Acuity Scheduling vs Mindbody
A data-derived, sourced comparison. Every value below links to where we found it.
Acuity Scheduling
Acuity Scheduling: flat tiered pricing, no broadcast emails.
Mindbody
Mindbody: flat tiered pricing, no free data migration.
Price at three example sizes
| Studio size | Acuity Scheduling | Mindbody |
|---|---|---|
| Solo operator | $20/moStarter1 calendar, month-to-month ($20/mo) | $79/moStarter$79/mo per location × 1 = $79/mo (Starter) |
| Established studio | $34/moStandard2–6 calendars, month-to-month ($34/mo) | $79/moStarter$79/mo per location × 1 = $79/mo (Starter) |
| Growing multi-site | $61/moPremium7–36 calendars, month-to-month ($61/mo) | $237/moStarter$79/mo per location × 3 = $237/mo (Starter) |
| Base plan headline price: Acuity Scheduling $20/mo, Mindbody $79/mo per location. Excludes payment-processing fees and add-ons — see the full cost calculator. | ||
Where they differ
Scheduling & Booking
| Attendance Tracking | Via colour-coded labels — vendor docs give 'mark class attendees as checked-in' as an example use. One label per attendee, 16-char limit. N…Confirmed | Class Sign In roster, self sign-in (all packages), Check-in app for iPad/Android. Staff-operated Client Check In screen needs Accelerate+.Confirmed |
| Booking Windows | YesEstimated | 'Schedule Windows' per service category — how many days ahead booking opens and how many minutes before start it closes. All packages.Confirmed |
| Brandable Booking Widget | Style editor (logo, colour palette) on all plans; full custom CSS and removal of 'Powered by Acuity' branding require Premium.Estimated | Partial — brand colours, button text and instructor images, but Schedule widget v2 does NOT support custom CSS (v1 did and can no longer be…Confirmed |
| Bulk Class Cancellation | Tick multiple sessions and click 'Delete Selected Classes'; deleting the class type cancels all upcoming classes.Estimated | Make Schedule Change cancels across a date range, auto-cancelling client reservations. 'Block Cancel Classes' needs Accelerate+.Confirmed |
| Bulk Class Creation | 'Offer Class' has a Recurring option for how often and how many times the class repeats.Confirmed | Recurring schedule created in one pass with multiple day/time/instructor instances and a 'Repeats every' cadence.Confirmed |
| Cancellation Windows | Set hours in advance clients may cancel/reschedule; penalty enforced via card-on-file charge or forfeited credit rather than an automatic l…Estimated | Configurable per service category with late-cancel fees and membership-based exemptions. Automated fee management needs Accelerate 2.0+.Confirmed |
| Capacity Limits | YesConfirmed | Total capacity plus a separate online capacity, so online bookers waitlist while staff can still add drop-ins.Confirmed |
| Classes | YesConfirmed | Core service type with its own Class Sign In screen. All packages.Confirmed |
| Courses | 'Class series' — tick 'Clients must sign up for all the times this is offered' and the client is enrolled in every session for one total pr…Confirmed | Called Courses/enrollments — fixed start/end, enrol once for the series, with payment-plan tracking. Makeups, semesters and levels need Acc…Confirmed |
| Duplicate Classes | 'Duplicate' copies the class type's settings but NOT the times it's offered — you must re-add it to the calendar.Confirmed | 'Block Copy Class Schedules' copies a week to a new date range. Requires Accelerate+ (not on Starter). Rooms, payment plans and assistants…Confirmed |
| Embeddable Calendar Widget | YesEstimated | Branded web tools (formerly HealCode) widgets. WordPress/Squarespace/Wix/GoDaddy supported; Shopify and Jimdo are not. All current packages.Confirmed |
| No-show Tracking | 'Mark as no-show' when cancelling; forfeits credit, appears in reports via a no-show filter, and card on file can be charged afterwards.Confirmed | No-shows tallied on the roster plus a No-Shows report. Automated no-show fees need Accelerate 2.0+.Confirmed |
| Recurring Bookings | Recurring appointments only — a finite number of repeats chosen at booking, not an open-ended permanent slot, and not available for group c…Estimated | Recurring class reservations via 'Adv. Register'. Max one year out; unavailable if roster is full or class is free.Confirmed |
| Shareable Booking Links | Direct links to the whole scheduler or to a specific calendar, appointment type, or class list.Estimated | Links screen generates consumer-mode URLs. Consumer-mode links cannot be filtered and cannot target a specific date.Confirmed |
| Staff Substitution | Edit the class and change which calendar (staff member) offers it, keeping attendees enrolled.Confirmed | Quick Substitution, Make Schedule Change, and automated SMS-based Substitution Management (Ultimate 2.0+, limited countries).Confirmed |
