographers with studio spaces in one seamless booking flow. When a client books a session, CozyCal automatically checks availability for both the photographer they want and the studio space they need, preventing the common problem of booking a photographer who's available but having no studio space free at that time.
‍
Acuity requires managing photographer schedules and room bookings separately, creating coordination challenges. You'd need to use multiple calendars and manually verify room availability after photographer booking, increasing administrative burden and error potential.
‍
CozyCal's package booking feature lets studios sell session bundles like "Five Portrait Sessions" or "Wedding Package with Engagement Shoot" at discounted rates, collecting payment upfront and improving cash flow. While Acuity has package features, they're buried in complex settings and less intuitive to configure.

Question 6

Can CozyCal handle group events and workshops better than Acuity?

Accepted Answer

Yes, CozyCal's multi-guest booking is simpler and more intuitive for group events, tours, and workshops than Acuity's complex class scheduling system. With CozyCal, one person can book and pay for multiple attendees in a single transaction, perfect for bike tours, walking tours, cooking classes, photography workshops, or any group experience where the organizer or one participant books for the entire group.
‍
You set a maximum capacity for each event, and CozyCal automatically closes registration when full. Pricing can be per-person (automatically multiplying by attendee count), flat group rates, or tiered pricing for different group sizes. Stripe integration handles all payments seamlessly, collecting payment upfront for the entire group.

Acuity's class scheduling system is designed for recurring fitness classes with drop-in memberships, making it overly complicated for straightforward event booking. Setting up a simple workshop in Acuity requires navigating through class packages, appointment types, and scheduling rules that don't match how tours and workshops actually work.
‍
CozyCal's intake forms let you collect essential information from the primary booker and optionally gather details for additional attendees. This works perfectly for tours where you need contact info for the group leader but also want dietary restrictions or T-shirt sizes for all participants. The booking experience feels natural and straightforward, not like you're forcing group bookings into a system designed for individual appointments.

Question 7

Is CozyCal's customer support better than Acuity support?

Accepted Answer

CozyCal's support approach is different from Acuity's Squarespace-owned corporate support system. When you email CozyCal, you communicate directly with Kat or Chris, the two founders who built the product. We typically respond within hours, not days, and we genuinely understand your scheduling challenges because we've personally built every feature.
‍
Since Squarespace acquired Acuity, support goes through Squarespace's tiered system. You submit tickets to support agents who follow scripts and escalate complex issues to specialists. Response times have lengthened, and you're navigating corporate support infrastructure rather than talking to people who intimately know scheduling software.
‍
Our small team size is an advantage, not a limitation. We can implement user suggestions in weeks rather than navigating corporate approval processes that take months. We maintain a public roadmap where users vote on features, keeping us accountable to actual user needs rather than corporate priorities.

Acuity Scheduling Alternative

CozyCal is the intuitive and modern Acuity Scheduling alternative

Acuity Scheduling

CozyCal

Questions & Answers

Start receiving more bookings online today!