Calendly vs. TidyCal: Which scheduling tool is right for your small business?

When client meetings are at the heart of your small business, easy scheduling is a must. Your scheduling software should make running your business easier — taking admin tasks off your plate so you can focus on offering a great client experience.

Calendly and TidyCal both promise to simplify meeting scheduling. But they differ in a few key ways, especially when it comes to integrations, flexibility, and features that support your growing business.

Let's take a closer look at each scheduling app so you can make the right choice for your business.

What features do Calendly and TidyCal have in common?

Calendly and TidyCal save time by taking the hassle out of booking meetings. Instead of playing phone tag or going back and forth over email, clients and customers can find a meeting time in just a few clicks.

Both Calendly and TidyCal let you:

• Create and share booking pages that make it easy for invitees to see your availability and book a time

• Connect your calendar(s) to avoid double bookings

• Schedule one-on-one and co-hosted meetings

• Send out meeting polls for invitees to vote on times

• Connect video conferencing tools to automatically add meeting links to events

• Ask custom questions on your booking form

• Accept payments at booking with Stripe and PayPal

• Add suggested meeting times to emails

• Embed your booking page on your website

• Automatically assign meetings to the next available team member with round-robin scheduling

Top differences between Calendly and TidyCal

While Calendly and TidyCal share a lot of essential scheduling features, Calendly is more flexible, scalable, and customizable — while still being easy to use.

For small businesses who want to create a top-notch client experience, here’s where Calendly stands out:

• Mobile app

• Browser extensions

• Integrations

• Automated reminders and follow-ups via email and text

• Customization options

• Single-use links

• Customer support

Let’s dig in a little deeper …

Schedule and manage meetings from anywhere

How much time do you spend jumping between apps and tabs?

Calendly works where you work. With mobile apps for iOS and Android, you can manage your meetings, update your availability, and share your booking link on the go.

Calendly’s free browser extension for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox makes it easy to share your availability and manage meetings without having to switch tabs. You can add clickable time slots directly to an email, book your next meeting in real time, and find and share the right scheduling link from anywhere in your web browser.

Calendly works where you work. Book meetings from Calendly's mobile app, browser extensions, email and website embeds, LinkedIn integration, and more.  

The browser extension also adds a Calendly button to LinkedIn Messaging. Share your scheduling link in one click, so prospective clients can quickly see your availability and book a meeting at the height of their interest.

TidyCal doesn’t offer a mobile app, browser extension, or LinkedIn integration. That means a lot more time spent rushing back to your desk or switching between tabs every time you want to manage or share your calendar.

Connect your scheduling software with the apps you use every day

When you connect all of the different tools you rely on to run your business, you can spend less time manually entering meeting details, updating contact records, and juggling other admin tasks.

TidyCal integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook, Zoom, PayPal, Stripe, and Zapier.

Calendly offers 100+ integrations, including:

• Calendar integrations (Google Calendar, Outlook, Exchange, Office 365)

• Video conferencing (Zoom, GoToMeeting, Webex, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams)

• CRMs and sales tools (Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365)

• Email and marketing automation platforms (ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, Typeform)

• PayPal and Stripe, so you can collect payments at booking

• Collaboration and productivity tools (Slack, Microsoft Teams chat, Loom)

• Workflow automation tools (Zapier and Make)

Automatically send personalized reminders and follow-ups via email and SMS

Missed meetings can be a real headache — especially when your schedule is already packed. Calendly helps reduce no-shows by sending automatic email and text reminders, even when you're busy with other work or away from your desk. With Calendly Workflows, you can choose exactly when these notifications go out (like 24 hours or 15 minutes before a meeting), so they make sense for you and your clients.

Calendly meeting reminders can also be personalized for each invitee, automatically adding key details like the person's name and the meeting time and location.

If you share resources like pricing sheets, prep guides, or project outlines before meetings, you can add these into Calendly's automated reminders too — saving you the hassle of manually sending those each time. You can also automate post-meeting messages, like thank-yous and follow-ups, to keep clients engaged between meetings.

