Acuity Scheduling alternative for class studios

Acuity books appointments. StudioBook runs a class studio.

Acuity can host group classes, and it does it well for a scheduler. But it prices by calendar, gates memberships behind a higher tier, and is built around the 1:1 appointment. If your business is a weekly class schedule, that's the wrong centre of gravity.

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No credit card. Cancel anytime. Migration included.

What it costs you

Acuity Scheduling

StudioBook

Entry price

Acuity Scheduling$20/month (Starter, 1 calendar)

StudioBook$69/month flat

Price to sell memberships or packages

Acuity Scheduling$34/month (Standard) or above

StudioBookIncluded

Calendars / instructors

Acuity Scheduling1 · up to 6 · up to 36 by tier

StudioBookUnlimited

Class waitlists

Acuity SchedulingSupported

StudioBookSupported, with automatic promotion

Built for

Acuity SchedulingAppointments, with classes supported

StudioBookClass schedules, only

Why class studios move off Acuity

5 reasons studios switch

The tier you actually need isn't the $20 one

Acuity's Starter plan is $20/month and gives you one calendar. Per Acuity's published tier list, selling memberships and packages starts at Standard ($34/month), and so do text-message reminders. For a class studio, memberships and class packs aren't an upsell — they're the revenue model. So the real comparison for a studio isn't $20 against $69, it's $34 or $61 against $69, with a calendar cap attached.

With StudioBook

$69/month with memberships, credit packs, single-class payments, and email automation all in the base price. There is no tier to move up to, and nothing about how you sell is gated.

You're priced by calendar, and a studio has a lot of calendars

Acuity's tiers are defined by calendar count: one on Starter, up to six on Standard, up to thirty-six on Premium. In practice a calendar is an instructor, a room, or a resource. A studio with seven teachers is on Premium at $61/month whether or not it needs anything else Premium adds. Growth in your teaching team, not in your revenue, is what moves you up a tier — which is a strange thing to be billed for.

With StudioBook

No calendar concept and no cap. Add as many instructors, rooms, and class types as you run. Hiring a sixth teacher doesn't change your bill.

Class packs behave like appointment packages, because that's what they are

Acuity supports packages from the Standard tier, and its class-series option lets a client sign up for every date in a run at once. Both work. Neither is quite the thing a class studio sells: a flexible ten-class pass a member buys once and spends across any classes over the next few months, with the balance visible to them and to you, and expiry you control. Acuity's model grew out of appointment bundles and it shows in the edges.

With StudioBook

Credit packs are a first-class object, not a package add-on. A member buys ten credits, spends them on any eligible class, sees the balance on their own account page, and gets an automatic reminder before they expire. You set the expiry, the price, and which classes each pack covers.

The member experience is a booking form, not a class schedule

Acuity's client-facing flow is built for picking a time slot for a service. It does the job. What it isn't is a studio timetable — a week view a regular scans on their phone on Sunday evening to plan their three classes, showing which are nearly full and which they already have a spot in. That difference matters more than it sounds, because your members open it several times a week for years.

With StudioBook

A weekly schedule view designed for repeat visitors: what's on, what's nearly full, what they're already booked into, and how many credits they have left. Guests can book with a name, an email, and a card — no account and no app.

Squarespace's roadmap is scheduling in general, not studios in particular

Acuity is part of Squarespace and serves consultants, salons, therapists, tutors, and coaches alongside studios. That breadth is why it's good value as a scheduler, and it's also why studio-specific work — roster management, no-show handling on class packs, waitlist etiquette, instructor substitution — sits at the edge of the roadmap rather than the centre.

With StudioBook

We only build for studios that run scheduled classes. Every feature request we act on comes from a studio owner running a timetable, which is why setup takes about 30 minutes instead of an afternoon of configuration.

Side by side

Acuity Scheduling vs StudioBook

Acuity figures are from acuityscheduling.com's public pricing page and help centre, checked 30 July 2026. Enterprise pricing isn't published, so it isn't estimated here.

