Calendly vs Acuity vs SavvyCal: Best Scheduling App for Childcare Businesses
A smart scheduling link saves your childcare business hours each week. It cuts down on back-and-forth texts and emails with busy parents. Calendly, Acuity, and SavvyCal each handle booking differently. These differences matter if you manage hourly babysitting slots, process payments for full-day daycare, or coordinate nanny interviews with specific family needs.
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The Quick Answer
Choose Calendly for simple, one-off bookings like an initial nanny interview or an hourly babysitting slot. It’s easy for parents to use and quick to set up. Choose Acuity Scheduling if you run a home daycare, a structured nanny service, or a babysitting agency. Acuity handles detailed parent intake forms (allergies, emergency contacts), recurring weekly care, bundled packages (e.g., after-school care), and secure payment processing. Choose SavvyCal if you're coordinating multiple nanny interviews with busy families, and you want a smoother, more collaborative way to find a common time without endless messages.
Side-by-Side Breakdown
Calendly offers a free plan (1 event type) and paid plans from $10-16/user/month. It's best for quick, simple scheduling links for single events like an initial 'meet-the-nanny' call. Acuity costs $16-61/month. It's a full management platform for childcare, handling client profiles (for each child), parent intake forms (e.g., medical history, pick-up authorizations), recurring bookings for weekly daycare, package sales (e.g., '10 hours of babysitting'), and secure payment processing. SavvyCal costs $12-20/month. It uses a calendar overlay, making it easier to find a time that works for both parties, which can be useful for coordinating with busy parents for interviews or daycare tours, making the process less like filling out a cold form.
When to Choose Calendly
Choose Calendly if you're an individual babysitter or nanny just starting out, offering hourly care or one-time services. It's perfect for scheduling a '1-hour Babysitting Session' or an 'Initial Nanny Interview' directly from your social media or email signature. Its free plan is often enough for individual providers to get a simple booking link. It's also useful for a home daycare owner to schedule quick parent-teacher chats or initial tour bookings for prospective families.
When to Choose Acuity Scheduling
Choose Acuity if you run a home daycare, a nanny placement agency, or a structured babysitting service. You need robust features for managing multiple children and families. Acuity excels at creating custom intake forms for allergies, emergency contacts, authorized pickups, and daily routines. You can set up recurring weekly daycare spots, sell 'after-school care' packages, or manage payments for monthly tuition. It's a complete business tool that ensures you have all the necessary information and payment upfront for each child's care.
When to Choose SavvyCal
SavvyCal is less about direct parent booking for childcare sessions and more about efficient coordination. Consider SavvyCal if you're a nanny agency owner needing to schedule many interviews between families and nannies, or a daycare administrator finding a common time for staff meetings or vendor appointments. Its calendar overlay helps everyone quickly see shared availability, reducing back-and-forth emails. This makes scheduling feel less transactional when you need to coordinate with busy parents for an initial consultation or a facility tour.
The Verdict
For individual babysitters or nannies needing a simple, free booking link for hourly appointments, start with Calendly. For home daycares, nanny agencies, or growing babysitting businesses that need detailed client profiles, secure payments, recurring bookings, and custom intake forms, Acuity is the clear choice. For specific coordination needs like arranging multiple interviews between busy parties, SavvyCal offers a more collaborative experience. Start with Calendly's free plan for basic needs, and consider Acuity as your childcare business grows and requires more detailed management.
How to Get Started
To start with **Calendly**: sign up free at calendly.com. Connect your Google or Outlook calendar. Create your first event type, like '30-minute Meet & Greet' or '2-hour Babysitting Slot,' and share the link with parents. For **Acuity**: begin a free trial at acuityscheduling.com. Set up your service offerings such as 'Full-Day Infant Care' or 'Weekly After-School Program.' Connect Stripe for payments, customize your intake forms for child-specific details, and share your booking page link. For **SavvyCal**: sign up at savvycal.com. Connect your calendar, create a personalized scheduling link for initial consultations or interviews, and use it when coordinating with families or staff.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can Calendly accept payments?
Yes, on the Professional plan ($16/month). Calendly integrates with Stripe and PayPal to collect payment at booking. For full service business appointment management including packages, Acuity is more capable.
Does Acuity work for group classes?
Yes. Acuity supports group classes with capacity limits, waitlists, and package purchases. This makes it popular among fitness instructors, yoga studios, and workshop facilitators.
What is the Calendly free plan limit?
Calendly Free allows one active event type — for example, a 30-minute call. If you need multiple event types (15-minute intro, 60-minute deep dive, group session), you need the Standard plan at $10/month.