An Acuity Scheduling alternative for the work between sessions.
Acuity is good at the job it is built for: filling a calendar. If you are looking at alternatives because the booking part works fine and everything around it lives in your head, this is an honest read on what Grove does instead, what moves when you switch, and where Acuity is still the better tool.
A scheduling tool.
Acuity is booking infrastructure: appointment types, availability rules, calendar sync, reminders, packages, and payment collection. It is built for any business that runs on appointments, which is why it is deep on scheduling and silent on everything after the booking.
A coaching relationship layer, with booking inside it.
Grove starts from the relationship: a daily check-in, habits, reflections, and session prep that turns the week into talking points before you sit down. Booking and payments live inside that, so the session your client just paid for lands in the middle of the coaching rather than beside it.
Acuity is very good scheduling software.
If what you need is a calendar that fills itself without a single back-and-forth email, Acuity has spent years getting that right.
- Appointment types, availability rules, and scheduling limits with more configuration than most coaching practices will ever need.
- Two-way calendar sync with Google, Outlook, iCloud, and Office 365, so every calendar you keep stays honest about when you are busy.
- Reminders by email or text message on its paid tiers, which is what clients who never open email actually respond to.
- Packages, gift certificates, and auto-renewing subscriptions sold straight from your scheduler.
- Multiple bookable calendars, so a practice with more than one practitioner, or a room, books cleanly.
- Embeds and integrations nearly everywhere, including a first-class fit with Squarespace, which now owns it.
The booking is an hour. The coaching is the other 167.
A scheduling tool answers one question: when are we next talking. Grove is built around the one it leaves open, which is what happens in between, and whether you walk into the session already knowing.
Booking is the start of the relationship, not the end of the transaction
On a scheduling tool, a booked session is a calendar entry and the story stops there. In Grove the same booking arrives attached to a client you have been watching all week, so the session opens already knowing what happened since the last one.
The work between sessions is the product
A 30-second daily check-in your client actually does, habits they shape themselves, and a weekly reflection they answer. That is the stretch a scheduling tool leaves empty, and it is where coaching either holds or quietly comes apart.
Client-led, not coach-assigned
Your client owns their goals and habits, reshaping them as life changes, while you see every change the moment it happens. You stay the guide without becoming the gatekeeper.
Session prep, written by Sage
Open a client and Sage, your AI assistant, has already turned the week into talking points before you sit down. Sage summarizes, and never diagnoses, anything Sage writes is clearly labeled, and Grove never sends personal client details to an outside AI provider.
Attention signals
Grove surfaces who is thriving, who is drifting, and who has gone quiet, so you reach out before a client disappears instead of after. A calendar can only tell you that nobody booked.
Booking and payments, with no platform fee
Session types, packages that keep their own count, a free intro call, one-off invoices, and a booking button or inline embed for the website you already have. Your client picks a time and pays in the same step, handled end to end by Stripe. Grove adds nothing on top of Stripe's standard card fees.
Coach yourself first
Run Grove on yourself before a single client logs in. Self-coaching mode lets you test your own programs, feel the client side, and judge the fit from the inside rather than from a feature table.
Which one fits your practice?
- You are a solo coach, and the week between sessions matters as much as the hour in them.
- Your booking works fine, but everything around it lives in your head, your notes app, and three browser tabs.
- You want every session to start already knowing where your attention belongs.
- Google Calendar and Stripe are already your stack, so Grove connects to what you use.
- You want no a-la-carte add-ons and no transaction fees. Every feature on every plan. You choose a plan by client count, not by which features you need.
- You sell auto-renewing memberships or subscriptions. Grove packages do not auto-renew; when one runs low, Grove flags it and gives you a one-click renewal link to re-bill by hand.
- Your availability depends on a two-way sync with Outlook or iCloud. Grove connects to Google Calendar only.
- You take payments through Square or PayPal. Stripe is Grove's only payment processor today.
- Your clients rely on text reminders. Grove's booking confirmations and session reminders go out by email.
