YouCanBookMe vs Calendly

Youcanbookme is a good Calendly alternative if you: 

  1. have to review and approve booking requests. Calendly does not have approvals.
  2. have been managing your schedules using calendar so far, happy with it but want to offer a simpler way for people to book with you
  3. want to take advantage of the special pricing for the education industry.
  4. are using Fruux calendar
  5. you have a preference for products based out of Europe

A brief about Youcanbookme 

Youcanbookme is a simple tool for scheduling meetings and appointments. We enjoyed the onboarding and the clutter-free UI. The menu on the left hand pane makes it easy to navigate the product.

The starting point in YCBM is the booking page. You have to associate your calendar account with the booking page. This calendar account is the center of Youcanbookme’s scheduling system. You set up the availability on this calendar. Team members have to share their calendars with this master calendar. YCBM reads the pooled availability on this master calendar and displays it on the booking page.

They support: Google, Microsoft, Fruux, CalDav calendars.

YouCanBookMe appears to be genuine and honest from their UI messages. A few examples:

  • They warn you when you pay more unintentionally.
  • Clarifying that the password protection on the booking page is not a secure portal.
  • Tips to minimize the connected calendars and reduce the subscription cost .

YouCanBookMe costs $9 per linked calendar. Calendly’s premium plan is priced at $12, and basic plan at $8. YCBM doesn’t have a the advantage of price here. However, YouCanBookMe offers discounts for educational institutions, their primary target audience.

Calendly vs Youcanbookme: Who will find YCBM limiting? 

Calendar dependency

YouCanBookMe customers have to depend on an external calendar like Google or Microsoft to set up their availability. Customers have to be an expert in the calendar tool as well as YCBM to get the availability right.

Contextual integrations

YCBM lags behind the competition in contextual app integrations. Sales teams will find it limiting that YouCanBookMe doesn’t have a built-in CRM integration. Salon businesses will miss integrations with email marketing, CRM, and inventory apps. If customers need to integrate with another app, they have to use the Zapier integration or use APIs and webhooks.

Calendly vs Youcanbookme: Who will find YCBM useful? 

Flat learning curve

If you are using a calendaring tool now to manage your schedule and want to make it customer facing, YouCanBookMe is a good place to start. The product is super-friendly, the team appears supportive and they have all the basics.

Based in Europe

Also, if you are from Europe and have to comply with local laws about data centers, YouCanBookMe is good. Being from the UK, they are likely to adapt to European laws more than US companies.

A brief about Calendly 

Calendly is the most popular and widely used meeting scheduler. What sets them apart is the depth into which they have gone in the essentials of a meeting scheduler. They have done it keeping the user interface simple and minimalistic.

Calendly has one of the highest number of integrations, meeting types among meeting schedulers, and they offer the maximum flexibility in setting up availability. Their pricing is reasonable as well.

We are not saying that Calendly is the best for all use cases. If you do not have time to research for an online meeting scheduler that is the ideal fit your, Calendly is the safest bet.

Calendly has not gone deeper into customization of emails and booking pages, collaborative meeting scheduling features, recurring group appointments etc. You can check out Calendly alternatives who cover such things.

Calendly vs Youcanbookme: Who will find Calendly limiting?  

In service industries like salons, people visit salons for multiple treatments.  You cannot book multiple services in one go with Calendly. Also, they do not have the classes feature. Calendly has not given much attention to the service industry. They focus on a different target audience.

They do not have meeting polls typical to meeting schedulers.

Calendly does not have customizations enough to brand the customer-facing aspect of scheduling: the booking page, the notification emails, domain mapping.  If you are a company on the creative side, you will find Calendly limiting.

Calendly appears to become expensive for teams larger than 5 members if you are on a tight budget for a scheduling tool.

Calendly vs Youcanbookme: Who will find Calendly useful?  

Almost everyone who wants to automate their scheduling! However, Calendly has a target audience – sales teams, recruiters, consultants and interviewers. Their priority for new features will be based on the requirements of this audience. So, if you are part of this group, you will greatly benefit.

Calendly vs YouCanBookMe comparison 

FeatureDetailsYoucanbookmeCalendly
 Cost$9 per linked calendar$12 per user. 6 calendar connections per user
CalendarsCalendar integrationsGoogle, O365Google Calendar, Office 365, Outlook and iCloud
 Integrate multiple calendar accountsYesYes
 Calendar connections per user16
EventsOne-on-one meetingsYesYes
 Group events (for tours, webinars, classes, etc.)NoYes
 Appointment types (offer a choice of durations and prices)YesYes
 Take credit card paymentsYesYes
 Tentative bookingsYesNo
 Fixed booking durationYesYes
 Fixed start and end datesYesYes
AvailabilityCustom availabilityYesYes
 Team availabilityYesYes
 Recurring availabilityYesYes
 Padding before and after a bookingYesYes
 Cancel and rescheduleYesYes
 Set a minimum or maximum advance notice for bookingsYesYes
 Multiple bookings per slotYesYes
SharingUnlimited booking pagesYesYes
 Embed the booking pageYesYes
 Upload your logoYesYes
 Branding with custom colorsYesYes
 Robust timezone supportYesYes
 Configurable booking forms with unlimited questionsYesYes
 Personalized booking linkYesYes
 Redirect to a specific URL after bookingYesYes
 Add links to event confirmation pagesYesYes
 Mobile appsNoYes
Notifications and remindersSMS remindersYesYes
 Email notifications to bookerYesYes
 Send your notification emails via your GmailYesNo
 Metrics and reportingYesYes
IntegrationsSalesforce integration and support     NoYes
 HubSpot integration     NoYes
 Mailchimp integration     NoYes
 Stripe integration     YesYes
 PayPal integration     NoYes
 Google Analytics integration     NoYes
 Facebook Pixel integration     NoYes
 Intercom integration     NoYes
 Over 700 app integrations with Zapier     NoYes
 Custom integrations with webhooks     NoYes
Online MeetingZoom integration     YesYes
 Microsoft Teams conferencing integration     NoYes
 GoToMeeting integration     NoYes
Calendly vs YouCanBookMe

Calendly vs Youcanbookme: Conclusion  

For most people, the default choice would be Calendly unless they want the advantages of YouCanBookMe that I mentioned. Calendly has more integrations, a larger help documentation, community and if you opt for more than 10 users, you will get live chat support as well.

Like YouCanBookMe, Calendly also charges per linked calendar but in an indirect way. They charge for calendar connections per user/team member. In the premium plan, it is 6 calendars.