Comparison

Square Appointments vs Acuity

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Square Appointments

Manage your business with an all-in-one solution for booking, scheduling, and payments. Offer 24/7 online booking, send automated reminders, and process payments securely. Track client details and manage your team's calendars and reports.

Highlights
  • 24/7 online booking
  • Automated appointment reminders
  • Secure payment processing
  • Client management
  • Team calendar management
  • Point of sale system
Features
Read full description

Square Appointments is an all-in-one solution for booking and scheduling appointments, sending reminders, and accepting payments. ► THE ALL-IN ONE POINT OF SALE FOR BOOKING, PAYMENTS, AND MORE It has everything you need to run your business from anywhere: online booking that’s easy for you and your customers, a point of sale that tracks customer details, and a secure, fast payment system. There are three monthly plans: Free, Plus, and Premium, and each is on a per-location basis. Custom pricing is available for businesses that process over $250K in annual revenue. ► NO CREDIT CARD REQUIRED, NO LONG-TERM COMMITMENTS Get 24/7 online booking, automatic appointment reminders, seamless payment processing, and no-show protection with Square Appointments for iPhone, iPad, and desktop. This is especially beneficial for barbershops and nail salons that need to manage appointments efficiently. ► PRICING PLANS TO FIT YOUR BUSINESS Pricing for Square Appointments is based on the features that fit your business best. There are three monthly plans: Free, Plus, and Premium, and each is on a per-location basis. Custom pricing is available for businesses that process over $250K in annual revenue. ► LET CLIENTS BOOK 24/7 No website? No problem—Square Appointments includes a pre-built booking site, so your customers can book anytime, from anywhere. Easily manage and accept bookings from your iPhone or iPad. With our Square Online integration, you can customize layouts, colors, and fonts that reflect your brand and even add pages for products, testimonials, and more. This feature is perfect for nail salons and barbershops looking to enhance their online presence. ► CHECK OUT CLIENTS SEAMLESSLY Accept payments, sell products, or send invoices easily, all from one app. Let customers have Square save their card on file for even faster checkout. ► REDUCE NO-SHOWS Set up automated appointment reminders, request prepayment or charge a cancellation fee for online booking. ► MANAGE AN ENTIRE TEAM EASILY Manage your whole team’s calendars, set their access and permissions, and see individual sales and appointment reports all from one place. ► GET TO KNOW YOUR CLIENTS Keep notes on all your clients so you can keep track of their preferences, appointment and sales history. This is valuable for barbershops, nail salons, and health & beauty businesses aiming to provide personalized services. This is more than just a calendar. Square Appointments is powerful appointment scheduling, a point of sale, and payment processing—all in one place.

About

Acuity

Manage your calendar and clients with this app. It offers seamless client scheduling, appointment notifications, secure mobile payments, and automated receipts. Run your business on the go with tools for calendar and client management, plus payment processing.

Highlights
  • Real-time calendar management
  • Client scheduling links
  • Appointment notifications
  • Secure mobile payments
  • Automated receipts
  • Client list management
Features
Read full description

Looking for an appointment scheduling app that helps you book clients, accept payments, collect intake forms, and reduce no-shows? Acuity Scheduling by Squarespace is the all-in-one scheduling software for service-based businesses. It’s built for professionals who need more than a basic meeting scheduler—so clients can self-book online, pay at booking, fill out forms before appointments, and get automatic reminders in one smooth booking flow. If you want to save time, avoid missed appointments, and run your business with less admin, Acuity helps you do it all in one place. • REDUCE NO-SHOWS AND MISSED APPOINTMENTS Need a tool that helps you avoid empty time slots? Acuity helps you reduce no-shows with automated email and SMS reminders, confirmation messages, easy rescheduling, cancellation links, and booking policies that set expectations clearly. • ACCEPT PAYMENTS AT THE TIME OF BOOKING Looking for appointment scheduling with payments? Acuity lets clients pay when they book with Stripe, Square, or PayPal. Collect deposits, send invoices and receipts, sell gift certificates, offer packages, support recurring memberships, and enable tipping—all built in. No extra tools required. • COLLECT CLIENT INTAKE FORMS BEFORE APPOINTMENTS Need a booking system with intake forms? Acuity lets you attach customizable intake forms to every booking so clients can complete questionnaires, consent forms, waivers, and health history forms before they arrive. This helps therapists, wellness practitioners, coaches, and consultants stay prepared and organized. • MANAGE COMPLEX SERVICES AND AVAILABILITY If your business has multiple services, different durations, or changing availability, Acuity makes it easy to manage. Offer different appointment types, control your calendar, manage multiple staff calendars and locations, and let clients book only what’s available. • SCHEDULE VIRTUAL APPOINTMENTS AND TELEHEALTH SESSIONS Need online scheduling software for virtual consultations? Acuity can automatically generate Zoom, Google Meet, and GoToMeeting links for appointments, making it easy to run remote sessions, online coaching, and telehealth bookings. • RUN GROUP CLASSES, WORKSHOPS, AND RECURRING SESSIONS Acuity also supports group scheduling with capacity limits, class packages, and session bundles. Ideal for fitness studios, yoga instructors, tutors, workshops, and group coaching businesses. • BUILT FOR SERVICE BUSINESSES, NOT JUST MEETINGS Acuity is designed for businesses that need scheduling + client management + payments + automation in one tool. • INTEGRATIONS ADAPTED TO YOUR WORKFLOW Embed your booking page on Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, or other websites, customize it to match your brand, and let clients book online 24/7. Perfect for: - Hairdressers, salons, estheticians, tattoo artists, and beauty pros who want clients to self-book, prepay, and receive reminders automatically - Therapists, psychologists, and healthcare professionals who need intake forms, secure workflows, and scheduling tools designed to support HIPAA compliance, with features like encrypted data handling and a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) on eligible plans - Coaches and consultants who want to reduce admin, send booking links, and get client details before sessions - Personal trainers, yoga teachers, and fitness studios who sell packages, memberships, and group classes - Small service-based businesses and teams that want an online booking system without per-user pricing on select plans - Photographers who want to deliver a better booking experience. • MORE THAN A BASIC CALENDAR BOOKING APP Unlike simple meeting schedulers, Acuity is built for real service workflows. It helps you schedule appointments, get paid, collect client information, and automate communication. Try Acuity free for 7 days — no credit card required. _____________ Privacy Policy: https://squarespace.com/privacy Terms of Service: https://squarespace.com/terms-of-service