| Waiting Lists | 1:1 appointments ONLY — the 'Join waitlist' button appears for every appointment type EXCEPT classes. Standard/Premium only.Estimated | Per-class waitlist capacity, auto-add on opening, optional 'First to Claim' SMS, lock window. Classes, appointments and courses, all packag…Confirmed |
Memberships & Packages
| Automatic Renewals | Subscriptions auto-renew and auto-charge; packages and gift certificates explicitly do NOT auto-renew.Confirmed | Contracts auto-renew at a chosen interval or month-to-month. All packages.Confirmed |
| Class Packs | 'Packages' — client buys a code and redeems it per booking. Standard/Premium only.Confirmed | Pricing options support single, multiple (e.g. 10-class pass) or unlimited sessions per service type.Confirmed |
| Custom Package Rules | Expiry in days (blank = never), public/private access, and redeemable by total appointments, minutes, dollar amount or unlimited, scoped to…Confirmed | Configurable expiry, activation on sale or first visit, service-category restrictions. Selling bundled 'Packages' needs Accelerate+ and isn…Confirmed |
| Failed Payment Handling | Weak — a failed subscription payment simply CANCELS the subscription; an email goes out and the client reactivates by updating their card.…Confirmed | Declined autopays surface via report, dashboard alert and client alert; configurable auto-retry days. Failed ACH converts to a negative acc…Confirmed |
| Hold Multiple Memberships / Packs at Once | Partial — a client can hold several codes, but only one can be applied per appointment and it's picked manually. No automatic credit-priori…Estimated | Pricing option priority (Low/Medium/High) picks which entitlement pays, ties broken by purchase date. Cannot arbitrate between two membersh…Confirmed |
| Memberships | Via 'Subscriptions' — recurring charge redeemable for appointments/classes. Standard/Premium only, Stripe or Square only (not PayPal). No t…Confirmed | Memberships attached to a pricing option; recurring billing via Autopays and Contracts. All packages.Confirmed |
Clients
| Booking History | The client profile shows all their appointments plus intake forms and all package/gift/subscription codes.Confirmed | Client Visits screen with date/time/location/teacher/status, filterable, XLS download. History window configurable up to 60 months.Confirmed |
| Client Export | Clients > Import/export > Export client list, downloads .csv.Estimated | Indirect — no export button on the Client Directory; docs say copy the table into Excel (capped at 1,000 clients per search). A full Subscr…Confirmed |
| Client Import | CSV import with column mapping; vendor recommends batches of 500. Packages, gift certificates and subscriptions cannot be imported.Estimated | No self-serve import — Mindbody's docs say profiles 'need to be created manually, one by one'; mass import only via the Mindbody-run Client…Confirmed |
| Client Notes | 'Notes about client' field on the profile, visible to staff but not the client.Confirmed | ~21 client alert types plus a staff-only 'Medic alert' field. SOAP/progress notes need Accelerate+. Client alerts don't work in the Mindbod…Confirmed |
| Client Profiles | YesConfirmed | Full profiles across Client Info, Schedule, Visits, Purchases and Account Details. Custom client fields need Accelerate+.Confirmed |
| Customer Search | Search by name, phone or email, plus filters for recent vs inactive clients.Confirmed | Quick-search bar plus Client Directory with filters and tagging. Results capped at 1,000 per search; relationship search needs Accelerate+.Confirmed |
Payments
| Automatic Billing | Via Subscriptions, which auto-charge the card on file. Requires Stripe or Square and Standard/Premium.Confirmed | Recurring payments for memberships/contracts with a built-in Card Updater. Direct Debit (ACH, Bacs) where integrated processing exists.Confirmed |
| Discount / Promo Codes | Coupons for appointments, and separately for packages/gift certificates/subscriptions.Estimated | Tier-gated — promo codes require Accelerate+ and are NOT available on Starter. Not supported in the Mindbody consumer app.Confirmed |
| Gift Cards | 'Gift Certificates'. Standard/Premium only.Confirmed | Prepaid gift cards on all packages (integrated processing required); assignable gift cards need Accelerate+.Confirmed |
| In-Person Payments | Via the Acuity Admin mobile app with a Square reader or Stripe M2; Stripe Tap to Pay supported. Square readers are US-only.Estimated | Full retail POS with card readers, terminals, tap-to-pay, barcode scanners and cash registers. Apple Pay and Google Pay supported; hardware…Confirmed |
