Acuity Scheduling alternative
Acuity has no free plan and bills in US dollars with Stripe, Square, PayPal, or Venmo. Booklink has a free tier, flat R79/month pricing, and Yoco, Paystack, PayFast, and iKhokha built in.
Booklink is the best Acuity Scheduling alternative in South Africa for service providers who want local payments and a genuine free plan. Acuity (now part of Squarespace) does not offer a free plan, only a 7-day trial, and its cheapest tier starts at $20/month for a single calendar, billed in US dollars. Its pricing and features pages name Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Venmo as payment processors, with no South African gateway among them, and describe email and SMS reminders with no mention of WhatsApp. Booklink's Free plan runs indefinitely (1 service, 1 team member, 30 bookings a month), and the R79/month Pro plan adds Yoco, Paystack, PayFast, and iKhokha payments, WhatsApp reminders, rooms, classes, and packages, priced in rand with no FX risk.
| Feature | Booklink | Acuity Scheduling |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | R0 or R79/mo | From $20/mo (about R323) |
| Free plan | ✓ 30 bookings/mo | ✗ 7-day trial only |
| Commission or per-booking fees | None | None stated |
| South African payment gateways | ✓ Yoco, Paystack, PayFast, iKhokha | ✗ Stripe, Square, PayPal, Venmo only |
| WhatsApp reminders | ✓ | Not stated (email + SMS) |
| Marketplace listing | ✗ | ✗ Standalone tool |
| Team members | Up to 5 (Pro) | 1 calendar on cheapest plan |
| Rooms | ✓ | Resource availability, no named rooms feature |
| Classes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Packages | ✓ | ✓ |
Acuity's 7-day trial ends in a paid plan. Booklink's Free plan runs for as long as you need it: 1 service, 1 team member, 30 bookings a month, no credit card required.
Acuity's pricing page lists Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Venmo. None of those are South African. Booklink's Pro plan collects deposits and full payments through Yoco, Paystack, PayFast, or iKhokha.
Acuity bills in US dollars, so your cost moves with the exchange rate. Booklink's Pro plan is a flat R79/month, fixed in rand.
Acuity's own pages describe email and SMS reminders, with no mention of WhatsApp. Booklink sends automatic WhatsApp reminders on the Pro plan, which South African clients are far more likely to see and act on than an SMS.
Acuity's entry Starter plan includes 1 calendar; you need to upgrade to add staff. Booklink's Pro plan includes up to 5 team members at one flat price.
Booklink does booking, payments, calendar sync, and reminders, sized for a solo provider or small team, without a tiered calendar-count ladder to climb.
Acuity bills in US dollars, so the rand cost moves with the exchange rate. Figures below use the mid-market rate of about R16.14 per USD (xe.com, 2 September 2026).
| Tier | Booklink | Acuity Scheduling |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier available | Yes, R0 · 30 bookings/mo | No, 7-day trial only |
| Entry paid plan | R79/mo | $20/mo ≈ R323/mo (or $16/mo ≈ R258/mo billed annually) |
| Annual cost | R948 | $240/yr ≈ R3,874 (or $192/yr ≈ R3,099 billed annually) |
| Team members included | Up to 5 | 1 calendar |
| FX risk | None, billed in ZAR | Rand weakens → price rises |
Acuity pricing from acuityscheduling.com/pricing, checked 2 September 2026. Rand figures are estimates at the mid-market USD/ZAR rate on that date and will move with the exchange rate; Booklink bills a fixed R79/month in rand.
Acuity is a mature, feature-rich product. Here is where it beats Booklink.
You already run your site on Squarespace
Acuity is owned by Squarespace and integrates deeply with Squarespace sites and templates. If your website is already on Squarespace, that native fit is hard to match with a standalone tool like Booklink.
Your clients and processors are US-based
Acuity is built around Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Venmo, and its scaling calendar tiers (up to 36 calendars on Premium) suit a larger, US-centric team. If most of your clients and payments are outside South Africa, Acuity's US-first setup may fit better than Booklink's ZAR-first one.
You need a bigger calendar count than 5
Acuity scales to 36 calendars on its Premium plan. Booklink's Pro plan caps at 5 team members by default (custom plans are available beyond that on request), so a larger multi-location business may find Acuity's tiering more natural.
Acuity Scheduling (owned by Squarespace) has no free plan and bills in US dollars from $20/month, and its pricing and help pages name Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Venmo as payment processors with no South African gateway among them. Booklink has a free plan (30 bookings a month, no credit card) and a flat R79/month Pro plan, with Yoco, Paystack, PayFast, and iKhokha built in.
No. Acuity offers a 7-day free trial and then requires a paid plan starting at $20/month billed monthly (or $16/month billed annually), with the cheapest tier limited to 1 calendar. Booklink's Free plan runs indefinitely: 1 service, 1 team member, 30 bookings a month, no credit card required.
Acuity's own pricing and features pages describe email reminders on every plan and SMS reminders from the Standard tier up; WhatsApp is not mentioned on any page we checked. Booklink's Pro plan sends automatic WhatsApp reminders, which matter in South Africa where WhatsApp is the everyday messaging app.
Acuity's pricing page names Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Venmo as its supported processors. None of Yoco, Paystack, PayFast, or iKhokha appear on its pricing or features pages. Booklink's Pro plan collects deposits and full payments through all four of those South African gateways.
Yes. Set up your services, team members, and availability in Booklink (about 5 minutes), then start sharing your new booking link. Acuity does not export directly into Booklink, so re-entering your service list and staff calendars is a manual step, but it is a short one for most solo providers and small teams.
Competitor facts on this page were checked on 2 September 2026 against the sources below. Prices and features change; tell us at [email protected] if something is out of date.
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Get started for freeLast reviewed: . Reviewed by Nico Huysamen, Founder & Director, Tora Technologies. Cape Town, South Africa.