Screenshots

Square Appointments4 screens
Acuity4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Square Appointments at none against Acuity's 6. Square Appointments also leads on review sentiment (69% vs 45%) and ratings volume (195K vs 30K). On price, rating, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Acuity sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $29.00 per month. Square Appointments asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Square Appointments against 4.8 for Acuity. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Square Appointments has 195K ratings behind it against 30K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Square Appointments's written reviews are positive against 45% of Acuity's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Square Appointments ships an update every 6 days, Acuity weekly. Both last shipped on November 1, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Square Appointments versus Acuity: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSquare AppointmentsAcuity
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (195K ratings) — better4.8 (30K ratings)
Positive reviews68.8% of reviews — better44.5% of reviews
Number of ratings195K — better30K
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS17.116.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size802 MB199 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperBlock, Inc.Squarespace, Inc.

Customer experience

Square Appointments

All ratings195,315 ratings
Positive97.2%
Neutral1.5%
Negative1.3%
Written reviews725 reviews
Positive68.8%
Neutral8.4%
Negative22.8%

Acuity

All ratings30,252 ratings
Positive96.0%
Neutral1.7%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews530 reviews
Positive44.5%
Neutral15.3%
Negative40.2%

User reviews

Square Appointments

From 195K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 📅 Helpful appointment reminders
  • 💳 Integrated payment processing
  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 🕰️ Recurring appointments

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches
  • 🤔 Confusing navigation
  • 🔒 Lack of security features
  • 💰 Expensive paid plans
  • 📞 Poor customer support

Acuity

From 30K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 👍 Customizable booking pages
  • 🚀 Seamless integration with websites
  • 👍 Helpful customer service
  • 🚀 Efficient scheduling and booking

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent app crashes and glitches
  • ⏱️ Too many updates disrupting user experience
  • 🕰️ Lack of weekly calendar view in app
  • 🔍 Limited reporting and analytics
  • 💰 Expensive for small businesses

Bugs and requests

Square Appointments

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Appointments disappearing or not syncing
  • Issues with changing or rescheduling appointments
  • Unreliable notification system
  • Incorrect time/date display
  • Trouble connecting with Square payment system

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to customize text/email reminders
  • Option to block time slots for personal use
  • Integration with more calendar apps
  • Easier way to manage multiple locations
  • Feature to collect deposits or prepayments
Show 1 more
  • Improved reporting and analytics

Acuity

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Appointment information disappearing from calendar
  • Inability to see client payment status
  • Timezone errors and incorrect scheduling
  • Unresponsive app and slow performance

Requested features

6 requests
  • Waitlist functionality
  • Automated client reminders and confirmations
  • Ability to book multiple appointments at once
  • Improved calendar view and navigation
  • More robust reporting and analytics
Show 1 more
  • Integrated payment processing and point-of-sale

In-app purchases

None

Square Appointments

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

Acuity

Subscriptions6
  • iOS Starter Monthly$29.001 Month
  • iOS Standard Monthly$50.001 Month
  • iOS Premium Monthly$89.001 Month
Show 3 more
  • iOS Starter Annual$289.001 Year
  • iOS Standard Annual$489.001 Year
  • iOS Premium Annual$869.001 Year

Questions

Is Square Appointments free?
Square Appointments is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Acuity free?
Acuity is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Square Appointments or Acuity?
Square Appointments is rated higher. Square Appointments averages 4.9 out of 5 from 195K ratings, while Acuity averages 4.8 from 30K ratings.
Do Square Appointments or Acuity have ads?
Neither Square Appointments nor Acuity shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Square Appointments or Acuity?
Square Appointments ships an update every 6 days, and Acuity weekly. Most recently, Square Appointments was updated on November 1, 2026 and Acuity on November 1, 2026.

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