Bella Booking vs Acuity Scheduling
Built for salons and clinics, not any appointment.
An honest comparison to help you choose the right salon, spa or clinic software for your business - whatever its size.
Quick facts at a glance
A side-by-side overview of key differences
Prices shown in AUD (inc. GST)
Bella Booking: Starter plan for 1-3 team members, Professional for 4+ (unlimited). Competitor pricing from official sources, verified August 2026.
Which is right for you?
An honest look at when each platform makes sense
Consider Bella Booking if...
- Built for salons, spas and clinics rather than any appointment-based business
- Retail product sales and stock management - Acuity has no inventory at all
- Email and SMS campaigns built in, instead of bolting on a separate marketing platform
- Automated birthday, rebook and review messages without a third-party tool
- Loyalty programme with configurable points and rewards
- Client reviews with verified appointments and AI moderation
- Treatment plans published to the client's booking portal for aesthetic and wellness programmes
- Memberships that carry real benefits - included or discounted services with session tracking
- Service bundles with sequential and parallel execution
- Processing time - the team member is free while colour develops or a mask sets
- Staff pricing tiers so a senior stylist can charge more for the same service
- AI Assistant and a weekly AI business digest
- Waitlist with automatic slot matching and notifications
- Incomplete booking recovery with automated follow-up
- Family and dependent booking (children, partners, parents, pets)
- Afterpay / Clearpay for deposits, gift cards and packages
- Two-way SMS messaging on your own dedicated business number
- SMS reminders included on every plan - Acuity requires Standard or above
- Prices published in AUD with GST included, not converted from USD
- Free onboarding on every plan, and free data migration on Starter and Professional
- Multi-location support without moving to a custom-priced Enterprise plan
Consider Acuity Scheduling if...
- Your website is built on Squarespace and you want one vendor for both
- You run classes, workshops or course series alongside one-to-one appointments
- You want a developer API to build a custom booking experience
- You need a HIPAA business associate agreement
- You are a solo practitioner who only needs a calendar and a payment link
- You already run marketing from Mailchimp or another dedicated email platform
We believe in helping you find the right fit, even if it's not us.
Detailed feature comparison
A comprehensive look at what each platform offers
Scheduling & Booking
Client Management
Team Management
Payments & POS
Marketing & Communication
Business Management
AI & Intelligence
Platform & Support
Pricing breakdown
What you'll actually pay
Prices shown are starting prices and include GST. Bella Booking Starter includes up to 3 team members; Professional includes unlimited team members. Competitor pricing may vary based on team size.
Bella Booking
Solo (1 team): A$25/month AUD • Starter (1-3 team): A$67/month AUD • Professional (4+): A$99/month AUD
Acuity Scheduling
Additional costs to consider
- • No AUD pricing published - you are billed in USD, so your cost moves with the exchange rate
- • SMS reminders require Standard or above
- • Packages, memberships and gift certificates require Standard or above
- • Remove Acuity branding requires Premium
- • In-person card payments (tap to pay, readers) are US-only - Australian businesses collect online only
Pricing information based on publicly available data as of August 2026. Visit each provider's website for current pricing.
Cost comparison by team size
Team Size Pricing Comparison
Monthly cost for different team sizes
Note: how team member limits work
Plan limits count the team members on your Bella roster who are on the scheduler or bookable online: front desk, managers and bookkeepers don't count. The comparisons in this table assume everyone listed takes appointments.
| Team Size | Bella Booking | Acuity Scheduling | Savings with Bella |
|---|---|---|---|
1 person | $25/mo(Solo) | $20/mo $20 (Starter, 1 calendar) | $5/mo more |
3 people | $67/mo(Starter) | $34/mo $34 (Standard, up to 6 calendars) | $33/mo more |
6 people | $99/mo(Professional) | $34/mo $34 (Standard, up to 6 calendars) | $65/mo more |
12 people | $99/mo(Professional) | $61/mo $61 (Premium, up to 36 calendars) | $38/mo more |
Bella Booking: Official pricing (Starter $67/mo, Professional $99/mo)
Acuity Scheduling: Official pricing page • Last verified: August 2026
Pricing may change. Please verify current prices on official websites before making decisions.
