Here’s What It’s Like to Use Acuity Scheduling for Your Business or Side Hustle (2026)
SOURCE:Wired|BY:Molly Higgins
The online booking platform aims to streamline scheduling for everything from virtual appointments to workshops.
I tried Acuity Scheduling to see if it was the right fit for my growing business. Full disclosure: I'm just a woman, not a business, but I've been dabbling in astrology and tarot readings with friends and family. So, I decided to try to see if I could turn my fun side project into a full-fledged side-hustle, complete with online booking and payment for my witchy skills.
Although I write for WIRED, I'm far from a coder. I'm not an expert on building websites or knowing the ins and outs of the software we use every day. That's where Acuity Scheduling comes in. The online booking platform aims to streamline scheduling for growing small businesses and side hustlers such as me. Acuity is a platform that allows you to sell and manage services like virtual consultations, in-person appointments, or classes—you could use it to manage a yoga studio, salon, personal training practice, or landscaping business. It also helps in taking some of the more annoying responsibilities off the business owner's plate, with automatic appointment updates for the client, and letting clients book, reschedule, or cancel appointments through the platform, rather than, say, by texting the owner a bunch of times.
Initial Set Up
With my aforementioned inexperience, I was anxious about getting an online presence built. But Acuity made the process super simple for a dummy like me. All you have to do is click a button to create an account, and it guides you through the first steps: creating appointment types, setting availability, and customizing the website design. Plus, you get a seven-day free trial, and Acuity doesn't even require a credit card number until the trial is over—so it's a true free trial (a rarity these days).
Acuity via Molly Higgins
My first task was creating appointment types, where you'll create new services or group classes. Since I'm not holding group classes (yet!), I put in the appointment type name, description, duration, price, category, and color. You can also add optional privacy settings, an image, and intake forms. There are also optional integration options, like listing on Airbnb and receiving for your bookings. For , you can connect to Stripe, Square, and PayPal, and choose to collect partial payment before the scheduled appointment or not require it. I connected my PayPal account, which was ridiculously seamless.
Once that's completed, you'll set your availability. You can change calendar settings to make it more personalized to you, with a unique name, descriptions, location, and optional image. Here's where you'll be able to change reply emails and booking notification settings. For actual scheduling, Acuity makes it easy to set regular hours of availability and scheduling limits. With the limits, you'll be able to set parameters like allowing clients to schedule a certain amount in advance or not allowing them to schedule or cancel appointments after a certain period. You can also set a maximum number of appointments or hours per day.
If you work regular hours each week, you can save those or set override hours for specific days. Since my appointments have different services that range in time, I was also able to easily set different hours for certain appointment types, since a one-card reading takes about a half an hour or less, but a hex appointment takes around an hour and a half. You can also set whether the appointment is in-person or on virtual video, and easily integrate with your Zoom, Google Meet, Join.me, or GotoMeeting account. All I had to do was log in to Zoom to connect accounts and add virtual appointments as an option.
Acuity via Molly Higgins
Once you've created appointment types, set calendar availability, the last step is to customize the design. (Acuity also makes it easy with step-by-step instructions with an easy-to-navigate design that tells you what percentage of the scheduling page is complete.) The design comes prefilled, but you can customize the text to say anything you want, with different options for font and color palette. You can go with one of the dozens of premade color presets, or make your own palette from a specific color or image. I thought the premade palettes were well-designed with tons of options, so I decided to go for something a little bolder and more witchy to match the vibe of my small business.
Once your seven-day trial is done, you'll choose one plan from four of Acuity's plans. There's Starter, which starts at $20 per month, and is the most basic option, with client self-scheduling, unlimited services and appointments, one bookable calendar, payment processing through Stripe, Square, or PayPal, client emails, and automatic time zone conversion for clients. The Standard plan is next, at $34 per month, and includes the above features, plus up to 6 bookable calendars, text message reminders, bundled appointment packages, memberships and subscriptions with automated billing, and ability to sell and process gift certificates. The Premium tier is $61 per month, and includes all features above, plus it'll remove the "Powered by Acuity" line present on the scheduling page, sign BAA for HIPAA compliance, up to 36 bookable calendars, multiple time zones, and custom API and CSS for developers. This plan is probably best if you're managing a larger business with multiple staff members. All plans are 20 percent off when paid annually rather than monthly. There's also an enterprise custom choice, which allows you to create “custom-made solutions for your enterprise business.” You'll need to contact Acuity for pricing and set up. All plans are 20 percent off when paid annually rather than monthly, and the promo code WIRED20 gets you 20 percent off new Acuity Business subscriptions.
User Experience
Before I debut my business baby into the world, I wanted to soft-launch with friends and colleagues to get feedback on how their user experience was from the other side.
The consensus was pretty much all the same: my personal website looked great, it was fun to explore, and everyone found it easy to book, cancel, and reschedule (without me having to do anything!). Plus, I got email notifications that people had booked, rescheduled, or cancelled in real time, and they got confirmation and appointment reminders, too. The only potential issues were from a design standpoint, which was my bad rather than Acuity's. I learned that people love personalization, so I went back and added a photo of myself, relevant photos with services where applicable, and more personalization.
Acuity via Molly Higgins
The only other major issue was with people's confusion at the payment options. I initially didn't change the default payment settings, so it didn't require a payment or deposit options when booking, which led to questions about pricing and collection. Acuity has several options, requiring: payment in full, a deposit, or card details that can be charged later. You can also offer pay-what-you-want-pricing or just not require it at all. I decided to require a deposit to secure the appointment after the feedback, but I've also been toying with the idea of securing payment info and then just charging however they want to pay after the appointment has finished. It's little things like this that require some trial-and-error as a new business owner, but Acuity makes it really easy to change any settings through the backend at any time. I didn't set up the packages and gift certificates options, which are always paid in full at the time the client purchases, but that's something I'll be working on in the future.
I also added an intake form and agreement policy that clients are required to read, fill out, and sign before booking the appointment. One tester pointed out that the "edit info" button after you book doesn't let you edit anything, except change whether you've read the terms and conditions, so that's something to note as a potential issue with clients' happiness with the booking experience.
The scheduling feature also doesn't automatically set appointment times to on the hour, so people initially set up wonky times that may hurt your scheduling needs, so you'll need to adjust settings to avoid awkward schedule gaps. I also had the calendar organized by day, and I received some feedback that it made it harder, with longer scrolling, to find a date they may want in the future. You can also adjust the display settings to change view.
Acuity via Molly Higgins
Acuity Scheduling
Overall, though, I was very pleasantly surprised at how intuitive setup and design were from the backend, especially for someone like me who has never built a website. Acuity walks you through the steps to personalize it to your business, and I really appreciated the hassle-free trial period to determine if the service is a fit for your needs. The automation of client bookings, cancellations, and rescheduling also made it super easy to be a bit more hands-free and really focus on getting my witchy dreams finally off the ground.
