7 ms·

I've poked around a while ago at some Calendly alternatives (specifically was looking for something that was cheaper than Calendly with most of the basic featur

by sondog 4y ago

I've poked around a while ago at some Calendly alternatives (specifically was looking for something that was cheaper than Calendly with most of the basic features). I tried using https://cal.com https://cal.com for a bit but ended up just switching over to https://zcal.co https://zcal.co and it has been great so far. All these other scheduling tools end up trying to do too much and always seem to end up a bit clunky and charge absurd amounts for it

ryanSrich 4y ago
Have you tried savvycal.com? I've been using it for over a year now. Best calendly alternative I've found.
- swyx 4y ago
  what did you like compared to cal.com?
  - podoman 4y ago
    savvycal has a way better scheduling UI for when you share to other people. I agree that savvycal > calendly. I pay for savvycal.
- bedatadriven 4y ago
  Another vote for savvycal, happy customer here.
eli_gottlieb 4y ago
>ended up just switching over to https://zcal.co https://zcal.co and it has been great so far Wait wait wait. It can sync my Google and Outlook calendars into a single scheduling service, and they're not charging me anything? What's the catch here?
- brazzy 4y ago
  Same as all the others, they're planning a premium tier with enterprise functions, hoping that enough happy free tier customers will help convince enterprises to sign up.
baxtr 4y ago
This. There HAS to be a name for this phenomenon. These are great products. But then they start adding feature over feature that add no or just little value while making the entire experience worse. What is this? VC money feature creep?
- paulhart 4y ago
  enshittification? also see: https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys
  - baxtr 4y ago
    Thx for sharing. Reads similar to what I was describing! Not fan of the name though.
    - lozf 4y ago
      Perhaps "encrapsulating" would suffice?
      - encoderer 4y ago
        I really like this because it describes how you really are just burying the core value of the product with layers of, well, crap.
  - andirk 4y ago
    Capping? Like how if an ER was run the way software is maintained, then, on a slow day, the doctor would order all the nurses to go in to the waiting room and bust everyone's knee caps.
- ssgodderidge 4y ago
  Maybe the apps themselves are stable enough that the engineers working on them have to work on something. Is there an example of a SaaS product out there with more than one developer that isn’t interested in adding features? I don’t know of any.
jacky2wong 4y ago
What ends up happening is that B2B companies prefer 'value' over 'simplicity' or user experience and end up building features without proper product design. This is required for them to expand their B2B offering and hence end up being 'clunky'. It's inevitable - much like most enterprise softwares.
- gooooooore 4y ago
  Inevitable when your management only acts in short term best interest. Although less common, there are some people that also care about long term and common good.
techwhiz007 4y ago
I had been trying a bunch of Calendly alternatives until I came across zcal. It seems to have the perfect balance of functionality, simple design and affordability (I mean its literally FREE, so can't complain).
princevegeta89 4y ago
Is there a self-hosted open-source alternative for these scheduling systems? Would love to host it out for once and for all.
- nchudleigh 4y ago
  Yeah Cal.com does this. https://docs.cal.com/introduction/quick-start/self-hosting/installation https://docs.cal.com/introduction/quick-start/self-hosting/i...
fragmede 4y ago
why is the amount absurd? take your hourly rate, plus the other person's hourly rate, let's say $100 each, multiplied by 10 minutes spent on emailing back and forth that were avoided, and out pops $33.33. Calendly is only $12/month for their professional plan which saves you money if you even schedule only one meeting a month with it.
- NiloCK 4y ago
  One sticky note costs you more than $12!?
  - fragmede 4y ago
    Would you mind explaining your "one sticky note" workflow where it costs way less than $12?
- ROFISH 4y ago
  I pay Google $6/month/user for email, docs/sheets, video conferencing, and some online space, and I still think I pay too much because many of my users only need email for internal messages. $12/month/user for a random side feature is absolutely absurd. I'm against any and all per-user fees because it's death by a thousand cuts and I refuse to allow that to happen. I will take the time to setup an open-source thing that does the same thing, even if the hourly rate of my setup ends up costing like five years of service JUST BECAUSE I'm that against per-user fees.
  - fragmede 4y ago
    Would you rather a base, say $500/month, and then a trivial per-user fee? Say $0.50? Because obviously each user will incur additional resource usage, so you can't really be that against per-user fees when each user literally takes up X more MiB of space. Since you are that against per-users fees though, I'm fascinated to hear why.
    - verdverm 4y ago
      How much does it cost to store 1Gb and how many users does that cover? What is the markup?
raimille1 4y ago
I created kalendme.com for this exact reason. Keeping it simple, clean branding and simple pricing for $4 per user per month also with a full API. I’m a solo founder but with a solid B2B deal powering a YC telemedicine company’s scheduling.
pfalke 4y ago
Zcal requires the following permission for Google Calender, Cal.com doesn’t: “… permanently delete all the calendars you can access using Google Calendar” Granting that takes a lot of trust in Zcal.

