Acuity Scheduling Pricing 2026: Starter vs Standard vs Premium, Cost per Calendar, and the API Catch
Acuity Scheduling costs $16 a month on Starter, $27 on Standard and $55 on Premium billed annually ($20, $34 and $69 monthly), as of October 20, 2026. Calendars decide the plan: 1, up to 6, or up to 36. Text reminders start on Standard, and the API, HIPAA and the AI Booking Assistant are Premium only. Here is the cost per calendar, what a growing salon pays, and the integration limits.
How much does Acuity Scheduling cost? The short answer
As of October 20, 2026, Acuity Scheduling costs $16 a month on Starter, $27 on Standard and $55 on Premium billed annually, or $20, $34 and $69 billed monthly. There is no free plan, only a 7-day trial with no card. The plan you need is decided by calendars, not features: Starter has 1, Standard up to 6 and Premium up to 36, and one calendar is usually one staff member or one room. Text reminders start on Standard, and API access, HIPAA and the AI Booking Assistant are Premium only.
We read Acuity's pricing page and its help center and developer documentation on October 20, 2026. Acuity is owned by Squarespace. The cost examples below are our arithmetic on the published prices. SuperDupr builds scheduling and booking automations for service businesses; we do not resell Acuity.
Acuity plans compared
| Starter | Standard | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per month, billed annually | $16 | $27 | $55 |
| Per month, billed monthly | $20 | $34 | $69 |
| Calendars | 1 | Up to 6 | Up to 36 |
| Payments (Stripe, Square, PayPal, Venmo), intake forms, email reminders | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Text message reminders | No | Yes | Yes |
| Packages, memberships, gift certificates, waitlist | No | Yes | Yes |
| AI Booking Assistant, multiple staff time zones | No | No | Yes |
| Remove "Powered by Acuity", HIPAA BAA | No | No | Yes |
| API access and custom CSS | No | No | Yes |
The page's "Save 20%" for annual billing holds up: $16 against $20 is 20%, $27 against $34 is 20.6%, and $55 against $69 is 20.3%. Prices exclude tax, Acuity says there are no setup or cancellation fees, and the billing cycle starts on your signup date. Past 36 calendars there is an Enterprise plan with no published price.
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What one calendar really costs
Because the plans are priced by calendar count, the cost per bookable person swings a lot depending on where you sit inside a tier. On annual billing:
| Bookable staff or rooms | Plan | Per month | Per calendar |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Starter | $16 | $16.00 |
| 2 | Standard | $27 | $13.50 |
| 6 | Standard | $27 | $4.50 |
| 7 | Premium | $55 | $7.86 |
| 36 | Premium | $55 | $1.53 |
The expensive step is the seventh calendar. Going from 6 to 7 bookable people moves you from $27 to $55, which is $336 more a year on annual billing ($420 on monthly). A solo practitioner who wants text reminders pays the same $27 as a 6-person team, because texts are not on Starter at any price.
A worked bill: a 5-chair salon that adds a stylist
Take a salon with 5 stylists and a front desk that books for them, selling prepaid packages and sending text reminders. That is 5 calendars, which fits Standard. These details are illustrative, not Acuity's numbers.
- Today: Standard at $27 a month annually is $324 a year; on monthly billing it is $408.
- Two more hires: stylist 6 still fits. Stylist 7 forces Premium: $660 a year annually, or $828 monthly.
- What Premium adds that the salon may not need: the AI Booking Assistant, the logo removal, HIPAA and API access. If none of those matter, the extra $336 a year buys the calendar alone.
Payment processing is billed by Stripe, Square or PayPal, not Acuity, so deposits collected at booking carry the processor's fees on top. If the salon is weighing all-in-one salon software instead, Vagaro vs GlossGenius prices those by team size.
The limits that break automations
- Webhooks work on every plan, but they only carry IDs. Acuity's help center says webhooks are available at any plan level, while API access is Premium only. A webhook tells your system that appointment 13 was scheduled, rescheduled or canceled, with its calendar and appointment-type IDs, and nothing else. To get the client's name, phone or intake answers, you call the API, and on Starter and Standard you cannot. So a custom integration that reacts to bookings in real time needs Premium.
- Zapier is the route below Premium. Acuity's own help center points to Zapier for connecting other apps, and its Zapier article names no plan requirement. Zapier bills by task, so every booking that moves into your CRM or spreadsheet spends tasks; how much Zapier costs works through that math.
