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Cal.com is genuinely impressive. Open-source, forever-free individual plan, deep integrations, self-hosting, team routing. It's the scheduling tool developers build internal dashboards around.
But here's the thing: most solo consultants, coaches, and service operators don't need a self-hosted scheduling server. They need to book a client and get paid before that client ghosts them.
That's the gap Slotably was built for.
What Cal.com Actually Is
Cal.com started as an open-source Calendly clone. It has since grown into something more substantial: a scheduling platform with a developer-first philosophy and a surprisingly generous free tier.
The free individual plan includes unlimited bookings, calendar connections, and basic workflows. It's a real free plan, not a capped trial. For solo scheduling with no payment requirements, it's hard to beat on price.
Where Cal.com gets complicated is when you want payments, team features, or anything beyond basic booking links. Payments require connecting Stripe manually through their integrations layer. It works, but it's not a first-class feature.
What Slotably Actually Is
Slotably is a scheduling tool that puts payment collection at the center of the booking experience. Stripe is built in natively. Clients pay when they book, not after.
The full feature set ships in a single $19/month plan:
- Stripe payments built in — no manual integration, clients pay at booking
- AI-generated booking forms — collects the intake info you actually need
- Customizable booking pages — looks like your brand, not generic scheduler UI
- Automated email reminders — reduces no-shows without any manual follow-up
- 1-click cancel and reschedule — for both you and your clients
There's a 7-day free trial. After that, it's $19/month. No free tier.
Feature Breakdown
| Feature | Slotably | Cal.com |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No (7-day trial) | Yes (individual) |
| Stripe payments | Built in natively | Via integration (manual setup) |
| AI booking forms | Yes | No |
| Email reminders | Automated | Via workflows (paid teams plan) |
| 1-click reschedule / cancel | Yes | Yes |
| Custom booking pages | Yes | Yes (Cal.com branding on free) |
| Team scheduling / round robin | Not yet | Yes (Teams plan, $15/user/mo) |
| Self-hosting | No | Yes (open source) |
| Developer API | No | Yes |
| Target user | Solo operators, service businesses | Devs, teams, tech-savvy users |
The Payments Problem Nobody Talks About
Most scheduling tools treat payments as an add-on. You set up your booking page, then separately configure a payment processor, then hope the two handshakes work correctly.
Cal.com follows this pattern. Stripe payments are available via integration, but it's not a flow that was designed with service businesses in mind. You're duct-taping a payment layer onto a scheduling layer.
Slotably builds the payment step directly into the booking flow. Book a time, pay for it, done. No follow-up invoices. No "hey, just a reminder about that payment." The transaction happens before the appointment is confirmed.
Pricing Reality Check
Cal.com's free plan is real. If you're a solo user who doesn't need payments baked in, you can use it indefinitely at no cost.
But if you're on a team and need workflows, routing, and advanced features, you're at $15 per user per month. A team of four is $60/month before any extras.
Slotably is a flat $19/month for everything in the plan. No per-seat pricing. No "payments are a pro feature" upsell.
Who Should Use What
- You charge clients for appointments (consultants, coaches, photographers, freelancers)
- You want payments collected at the moment of booking, not chased after
- You need a clean booking page without technical setup
- You want AI to build your intake form instead of creating it manually
- You're a solo operator, not managing a team of schedulers
- You want a free individual scheduling tool with no payment needs
- You're a developer who wants to self-host or build on top of the platform
- You manage a team and need round robin or routing features
- You need deep API access or custom integrations
- Data ownership and open-source control are priorities for your business
The Bottom Line
Cal.com and Slotably are not really competing for the same customer.
Cal.com is built for people who want scheduling infrastructure they can own, extend, and customize. It's a developer-friendly platform that happens to also work well for free individual scheduling.
Slotably is built for the service operator who runs their business through their calendar. The booking is the transaction. Getting paid at the moment of booking isn't a nice-to-have, it's the whole point.
If you're a photographer, consultant, coach, or any solo professional who charges per appointment, you don't need a self-hostable open-source scheduling engine.
You need something that books and bills in one shot.
That's a very different product. And for that specific use case, Slotably is built specifically around it.