Booking a 30-minute call should be simple, yet it often turns into six back-and-forth emails that drain everyone’s patience. The more people, time zones, and calendars involved, the messier it gets.
This wasted effort matters because it steals hours that could be spent on work that moves projects forward. Missed emails also reflect poorly on the company and can lead to lost deals or frustrated partners who move on.
That is why many teams turn to online scheduling tools such as Google Calendar’s Appointment Schedule, Calendly, Cal.com, and OnceHub. A quick glance at calendly reviews shows how popular these apps have become.
Each tool promises an easier way to share open slots, collect bookings, and update calendars automatically. They reach that goal in slightly different ways, and those small differences can decide whether a meeting link feels like a relief or another headache.
This article compares the four options, explains how each one works, and gives real cases where one shines above the others. Finally, it lays out simple steps to try the tool that fits best and notes how Revolgy can guide the roll-out for any size team.
Choosing between scheduling tools starts with a clear checklist. Here are the key points to keep in mind:
Speed of setup also plays a role. A solo consultant may want to accept sessions within ten minutes, whereas a global product firm may need advanced approval flows that require IT help.
Support, documentation, and community are hidden factors that surface the moment something breaks. By measuring each product against these points — sync quality, booking ease, controls, privacy, price, setup speed, and support — you can judge which option matches your real daily pain rather than the flashiest marketing claim.
Ease of branding, such as adding a logo or custom URL, can also affect how professional the invitation feels to guests.
Google added the Appointment Schedule feature directly inside Google Calendar for Workspace users. It lets you mark blocks of availability and produce a public booking page that lives at a google.com URL.
Because the tool sits in the same calendar that your team already uses, there is no new account to manage. Users open Calendar, pick “Appointment Schedule,” set meeting length, buffer, and location, then share the link.
For invitees, the page loads fast on any device and shows free slots in their local time zone. When someone selects a slot, Google sends both parties a standard Calendar invite and can fire automatic email reminders. The appointment inherits any meet link or room set by the organizer.
The main limits appear around collaboration. At the time of writing, Appointment Schedule works only for people inside one Workspace domain. Sharing pooled availability across multiple team members or routing based on form answers is not possible. Reporting is basic, and branding options are minimal. Still, for small teams on Workspace who want a no-cost tool that “just appears” in their calendar, it is a strong baseline.
Calendly is the name most people think of when they hear “booking link.” After a quick sign-up, it connects to Google Calendar, Outlook, or iCloud and hides busy events so no one books over existing meetings.
Users create different event types — say a 15-minute intro call and a 60-minute demo — and choose rules for each. The free plan offers one active event type, while paid plans add unlimited types, group events, and round-robin distribution.
One practical feature is routing forms. Invitees can answer questions, and Calendly steers them to the ideal colleague based on location, product interest, or size. Another plus is its wide marketplace of integrations. Stripe, PayPal, HubSpot, and Zapier are only a click away, so a consultant can accept payment during booking, and a sales team can push data into a CRM without code.
The downside is cost at scale. Teams that need routing and analytics often land on the Professional or Teams tier, which can feel steep compared with Google’s built-in option. Still, for a polished interface, deep integrations, and broad brand recognition with clients, Calendly sets a high bar.
Cal.com began as “Calendso,” an open-source answer to proprietary booking tools. Anyone can host it on their own server or pay for a managed cloud plan. The open-source roots make it attractive to developers who need to embed booking inside a custom portal or who have strict data residency laws.
Feature-wise, Cal.com covers the basics: multiple event types, round-robin pools, buffers, and automatic reminders. Where it stands out is extensibility. The plug-in system lets teams add video platforms, payment gateways, or analytics scripts without waiting for the core team to ship updates. A company that already uses Jitsi for calls, for example, can drop in the Jitsi plug-in and keep traffic on its preferred stack.
The interface has improved, yet it still feels more technical than Calendly. Admin options appear in nested menus that may confuse non-developers on the first pass. Support relies heavily on community forums unless you choose the paid enterprise plan. However, pricing can be lower than rivals when self-hosted because the only cost is server time. For organizations that value control over code and data, Cal.com gives freedom while staying user-friendly enough for daily booking.
OnceHub, formerly known as “ScheduleOnce,” caters to teams that juggle complex meeting flows. It still connects to Google Calendar, but its emphasis lies beyond simple one-to-one booking. Admins can design rules that route prospects based on territory, qualification level, or product line. Conditional forms direct each visitor to the correct rep, and pooled availability ensures no single person becomes a bottleneck.
For larger firms, security features stand out. OnceHub supports single sign-on, granular user roles, and audit logs. Data centers reside in multiple regions, meeting various compliance needs. Built-in analytics show conversion rates across pages, giving marketing and sales leaders insight into which campaigns actually turn into conversations.
The flip side of that power is complexity. Initial setup involves mapping user pools, creating dynamic booking pages, and testing every branch. A wizard guides new users, yet many still lean on documentation or paid onboarding to finish. Pricing starts higher than Calendly, but includes every feature, so organizations that would buy top-tier plans elsewhere may find better value here. When the business case demands sophisticated routing without writing code, OnceHub earns a place on the shortlist.
Different roles look at scheduling through different lenses. A solo coach who sells paid sessions mainly wants a quick paywall and automatic reminders. Calendly or a self-hosted Cal.com instance with a Stripe plug-in addresses that need at minimal cost. A marketing agency that offers discovery calls across four time zones values round-robin pools so leads do not stack on one consultant; Calendly’s Teams tier or OnceHub’s routing rules fit that scenario.
Internal teams sometimes forget their needs diverge from external bookings. Developers setting up sprint reviews may need nothing more than Google’s free Appointment Schedule, because all participants share the same Workspace domain. In contrast, a large SaaS vendor running a product webinar faces a flood of bookings in a narrow window. Here, OnceHub’s conditional forms filter attendees, and its analytics reveal which ad channel produced serious prospects.
Security and data control add another layer. European health organizations often favor Cal.com on self-hosted servers within the EU to respect data residency laws. By mapping top priority — be it payment, routing, internal simplicity, or compliance — you can narrow the field fast and pick with confidence.
Ready to try a tool rather than debate it? Start with a seven-day experiment. Here are the steps to take:
If the trial shows that a paid tier or enterprise feature is required, Revolgy can assist.
The team has guided many organizations through Workspace licensing, identity setup, and third-party app integration. Revolgy can recommend the correct plan, set up single sign-on, and migrate existing calendars securely and without disruption. Even if Google Appointment Schedule ends up being enough, Revolgy can optimize Workspace settings to keep calendars tidy. Schedule a free consultation today.