| Multi-Currency Support | Over two dozen currencies supported, but one currency per account.Confirmed | Multi-country but one currency per account. Integrated payments in US, UK, AU, CA, NZ, HK, MY, MX, SG, UAE.Estimated |
| Online Payments at Booking | Require full payment, a deposit, card details to charge later, or pay-what-you-want pricing.Confirmed | Payment required to book by default; optional unpaid online signups, or store a card without charging it.Estimated |
| Payment History | Payment status per appointment and on the client profile, plus an Orders section. Fuller detail lives in your payment processor.Confirmed | Client Purchases screen with full history, refund status, printable history and Autopay History.Confirmed |
| Payment Reporting | Revenue report totals appointments, add-ons, tips, packages, gift certificates and subscriptions by processor. Excludes cancelled/no-show a…Confirmed | Sales, Transactions and Payouts reports covering funding, fees and refunds, with per-location visibility.Confirmed |
| Refunds | Returns, voids and refunds to card/ACH/credit/cash. Limits: cannot refund more than the original, only one refund per purchase, no bulk ref…Confirmed | |
| Saved Payment Cards | Collect card information at booking to charge later, and charge the saved card afterwards.Confirmed | YesConfirmed |
| Secure Card Payments | Via an integrated processor only — Acuity has NO built-in processor; you connect Stripe, Square or PayPal.Confirmed | Mindbody Payments — integrated, PCI compliant, tokenised. Limited to US, Canada, UK, Australia and Europe.Confirmed |
Communication
| Booking Confirmations | YesConfirmed | Reservation and appointment confirmation auto-notifications. All packages including Starter.Confirmed |
| Booking Reminders | Up to three email reminders per appointment at customisable times, plus one SMS reminder on Standard/Premium.Confirmed | Reservation and appointment reminders with optional .ics attachments. All packages including Starter.Confirmed |
| Broadcast Emails | Marketing Suite Campaigns — one-time marketing emails to a chosen audience. Requires Accelerate 2.0+; not on Starter.Confirmed | |
| Cancellation Emails | Cancellation and Reschedule Confirmation emails sent immediately.Confirmed | Early/late cancellation notifications for classes and appointments. All packages. Substitute instructors do not receive cancellation emails.Confirmed |
| Custom Email Templates | Edit subject and body with text, images, buttons, fonts/colours and merge tags; multiple templates per notification.Estimated | Editable default text with replace-phrases and optional HTML. Custom send-from address via SMTP needs Accelerate+.Confirmed |
| Email Marketing | Marketing Suite — Campaigns and Smart Lists need Accelerate 2.0+; Automations (drip series) are Ultimate 2.0+ only. Not on Starter.Confirmed | |
| Mailchimp Integration | Native — subscribes clients to ONE Mailchimp list based on an intake-form opt-in question. Only one list per connection.Confirmed | Not directly — Mindbody's own FAQ says so. Only branded-web-tools widgets push name/email to one predetermined list; profiles created in th…Confirmed |
| SMS Broadcasts | Partial — Campaigns are email-only, so promotional SMS goes via Automations (Ultimate 2.0+). Mindbody states Marketing Suite texting 'is no…Confirmed | |
| SMS Notifications | Automated SMS appointment reminders with merge tags, to 180+ countries. Standard/Premium only.Estimated | Tier-gated — unavailable at Starter/Essential/Pro. From Accelerate 2.0+ a local number enables 1-way and 2-way texts. Country-limited; adde…Confirmed |
Forms & Compliance
| Custom Intake Forms | Form builder with textbox, dropdown, checkbox, yes/no, file upload (5 MB) and address fields; unlimited questions, assignable per appointme…Confirmed | Client Forms builder with custom questions, required toggle, service scoping and profile field mapping. HIPAA compliant. All packages. Subm…Confirmed |
| Digital Waivers | Partial — Terms & Conditions Agreement forms can be required via a mandatory checkbox, but there is NO e-signature capture; Acuity's own do…Confirmed | Dedicated Liability Waiver with 'require acknowledgement'. Signature capture via Business app and branded app. All packages including Start…Confirmed |
| Downloadable Form Responses | An Intake Forms report lists all answers to a question; forms can attach to confirmation emails as a time-stamped PDF, and answers appear i…Confirmed | Per-client only — stored on the Documents screen, printable or print-to-PDF, gated by a staff permission. No bulk export documented; client…Confirmed |
| Required Forms Before Booking | Mark a question Required and clients can't proceed with the booking without answering/agreeing.Confirmed | Partial — the liability waiver CAN gate booking, but custom client forms do NOT: Mindbody states 'Clients are not required to complete clie…Confirmed |
