More for Less: Cal.com vs Calendly

The experience is still fresh, so I’m sharing what surprised me most—so you don’t have to learn it the hard way.

My client runs a marketplace where customers book appointments, either online or in person. Their team has grown to over 40 members and continues to expand. Booking data is collected in a CRM system to help analyze customer behavior and history, and we’ve built several automations to keep the user experience smooth and efficient.

Calendly seemed like a good choice—at first

When you’re just starting out with a small team, Calendly feels like a solid option. It’s easy enough to set up event types, customize notifications, connect Stripe for payments, and export booking histories. A nice touch: it remembers customer data for future bookings.

But as the team grew, these “features” became time-consuming and frustrating. We needed to automate more to reduce admin work. That’s when the real issues started—beyond the small recurring bugs like time zones resetting.

Despite being marketed to teams, Calendly is poorly suited for team-level management. You can’t configure Stripe or access booking data at the company level—everything has to be set up individually for each user, which makes syncing with a CRM basically impossible.

We’re not alone—others have flagged these limitations, and nothing has improved. So it was time to find something better.

Cal.com gives you more—starting from the free tier

Cal.com, a modern open-source tool, currently offers the best value on the market. It’s easy to set up, flexible to integrate, and includes a ton of features for free. It’s no wonder so many Framer creators rely on it.

Even individual users get unlimited event types (great if you offer different kinds of sessions), the ability to charge for meetings (perfect for educators or consultants), full access to integrations, workflows, and an API key for secure external connections. Check out the full list here.

Managing a team is refreshingly simple

To manage a team, you’ll need the Team plan. The structure makes sense: admins set up event types, workflows, rules, and payment options, then invite members who can tweak settings to fit their needs. Members have a bit of setup to do, but it takes a big load off the admin. Companies can decide how much freedom or restriction each team member has.

It integrates beautifully with Make.com, sending booking data straight into the CRM. This works on a true team level—unlike Calendly—and doesn’t cause gray hairs during setup.

Of course, it’s not perfect

The Cal.com dashboard is sleeker than Calendly’s, but managing it at scale can be a little clunky. Some actions take a few more clicks than you’d like.

Customizing notifications happens in workflows, which isn’t the most intuitive place for it. It would also be handy if participant data were saved for rebooking purposes.

Let’s talk money

The best part? Cal.com costs less than Calendly—and significantly so.

My client paid $7,680/year for 40 users on Calendly. The same setup on Cal.com now costs $4,608/year. That’s over $3K in annual savings.

More features. Less money. What more could you ask for?

If you’re ready to switch, use my Cal.com referral link for an extra 20% off for two full years. Need tailored help or advice? Just ping me—I’m happy to help.