Calendly vs Cal.com: Which Scheduling Tool in 2026
Calendly is the polished default with the biggest ecosystem. Cal.com gives away far more on its free plan and is open source. Here is who should pick which.
By , research by the BestBots team · Updated Oct 19, 2026
Fact checked against each company's published pricing, documentation and verified user ratings. How we score
Pick Cal.com if you want the most for free or for less: unlimited event types, unlimited calendars and Salesforce and HubSpot sync on the free plan, and HIPAA on Organizations. Pick Calendly if you run a sales or marketing team that wants the most integrations, polished routing and the tool your prospects already recognize; Standard starts at $10 per seat.
Side by side
| Spec | Calendly | Cal.com |
|---|---|---|
| BestBots Score | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Starting price | $10 per seat per month | $12 per user per month billed annually |
| Pricing model | per seat | per seat |
| Free trial | None listed | 14 days on Teams and Organizations |
| Free plan | Yes, 1 event type and 1 connected calendar | Yes, unlimited event types and calendars for 1 user |
| Paid from | $10 per seat per month (Standard) | $12 per user per month billed annually (Teams) |
| Calendars | Google, Outlook and Microsoft Office; up to 6 connected on paid plans | Unlimited connected calendars on Free; Google, Outlook and more via 100+ apps |
| Auto task scheduling | No; booking links and routing, not task planning | No; booking links and routing |
| Scheduling links | 1 event type free, unlimited on Standard | Unlimited event types on every plan |
| Team scheduling | Round robin, routing forms and managed events on Teams | Round robin, collective events and routing forms on Teams |
The short answer
- Choose Cal.com for solo users, startups, developers who want an API or self hosting, and healthcare or regulated teams that need HIPAA scheduling.
- Choose Calendly for revenue teams that route inbound leads from forms, use Marketo, Pardot or Microsoft Dynamics, or want the support reputation and familiarity of the market leader.
- Tie on the basics: both do one on one, group and round robin booking, payments through Stripe and PayPal, reminders and Google and Outlook calendars.
Pricing
| Plan | Calendly | Cal.com |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 1 event type, 1 calendar | 1 user, unlimited event types and calendars, 100+ apps, Salesforce and HubSpot sync |
| Entry paid | Standard, $10 per seat per month | Teams, $12 per user per month billed annually |
| Team | Teams, $16 per seat per month | Teams (same plan), round robin, routing forms |
| Advanced | Enterprise from $15,000 a year, 50 seat minimum | Organizations, $28 per user per month billed annually |
| Enterprise | Included above | Custom |
| Annual saving | 17% (Standard), 20% (Teams) | 25% |
| Trial | Trial offered; length not stated | 14 days on Teams and Organizations |
| Self host | No | Cal.diy community edition, MIT license |
Prices from each pricing page in October 2026. Calendly prints monthly per seat figures with a yearly toggle; Cal.com prints yearly billed per user figures only.
Worked examples.
- One consultant who needs three meeting types. Calendly needs Standard: $120 a year at the listed rate, about $100 with the yearly saving. Cal.com Free: $0.
- Ten person sales team with round robin and Salesforce. Calendly Teams: $1,920 a year at the listed rate, about $1,536 yearly. Cal.com Teams: $1,440 a year.
- Sixty seat company needing SSO. Calendly Enterprise: from $15,000 a year. Cal.com Organizations: $20,160 a year at $28 per user. At this size Calendly can be cheaper; get both quotes.
See how these compare with Reclaim and Motion in the AI Price Index.
