TLDR (Summary)
Acuity Scheduling handles appointment booking, intake forms, and calendar sync but has no invoicing, no contracts, no proposals, no project management, no time tracking, and no client portals at any price tier. Squarespace acquired Acuity in 2021 and has not expanded the product beyond scheduling. Plutio includes scheduling alongside proposals, contracts, projects, time tracking, invoicing, and client portals, so a booked call can become a signed proposal that creates a project with tasks, tracked hours, and invoices, all from one platform at $19/month.
Acuity only schedules, and everything after the booking is missing
Acuity handles appointment booking with intake forms, package scheduling, and calendar sync, but the platform stops the moment the meeting ends.
The booking workflow covers more depth than most scheduling tools. Intake forms collect project details before the appointment. Package scheduling lets clients buy multiple sessions at once. Memberships support recurring appointment structures. Gift certificates let clients purchase sessions for others. Calendar sync connects to Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCloud. Time zone detection adjusts automatically. For service providers whose business centers on appointments, Acuity covers the booking step in more detail than most alternatives.
But the business doesn't end when the appointment ends. A client books a discovery call, and the next step is sending a proposal, getting a contract signed, tracking project deliverables, logging hours, and generating an invoice. None of those steps exist inside Acuity. The Emerging plan at $20/month covers basic scheduling. The Growing plan at $34/month adds SMS reminders and package scheduling. The Powerhouse plan at $61/month supports up to 36 calendars. Across all three tiers, there's no invoice builder, no contract templates, no proposal workflow, and no project tracking.
Acuity schedules the meeting. The proposal, the contract, the project plan, and the invoice that follow all need separate tools on separate subscriptions.
Squarespace acquired Acuity and kept it scheduling-only
Squarespace acquired Acuity in 2021 and has not added invoicing, contracts, project management, or any business tool beyond scheduling in over four years of ownership.
Before the acquisition, Acuity was an independent scheduling tool with its own identity. After Squarespace acquired it, the product became "Acuity Scheduling, a Squarespace company." For a period, Squarespace rebranded new accounts as "Squarespace Scheduling" before reverting to the Acuity name.
The feature additions since 2021 have focused on scheduling refinements: better intake forms, improved group scheduling, and expanded integrations with the Squarespace ecosystem. The product roadmap stays focused on booking depth, not business breadth. Users on Trustpilot report mixed experiences, with positive reviews praising scheduling depth and negative reviews flagging no live support, bot-driven FAQ responses, billing errors, and calendar sync issues.
The acquisition made strategic sense for Squarespace: website builders need a scheduling layer. But freelancers and service providers need more than a scheduling layer bolted onto a website builder. The Squarespace focus means Acuity's roadmap serves Squarespace site owners first, not independent service providers running full businesses.
Four years under Squarespace, and Acuity still does one thing. The scheduling features improved, but no business management tools appeared.
The real cost of running a business around Acuity
Acuity's subscription covers scheduling, but every other business function needs a separate paid tool on top, and none of those tools share data with Acuity.
The monthly math for a freelance workflow built around Acuity in 2026:
- Acuity Growing: $34/month (scheduling with SMS reminders and packages)
- FreshBooks or QuickBooks: $21-33/month (invoicing and accounting)
- Asana or Monday: $0-12/month (project management)
- PandaDoc or Bonsai: $19-25/month (proposals and contracts)
- Total: $74-104/month for four tools that don't share data
The Growing plan is the most common tier for service providers because SMS reminders on the Emerging plan require upgrading. Package scheduling and memberships also require Growing or above.
Beyond the subscription cost, there's the time cost. A client books an appointment through Acuity, the proposal goes through PandaDoc, the project lives in Asana, and the invoice generates in FreshBooks. Each tool stores its own copy of the client's information. Client details get re-entered across platforms. Status updates happen manually. No data flows between tools without Zapier automations or copy-paste.
Plutio at $19/month covers scheduling, proposals, contracts, projects with Kanban and Gantt views, time tracking, invoicing, and client portals. The pricing is flat per workspace, not per tier. A booked meeting can trigger a proposal that creates a project automatically, so the data flows from booking to payment without leaving the platform.
The Acuity-based tool stack runs $74-104/month across four disconnected apps. The same workflow costs $19/month on a platform where the scheduled appointment connects to the proposal, the project, and the invoice.
What freelancers need that Acuity doesn't have
Acuity has no invoicing, no contracts, no proposals, no project management, no time tracking, and no client portals at any price tier, so every business function beyond booking requires a separate tool.