Staff Management
| Custom Staff Permissions | Preset roles rather than fully custom — View Only, View & Edit, Admin, plus per-calendar scoping and an export toggle. Enterprise adds org-…Confirmed | Tier-gated — customisable permissions and permission groups need Accelerate+; Starter gets only pre-set manager/staff permissions.Confirmed |
| Instructor Revenue Reports | Indirectly — Revenue and Appointments reports filter by Calendar, and businesses typically use one calendar per staff member. No purpose-bu…Confirmed | 'Sales by rep' requires Accelerate+ and is NOT on Starter — on Starter staff cannot be assigned as sales reps at all.Confirmed |
| Payroll Summaries | No payroll engine — no pay rates or commission rules. Vendor's documented approach is to export appointments to CSV and calculate payroll y…Confirmed | Pay rates, commissions and tips on every package, with Payroll and Pay Rates reports. Not a payroll processor; ADP/Paychex integrations nee…Confirmed |
| Staff Accounts | Invite 'contributors' with their own login; unlimited on standalone Acuity subscriptions (capped by website plan if attached to Squarespace…Confirmed | Unlimited staff logins included on every package including Starter — 'you aren't charged per user'.Confirmed |
| Staff Attendance | Built-in hourly Time Clock on every package including Starter, with a Time Clock report.Confirmed | |
| Staff Scheduling | A calendar per staff member with its own availability, repeating hours, blocked time and per-appointment-type availability groups.Confirmed | Per-staff availability, instructor assignment, teacher changes. Resource scheduling (rooms/equipment) needs Accelerate+.Confirmed |
Reporting
| Activity Log | Per-appointment only — each appointment has a changelog showing every change, notification sent, which user made it and their IP. No accoun…Estimated | Partial — the Staff Activity report is 'an activity log for three reports' only, recording who accessed them and from which IP. No general…Confirmed |
| Attendance Reports | Partial — the Appointments report summarises bookings by type and filters to cancelled vs no-show. No attended/checked-in report, since che…Confirmed | Attendance Analysis, Attendance with/without Revenue, Client Visits and a dedicated No-Shows report.Confirmed |
| CSV Export | Appointments, clients, and package/gift/subscription orders export to .csv. Reports themselves are not directly CSV-exportable.Confirmed | Reports export to Excel/CSV/PDF. Requires the 'Export report information' permission.Confirmed |
| Full Audit History | No retention limit stated — the changelog persists with each appointment, but there is no account-wide audit trail and no published retenti…Estimated | No system-wide audit log exists, so no audit retention window is published. One limit on the analytics layer: Analytics 2.0 only shows data…Estimated |
| Membership Reports | Weak — a Subscribers list shows each subscriber and remaining balance, and subscription revenue appears in the Revenue report, but no activ…Confirmed | Retention, Retention Management, Autopay Detail and Autopay Expirations reports.Confirmed |
| Occupancy Reports | Class fill rate and appointment occupancy, bookings vs attendance, peak vs off-peak. Ultimate adds 'Fill Slow Days' automations built on th…Confirmed | |
| Package Reports | View Orders lists all package/gift/subscription orders with an 'Export All' CSV. The export omits codes added manually or via API, and list…Confirmed | Visits Remaining report plus an Expired Series section in Earned Revenue.Estimated |
| Revenue by Class | The Appointments report summarises all booked appointments by type with total price per type.Confirmed | Sales by Service, Sales by Category and Sales by Product reports.Confirmed |
| Revenue by Instructor | Indirectly — filter the Revenue report by Calendar, where a calendar usually represents one staff member.Confirmed | Sales by Rep report and sales-rep filter both require Accelerate+ (not on Starter). Payroll report attributes class/appointment earnings on…Confirmed |
| Revenue Reports | Revenue report with year/month/custom ranges, filterable by calendar, with an option to attribute revenue by booked date.Confirmed | Sales, Earned Revenue, Sales Forecast and Sales by Product/Service/Category. 'Save This Report' isn't on Starter.Confirmed |
| Visual Dashboards | Analytics 2.0 on all 2.0 tiers. The separate 'Insights' add-on is NOT on Starter and is paid on Accelerate/Ultimate; included with Ultimate…Confirmed |
Integrations
| Apple Calendar | Two-way sync with iCloud Calendar; updates may take up to 10 minutes.Estimated | No native integration — .ics attachments on notifications let clients import into Apple Calendar, and staff can subscribe to the iCal feed…Confirmed |
