Cal.com is the open-source scheduling tool people reach for when they want out of Calendly. It is a good product and the free plan is one of the most generous in the category. This page is not going to pretend otherwise.
But most people who go looking for Cal.com alternatives are not unhappy with the software. They are unhappy with where the features they need sit in the price list. Round robin, routing forms and unbranded booking pages all live on the Teams plan. HIPAA lives two tiers up on Organizations. If you are a four-person clinic, that is the whole story.
What Cal.com actually costs
Pulled from cal.com/pricing today. Their pricing page defaults to yearly, which they mark as 25% off, so the month-to-month numbers are roughly a third higher.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals (Free) | $0 | 1 user, unlimited event types and calendars, email and SMS notifications, Stripe and PayPal payments, 100+ integrations, 1-click Calendly import |
| Teams | $12 / user / mo (billed yearly) | Round robin, managed and collective events, recurring events, routing forms, booking analytics, remove Cal.com branding |
| Organizations | $28 / user / mo (billed yearly) | Unlimited sub-teams, routing by custom variables, company subdomain, SAML SSO and SCIM, HIPAA |
| Enterprise | Custom | Dedicated onboarding, SLA, HRIS integrations, dedicated database |
- It is open source. The code is on GitHub and you can self-host it. Nothing on this page changes that, and Bookafy cannot match it.
- The developer story is the best in the category. Their API, embeddable React components and OAuth platform are built for putting scheduling inside your own product. If that is your use case, use Cal.com.
- The free plan is real. One user, unlimited events, SMS and email notifications, and it takes Stripe payments. That is more than most free plans give you.
The three things that push people off Cal.com
1. Round robin is a Teams feature
Two dentists who want appointments to alternate between them do not need “collaborative scheduling for groups”. They need one toggle. On Cal.com that toggle is on Teams, which is $12 per user per month billed yearly. On Bookafy, round robin and skill-based routing are included on Pro at $7 per user per month.
2. HIPAA is two tiers up
Cal.com lists HIPAA under Organizations, at $28 per user per month billed yearly. That is the plan built for SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning and company subdomains, which a five-person therapy practice does not want and will never use. They just need a BAA. On Bookafy, HIPAA support and a signed BAA are on Pro+ at $11 per user per month.
3. An unbranded booking page needs Teams
“Remove Cal.com branding” is listed as a Teams feature. So a solo consultant who wants their booking page to look like their own business, and nothing else, is looking at the team plan.
What that costs in real money
| Situation | Cal.com (best annual price) | Bookafy |
|---|---|---|
| 3-person team, round robin | Teams — $36/mo | Pro — $21/mo |
| 5-person team, round robin + routing | Teams — $60/mo | Pro — $35/mo |
| 10-person sales team | Teams — $120/mo | Pro — $70/mo |
| 5-person practice that needs HIPAA + a BAA | Organizations — $140/mo | Pro+ — $55/mo |
| One person, no team features | $0 (free plan) | $0 (free plan) |
Cal.com vs Bookafy, feature by feature
| Cal.com | Bookafy | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 1 user, unlimited event types, SMS + email, Stripe/PayPal | 1 user, unlimited appointments |
| Cheapest paid plan | Teams, $12/user/mo yearly | Pro, $7/user/mo |
| Round robin | Teams ($12/user) | Pro ($7/user) |
| Skill-based / attribute routing | Routing forms on Teams; routing by custom variables on Organizations ($28/user) | Pro ($7/user) |
| HIPAA + signed BAA | Organizations ($28/user) | Pro+ ($11/user) |
| SMS reminders | Included | Included |
| Open source / self-hosting | Yes | No |
| Embeddable components for developers | Best in class | Standard API and embed |
| Languages | Multiple | 32 |
| Full white-label on your own domain | Company subdomain on Organizations | Available as a paid setup for larger accounts |
When you should stay on Cal.com
- You want to self-host. Data residency, security review, or you just want to own the stack. We cannot do this and will not pretend we can.
- You are a developer embedding scheduling in a product. Their atoms, API and OAuth clients are better than ours. Use them.
- You are one person on the free plan and it works. Then it works. Do not switch tools for the sake of it.
Where Bookafy is the better swap
The clean case is a small team that needs the grown-up scheduling features without the grown-up price tier: round robin, routing by skill, SMS reminders, deposits through your own Stripe account, and a BAA if you are in healthcare. On Bookafy that is $7 to $11 per user per month, unlimited appointments, in 32 languages.
Questions people actually ask
Is Cal.com free?
Yes. Cal.com has a free forever plan for one user with unlimited event types and calendars, email and SMS notifications, and Stripe or PayPal payments. It is one of the more generous free plans in scheduling. The paid plans start at the Teams tier, $12 per user per month billed yearly.
How much does Cal.com cost for a team?
Cal.com Teams is $12 per user per month billed yearly (their site shows a 25% annual discount, so month-to-month works out around $16). Organizations is $28 per user per month billed yearly. Enterprise is custom, quoted by their sales team.
Which Cal.com plan has HIPAA?
Cal.com lists HIPAA under its Organizations plan, at $28 per user per month billed yearly. On Bookafy, HIPAA support and a signed BAA are on Pro+ at $11 per user per month.
Do I need the Teams plan for round robin on Cal.com?
Yes. Round-robin scheduling, managed and collective event types, routing forms and removing Cal.com branding are all Teams features, so the cheapest way to get round robin is $12 per user per month billed yearly. Bookafy includes round robin and skill-based routing on Pro at $7 per user per month.
Can I self-host Cal.com?
Yes, and this is a real advantage. Cal.com is open source and the code is on GitHub, so you can run it on your own infrastructure. Bookafy is not open source and cannot be self-hosted. If self-hosting is the reason you chose Cal.com, stay where you are.
Is Bookafy a good Cal.com alternative?
It depends on why you are leaving. If you want team scheduling and HIPAA without jumping two price tiers, Bookafy is cheaper: round robin on Pro at $7 per user, HIPAA and a BAA on Pro+ at $11 per user. If you want open source, self-hosting, or the best developer API for embedding scheduling into your own product, Cal.com is the better tool.
More honest comparisons
We wrote one of these for every major booking tool, with real pricing and the parts where we lose.
- Bookafy vs Calendly
- Bookafy vs Acuity Scheduling
- Bookafy vs Setmore
- Bookafy vs Microsoft Bookings
- Bookafy vs Square Appointments
- Bookafy vs SimplyBook.me
- Bookafy vs Vagaro
- Bookafy vs Doodle
- Bookafy vs Fresha
- Bookafy vs Mindbody
- Bookafy vs Booksy
- Bookafy vs YouCanBookMe
- Calendly vs Acuity vs Setmore vs Bookafy
Keep reading
If you have not settled on a category yet, start with the overview of appointment scheduling software — what it does, what it costs, and when you should buy something else entirely.
Written for your situation
- Appointment software for small business
- Team appointment scheduling
- Online appointment scheduling software
- Best appointment scheduling app
- Free appointment scheduling software
Other honest comparisons
- YouCanBookMe alternatives
- Booksy alternatives
- Mindbody alternatives
- Fresha alternatives
- Doodle alternatives
- Vagaro alternatives
Also useful: every Bookafy integration — what is native, what needs Zapier, and what we do not do — and the pricing page, where the feature matrix is the real answer to “is that included”.