Acuity is built for scheduling, so switching off it is mostly a rebuild rather than a data migration: your client list and appointment history export cleanly as CSVs, but your appointment types, availability, and scheduling limits live only in Acuity’s settings screens, with no file to download. This guide covers both halves in order, the honest version of what transfers automatically and what you’ll re-enter by hand, so a client who has been booking you through Acuity for years feels a clean handoff instead of a dropped one. For where the two tools differ day to day, including the four things Acuity still does that Grove does not, see the Acuity Scheduling alternative comparison, or the FAQ on keeping your existing scheduling link if you decide to run both for a while first.
One rule shapes the sequence: export everything and write down your settings while your Acuity subscription is still active, and cancel last, not first. Acuity keeps your account data readable for a while after you downgrade, but a live account is still the easiest place to double-check a setting you’re not sure you copied correctly.
The terms you’ll see
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Client list export | Acuity’s self-serve CSV export of your roster, from Clients > Import/export > Export client list. |
| Appointment export | Acuity’s CSV export of your appointment history, from Reports > Import/export, with intake form answers included if you select a form. |
| Appointment Type | Acuity’s term for a single bookable service: a name, a duration, a price, and which calendars offer it. Grove’s equivalent is a session type. |
| Session type | Grove’s version of the same idea: a name, duration, price, and description. What you list here is what shows on your booking page. |
| Draft | The status every imported Grove client starts in. Nothing has been sent to them yet; they’re only visible to you. |
| Archive | Grove’s wind-down for a finished coaching engagement: the client stops counting toward your plan, their data stays readable, and you can restore them anytime. |
Before you start
- Keep your Acuity subscription active until the last step. Downgrading restricts the account rather than deleting it right away, but working from a live account is safer while you’re still copying settings across.
- Write down your Appointment Types (name, duration, price) and your Availability and Scheduling Limits (weekly hours, how far ahead clients can book) before you start. Acuity has no export for either, so you’ll be reading these off your own settings screens rather than a downloaded file.
- Have a Grove account ready; if you don’t yet, start free.
- Budget an afternoon rather than ten minutes. The two CSV exports are quick, but rebuilding appointment types and availability by hand is the part that takes real time.
- The rest of your stack can stay put. Your existing Stripe account keeps working alongside Grove; this migration replaces Acuity’s scheduling, not everything around it.
Steps
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Export your client list from Acuity. In Acuity, go to Clients, click Import/export, and choose Export client list. Use the dropdown to pick which clients to include; choose All clients so a name you haven’t booked in a while doesn’t get left behind. Download the CSV.
Heads up: the export has no separate flag for active versus inactive, so it lists everyone in the group you pick. That’s fine here: you’ll decide who’s still an active client in step 4.
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Export your appointment history. Go to Reports, click Import/export, choose a date range covering as much of your Acuity history as you want, and check the box to include canceled appointments if you want the full record. If you use an intake form, select it so its answers come along too, then click Export appointments to download the CSV.
Tip: if you use more than one intake form, run this export once per form. Each pass only carries the answers for the form you selected that time.
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Import your roster into Grove. On Grove’s Clients page, click Import Clients and upload the client list CSV from step 1. Grove’s column mapper auto-matches Acuity’s headers to Grove’s contact fields: map name, email, and phone, and skip the rest. Every imported client lands as a Draft, and nothing is emailed to anyone yet. The Import your existing client roster guide walks the wizard step by step.
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Archive the clients you’re not actively coaching. For each client you imported for the record rather than the relationship, open their page and click Archive. The confirmation dialog spells out what happens: an archived client won’t get check-in prompts or show up in your active list, and you can restore them anytime.
Tip: Acuity’s client export includes a “Days since last appointment” column. Use it to separate a returning client worth keeping active from a one-off booking from months back that belongs in the archive.
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Rebuild your Appointment Types as Grove session types. On Grove’s Billing page, switch to the Pricing tab. In the Sessions card, click Add session type and enter the name, duration, price, and description from the notes you took in Acuity’s Appointment Types panel, one per type. If Acuity clients bought a bundle of sessions up front, recreate it under the Packages card the same way. The Set up your pricing and get paid guide covers the full pricing setup.
Gotcha: if any of those bundles were an auto-renewing Acuity subscription or membership rather than a one-time package, there’s no direct Grove equivalent; Grove’s Packages don’t auto-renew. Recreate the offering as a Package instead, and when a client’s balance runs low, Grove flags it with a Running low badge and a one-click renewal link so you can re-bill by hand.
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Set your bookable hours and reconnect your calendar. In Settings, under Scheduling & calendar, set your weekly hours to match the Availability and Scheduling Limits you wrote down from Acuity. Then connect your calendar under Settings > Google Account; this is what stops Grove from offering a time you’re already busy.
Heads up: Grove connects to Google Calendar only. If your Acuity availability relied on a two-way sync to Outlook or iCloud instead, that protection doesn’t carry over unless you also keep a Google calendar current alongside it.
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Connect Stripe. In Settings, find the Client payments card and click Connect Stripe. If Acuity already has you on Stripe as your payment processor, sign in with that same account; Grove creates its own payout stream under it rather than a second login. See I already have a Stripe account, can I use it with Grove? for what to expect.
Tip: if Acuity has you on Square or PayPal instead, you’ll be setting up Stripe from scratch, since it’s Grove’s only payment processor today.
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Put your booking link to work, then set your cutover date. Once your session types, hours, and Stripe are live, Add booking to your website covers putting a Book a session button or embed wherever your Acuity link used to sit, or you can just share your new Grove booking link directly. Pick the date Grove becomes where clients book you, tell them ahead of time, and send each continuing client’s invite when you’re ready; the Invite and onboard your first client guide covers that handoff. Cancel Acuity only once every download from steps 1 and 2 is confirmed safe in your own storage.
Heads up: Acuity’s text reminders don’t carry over. Grove’s booking confirmations and session reminders go out by email, so if your clients are used to a text the day before, mention that when you tell them about the move.
What’s next
Your continuing clients are Drafts with their booking history behind them and nothing sent yet. Work through Invite and onboard your first client to prepare each one’s space and send invites on your cutover schedule. Then settle into what Acuity never offered: client check-ins as daily dialogue between sessions, not just a calendar of when you’ll next talk.