Disclosure: Some links below are affiliate links. If you buy through them, this site earns a small commission at no extra cost. Editorial recommendations are never influenced by affiliate rates.
In this article
If your clients are still booking appointments by email, you're spending 20+ minutes per booking on back-and-forth that a 0−10/month tool would handle automatically. Online scheduling software pays for itself in the first week.
The three tools NZ small businesses most often land on are Calendly, Acuity Scheduling, and Setmore. They're all competent, but they suit different types of businesses. Here's what each one actually costs in NZD, what it does well, and who should pick it.
How Appointment Scheduling Software Works in NZ
None of these tools require your clients to create an account. They click a booking link, pick a time from your live availability, fill in any intake fields you've set up, and get a confirmation email. Your calendar blocks the time automatically.
All three sync with Google Calendar and Outlook. All three handle time zones, which matters for NZ businesses dealing with Australian or international clients. And all three are legitimate businesses operating in NZ without any particular legal complications.
There's no NZ-specific regulation around appointment scheduling software. If you're in healthcare and need to store health information, standard privacy requirements under the Privacy Act 2020 apply, but standard scheduling tools don't typically store clinical data.
Calendly
Calendly is the most widely recognised name in scheduling, and for good reason. It's fast to set up, the client-side booking flow is clean, and it integrates with everything.
Plans (billed annually, converted to NZD at ~1.65):
| Plan | USD/month | NZD/month (approx.) | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 1 event type, basic calendar link |
| Standard | $10/seat | ~$17/seat | Unlimited event types, Stripe payments, group events |
| Teams | $16/seat | ~$26/seat | Round-robin routing, team scheduling, admin controls |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | SSO, compliance, advanced routing |
Monthly billing pushes Standard to 12/seat( 20 NZD) and Teams to 20/seat( 33 NZD).
The free plan is genuinely useful for solo practitioners who only need one meeting type. A consultant who books "30-minute discovery calls" and nothing else can run on free indefinitely.
The main limitation of free is the single event type. Once you want to offer both 30-minute and 60-minute meetings, or separate links for different client types, you're on Standard.
What Calendly does well: The speed of the booking flow is best-in-class. Clients rarely drop off. The integration library is enormous: Zoom, Teams, Stripe, HubSpot, Salesforce, 700+ others. For teams doing sales or customer success calls, the round-robin and routing features on the Teams plan are genuinely useful.
Where it falls short: Calendly is built for meetings, not service appointments. If you need deposit collection at booking, package selling, or staff-specific booking pages for a salon or clinic, the lack of native appointment management features starts to show.
Tip
If you want Calendly to connect with your CRM, HubSpot's free CRM has a native Calendly integration that logs booked meetings automatically. It's free for up to 2 users.
Acuity Scheduling
Acuity is owned by Squarespace and sits at the other end of the spectrum from Calendly. It's built specifically for service businesses that need more than a meeting link.
Plans (billed annually):
| Plan | USD/month | NZD/month (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $16 | ~$26 |
| Standard | $27 | ~$45 |
| Premium | $49 | ~$81 |
Monthly billing is $20, $34, and $61 respectively. There is no free plan. A 7-day trial is available on all paid tiers.
The Starter plan ($26 NZD/month) includes payment collection via Stripe, Square, or PayPal, intake forms, automated reminders, and one staff calendar. That's a strong feature set at the entry tier.
Standard adds up to 6 calendars and gift certificates. Premium adds 36 calendars, HIPAA compliance, and custom API access.
What Acuity does well: Intake forms are far more flexible than anything Calendly offers. You can ask clients questions before the booking, require specific information, or gate certain appointment types behind intake responses. Package selling (e.g., "buy 10 sessions, get 1 free") and deposits at booking also work well here. For a physiotherapy clinic, personal trainer, or massage therapist, these features are table stakes.
Where it falls short: No free tier. If you're testing the waters, a 7-day trial with billing immediately after is a commitment. The interface is also more complex than Calendly, and the setup time reflects that.
Warning
Acuity's Starter plan covers one staff member only. If you have two therapists or two instructors needing separate booking pages, you're on Standard at ~$45 NZD/month.
Setmore
Setmore is the value option. The free plan is the most generous of any mainstream scheduling tool, covering up to 4 users and 200 appointments per month at no cost.
Plans:
| Plan | USD/month | NZD/month (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 (up to 4 users, 200 appts/mo) | $0 |
| Pro (annual) | $5/user | ~$8/user |
| Pro (monthly) | $12/user | ~$20/user |
The free plan includes unlimited services, a custom booking page, and even a basic Teleport video integration. For a tradesperson, hairdresser, or small retail shop with up to 4 staff taking bookings, that's a complete solution at no cost.
The Pro plan at ~$8 NZD/user/month (annual) unlocks payment processing, two-way calendar sync, and SMS reminders. At that price it's hard to argue against upgrading.
What Setmore does well: Value. A 4-person team running on the free plan and upgrading to Pro would pay about 32NZD/monthtotal.ThesameteamonCalendlyStandardwouldpay 68 NZD/month. Setmore's booking pages are clean enough for most service businesses, and the SMS reminder feature (Pro) reduces no-shows without requiring any manual follow-up.
Where it falls short: Setmore's integration ecosystem is thinner than Calendly's. The admin interface hasn't evolved as quickly. And the 200 appointment/month cap on free will constrain a busy business: a physio seeing 12 patients per day burns through that in under 17 working days.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Calendly | Acuity | Setmore | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 1 event type | None (7-day trial) | Up to 4 users, 200 appts/mo |
| Entry paid price | ~$17 NZD/seat/mo | ~$26 NZD/mo | ~$8 NZD/user/mo |
| Payment collection | Standard+ | All paid plans | Pro |
| Intake forms | Limited | Flexible | Basic |
| SMS reminders | Standard+ | All paid plans | Pro |
| Multi-staff booking | Teams plan | Starter (1 staff) | Free plan |
| Integration breadth | Excellent | Good | Limited |
| Best for | Meetings, sales, teams | Service appointments | Price-sensitive small teams |
Which One Should You Choose?
If you book meetings and calls (consultants, advisors, sales teams, coaches): Calendly Standard at $17 NZD/seat/month. The integration library and clean booking UX are worth the price, and the round-robin routing on Teams is genuinely useful for larger sales teams.
If you run a service business with appointments, intake, or packages (physios, trainers, salons, therapists): Acuity Starter at ~$26 NZD/month. The intake forms and payment collection at booking are purpose-built for this use case in a way Calendly simply isn't.
If you're price-sensitive and have up to 4 staff: Setmore free, upgraded to Pro ($8 NZD/user/month) if you need payment collection or SMS reminders. Hardest to beat at that price.
If you're already using a CRM: Check your CRM first. HubSpot's free plan includes a meeting scheduling link that works well for simple use cases, and Pipedrive has a built-in scheduler on paid plans. You may not need a dedicated scheduling tool at all.
For most NZ small businesses under ten people, the decision is simple: try Setmore free first. If you outgrow it or need specific features, step up to Calendly or Acuity depending on whether your core use case is meetings or service appointments.