Acuity Scheduling

StudioBook

Entry price (monthly)

Acuity Scheduling$20 Starter · $34 Standard · $61 Premium

StudioBook$69 — one plan

Annual price

Acuity Scheduling$16 · $27 · $49 per month

StudioBook$69/month, no annual lock-in

Calendars included

Acuity Scheduling1 · up to 6 · up to 36

StudioBookUnlimited

Group classes

Acuity SchedulingSupported on all tiers

StudioBookThe core of the product

Class capacity + waitlist

Acuity SchedulingSupported

StudioBookSupported, with automatic promotion

Memberships and packages

Acuity SchedulingStandard and above

StudioBookIncluded

Flexible credit packs across classes

Acuity SchedulingVia packages (appointment-derived model)

StudioBookNative — balance, expiry, per-class eligibility

SMS reminders

Acuity SchedulingStandard and above

StudioBookNot offered — email only

Email reminders

Acuity SchedulingAll tiers

StudioBookIncluded

Remove "powered by" branding

Acuity SchedulingPremium ($61)

StudioBookNot offered

HIPAA / BAA

Acuity SchedulingPremium

StudioBookNot offered

Custom API and CSS

Acuity SchedulingPremium

StudioBookEmbed widget; no public API yet

Payments

Acuity SchedulingStripe, Square, or PayPal

StudioBookYour own Stripe account, directly

Guest booking without an account

Acuity SchedulingSupported

StudioBookSupported

Contract

Acuity SchedulingMonthly or annual

StudioBookMonthly — cancel anytime

Which is cheaper, honestly

Acuity is cheaper. Whether it's cheaper for you depends on your setup.

We're not going to pretend $69 beats $20. On the sticker price Acuity wins, and if you're a solo instructor with one calendar who sells single classes and doesn't need memberships, Acuity at $20/month is the better-value product and you should use it.

The comparison changes at the point a class studio usually starts. Selling memberships or packages puts you on Standard at $34. Running more than six instructors, rooms, or resources puts you on Premium at $61. At that point you're within $8/month of StudioBook, with a calendar cap of 36 and a product whose centre is still the appointment.

So the real question isn't price, it's fit: are you scheduling appointments that happen to be in groups, or are you running a timetable that members build their week around?

Rough guide to which one you want

One calendar, no memberships: Acuity Starter at $20. Genuinely the right call — don't overpay us.
Mixed appointments and classes (a therapist who also teaches): Acuity. The appointment engine is the better one.
Memberships or class packs, 2–6 instructors: Acuity Standard at $34 works; compare against $69 on the strength of the class-studio workflow, not the price.
A weekly class timetable, credit packs, 5+ instructors, growing: StudioBook. This is the case we're built for and where the calendar cap stops mattering.

Where Acuity is the better choice

We'll tell you when not to switch

Acuity is a genuinely good product and there are several cases where it beats us outright. Solo practitioners and anyone whose bookings are mostly 1:1 should stay — the appointment engine is more mature than ours and the entry price is a third of ours.

If you need SMS reminders, Acuity has them from Standard and we don't send SMS at all. If you need HIPAA compliance with a signed BAA, Acuity Premium offers it and we don't. If you need a custom API or CSS control over the booking flow, Acuity Premium has both; we have an embeddable widget and no public API yet.

And one that cuts against us plainly: Acuity's Premium tier lets you remove the "powered by" credit from your scheduler. StudioBook shows a "Powered by StudioBook" credit on booking pages and doesn't offer removal on any plan. If white-labelling matters to you, that's a real reason to pick Acuity, and we'd rather you knew now than found out after migrating.

Where we're the better answer: a studio whose product is a weekly class schedule. Flexible credit packs, memberships, waitlists that promote themselves, a timetable members read on their phone, unlimited instructors, payments in your own Stripe account, one price.

Switching

How moving off Acuity actually goes

You keep taking bookings throughout, and we do the data work rather than sending you an import template.

