Best Calendly Alternatives for Indie Hackers in 2026

Originally published at devtoolpicks.com

Calendly is the default choice for scheduling links, and it works. The problem for most indie hackers is the free tier: one event type, Calendly branding on every booking page, and no automated reminders. The moment you need multiple meeting types (a 15-minute intro call, a 45-minute demo, and a recurring check-in) you are on the $10 per month Standard plan.

For a solo founder watching costs, there are better options. Here are five honest picks.

Quick Verdict

Is Cal.com the Best Free Calendly Alternative?

For most indie hackers, yes. Cal.com's free individual plan includes unlimited event types, unlimited calendar connections, routing forms, workflow automations, payment processing, and built-in video conferencing. There are no booking limits. That is everything Calendly's $10 per month Standard plan offers, at no cost.

Cal.com is open source. You can self-host it on your own infrastructure if you want full control over the data. The hosted version works fine for solo use and requires no server maintenance.

The one honest limitation: the booking page design is clean but not quite as polished as Calendly out of the box. Some indie hackers prefer the look of Calendly's booking pages. That is a subjective preference, not a functional gap.

For teams who need round-robin scheduling or shared availability, the Teams plan is $15 per user per month. That is still cheaper than Calendly's $16 Teams tier for the same functionality.

We did a full three-way comparison of Cal.com, Calendly, and TidyCal if you want the detailed breakdown on how these three stack up on specific features.

Who should use Cal.com: Solo developers who want unlimited event types for free, privacy-focused founders who want self-hosting, and developers who want to extend scheduling functionality through open-source plugins.

Who should not use Cal.com: Non-technical founders who want the absolute simplest setup. Cal.com has more options than Calendly, which means slightly more configuration before your first booking link is live.

Pricing: Free (individual). Teams $15/user/month. Organizations $37/user/month.

Is TidyCal's $29 Lifetime Deal Worth It?

For basic scheduling workflows, the $29 one-time payment is one of the best deals in SaaS for indie hackers. You get multiple calendar connections, group bookings, paid meetings via Stripe, Zoom integration, and custom availability for each event type. No monthly subscription, no renewal, no seat costs.

The limitations are real and worth knowing before you buy. TidyCal has 14 native integrations compared to 140-plus for Calendly. There is no mobile app in 2026. No Microsoft Exchange support. No 2FA. The calendar sync can occasionally drift, showing available slots that are already booked.

For a consultant running a simple booking workflow (a few event types, Stripe for payments, Zoom for calls) TidyCal covers everything at a price that makes the subscription math irrelevant. Paying $29 once versus $120 per year for Calendly Standard is straightforward.

For anyone running a more complex stack that relies on Salesforce, HubSpot CRM connections, or detailed analytics, the integration gap will show itself quickly.

Who should use TidyCal: Solo consultants, freelancers, and indie hackers who need a booking link with payment capability and do not need deep integrations. Anyone who has been putting off paying for Calendly because of the monthly cost.

Who should not use TidyCal: Developers who need reliable CRM integrations, anyone who uses Microsoft Exchange, or businesses that need detailed booking analytics.

Pricing: $29 one-time (lifetime deal).

Is SavvyCal Worth $12 a Month?

SavvyCal does one thing better than any tool on this list: it makes booking easy for the person on the other end.

The signature feature is the overlay calendar. When someone opens your SavvyCal booking link, they can log in with Google and see their own calendar overlaid on your availability slots. Instead of flipping between tabs to check if 2 PM on Thursday works, they see their calendar and yours side by side and pick a slot that works without guessing.

If your scheduling regularly involves back-and-forth before landing on a time, that single feature saves real friction. For anyone who has had a prospect book a meeting and then immediately reschedule because they forgot about a conflict, SavvyCal reduces that problem significantly.

The trade-off is that there is no free tier. The Entry plan at $12 per month covers individual use. The Premium plan at $20 per month adds team-level features. At $12 per month, it costs more than Cal.com's free individual plan, and you need to decide whether the overlay calendar feature is worth that delta.

Who should use SavvyCal: Consultants and founders who schedule a high volume of client calls and want the best possible booking experience. Anyone whose meetings frequently require multiple rounds of time negotiation.

Who should not use SavvyCal: Indie hackers who want to avoid monthly subscriptions. The Cal.com free plan covers most of the same core scheduling functionality at no cost.

Pricing: No free tier. Entry $12/month. Premium $20/month.

Is Zeeg the Right Pick for EU-Based Founders?

Zeeg is a European scheduling tool built with GDPR compliance as a core architectural decision, not a checkbox feature added after the fact. Data is stored on EU servers by default. The privacy controls are explicit. If you book meetings with clients in Germany, France, or elsewhere in the EU who ask where their data is stored, Zeeg gives you a clear answer.

The free tier includes unlimited event types, group scheduling, and basic workflow automations. The Pro plan starts at approximately €10 per month and adds team features, priority support, and more advanced routing.

Beyond the GDPR angle, Zeeg is a fully capable Calendly replacement with a clean interface, calendar integration, and automated reminders. For US-based indie hackers who do not have GDPR obligations, Zeeg is a solid tool but the EU-data-residency advantage is not particularly meaningful. For EU-based founders or anyone who has enterprise clients who ask about data processing agreements, it is the most practical choice.

Who should use Zeeg: EU-based indie hackers, founders with enterprise clients who require GDPR compliance documentation, and anyone who prefers their scheduling data to stay on EU infrastructure.

Who should not use Zeeg: US-based founders with no EU clients who do not need GDPR compliance. Cal.com or TidyCal will serve the same scheduling needs without the EU-specific positioning.

Pricing: Free tier (unlimited event types). Pro approximately €10/month.

Is HubSpot Meetings Worth Using if You Already Have HubSpot?

HubSpot offers a meeting scheduling tool included in its free CRM at no additional cost. If you are already using HubSpot Free to manage leads and contacts, the Meetings feature gives you a booking link that automatically logs meetings against contact records in your CRM.

The practical advantage: when a prospect books a demo, the meeting appears in their contact record, the associated deal, and your activity feed. You do not need to manually log it. For solo founders running a CRM-driven sales process, this saves real administrative time.

The limitation is that HubSpot Meetings is not a standalone product. It lives inside HubSpot and exists to support the CRM workflow. If you want a polished booking experience as your primary public scheduling link, Cal.com or SavvyCal will look better. If you want CRM-integrated scheduling and already use HubSpot, it is the most sensible option because the incremental cost is zero.

Who should use HubSpot Meetings: Indie hackers who already use HubSpot Free CRM for their sales pipeline. Anyone who values automatic meeting logging over booking page aesthetics.

Who should not use HubSpot Meetings: Founders who do not use HubSpot. The tool is not worth signing up for HubSpot just to get scheduling. Cal.com covers that use case better at no cost.

Pricing: Free with HubSpot Free CRM. Included in all HubSpot paid plans.

How to Choose

You want unlimited event types for free: Cal.com. It matches Calendly Standard at no cost, and self-hosting is available if privacy matters.

You want to stop paying monthly entirely: TidyCal at $29 one-time. Simple workflows only.

Your invitees always struggle to find a time: SavvyCal at $12/month. The overlay calendar solves that problem.

You are EU-based or have GDPR-conscious clients: Zeeg. Free tier is solid, Pro is cheap.

You already run your leads through HubSpot CRM: HubSpot Meetings. Free and already connected to your pipeline.

Calendly is the right choice if you need 140-plus integrations, a mobile app, or reliable Salesforce connection. For everything else, at least one of these covers the job at a lower cost.