Calendly alternatives in 2026: an honest overview

Calendly is the best-known scheduler, but not the best choice for everyone: the per-seat price adds up for teams, data sits on US servers and the free plan stops at one event type. Below are the alternatives, sorted by what you are looking for.

In fairness: this overview lives on Calio’s website, and Calio is on the list. That is why every alternative comes with the case for choosing it instead, and the detailed comparisons link to prices with a date and a source.

Your data must stay in the EU, without self-hosting

Calio (this is our own product): application and database in a data centre in Amsterdam, sub-processors named by company and country in the DPA, a free plan with unlimited event types, iDEAL through Mollie. Paid plans from € 8 per user per month billed yearly.
meetergo and Timify: German providers with EU hosting. A good pick if you serve the German market or want a German-speaking vendor.
OnlineAfspraken.nl: Dutch and ISO 27001-certified, aimed at practices and salons. No free plan (from €20 a month, as of February 2026).

On this question, mind the difference between “servers in the EU” and an EU provider: data on EU servers of a US company still falls under the CLOUD Act. The details are in our article on the CLOUD Act.

You want open source or self-hosting

Cal.com is the obvious candidate: self-hosting gives you full control, including the operations work that comes with it. Two things to know: the cloud version runs on US infrastructure, and since 2026 the main codebase is largely closed-source (the community edition is called Cal.diy). The trade-off is laid out in Calio vs Cal.com.

You already live in Microsoft 365

Microsoft Bookings comes with many Microsoft 365 subscriptions and hangs straight off Outlook and Teams; for a simple booking page inside one tenant that is often enough. The limits: Microsoft calendars only, no payments, and a licence per staff member who receives bookings. Where you hit those limits is covered in Calio vs Microsoft Bookings.

You just want to poll a group for a date

Doodle is the best-known name for that; its free plan does show ads to your participants. Calio has a built-in group poll that proposes times from your real calendar and turns the confirmed time straight into a booking. The comparison is in Calio vs Doodle.

You want an established all-in-one for service businesses

Acuity Scheduling (part of Squarespace) is a mature product with intake forms and payments through Stripe. There is no free plan and it runs on US servers. See Calio vs Acuity.

The detailed comparisons

Each alternative has a comparison with a feature table, prices with a date, and the honest reasons to switch or to stay:

Moving away from Calendly? The step-by-step plan is in Switching from Calendly.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best free Calendly alternative?

It depends on what "free" needs to do. Calio’s free plan has unlimited event types and shows no ads. Cal.com is free for individual use. Doodle has a free plan that shows ads to your participants. Calendly’s own free plan stops at one event type.

Which Calendly alternatives keep data in the EU?

Calio runs entirely in a data centre in Amsterdam, with every sub-processor named by company and country in the DPA. The German providers meetergo and Timify host in the EU. Mind the difference between "servers in the EU" and an EU provider: data on EU servers of a US company still falls under the CLOUD Act.

Do I need to migrate my data when leaving Calendly?

Usually not. A scheduler mostly holds settings (event types, working hours) and you recreate those in a few minutes. Past bookings stay in your calendar, because that is where they were synced. Then you replace the booking link in your email signature and on your site.

Try it yourself?

Setting up a booking link in Calio takes a few minutes, and the free plan stays free. You can try it alongside your current tool at your own pace.

Start for free