Step 1

Export and review

Day 1 — about an hour of your time

You export clients, appointment types, and package balances from Acuity
We map each field to StudioBook and send you the mapping to check before importing
We work out together how your Acuity packages and series should become credit packs and memberships — this is the one genuinely non-mechanical part

Step 2

We build your studio

Days 2–4 — no work for you

Clients imported as members, with outstanding package balances converted to credits
Your recurring class schedule rebuilt with instructors and capacities — no calendar limit to work around
Credit packs and memberships created at your current prices
Your own Stripe account connected — you own it, we just link it
Booking page styled with your logo and colours, plus an embed snippet for your site

Step 3

Run both, then switch

Days 5–10 — your call on timing

You test bookings, payments, and cancellations on a live schedule before telling members
We reconcile the converted balances against your Acuity export together
You send members the new booking link when you're satisfied
Cancel Acuity once your first clean week on StudioBook has gone through

Migration is included

Including the awkward part

Converting Acuity packages and class series into credit packs and memberships is the step where a self-serve import would leave you stuck. We do it with you on a call, and we'll tell you honestly if your setup is one where staying on Acuity is the better answer.

Book a migration call

Pricing

$69/month. One plan, no calendar limit.

Memberships, credit packs, waitlists, unlimited instructors, and every location — all in the base price. Nothing gated behind a higher tier.

One plan

$69/month

30-day free trial · no credit card · cancel anytime

Unlimited members, classes, bookings, and instructors
No calendar, room, or resource limits
Credit packs with balances, expiry, and per-class eligibility
Memberships and single-class payments
Waitlists with automatic promotion when a spot frees up
Weekly schedule view built for repeat members
Guest booking — no account, no app download
Payments through your own Stripe account
Automated confirmations, reminders, and cancellation emails
Reporting on revenue, attendance, and member retention
Every location included
Embeddable booking widget for your own website

What costs extra

Stripe's standard processing rate, paid to Stripe. Nothing else. No per-calendar pricing and no tier that unlocks memberships.

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Questions

Switching from Acuity Scheduling

Can't Acuity already do group classes?

Yes — Acuity supports group classes, capacity limits, waitlists, and class series, and we're not going to claim otherwise. The difference isn't whether classes are possible, it's what the product is organised around. Acuity is an appointment scheduler with class support; StudioBook only does class schedules. That shows up in the member-facing timetable, in how credit packs work, and in not being billed by calendar count.

Is StudioBook more expensive than Acuity?

At the entry tier, yes — $69 against $20. But Starter gives you one calendar and can't sell memberships or packages. A class studio typically needs Standard ($34) for memberships, or Premium ($61) once it has more than six instructors or rooms. Against Premium the difference is $8/month. Against Starter it's $49/month, and if Starter genuinely covers your studio, stay on it.

What happens to my clients' outstanding package balances?

We convert them into StudioBook credits and reconcile the result against your Acuity export before you switch anyone over. This is the step we spend the most care on, because Acuity packages and StudioBook credit packs aren't the same object — we go through the mapping with you rather than guessing.

Does StudioBook send text-message reminders?

No. Email only — confirmations, class reminders, cancellations, waitlist promotions, and expiring-credit nudges. Acuity has SMS from the Standard tier. If text reminders are essential for your members, that's a real reason to stay on Acuity.

Can I remove the StudioBook branding from my booking page?

No, not on any plan. Your booking page carries a small "Powered by StudioBook" credit. Acuity's Premium tier lets you remove its equivalent. If full white-labelling is a requirement, Acuity is the better fit and we'd rather say that up front.

Do I have to move my payment processing?

You'll connect a Stripe account that you own. If you already use Stripe with Acuity, we connect that same account. If you're on Square or PayPal, you'll need a Stripe account — about 15 minutes to set up. Saved client payment methods can't move between platforms by anyone, so members re-enter their card on their first booking.

Is there a minimum term?

No. Monthly billing, cancel from your settings page whenever you want. There's also no annual plan, which means no discount for committing — and no commitment to regret.

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Acuity pricing verified against acuityscheduling.com/pricing on 30 July 2026.

Try it on your own schedule

Built for a timetable, not a time slot.

30 days free. No credit card. We convert your package balances and rebuild your schedule before you decide.

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