Models and features
| Feature | Calendly | Cal.com |
|---|---|---|
| Event types on free | 1 | Unlimited |
| Connected calendars | 1 free, 6 on paid plans | Unlimited on every plan |
| Integrations | 100+ | 100+ apps |
| CRM | HubSpot on Standard, Salesforce on Teams, Dynamics on Enterprise | Two way Salesforce and HubSpot sync on Free |
| Routing | Routing forms on Teams; Salesforce lookup routing on Enterprise | Routing forms on Teams; routing by custom variables on Organizations |
| Round robin | Teams | Teams |
| Branding removal | Paid plans | Teams |
| SSO | Optional add on for Teams; SAML on Enterprise | SAML SSO and SCIM on Organizations |
| Compliance listed | Audit log, data deletion API on Enterprise | SOC 2, HIPAA, ISO 27001 on Organizations |
| AI | Notetaker and Callie (beta) add ons, English only | Cal.ai phone agent linked, price not listed |
| Open source | No | Yes, MIT community edition |
| Mobile | iOS and Android apps, browser extensions, Outlook add in | iOS app, browser extension |
Specific head to head scenarios
A freelancer who wants a free booking page
Winner: Cal.com. Unlimited event types and calendars, payments and reminders on the free plan. Calendly Free stops at one event type and one calendar.
An inbound sales team routing demo requests
Winner: Calendly. Routing forms, round robin, Salesforce on Teams and lookup routing on Enterprise are mature, and the Marketo and Pardot connectors suit marketing led teams. Cal.com matches the core features but has a smaller ecosystem.
A clinic or health tech startup
Winner: Cal.com. Organizations lists SOC 2, HIPAA and ISO 27001 at a published $28 per user. Calendly's pages did not list HIPAA.
A developer embedding scheduling in a product
Winner: Cal.com. APIs on Teams and more on Organizations, plus an open source codebase with 49,200 GitHub stars. Calendly is a closed SaaS product.
A company that wants the safest, most familiar option
Winner: Calendly. It reports over 20 million users, holds 4.8 on the App Store from 55,544 ratings, and Trustpilot reviewers single out its human support. Cal.com's 4.7 on Trustpilot from 433 reviews is strong, but its mobile base is small.
Privacy
Calendly's Enterprise plan adds SSO and SAML, domain control, audit logs and a data deletion API; its features page describes enterprise security without naming certifications. Cal.com's Organizations plan lists SOC 2, HIPAA and ISO 27001, SAML SSO, SCIM and role based permissions, and you can self host the community edition if you want data on your own servers. For regulated industries, Cal.com publishes more.
Verdict
Cal.com is the better value for most individuals and small teams: its free plan does what Calendly charges for, its team plan is cheaper, and it publishes HIPAA and SOC 2 on a listed price. Calendly is still the stronger pick for revenue teams that need deep marketing and CRM integrations and want the market standard, and at 50+ seats its Enterprise quote can undercut Cal.com Organizations. If you want AI that also protects your own focus time, pair either with Reclaim, or see the full ranking in best AI scheduling assistant.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cal.com better than Calendly?
On the free plan, yes: unlimited event types, unlimited calendars, 100+ apps and Salesforce and HubSpot sync, where Calendly Free allows one event type. Calendly is better for large sales teams that want its routing, Microsoft Dynamics and the broadest set of marketing integrations.
Is Cal.com really free?
The hosted Free plan is free forever for one user. There is also a self hosted community edition, Cal.diy, under the MIT license, but Cal.com marks it for personal, non production use and it removes team, workflow and SSO features.
How much does Calendly cost compared with Cal.com?
Calendly lists Standard at $10 and Teams at $16 per seat per month, with yearly billing labeled save 17% and 20%. Cal.com lists Teams at $12 and Organizations at $28 per user per month on yearly billing, saving 25%. Both have custom Enterprise pricing; Calendly's starts at $15,000 a year.
Can I move from Calendly to Cal.com?
Yes. Cal.com's free plan includes a one click Calendly event import. Update the booking links on your website, email signature and ads after you switch, since old Calendly links will not redirect.
Which is better for HIPAA?
Cal.com lists SOC 2, HIPAA and ISO 27001 compliance on its Organizations plan at $28 per user annually. Calendly's pricing and features pages did not list a HIPAA offering when we checked in October 2026.
Does Calendly have AI features Cal.com lacks?
Calendly sells a Notetaker and an email scheduling assistant called Callie (beta) as add ons, both English only. Cal.com links to Cal.ai, an AI phone agent, without listing a price. Neither is a reason to choose on its own yet.