Acuity alternatives: booking that lives with the rest of your business
Short answer: Acuity Scheduling is a mature online booking tool, well liked by coaches, salons, therapists and studios. If you sell sessions and want clients to pay when they book, it does that well. If you are comparing Acuity alternatives because bookings feel cut off from your customers, quotes and jobs, Alori is the all-in-one app for service businesses, with online booking built in.
Who Acuity fits well
Acuity is made for appointment-based businesses. Clients pick a time from your availability, fill in an intake form, and can pay or use a package when they book. It sits nicely beside a website, and it handles many appointment types and calendars.
As of October 2026, Acuity's pricing page lists Starter at $16 per month billed annually ($20 monthly), Standard at $27 per month billed annually ($34 monthly), and Premium at $55 per month billed annually ($69 monthly).
Why owners look for an Acuity alternative
For a service business, the booking is the start of a job, not the whole thing.
- The booking does not become anything. After the client books, someone types them into the CRM, sends a quote, plans the visit and bills it in other tools.
- Customers write and call too. Questions about a booking arrive by text, email or phone, away from the calendar.
- Your team grows. Each new person who takes bookings or works jobs needs access, and the tools around the calendar add up.
Acuity vs Alori, side by side
| Acuity Scheduling | Alori | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Online appointment booking | All-in-one app: booking, customers, schedule, quotes, jobs, invoices, inbox |
| Booking links | Yes, many appointment types | Yes, one link per appointment type, or one page with all of them |
| Team booking | Yes | Groups, round robin ("Each in turn") and whole-team bookings |
| Pay when booking | Yes | Not yet. Customers pay invoices by card instead |
| Reminders | Yes | Email reminders, up to 4 per booking, plus a 1-hour email to everyone |
| Calendar sync | Yes | Google Calendar and Outlook, up to 6 accounts |
| After the booking | Other tools | Same app: customer record, quote, visit on the schedule, invoice |
What Alori replaces, and what it does not
What booking in Alori does today:
- Booking links per appointment. Name it, pick 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes or a custom length, and choose where it happens: in person, phone, Alori video, Google Meet, or let the customer choose. Copy the link or one page with all your types. See online booking.
- Your hours and days off. Set hours per day, add days off, and choose how far ahead and with how much notice customers can book.
- Questions and routing. Add questions to a booking. A booking form can send customers to the right appointment, or show "We do not serve this area yet" for a postal code outside your zone.
- Approval when you want it. Pick "I confirm each request" and requests wait for you before they count.
- Teams. Let several customers book one time slot, give each booking to the next free person, or book the whole team together.
- Reminders and calendars. Email reminders 2 days, 1 day, 4 hours or 1 hour before. Connect Google or Outlook so busy times are never offered.
- On your website. Embed the calendar, a button or a text link on any site. If Alori built your website, paste one request in the chat and it adds a booking button. See website.
- Booking stats. See link views, bookings, cancellations, no-shows and where customers found you.
What it does not replace yet:
- Customers cannot pay or leave a deposit when they book.
- There are no packages, memberships or gift certificates.
- A booking does not create a customer record or a job by itself.
If you sell prepaid sessions, Acuity may stay the better tool for that part. Alori shines when a booking leads to a quote, a visit and an invoice.
How to switch
- Turn on booking. In Booking, check your name and time zone, click Turn on booking, and start from a ready-made appointment like Home estimate or Service call.
- Recreate your appointment types. Copy the names, lengths, questions and reminders from Acuity. Connect your Google or Outlook calendar.
- Bring your clients. Export them from Acuity and paste the rows into Ask Alori. Alori sorts names, phones and emails on its own.
- Swap the link. Replace the Acuity link or embed on your website with the Alori one.
Also comparing link-only schedulers? See the Calendly alternative.
FAQ
Is Alori a good Acuity alternative? Yes, for service businesses where a booking leads to work: an estimate, a visit, a job and an invoice. You get booking links, team scheduling, reminders and calendar sync in the same app. For businesses that need payment at booking or packages, Acuity still does more.
Can customers pay when they book in Alori? Not yet. Booking takes no payment for now. Customers can pay your invoices by card from the invoice email.
Do booking reminders go by text? Booking reminders go by email today. You can text customers yourself from the shared inbox on your business number.
What does Alori cost? See pricing. There is a free plan, no card needed, and every plan has unlimited users.