Availy vs Acuity Scheduling — A Tutoring-First Alternative
Acuity Scheduling (by Squarespace) is polished, general-purpose appointment scheduling. Availy is built specifically for tutors and studios: rosters, lesson credits, parent accounts, lesson notes, and memberships that grant credits — the things a recurring-student business needs that generic scheduling leaves out.
| Feature | Availy | Acuity Scheduling |
|---|---|---|
| Built for recurring students | Rosters, lesson credits, parent links, lesson notes — a tutoring studio in one place | General appointment scheduling — polished, but not tutoring-specific |
| Student & roster management | Full student roster with attendance, history, and private + shared lesson notes | Client list with a single notes field |
| Parent & family accounts | Parents get their own accounts — per-child booking, balances, and notification controls | Not built for this |
| Lesson credits & packages | Account-level credit ledger — manual grants, package purchases, parent-visible balances | Package codes that track remaining sessions (Standard plan and up) |
| Email & SMS reminders | Email + SMS included on every plan, for students and parents | Email on all plans; one SMS reminder per appointment on Standard ($34/mo) and up |
| Online payments | Stripe card payments (USD & CAD), invoicing, no Availy markup | Stripe, Square, or PayPal with no added fees; simple invoicing included |
| Calendar sync & invites | Personal calendar feed for Google, Apple & Outlook, plus a calendar invite attached to every booking email | Two-way availability sync with Google, iCloud & Outlook; add-to-calendar buttons in client emails |
| Recurring memberships | Native recurring memberships that grant lesson credits automatically | Subscriptions via Stripe or Square (Standard plan and up) |
| White-label branding | Your own branded studio subdomain | 'Powered by Acuity' removable on Premium ($61/mo) |
Comparison based on each product's publicly published features and pricing as of July 2026. Acuity Scheduling is a trademark of its respective owner and is not affiliated with Availy. Details change — check their site for the latest.
When Acuity Scheduling is the better fit
Acuity is the better fit if you want two decades of scheduling polish with native mobile apps, true two-way calendar sync across Google, iCloud and Outlook, a huge integration ecosystem (Zapier, a public API, video-call integrations), or HIPAA compliance — and you don't need tutoring-specific tools like parent accounts or a credit ledger.
When to choose Availy
Choose Availy if you want a platform built specifically for tutors and studios: parent accounts, a credit ledger, lesson notes, memberships that grant credits automatically, and SMS reminders included on every plan — not a general scheduler you have to bend into a teaching tool.
Start Free Trial14-day free trial. No credit card required.