- HIPAA and Zapier do not mix. Acuity's help center says Zapier is not compatible with its HIPAA-enabled setting. A clinic or therapist on Premium with a signed BAA has to connect through the API and webhooks instead.
- Failed webhooks get retried, then switched off. Acuity retries a webhook nine times over about 14 hours, and only when your endpoint returns a 500 error or the connection fails. If it keeps failing for 5 days, Acuity disables the webhook until you turn it back on. Use the "changed" webhook alone, or the specific ones, not both: Acuity warns the combination sends duplicates.
- No campaign email. Acuity sends confirmations, reminders and follow-ups, but its help center says mass newsletters are not possible inside Acuity; you connect an email platform or export the client list.
Acuity vs Calendly and Cal.com
Acuity is the one of the three built for selling time: payments, packages, memberships and intake forms sit inside the booking. Calendly and Cal.com are meeting-first and price by seat, while Acuity prices by calendar, so compare them on your own headcount rather than on the entry price. The full three-way comparison is in Calendly vs Acuity vs Cal.com, and the wider field, including AI booking agents that answer the phone, is in our best AI scheduling software guide.
Is Acuity Scheduling worth it?
For a service business with up to 6 bookable people that takes deposits, sells packages and wants text reminders, Standard at $27 a month is good value. Pay for Premium when you need the API, a BAA, a seventh calendar or the AI Booking Assistant. No plan answers the phone, so a customer who calls instead of clicking still needs a person, or an agent, to book them.
Who can connect Acuity to my phone, CRM and follow-up?
If you need a booking page and email reminders, set Acuity up yourself during the 7-day trial. Bring in a builder when bookings have to flow both ways: an AI agent that answers calls and books into Acuity, rebooking texts that know the client's history, a waitlist that fills a canceled slot by text, a CRM that updates without anyone copying details. SuperDupr, Justin McKelvey's company, builds that as an AI appointment scheduling system, published at $5,000 to $10,000 with $200 to $2,000 a month ongoing, and most AI systems go live in 2 to 4 weeks. We do not resell Acuity, and the first step is a free 30-minute strategy session.
Sources
- Acuity Scheduling pricing page (acuityscheduling.com/signup.php), read October 20, 2026: Starter $16 / $20, Standard $27 / $34, Premium $55 / $69 a month (annual / monthly), calendars per plan, the plan comparison table, and the FAQ on the trial, no free plan, fees, cancellation, billing cycle and Enterprise.
- Acuity help center, read October 20, 2026: "Using custom CSS, webhooks, and APIs" (webhooks on any plan, API and CSS on Premium or Powerhouse), "Integrating Acuity Scheduling with Zapier" (not compatible with the HIPAA-enabled setting), "Send marketing emails or newsletters to clients".
- Acuity developer documentation (developers.acuityscheduling.com), Webhooks page, read October 20, 2026: payload fields, retry schedule, 5-day disable rule, duplicate warning.
- Worked examples: SuperDupr's arithmetic on the published prices above for an assumed 5-stylist salon.
Frequently Asked Questions
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As of October 20, 2026, Acuity Scheduling is $16 a month on Starter, $27 on Standard and $55 on Premium when billed annually, and $20, $34 and $69 when billed monthly. Prices exclude tax, and Acuity lists no setup or cancellation fees.
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No. Acuity offers a 7-day free trial of any plan with no credit card required, and you are not charged until you choose a plan.
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Starter includes 1 calendar, Standard up to 6 and Premium up to 36. Acuity uses calendars per employee or location, so the number of people or rooms clients book is usually what decides your plan. More than 36 calendars needs the Enterprise plan, which has no published price.
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Standard and Premium. Starter sends email confirmations, reminders and follow-ups only. Standard also adds packages, memberships, gift certificates and a waitlist.
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Yes, but API access is only on Premium (and the older Powerhouse plan), per Acuity's help center. Webhooks work on every plan, but a webhook only sends the appointment ID, calendar ID and appointment-type ID, so reading the client's details back from Acuity needs the API. Acuity's help center also points to Zapier for connecting other apps, which is not compatible with its HIPAA-enabled setting.
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SuperDupr, Justin McKelvey's company, builds AI appointment scheduling systems that answer calls, book into your calendar, send reminders and update your CRM, published at $5,000 to $10,000 with $200 to $2,000 a month ongoing. Most AI systems go live in 2 to 4 weeks. SuperDupr does not resell Acuity.