No invoicing or payment management
Acuity can collect payments at the time of booking through Stripe, Square, or PayPal. But there's no invoice builder, no recurring invoicing, no payment reminders, and no accounts receivable tracking. Sending invoices for project-based work that wasn't booked as a paid appointment requires a separate accounting tool. Plutio's invoicing includes professional templates, online payments, recurring invoices, late payment reminders, and multi-currency support, all connected to the same workspace where the appointment was booked.
No contracts or proposals
After a client books a consultation through Acuity, the next step, sending a proposal or contract, happens entirely outside the platform. There's no proposal builder, no contract templates, no e-signature capability. Plutio's proposals include drag-and-drop sections, pricing tables, and built-in e-signatures. When the signature goes through, the project creates itself with tasks and deadlines.
No project management
Acuity has no tasks, no Kanban boards, no Gantt charts, no timelines, and no deliverable tracking. For coaches, consultants, and freelancers managing ongoing work between appointments, project tracking requires a separate tool that doesn't connect to the Acuity calendar. Plutio's project management includes Kanban boards, Gantt timelines, task dependencies, milestones, and project templates.
No client portal
Acuity has a booking page where clients schedule appointments, but there's no portal for project progress, file sharing, deliverable approvals, or ongoing communication. Clients interact with the scheduling page only. Everything else happens through email. Plutio's client portals are branded with a custom logo, colors, and domain where clients track progress, share files, and pay invoices.
Acuity handles the appointment. The proposal that starts the engagement, the contract that defines the terms, the project that tracks deliverables, and the invoice that bills the client all require separate tools and separate subscriptions.
Where Acuity users are switching in 2026
Most service providers switching from Acuity look for platforms that include scheduling alongside project management, invoicing, and client portals without gating features behind higher tiers.
For the full freelance workflow in one platform
Plutio starts at $19/month with scheduling, proposals, contracts, projects, time tracking, invoicing, and client portals. The scheduling page connects to the proposal workflow: a client books a call, the call leads to a proposal, and the signed proposal creates a project with tasks automatically. See the full Acuity alternatives comparison for details.
For scheduling with intake automation and contracts
Scheduling tools like HoneyBook at $19-79/month include scheduling, proposals, contracts, and invoicing. Project management is limited to task lists, and pricing increases significantly at higher tiers. See the HoneyBook deep dive for trade-offs.
For scheduling-only with a simpler interface
Calendly at $0-16/seat/month offers a simpler scheduling interface with faster setup. Calendly lacks the intake forms, package scheduling, and memberships that make Acuity's booking depth distinctive. The switch only makes sense if scheduling simplicity matters more than booking depth. See the Calendly deep dive for details.
For a broader comparison, the project management tools comparison covers pricing, features, and trade-offs across 8 platforms.
The common thread: every platform Acuity users switch to either includes business tools alongside scheduling or eliminates the 3-4 tool stack needed to run a business around a scheduling-only platform.
With Plutio we don't jump between apps anymore! Everything from projects to invoicing is finally connected in one fully-branded app.
How to switch from Acuity without losing client bookings
Most service providers complete the transition in under a week by setting up scheduling on the new platform and redirecting the booking link.
- Start a free trial: Plutio offers 14 days of full access with no credit card required. Scheduling, proposals, projects, invoicing, time tracking, and client portals all work from day one.
- Export client data: Download the client list, appointment history, and intake form responses from Acuity. Package and membership purchase records should be saved for reference. Acuity allows exporting appointment data through the reporting section.
- Set up scheduling on the new platform: Configure appointment types, intake forms, calendar connections, and availability rules. Recreate package and membership offerings if the new platform supports them. Initial setup takes 2-4 hours depending on the number of appointment types.
- Redirect the booking link: Replace the Acuity link on the website, email signature, and social profiles with the new scheduling link. If embedded on a Squarespace site, update the embed code to point to the new scheduling page.
- Start new clients on Plutio: Send the next proposal from Plutio. When the client signs, the project creates automatically with tasks, portal access, and contract attached.
- Cancel Acuity: After redirecting all booking links and confirming the new scheduling runs reliably for 1-2 weeks, cancel the Acuity subscription. Keep exported data for reference on client appointment history.
Switching from Acuity is simpler than switching from most business tools because Acuity primarily stores scheduling data. The main complexity is migrating active package balances and recurring membership schedules, which need manual tracking during the transition period.
The switch happens between clients, not mid-project. New bookings go to Plutio while active Acuity appointments finish naturally.