“Dealing with no-shows is no longer a challenge thanks to email and text reminders set up using the Workflows feature. Our sought-after advisors aren’t left waiting for students who missed appointments.”

Corey Trader

Academic Advisor at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC)

TidyCal, on the other hand, only lets you send two email reminders per meeting and doesn't support text reminders. You can’t automate post-meeting follow-ups via email or text, so you might find yourself spending more time manually checking in with clients.

Create a professional scheduling experience that feels like “you”

You've put time and energy into building a brand that feels consistent and professional, but still authentically "you."

Calendly lets you carry that same thoughtful approach right through to your booking page. You can easily add your own logo, tailor the wording exactly how you want, and customize website embeds to match your brand colors. Plus, you can completely remove Calendly's branding, so clients stay focused on you and your business — not the tool you're using.

TidyCal doesn't give you that same level of customization options. Even on paid plans, the booking page shows a "Powered by TidyCal" banner. It's a small detail, but it can make your scheduling feel a little less personalized, especially if you're trying to maintain a cohesive, professional, and genuinely personal experience for your clients.

Stay flexible when scheduling gets complicated

When you're running your own business, your scheduling needs can change from day to day. Calendly gives you a handful of extra features that help keep booking easy — even when scheduling scenarios get complex:

• Protect your calendar with single-use links: Create scheduling links that expire after the meeting is booked, so invitees can’t share your booking page or schedule multiple meetings.

• Schedule high-priority one-off meetings: Book a one-time, high-priority meeting that doesn’t fit your regular meeting types or availability. You can book over existing events and choose custom timing, hosts, and location.

• Delegate scheduling: Easily give someone else (like a virtual assistant, team member, or contractor) the ability to manage bookings for you.

• Match clients with the right team member: With Calendly Routing, you can show clients the right booking page based on how they answer your form questions. For example, a wellness business could ask about a client’s health goals, then send them to the right staff member’s booking page based on their response.

TidyCal doesn’t offer any of these advanced features.

You might not need all of these options today, but having them available means that as your business grows or your scheduling needs evolve, you won't need to start over with a completely new system. Instead, you’ll already have flexible tools ready to use when you need them.

Reach customer support whenever you need it

If your business runs on client meetings, you need a reliable scheduling tool — including customer support that’s there when you need help. Calendly offers 24/7 email support for all users and 24/7 live chat support on all paid plans.

TidyCal provides email-only support with up to an eight-hour response time, which could feel frustrating if scheduling issues impact your business.

Calendly vs. TidyCal pricing

TidyCal offers three pricing plans:

• Free plan

• Individual plan: $39 one-time payment

• Agency plan: $79 one-time payment

TidyCal’s pricing can be appealing if you're looking for an appointment scheduling app with basic features. But the features are limited — even on the highest-paid plan, you can’t remove TidyCal’s branding, send SMS reminders, or automate follow-ups.

Calendly has four pricing tiers:

• Free plan

• Standard: $10 per user per month (billed annually)

• Teams: $16 per user per month (billed annually)

• Enterprise: Custom pricing for larger organizations

“A standard subscription to Calendly is $10/month. Let's say you earn $40/hour. As long as Calendly saves you at least 15 minutes of time per month, the tool has paid for itself,” says Anna Burgess Yang, freelance content marketer and journalist. “You can put that banked time toward something more meaningful for your business, such as additional client work or time spent marketing yourself.” 

“As long as Calendly saves you at least 15 minutes of time per month, the tool has paid for itself.”

Anna Burgess Yang

Freelance Content Marketer and Journalist

Calendly vs. TidyCal: Which calendar app should you choose?

Calendly and TidyCal are both user-friendly scheduling tools for small businesses. But as your business grows, TidyCal can feel limiting, especially when it comes to creating an authentic, professional scheduling experience for your clients.

With 100+ integrations, customization options, unlimited reminders and follow-ups, and best-in-class customer support, Calendly is designed to tackle every scheduling scenario that comes your way.

“Calendly has led to an improvement in everything because it’s helped us successfully start and scale our business.”

Jessica Shelley

Co-Founder and CEO at DailiesPods

See why over 20 million people use Calendly to simplify their scheduling. Sign up for free.