- You book for more than one practitioner, or you run classes and group programs off a shared calendar. Grove is built around one coach and the clients they work with one to one.
- Scheduling really is the whole job. If nothing needs to happen between appointments, a coaching layer is more tool than the work requires.
Already decided to move? The Switch from Acuity to Grove guide walks the whole migration in order, from the two CSV exports to run before you cancel through rebuilding your appointment types and moving your booking link across.
Weighing the bigger question of replacing your whole stack, not just the scheduler? See what coaching practice management software should actually do.
Grove doesn't do everything Acuity does yet.
Grove is a coaching relationship layer, not a scheduling replacement, and there are a few Acuity-shaped gaps we are honest about. We're evaluating these, no promise and no timeline yet. If one of these is what's actually holding your switch back, say so below, it goes straight into what we build next.
How much does this matter?
Want me to contact you if we build this?
Noted, thank you. This feeds directly into what we build next.
Or talk to us about it directly →How much does this matter?
Want me to contact you if we build this?
Noted, thank you. This feeds directly into what we build next.
Or talk to us about it directly →How much does this matter?
Want me to contact you if we build this?
Noted, thank you. This feeds directly into what we build next.
Or talk to us about it directly →How much does this matter?
Want me to contact you if we build this?
Noted, thank you. This feeds directly into what we build next.
Or talk to us about it directly →Grove and Acuity, answered
Is Grove an Acuity Scheduling alternative?
For a coaching practice, often yes. Grove has its own booking page, session types, packages, and Stripe payments, so it can be the place clients book you. What makes it an alternative rather than a copy is what surrounds the booking: daily check-ins, habits, reflections, and session prep. If your booking already works and the gap is everything between appointments, that is the trade this page is about.
Can Grove replace Acuity for booking and payments?
For most solo coaches, yes. You set session types with a name, duration, price, and description, add packages that track their own remaining count, connect Stripe, and share your booking link or paste a booking button or inline embed onto your own site. Clients pick a time and pay in one step, free intro calls book without a card, and one-off invoices cover anything outside your catalog. See booking and payments for the full picture.
What does Acuity do that Grove does not?
Four things worth knowing before you switch: Acuity sells auto-renewing subscriptions and memberships, Grove packages do not auto-renew. Acuity syncs two ways with Outlook and iCloud, Grove connects to Google Calendar only. Acuity supports Square and PayPal, Stripe is Grove's only processor. Acuity sends text reminders on its paid tiers, Grove's reminders are email. Acuity also books multiple practitioners and classes, which Grove does not do.
Does Grove do memberships or subscriptions like Acuity?
Not as auto-renewing billing. Grove has packages: a client buys a block of sessions up front, and Grove counts down the balance as they book. When a package runs low, your Payments tab flags it with a running-low badge and a one-click renewal link you can copy or email. It is a re-bill you trigger, not a recurring charge.
Does Grove sync with Outlook or iCloud?
Not today. Grove connects to Google Calendar, which is what keeps it from offering a time you are already busy. If your Acuity availability relied on a two-way Outlook or iCloud sync, that protection does not carry over unless you also keep a Google calendar current.
Can I keep using Acuity alongside Grove?
Yes, and plenty of coaches do while they decide. Your existing scheduling link can keep running exactly as it does while you use Grove for check-ins, session prep, and the coaching itself. The coach FAQ covers what that looks like in practice.
How do I move from Acuity to Grove?
Switching off Acuity is mostly a rebuild rather than a data migration: your client list and appointment history export as CSVs, but appointment types and availability live only in Acuity's settings screens, so you re-enter those by hand. Budget an afternoon. The Switch from Acuity to Grove guide walks the whole move in order, including which exports to run before you cancel.
How much does Grove cost?
No a-la-carte add-ons and no transaction fees on client payments, and there is a free tier to start on. Every feature on every plan. You choose a plan by client count, not by which features you need. You can see current pricing on our pricing page.
See if Grove fits the way you coach.
Start free on yourself. No clients to set up and no credit card, so you can judge the fit from the inside rather than from a feature table.
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