Question 1

What's the difference between Google Calendar's appointment scheduling and CozyCal?

Accepted Answer

Google Calendar's appointment scheduling is a basic feature designed for simple one-on-one appointments, primarily for personal use or very straightforward scheduling needs. It lets people book time with you on your calendar, but lacks the business features most service companies require.
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CozyCal is a comprehensive scheduling platform built specifically for businesses. While Google Calendar handles your personal calendar, CozyCal adds a business scheduling layer on top. CozyCal integrates with your Google Calendar through two-way sync, so appointments booked through CozyCal appear in your Google Calendar automatically, and events you add to Google Calendar block time in CozyCal to prevent double-booking.
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The key difference is that CozyCal provides business-essential features Google Calendar doesn't offer: payment collection through Stripe, customizable intake forms for gathering client information, team scheduling with round-robin distribution, resource booking for managing meeting rooms and equipment, package booking for selling session bundles, white-label branding for professional appearance, and Zapier integrations that saves administrative time. Google Calendar is your personal calendar. CozyCal is your business scheduling system that works with your Google Calendar.

Question 2

Does CozyCal replace Google Calendar or work with it?

Accepted Answer

CozyCal works with Google Calendar, not as a replacement. Think of Google Calendar as your personal calendar and CozyCal as your business scheduling system that connects to it.
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CozyCal integrates seamlessly with Google Calendar through two-way sync. When a client books an appointment through CozyCal, it automatically appears in your Google Calendar with all appointment details. Conversely, any events you add to your Google Calendar (personal appointments, meetings, blocked time) automatically block that time in CozyCal, preventing clients from booking during those periods.
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This integration means you only need to look at one calendar (your Google Calendar) to see everything: client bookings from CozyCal, personal appointments, team meetings, and blocked time. You're not managing two separate calendars. CozyCal simply adds powerful business scheduling capabilities while keeping all your appointments synchronized in Google Calendar where you already work.

Question 3

When is Google Calendar appointment scheduling good enough?

Accepted Answer

Honesty matters when evaluating tools. Google Calendar's appointment scheduling works well for specific use cases where you need simple, free scheduling without business requirements.
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Google Calendar is sufficient if you're scheduling purely informational meetings with no payment, need only basic time slot selection, have no intake forms or client information requirements, work alone without team coordination, don't need to manage meeting rooms or resources, don't require professional branding, and schedule simple one-on-one appointments with minimal complexity.
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Examples where Google Calendar works: professors offering office hours, volunteers scheduling informational calls, freelancers scheduling free discovery calls, personal tutoring without payment processing, or hobby-based consulting where professional appearance doesn't matter.
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However, if you run an actual business where clients pay for services, need to collect information before appointments, coordinate team schedules, manage resources, maintain professional branding, or want to reduce administrative time through automation, Google Calendar's limitations quickly become frustrating. CozyCal is built specifically for these business requirements.

Question 4

Can CozyCal handle our business needs that Google Calendar can't?

Accepted Answer

Yes, CozyCal is specifically designed for business scheduling requirements that Google Calendar doesn't address.
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For service businesses charging for appointments, CozyCal's Stripe integration collects payment automatically when clients book consultations, coaching sessions, legal advice, creative services. You set pricing per service type or per team member, and clients pay upfront, reducing no-shows and eliminating payment collection hassles.
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For businesses needing client information before appointments, customizable intake forms collect case details, project requirements, health information, budget ranges, or any other data your team needs. Forms can be simple or comprehensive depending on service complexity.
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For teams coordinating schedules, round-robin distribution balances workload automatically, priority ranking books senior team members first, and multi-host scheduling finds times when multiple team members are simultaneously available for depositions, client pitches, or collaborative consultations.
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For businesses managing physical resources, hybrid booking coordinates people and places together—attorneys and conference rooms, photographers and studio space, trainers and gym facilities—in one booking flow, preventing the common problem of booking staff but having no available space.
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For professional service businesses, white-label features at $25 per user monthly provide custom booking domains and branded email notifications, maintaining the premium image that Google Calendar's generic appearance undermines.

Question 5

Can multiple team members use Google Calendar appointment scheduling?