| Google Calendar | Two-way sync. Classes only sync once at least one client books, each attendee appears as a separate event, and edits made in Google are ove…Estimated | Native, included on every package — but one-way (Mindbody to Google), availability doesn't show, and anything booked via the Business app,…Confirmed |
| Mailchimp | YesConfirmed | No native integration — Mindbody's FAQ states 'Does Mailchimp integrate with Mindbody? Not directly.' Not listed in their Email Marketing p…Confirmed |
| Outlook Calendar | Two-way sync with Outlook Calendar and Office 365; updates may take up to 10 minutes.Estimated | No direct integration — Mindbody states it 'can integrate with Outlook Calendar only after integrating with Google Calendar'. One-way, upda…Confirmed |
| QuickBooks | Native — syncs clients, appointments, orders and payments, creates and optionally emails invoices, updates on cancel/reschedule. Not compat…Confirmed | No native integration — Mindbody states plainly: 'Mindbody does not integrate directly with QuickBooks'. Documented workaround is exporting…Confirmed |
| Xero | Legacy only — Acuity states 'It's not possible to create new connections between Acuity and Xero.' Existing connections still sync; new use…Confirmed | No native integration — Mindbody states it 'does not integrate directly with QuickBooks and other accounting programs'. Xero only via paid…Confirmed |
Multi-Location
| Additional Locations | No separate per-location charge or location entity — locations are modelled as calendars, so extra sites consume your plan's calendar allow…Confirmed | Each location charged separately — pricing is per location (Starter from £89/$99 per month per location). Additional locations are 'datasha…Confirmed |
| Calendars / Seats Included | 1 calendar on Starter ($16/mo annual, $20 monthly); 6 on Standard ($27/$34); 36 on Premium ($49/$61); Enterprise for more. A 'calendar' is…Confirmed | Not metered by calendar — priced per location, not per seat. Unlimited staff on every package including Starter (from £89/$99 per month per…Confirmed |
| Centralised Multi-Location Management | Enterprise only — an organisation dashboard manages multiple scheduling instances. Clients are NOT shared across instances, and the dashboa…Confirmed | 'Datashare' sites share client records with cross-location reporting. Cross-regional pricing-option use needs Accelerate+. Setup via Mindbo…Confirmed |
| Separate Booking Embeds Per Location | Direct links and embed codes can target a specific calendar or appointment type, so a per-location calendar gets its own booking page.Estimated | Schedule widget v2 can be scoped to specific locations with client-side location filters. Consumer-mode share links cannot be filtered.Confirmed |
Branded Apps
| Branded Android App | Same white-label app on Google Play. NOT on Starter; paid add-on on Accelerate/Ultimate; included in Ultimate Plus.Confirmed | |
| Branded iOS App | True white-label App Store listing under the business's own name. NOT on Starter; paid add-on on Accelerate/Ultimate; included in Ultimate…Confirmed | |
| Custom Branding | Logo and colour palette on the scheduler (all plans), customisable email templates, and removal of the 'Powered by Acuity' link on Premium.…Confirmed | Branded web tools on all current packages (brand colours, button text, instructor images). Full branding via the Branded Mobile App add-on.…Confirmed |
| Push Notifications | Requires the Branded Mobile App add-on — so unavailable on Starter, paid on Accelerate/Ultimate, included with Ultimate Plus.Estimated |
Support
| 24/7 Email Support | Ticket form can be submitted any time, but no 24/7 commitment — 'We'll reply as soon as we can, but depending on staffing and availability,…Confirmed | Not 24/7 for human support — the '24/7' claim refers to the self-serve Support Center and AI Assistant. Human routes (case/email, live chat…Confirmed |
| Knowledge Base | Public help centre plus a developer hub, user forum and live webinar series.Confirmed | Large public Support Center with searchable articles in multiple languages, plus an in-product AI Assistant.Confirmed |
| Live Video Support | No video/Zoom support and no phone support at all. Closest equivalent is live chat, Mon-Fri only. Enterprise customers get a dedicated acco…Confirmed | No standing Zoom desk. Closest: Glance co-browse screen sharing, live chat in certain situations, and Call Me callbacks via the AI Assistan…Confirmed |
Everything both Acuity Scheduling and Mindbody do (3 features)
Scheduling & Booking
- ✓ 1:1 Appointments
Memberships & Packages
- ✓ Drop-in Pricing
Support
- ✓ Email Support