Acuity Scheduling vs Cal.com

Thinking of swapping Acuity Scheduling for the open-source Cal.com? Here’s the honest trade-off.

36k TypeScript AGPL-3.0 14 days ago

What you give up vs Acuity Scheduling

  • Some enterprise features (e.g. SAML SSO, advanced admin/insights, certain platform features) are gated behind a commercial/EE license even when self-hosting.
  • Self-hosting requires PostgreSQL plus configuring numerous environment variables and OAuth credentials for calendar integrations.
  • The core code is AGPL-3.0, which imposes copyleft obligations on modified network deployments.
  • Upgrades between major versions occasionally require manual database migration work.

What you gain

  • • Full data ownership — self-host Cal.com on your own infrastructure.
  • • No per-seat SaaS bill (Acuity Scheduling: monthly subscriptions per calendar).
  • • Open-source code you can audit and extend (AGPL-3.0).