Accepted Answer

Google Calendar appointment scheduling is designed for individual use, not team coordination. Each person can create their own appointment schedule, but Google Calendar doesn't coordinate across team members or provide centralized management.
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There's no round-robin distribution to balance workload automatically. There's no way to show clients "any available team member" and let the system assign fairly. There's no collective scheduling for appointments requiring multiple team members simultaneously. There's no centralized admin dashboard to see team-wide bookings or manage everyone's availability from one place.
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CozyCal is built specifically for teams. You can create shared booking pages where clients book with any available team member, with round-robin automatically distributing appointments evenly. You can set priority rankings so senior team members receive bookings first. You can configure multi-host scheduling when multiple team members need to attend together. Admins can manage all team members' schedules, bookings, and settings from one centralized dashboard.
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For solo practitioners, Google Calendar's individual approach works. For any business with multiple team members coordinating client appointments, CozyCal's team scheduling capabilities are essential.

Question 6

Is CozyCal harder to set up than Google Calendar appointment scheduling?

Accepted Answer

No, CozyCal setup is comparably simple while providing significantly more functionality. Google Calendar appointment scheduling takes about five to ten minutes to enable and configure basic availability. CozyCal setup takes fifteen to thirty minutes and provides exponentially more capability.
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The setup process is straightforward: connect your Google Calendar for two-way sync, create event types for your different services with durations and pricing, set your availability schedule, add intake form questions if needed, connect Stripe if you collect payment, and embed your booking page on your website or share your booking link.
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Unlike Google Calendar's minimal settings, CozyCal gives you control over buffer times, booking windows, confirmation messages, email notifications, and team member assignments. This additional configuration isn't complexity. It's necessary functionality for running a business.
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We also provide hands-on setup assistance at no cost. When you reach out, you work directly with the founders who built CozyCal. We schedule live calls to walk you through setup, answer questions, and help optimize your scheduling workflow.

Question 7

How much does CozyCal cost compared to Google Calendar?

Accepted Answer

Google Calendar and its basic appointment scheduling feature are free, which is appropriate given their limited capabilities. CozyCal costs $15 per user per month when billed annually, or $20 per month when billed monthly.
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The value calculation is straightforward. If your business charges for services, CozyCal's payment integration pays for itself immediately by eliminating manual invoicing and payment collection. If you value your administrative time at even minimum wage, CozyCal's automation saves far more than $15 monthly by eliminating back-and-forth scheduling emails, manual calendar coordination, and payment tracking.
For a solo consultant charging $150 per hour, CozyCal pays for itself by saving just six minutes of administrative time per month.

For a three-person team, the time saved through round-robin automation, intake forms, and payment processing typically exceeds $100 monthly in administrative efficiency.
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CozyCal's Plaid plan at $25 per user monthly adds complete white-label branding for businesses where professional appearance matters—law firms, agencies, consultancies, studios. The ten-day free trial lets you verify the value before committing.

Question 8

Should I switch from Google Calendar appointment scheduling to CozyCal?

Accepted Answer

The decision depends on whether you're running an actual business or just need basic personal scheduling.
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Switch to CozyCal if you charge for services and need payment collection, gather client information before appointments through intake forms, coordinate multiple team members and need workload distribution, manage meeting rooms or resources alongside staff scheduling, want to sell package bundles of sessions at discounted rates, need professional white-label branding without Google references, want to reduce administrative time through automation, or schedule group events and workshops with capacity management.
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Stick with Google Calendar if you only need free basic scheduling for informational meetings, have no payment requirements, work alone without team coordination, don't need intake forms or client data, don't mind Google branding, and have time for manual calendar management.
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Most service businesses such as law firms, consulting agencies, coaching practices, photography studios, fitness trainers, wellness practitioners, tour operators quickly outgrow Google Calendar's basic features. CozyCal provides the business scheduling layer these companies need while still integrating seamlessly with Google Calendar for unified calendar management.
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You can try CozyCal risk-free with a ten-day free trial, no credit card required, running it alongside Google Calendar to compare the experience before deciding.

Google Calendar Scheduler Alternative

CozyCal is the intuitive and powerful Google Calendar Scheduler alternative for team scheduling and resource booking

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