Youcanbookme is a good Calendly alternative if you:
- have to review and approve booking requests. Calendly does not have approvals.
- 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
- want to take advantage of the special pricing for the education industry.
- are using Fruux calendar
- 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
| Feature | Details | Youcanbookme | Calendly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $9 per linked calendar | $12 per user. 6 calendar connections per user | |
| Calendars | Calendar integrations | Google, O365 | Google Calendar, Office 365, Outlook and iCloud |
| Integrate multiple calendar accounts | Yes | Yes | |
| Calendar connections per user | 1 | 6 | |
| Events | One-on-one meetings | Yes | Yes |
| Group events (for tours, webinars, classes, etc.) | No | Yes | |
| Appointment types (offer a choice of durations and prices) | Yes | Yes | |
| Take credit card payments | Yes | Yes | |
| Tentative bookings | Yes | No | |
| Fixed booking duration | Yes | Yes | |
| Fixed start and end dates | Yes | Yes | |
| Availability | Custom availability | Yes | Yes |
| Team availability | Yes | Yes | |
| Recurring availability | Yes | Yes | |
| Padding before and after a booking | Yes | Yes | |
| Cancel and reschedule | Yes | Yes | |
| Set a minimum or maximum advance notice for bookings | Yes | Yes | |
| Multiple bookings per slot | Yes | Yes | |
| Sharing | Unlimited booking pages | Yes | Yes |
| Embed the booking page | Yes | Yes | |
| Upload your logo | Yes | Yes | |
| Branding with custom colors | Yes | Yes | |
| Robust timezone support | Yes | Yes | |
| Configurable booking forms with unlimited questions | Yes | Yes | |
| Personalized booking link | Yes | Yes | |
| Redirect to a specific URL after booking | Yes | Yes | |
| Add links to event confirmation pages | Yes | Yes | |
| Mobile apps | No | Yes | |
| Notifications and reminders | SMS reminders | Yes | Yes |
| Email notifications to booker | Yes | Yes | |
| Send your notification emails via your Gmail | Yes | No | |
| Metrics and reporting | Yes | Yes | |
| Integrations | Salesforce integration and support | No | Yes |
| HubSpot integration | No | Yes | |
| Mailchimp integration | No | Yes | |
| Stripe integration | Yes | Yes | |
| PayPal integration | No | Yes | |
| Google Analytics integration | No | Yes | |
| Facebook Pixel integration | No | Yes | |
| Intercom integration | No | Yes | |
| Over 700 app integrations with Zapier | No | Yes | |
| Custom integrations with webhooks | No | Yes | |
| Online Meeting | Zoom integration | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Teams conferencing integration | No | Yes | |
| GoToMeeting integration | No | Yes |
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.