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BraveDay vs Acuity Scheduling
Acuity is built for salons, clinics and studios that live on appointments. BraveDay covers the same booking-and-pay basics, adds team scheduling and an AI assistant, and starts free - not at $16 a month.
Acuity Scheduling (owned by Squarespace) is a mature appointment tool aimed at service businesses - classes, intake forms, packages, calendar sync. If your whole business is back-to-back appointments, it's deep and well-worn.
BraveDay handles the same essentials - paid bookings, intake questions, packages, reminders - then adds team round-robin, routing, a native client book, stock and point of sale, and Beaver, a confirm-first assistant you can just talk to. There's a genuinely free plan.
What Acuity Scheduling does well
Acuity's appointment features run deep - class scheduling, intake forms, gift certificates, subscriptions and point-of-sale style add-ons - and it's tightly integrated with Squarespace sites. For an established salon or clinic already on Squarespace, it's a proven fit.
| BraveDay | Acuity Scheduling | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes - unlimited event types | No - paid from ~$16/mo |
| Price entry point | Free / $9 seat | ~$16–49 / month |
| AI assistant | Beaver - chat to book, protect focus | None |
| Paid bookings & packages | Yes (Stripe) | Yes (mature) |
| Intake forms | Yes | Yes (deep) |
| Team round-robin & routing | Weighted, built in | Limited |
| Class / group scheduling | Group polls + limits | Native classes |
| Focus / time protection | Yes | None |
| Clients, stock & POS | Native modules | None |
| Run it on your own server | Built and deployed for you | Cloud only |
Why teams pick BraveDay
Free where Acuity is paid-only
Acuity has no free tier - you pay from day one. BraveDay is free for individuals with unlimited event types, paid bookings included, and $9/seat when you add a team.
An assistant, not just forms
Tell Beaver "add a 60-minute massage type at $90, Tuesdays and Thursdays" - it drafts it and waits for your OK. Acuity is powerful, but you configure everything by hand.
Team scheduling built in
Weighted round-robin and routing come standard, so a multi-practitioner studio can send each client to the right person - without Acuity's higher tiers.
Choose Acuity Scheduling if
You run a class-heavy or retail service business, you're already on Squarespace, and you need Acuity's mature class booking, gift certificates and POS-style add-ons today.
Choose BraveDay if
You want appointment booking and payments that start free, an AI assistant that sets things up for you, team routing built in - and clients, stock and the till in the same product.
Questions
Is BraveDay a good Acuity alternative for a clinic or studio?
Yes - it does paid bookings, intake questions, packages, reminders and calendar sync, plus team round-robin. The main gap is Acuity's native class scheduling and POS-style extras.
Does BraveDay have a free plan? Acuity doesn't.
Yes - individuals are free with unlimited event types and paid bookings via Stripe. Acuity is paid-only from around $16/month.