Acuity is a very good calendar. It takes the booking, the intake form and the payment, and then it stops. ColibriOS carries on: the payment lands in your books, the client lands in your CRM, and the same system runs your classes, memberships, courses and website.
Acuity Scheduling, part of Squarespace, is an appointment calendar for service businesses: self-scheduling, intake forms, reminders and payment at booking, from one calendar up to 36.
| Feature | ColibriOS | Acuity Scheduling |
|---|---|---|
| 1:1 booking and scheduling | Yes. Booking with intake forms, waivers and paymentsServe | Yes. Client self-scheduling with unlimited services and appointments on every plan |
| Classes, workshops and events | Yes. Classes, workshops, retreats and events with ticketing and check-inGather | Yes. 1:1 services or group classes, workshops and events |
| Capacity and waitlists | Yes. Capacity, automatic waitlists and door check-inGather | Yes. A waitlist for last-minute cancellations and daily appointment limits |
| Memberships and class packs | Yes. Recurring memberships, class packs and member pricingGather | Partly. Packages, subscriptions, memberships and gift certificates from the Standard plan up |
| Online courses | Yes. Courses with enrollment, student payments and portalsServe | Not stated. Online courses are not listed on their pricing or feature pages |
| Website on your own domain | Yes. Editable website on your own custom domainServe | Partly. A branded booking page; a full website is built with Squarespace or another builder |
| CRM and email marketing | Yes. Full CRM, email campaigns, funnels and textingServe | Partly. Client profiles with notes; email marketing is not listed |
| Bookkeeping and tax-ready books | Yes. Income tracked as it happens, expenses categorized, tax-ready year-end reportServe | No. Reporting on appointments, no-shows and performance; no bookkeeping or expense tracking listed |
| Published pricing | Yes. $116, $297 and $597 a month, on the pricing page | Yes. $20, $34 and $61 a month, or $16, $27 and $49 billed annually |
| Contract required | No. Month to month | No. Monthly or annual billing |
| Cancel yourself, online | Yes. Settings, then Billing | Yes. Described as easy to cancel your account completely, with no cancellation fees |
Acuity Scheduling details checked August 2026 on Acuity Scheduling's own pages. Their plans change; if you see something out of date, tell us at hello@colibrios.com. A tier badge on the ColibriOS column shows the lowest plan that includes the feature; every tier contains the one before it.
Published on the pricing page. 30-day free trial, no credit card, month to month, cancel yourself in Settings.
Three published plans from $20 to $61 a month (20% less billed annually), a 7-day free trial with no credit card, payments through Stripe, Square or PayPal, and an account that is easy to cancel with no cancellation fees.
Source: Acuity Scheduling's pricing page, checked August 2026A comparison that says we win every row is not one you should trust. Here is where Acuity Scheduling genuinely does more.
Starter is $20 a month, or $16 billed annually. If booking with payment is the whole job, Acuity does it for about a sixth of Serve.
Source, checked August 2026The Premium plan runs up to 36 calendars, with a custom API and CSS. ColibriOS is built for a practitioner or a small team, not a 36-calendar front desk.
Source, checked August 2026Acuity pairs with a Squarespace site and connects to Google Meet, Zoom and GoToMeeting on every plan. ColibriOS builds the website itself, and takes a meeting link you paste on a session or event rather than creating Zoom or Google Meet links for you.
Source, checked August 2026ColibriOS books 1:1 sessions the way you'd expect: client self-scheduling, intake forms and waivers, deposits or full prepayment through your own Stripe or PayPal, and automatic email reminders. The difference is what happens next. The appointment, the payment and the person are all recorded in one place, so nothing has to be re-entered anywhere.
When a session is paid, it is income in your books that moment, categorized and dated. Connect your bank and expenses arrive on their own; mileage is tracked at the official IRS rate. At year end you download a tax-ready report instead of assembling one. This is the part a scheduling tool cannot do, and the part most practitioners pay an accountant to reconstruct.
Serve at $116 a month covers 1:1 booking, the CRM, email, a website, courses and the books. When you start filling a room, Gather adds classes, workshops and retreats with capacity, waitlists and check-in, plus memberships and class packs. Each tier contains the one before it, so growing is a switch, not a migration to a second product.
Your booking lives on an editable website on your own domain, with landing pages, sign-up forms and funnels wired to the same CRM your clients are in. Newsletters, campaigns and text messages go out from there too, so a booking is the start of a relationship rather than a line on a calendar.
No. Acuity starts at $20 a month and ColibriOS starts at $116. If all you need is a calendar that takes payments, Acuity is the better buy. ColibriOS is priced as a whole business system: booking plus the website, CRM, email, courses and bookkeeping that would otherwise be four or five other subscriptions.
Yes. Export your clients from Acuity as a CSV and import them into ColibriOS; they land as contacts with their notes and tags. Export them again whenever you like.
Yes. Booking confirmations and reminders go out by email automatically, and you can write your own session emails timed before or after each appointment. Text messaging is available with your own texting number.
Yes, on the Gather plan: classes, workshops, retreats and events with capacity limits, automatic waitlists, check-in at the door and attendee portals.
No. Payments go through your own Stripe or PayPal account at your processor's standard rate. ColibriOS is a flat monthly price and adds nothing on top.
Included on every plan. Intake forms and waivers attach to a booking type, get filled in before the session, and stay on the client's record.
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