What Acuity Scheduling does well
We believe in honest comparisons. Here's what Acuity Scheduling excels at:
- 1Very low entry price - Starter is $20/month for a single calendar
- 2First-party Squarespace website integration, plus embeds for any website
- 3Public developer API with versioned documentation, and custom CSS on Premium
- 4Group classes and multi-date course series, natively configurable
- 5No processor markup - you pay only Stripe, Square or PayPal fees
- 6Custom intake forms and agreements included on every plan
- 7HIPAA business associate agreement available on Premium
- 8Enormous scale and stability - over 15 million appointments booked each month
- 9Backed by Squarespace since 2019
Acuity Scheduling might be better if...
We believe in helping you find the right solution, even if it's not us. Here are some scenarios where other options might serve you better:
- 1First-party Squarespace integration, if your website is already on Squarespace
- 2Multi-date class series and workshop sign-ups
- 3A public developer API with versioned documentation
- 4A HIPAA business associate agreement (Premium plan)
- 5Square tap-to-pay hardware in the same product - United States only
Still not sure? - we'll give you an honest assessment of whether Bella Booking is right for your business.
Rated 5.0 on Capterra
Switched from Acuity Scheduling
“Try Bella, You Won't Regret It!”
“Great support for small business”
“User-friendly and reliable booking system with quick support”
Switching from Acuity Scheduling?
We make it easy. Free onboarding on every plan, with free data migration on Starter and Professional.
How to switch from Acuity Scheduling
Step-by-step guide to export your data and move to Bella Booking. We offer free onboarding on every plan, and free data migration on Starter and Professional.
- 1
Export your client list
Go to Clients, click Import/export, then Export client list. Choose "All clients" (or a subgroup by recency) and download the CSV.
- 2
Export your appointments
From the same Import/export menu, click Export appointments. The CSV includes intake form responses when a form is selected, with timestamps.
- 3
Capture your appointment types
Screenshot or list your appointment types with durations, prices and add-ons. Acuity has no dedicated service-menu export, so capture this manually - a link to your booking page is enough for us.
- 4
Note your packages, memberships and gift certificates
If you sell packages, subscriptions or gift certificates on Standard or Premium, write down the outstanding balances before you close the account. Bella brings each part-used package across with Add existing package and has memberships to recreate subscriptions in, and the Bella team imports gift certificates with their codes and remaining balances, but only if you have the list.
- 5
Email everything to hello@bellabooking.com
Send the CSVs plus your appointment-type list. We validate, dedupe and import everything for you - free on Starter and Professional.
A note on appointment history
We generally recommend not importing old appointment history. Importing past appointments can trigger unintended automated messages (reminders, review requests, reminders to rebook, follow-up messages) and cause data inconsistencies. Your clients and services are the essential data for a clean start. If you do want some history carried over, we recommend a tight recent range (e.g. the last 3 months), and our migration team will ensure no notifications are sent accidentally.
Good to know
Acuity exports are CSV only. If you ever import back into Acuity, files must be split into batches of 500 rows - we have no such limit on the way in. The "days since last appointment" column is blank for clients with an upcoming booking or no history, so do not rely on it for segmenting.
Official export documentation: Acuity Scheduling help centre
Can't export your data?
No problem, we can work with anything. Screenshots of your service list, a link to your public booking page, a photo of your price board, or even a typed-up list. Send us whatever you have and we will build your account from it.
Need help with the migration?
Our team will handle the data import, set up your services, and walk you through everything. Onboarding help is free on every plan, and data migration is free on Starter and Professional. We accept data in any format: CSV, Excel, screenshots, photos, links, or anything else you can send.
Sources: Information gathered from acuityscheduling.com, help.acuityscheduling.com, techcrunch.com. Last verified: August 2026.
Found an error? and we'll correct it promptly.
Important Notice
The information about Acuity Scheduling on this page is based on publicly available data as of August 2026 and is provided for general comparison purposes only. Pricing, features, and policies may change at any time without notice. We make reasonable efforts to keep this information accurate, but we cannot guarantee its completeness or current accuracy.
Always verify directly with Acuity Scheduling before making any business decisions. This comparison reflects our understanding and may not capture all nuances of their offerings.