by sondog 4y ago

ryanSrich 4y ago

Have you tried savvycal.com? I've been using it for over a year now. Best calendly alternative I've found.

swyx 4y ago
what did you like compared to cal.com?
- podoman 4y ago
  savvycal has a way better scheduling UI for when you share to other people. I agree that savvycal > calendly. I pay for savvycal.
bedatadriven 4y ago
Another vote for savvycal, happy customer here.

eli_gottlieb 4y ago

>ended up just switching over to https://zcal.co https://zcal.co and it has been great so far Wait wait wait. It can sync my Google and Outlook calendars into a single scheduling service, and they're not charging me anything? What's the catch here?

brazzy 4y ago
Same as all the others, they're planning a premium tier with enterprise functions, hoping that enough happy free tier customers will help convince enterprises to sign up.

baxtr 4y ago

This. There HAS to be a name for this phenomenon. These are great products. But then they start adding feature over feature that add no or just little value while making the entire experience worse. What is this? VC money feature creep?

paulhart 4y ago
enshittification? also see: https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys
- baxtr 4y ago
  Thx for sharing. Reads similar to what I was describing! Not fan of the name though.
  - lozf 4y ago
    Perhaps "encrapsulating" would suffice?
    - encoderer 4y ago
      I really like this because it describes how you really are just burying the core value of the product with layers of, well, crap.
- andirk 4y ago
  Capping? Like how if an ER was run the way software is maintained, then, on a slow day, the doctor would order all the nurses to go in to the waiting room and bust everyone's knee caps.
ssgodderidge 4y ago
Maybe the apps themselves are stable enough that the engineers working on them have to work on something. Is there an example of a SaaS product out there with more than one developer that isn’t interested in adding features? I don’t know of any.

jacky2wong 4y ago

What ends up happening is that B2B companies prefer 'value' over 'simplicity' or user experience and end up building features without proper product design. This is required for them to expand their B2B offering and hence end up being 'clunky'. It's inevitable - much like most enterprise softwares.

gooooooore 4y ago
Inevitable when your management only acts in short term best interest. Although less common, there are some people that also care about long term and common good.

techwhiz007 4y ago

I had been trying a bunch of Calendly alternatives until I came across zcal. It seems to have the perfect balance of functionality, simple design and affordability (I mean its literally FREE, so can't complain).

princevegeta89 4y ago

Is there a self-hosted open-source alternative for these scheduling systems? Would love to host it out for once and for all.

nchudleigh 4y ago
Yeah Cal.com does this. https://docs.cal.com/introduction/quick-start/self-hosting/installation https://docs.cal.com/introduction/quick-start/self-hosting/i...

fragmede 4y ago

why is the amount absurd? take your hourly rate, plus the other person's hourly rate, let's say $100 each, multiplied by 10 minutes spent on emailing back and forth that were avoided, and out pops $33.33. Calendly is only $12/month for their professional plan which saves you money if you even schedule only one meeting a month with it.

NiloCK 4y ago
One sticky note costs you more than $12!?
- fragmede 4y ago
  Would you mind explaining your "one sticky note" workflow where it costs way less than $12?
ROFISH 4y ago
I pay Google $6/month/user for email, docs/sheets, video conferencing, and some online space, and I still think I pay too much because many of my users only need email for internal messages. $12/month/user for a random side feature is absolutely absurd. I'm against any and all per-user fees because it's death by a thousand cuts and I refuse to allow that to happen. I will take the time to setup an open-source thing that does the same thing, even if the hourly rate of my setup ends up costing like five years of service JUST BECAUSE I'm that against per-user fees.
- fragmede 4y ago
  Would you rather a base, say $500/month, and then a trivial per-user fee? Say $0.50? Because obviously each user will incur additional resource usage, so you can't really be that against per-user fees when each user literally takes up X more MiB of space. Since you are that against per-users fees though, I'm fascinated to hear why.
  - verdverm 4y ago
    How much does it cost to store 1Gb and how many users does that cover? What is the markup?

raimille1 4y ago

I created kalendme.com for this exact reason. Keeping it simple, clean branding and simple pricing for $4 per user per month also with a full API. I’m a solo founder but with a solid B2B deal powering a YC telemedicine company’s scheduling.

pfalke 4y ago

Zcal requires the following permission for Google Calender, Cal.com doesn’t: “… permanently delete all the calendars you can access using Google Calendar” Granting that takes a lot of trust in Zcal.