Cal.com is an open-source scheduling tool: share a link and people book a time that suits you both. It's for founders, consultants and coaches who want booking pages without paying a monthly fee. The free plan covers one user with unlimited event types and calendars, Stripe and PayPal payments, email and SMS notifications and two-way Salesforce and HubSpot sync.
What it can do for you
Set up separate booking types for discovery calls, paid sessions and catch-ups, connect all your calendars so you're never double-booked, and take payment at the time of booking. Bookings can sync into your CRM, and there are over 100 app integrations for video, calendars and automations. It's a lot of scheduling for nothing.
What people like
Reddit comparisons keep making the same point: Cal.com's free plan is far more generous than Calendly's, which is limited to one event type. People like the flexibility, the integrations and the open-source approach.
The honest downsides
- Less polished. Reviewers find it more flexible but rougher around the edges than Calendly, and some settings take a while to find.
- Some calendar setups have sync issues. Open GitHub issues describe recurring events in CalDAV and Outlook calendars not blocking availability, which can cause double bookings.
- Teams cost money. The free plan is for one person; team scheduling is paid per user.
- Self-hosting is not simple. You can run it yourself, but that takes technical skill.
Skip it if
- you rely on recurring events in Outlook or a CalDAV calendar and can't test first
- you want the most familiar, polished experience for clients
- you need team round-robin without paying
Alternatives
We don't list a better free option. Different trade-offs:
- Calendly is the polished, familiar choice, but its free plan is one event type and one calendar.
- TidyCal is the pay-once route for paid and group bookings, if you'd rather own a lifetime plan.
Some links may be affiliate links. They help keep WebTools.directory running at no extra cost to you.
Comments