Microsoft Bookings vs Acuity Scheduling (2026) compared

Choose Acuity Scheduling if you run a client-facing service business that needs to take payment at booking (Stripe, Square, PayPal or Venmo), send text reminders, or sign a HIPAA BAA, and you are happy to pay per account rather than per seat. Keep Microsoft Bookings if your meetings run on Microsoft Teams, your organisation already has Microsoft 365, and you don't need payments or custom CSS.

Acuity is owned by Squarespace and is built for practitioners, studios and small service teams. Bookings is part of Microsoft 365 and is built around Exchange mailboxes and Teams meetings. They overlap on basic service scheduling but differ in almost everything around it.

Side-by-side comparison#

Acuity prices in USD as listed on the Acuity Scheduling pricing page in September 2026. They change, so check before you buy.

Scheduling and routing#

Acuity counts calendars rather than seats: Starter has 1, Standard up to 6 and Premium up to 36, described as "separate calendars per employee or location". Premium adds multiple time zones for staff and locations, plus an "AI Booking Assistant". Round-robin or automatic staff assignment is not described on the Acuity pricing page, so check with Acuity if you need it.

Bookings has no calendar count to buy: a shared page takes up to 100 staff. What it lacks for a multi-site practice is per-staff time zones ("no provision to set time zone for staff") and any balancing when a client picks "Anyone", which the FAQ calls random.

Reminders: Bookings sends email reminders from 15 minutes to two weeks before an appointment. SMS is part of Teams Premium and needs a US, Canada or UK number, while an older FAQ passage says SMS covers North America through Skype or Twilio. SMS reminders in Bookings explains the difference. Acuity lists text reminders on Standard and Premium and asks you to "check global availability".

Embedding and branding#

Acuity's developer docs point to embed code from inside the app. They document URL parameters that prefill the form (firstName, email, appointmentType, calendarID, datetime and custom field: values), and note the HTML embed can run inside mobile WebViews. "Custom API and CSS" and hiding the "Powered by Acuity Scheduling" footer are Premium features.

Bookings has an iframe from the Booking page tab and colour and logo settings, but no documented custom CSS (custom CSS in Bookings) and no URL parameters that prefill the form (prefilling Bookings from a URL).

Tracking and analytics#

The Acuity integrations page lists "Google Analytics: Send events about scheduled appointments to Google Analytics", "Custom Conversion Tracking: Enter code from any conversion tracking application", and a Facebook integration that lets you "use your Facebook Ads Pixel". Which plans include these is not stated on the pages we could read.

Bookings documents no pixel or analytics integration; its one tracking hook is a RefID campaign value in the export. For practices that advertise on Facebook or Instagram, Meta Pixel and Bookings covers what you can and can't track.

Integrations and webhooks#

Acuity documents static webhooks under Integrations and a dynamic Webhooks API. Events are scheduled, rescheduled, canceled, changed and order.completed, signed with HMAC-SHA256. Which plan includes webhooks is not stated on their site. The pricing page ties "Custom API" to Premium. The API uses HTTP Basic auth or OAuth2, and Acuity notes it "does not support cross origin requests". Bookings has no webhooks; its Power Automate connector is in preview and limited to Bookings admins.

For Microsoft 365, the Acuity integrations page says it can "sync Acuity Scheduling to your existing Outlook calendar". Microsoft Teams isn't among the video-conferencing integrations listed. That page names Zoom, Google Meet, GoToMeeting and Join.me, and the pricing page mentions "Google Meet, Zoom, and GoToMeeting integrations". Bookings, by contrast, creates a unique Teams link for each appointment booked as an online meeting.

Payments#

This is the clearest advantage for Acuity. Its pricing page lists "Payments via Stripe, Square, PayPal, Venmo" on every plan, which covers deposits and no-show protection. The Bookings FAQ says "there's no payment support in Bookings". If you currently send payment links separately, see can Bookings take payments.

Data and compliance#

The Acuity Premium plan includes "Sign BAA for HIPAA compliance". Its pricing FAQ says "Squarespace, and its affiliated products, comply with data privacy laws applicable to them". Health practices comparing the two should read Microsoft Bookings for clinics and ask each vendor about their compliance obligations directly. Bookings keeps appointment and intake data in Exchange Online shared mailboxes under your tenant's policies, and a required consent checkbox records when the client agreed.

What we saw when testing (September 2026)#

Client self-service works differently from what the Bookings settings suggest. When we made and cancelled test bookings, the "manage booking" page opened from the confirmation offered Reschedule and Cancel without sign-in, even on a service whose setting said customers can't manage their booking. Anyone holding that link can reschedule or cancel, and see the Teams link. Practices comparing cancellation controls should treat confirmation emails as private and not rely on that setting alone.

Pricing#

Bookings has no separate charge on the plans that include it, and Outlook on the web must be enabled (licence requirements).

Acuity, as listed on the Acuity Scheduling pricing page in September 2026 (USD per account per month):

"Acuity doesn't offer free appointment scheduling at this time", but you can try any plan for 7 days without a credit card.

When to keep Microsoft Bookings#

• Your consultations run on Teams and you want a unique Teams link on every online appointment.
• You already have an eligible Microsoft 365 plan and don't want per-account fees on top.
• Payment happens elsewhere (invoicing, an existing billing system) or not at all.
• You want booking data held in Exchange Online under your current Microsoft 365 policies.

When to switch#

• Collecting payment at the moment of booking matters to your business.
• You need a signed HIPAA BAA from your scheduling vendor.
• You need text reminders outside the US, Canada and UK, subject to Acuity's own country coverage.
• You want custom CSS and to hide the vendor footer.
• Staff work in several time zones.

Keeping Bookings and filling the gaps with BookingsXP#

If your team is staying on Teams and Bookings but the website booking experience is the problem, BookingsXP adds a styled widget built from your public booking page link, with templates, brand colours and no admin consent. It can prefill name, email, phone and notes, which the Bookings page can't. Appointments are still created in Microsoft Bookings, so the confirmation email and Teams link are unchanged. The widget also reports each funnel step to GA4, Google Ads and Meta (analytics). It doesn't take payments, send SMS or sign a BAA, so Acuity remains the better fit for those needs.

BookingsXP is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Bookings, Outlook and Teams are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. Other product names are trademarks of their respective owners.