One of the questions I get asked most often on campus is can I use Calendly for free? The answer is, well, sorta complicated. So here’s an attempt to provide a detailed answer.
What is Calendly?
Online meeting scheduling can be challenging when utilizing conventional methods like back-and-forth in emails. With the help of the scheduling tools like Calendly, you can provide a meeting link to your invitees or guests to book time on your calendar. When recipients click the link, a calendar with available time slots will appear. After they select a time slot it will create an invitation and send it to both you and your guest.
Is Calendly free or paid?
Calendly offers a free plan and multiple paid plans depending on your needs. Every new user gets a 14-day free trial to test out all the paid plan features and after that, you will be switched to the basic plan.
In this guide, we will review the Calendly free plan and cover the following relevant topics related to it:
- What’s included in the free plan
- What’s not included in the free plan
- FAQs
- What is a Calendly?
- Do the recipients of my Calendly link needs to download an app or create an account to book meetings with me?
- Does Calendly Offer Customer Service?
- Is Calendly entirely free?
- What free Calendly alternative can I use instead?
Features in the free plan:
Calendly’s free plan includes:
- Calendar connections = 1
- Active event type = 1
- Google, Office 365, Outlook, and iCloud calendars Integration = Yes
- One-on-one events = unlimited
- Meeting polls = Unlimited
One-on-One event type:
The one-on-one event supports the following options:
- Repeating event type:If you frequently arrange a particular type of event, you can just set up a rolling days meeting link. Use your Event Type every day by configuring the title, duration, and availability to be specific to that meeting.
- General use event type :
If you prefer to use the meeting link for general use purposes, you can create an invite with a one-week date range that can be edited periodically as your availability changes.
Meeting polls event type:
If you would like to find the best time to meet with a group, the meeting poll event type can help. When you create a meeting poll link and share it with multiple people, they can vote on their preferred time slots and you can then schedule the event easily by selecting the one that works for all.
Features not included in the Calendly free plan:
Calendly’s paid plans come with a number of features that aren’t available for free users:
- Calendar connections and active events: If you need more than 1 calendar connection and 1 active event, you will need to consider one of the paid plans starting with the $8/mo. essentials plan which allows 2 calendar connections and unlimited active events.
- Multiple meeting types: Calendly’s free plan includes one-on-one links and meeting polls. If you would like to schedule group meetings or round-robin type meetings, you will need to buy one of the paid plans. The group event type is included in the $8/mo essentials plan while the collective and round robin come with the $12/mo. professional plan.
- Integrations: Calendly offers a wide variety of integrations with other tools and platforms like Zapier, Stripe, Paypal, Salesforce, and Hubspot. However, most of these integrations are included in the paid plans. The Calendly free plan includes the basic calendars (Google, Outlook, iCloud) and video conferencing integrations (Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams)
- Customization and workflows: Calendly offers scheduling page customization such as changing colors, and removing Calendly branding, and workflows such as custom email and text reminders in the paid plans. The free plan doesn’t include any of these features except for allowing a user to add their logo to the scheduling page.
FAQ
Is there a free Calendly alternative?
If you’d rather not pay for Calendly I recommend checking out zcal, a Calendly free alternative that offers the same scheduling features with a better UI.
Do the recipients of my Calendly link needs to download an app or create an account to book meetings with me?
No, the recipients of your Calendly link don’t need an app or an account. They can just simply click on your Calendly link and will see your set calendar availability to book the meeting by adding their basic info. such as name and email.
Does Calendly offer customer service?
With the Basic free plan, you will get email support. Phone support is only offered with the enterprise plan.
Is Calendly entirely free?
No, Calendly offers multiple paid plans if you need premium features such as more than 1 invite link and calendar connection, email reminders, payment integration, or customization of the booking page etc.