7shifts vs. Calendly

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
7shifts
Score 9.9 out of 10
N/A
7shifts is a restaurant workforce and scheduling management application, which also features collaboration features, from the Canadian company of the same name.
$0
Calendly
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Calendly helps organizations globally automate the meeting lifecycle by removing the scheduling back and forth, with the goal of enabling companies to close deals, hire candidates faster, and build relationships.
$10
per month (billed annually) per seat
Pricing
7shiftsCalendly
Editions & Modules
Free
$0.00
Appetizer
$19.99
per location/per month
Entree
$43.99
per location/per month
The Works
$74.97
per location/per month
Gourmet
Contact sales team
Standard
$10
per month (billed annually) per seat
Teams
$16
per month (billed annually) per seat
Enterprise
Starts at $15k
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
7shiftsCalendly
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsMonthly billing also available.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
7shiftsCalendly
Considered Both Products
7shifts
Chose 7shifts
We used When I Work when it first debuted, but 7Shifts technology is much more advanced than When I Work's was at that time.
Chose 7shifts
Slack is great for communicating and you can add photos, but 7shifts seems like it was built for our business model (restaurant/bar). It’s easy to use by staff and management and can be mobile or desktop. 7shifts also has the best prompt questions/bubbles that keep you …
Chose 7shifts
For me, 7Shifts has the same amount of functionality, but for a much better price. The app functionality of 7shifts was easier to navigate and allowed me to do more than HotSchedules. I've recommended it to several other local businesses who have implemented it as well and had …
Chose 7shifts
I prefer the customer service, implementation and the constant add-ons and improvements 7shifts make in comparison to Hot Schedules.
Calendly
Chose Calendly
I used You Can Book Me to set up meetings, but there were a number of things I didn't like about it. When using the free version of You Can Book Me, I could only make my meeting times available in one-hour increments. With Calendly, I can select the length of meetings that I …
Chose Calendly
Calendly has a much more specific purpose geared toward business meetings or any kind of meetings where as google makes more sense in an internal meeting or a school project or something like that. Calendly is really good at getting a smooth schedule down between client and …
Chose Calendly
Calendly seems the most easy to use and has all or most of the functionality that we need. We were looking to use other tools that we already pay for that have meeting functionality, but they didn’t have automated text and email reminders or some can’t allow clients to cancel …
Chose Calendly
I haven’t explored many other options, but I am a sold-out believer in this product and have used it at multiple organizations.
Chose Calendly
I didn’t use HubSpot meeting schedules in the same capacity because I wasn’t a sales rep so it’s hard to compare but I think Calendly is my preferred option.
Chose Calendly
Calendly allows you to define different types of appointments (with different time durations), and this is amazing.
Chose Calendly
Everything I've said previously. It takes me entirely out of the loop of coordinating people's schedules, sending invites, booking time, ensuring they get a Zoom invite, etc. It does everything while I do next to nothing, which is as it should be. As a team of one, my time …
Chose Calendly
Calendly is superior to both scheduling tools - it is easier to use, allows for a lot of customization and options for reminders, and allows the users to adjust their settings as they see fit. Other tools are more expensive and quite complex that don't allow modifications as …
Chose Calendly
Bookings is ok - but the game changer or I guess the deal breaker was bookings wasn't offering reminders or notifications to clients. This is important so our users are not wasting their time once again with emails that could be automated. With Calendly not only are you set …
Chose Calendly
Initially I used only Zoom to set up meetings. Had no clue how to make the best scheduling process in place. And them, Calendly came in. This was a game changer.

Zoom allows to just create meetings, but Calendly is absolute convenience! There's zero requirement to follow up …
Chose Calendly
Acuity’s interface was difficult and clunky to navigate. It was not intuitive and overpriced for its level of outdated design. Calendly is way more efficient and their customer service is top-notch and actually available.
Chose Calendly
Before making the switch to Calendly, we used Doodle polls a ton for big meetings to avoid the constant back and forth and long email chain messages between external partners, stakeholders, donors, funders, and other clients. Doodle poll is fairly informal compared to the …
Chose Calendly
I have not used any other products other than Calendly. Calendly was actually chosen by the broker-dealer company my boss works for so we did not have an option to shop and explore other products that work similar to Calendly.
Chose Calendly
When I started using it, there were not many competitors in this space. I've seen some like Mixmax that seem to work well for solopreneurs or where free version might be better than Calendly's free version. I use the paid version of Calendly and it's just kept serving us well …
Chose Calendly
Square Appointments I like it as well it just doesn't have the robust ability that Calendly does. Personally, if there were an ability to do that, Square Appointments could give Calendly a run for their money for their own customers. I don't see how they could move the compete …
Chose Calendly
I have never used or evaluated anything besides Calendly.
Chose Calendly
More recently, I have started using Meetingbird by Front. They are essentially the same product, but Meetingbird has a decidedly better design and user experience. It's just easier to use. Also - the product is free because Front is just using it to generate leads for its …
Chose Calendly
We didn't really have any competition for Calendly. We have used them previously and thought it was so easy that it made sense to implement Calendly right away. It made sense and created an easy solution to our problems.
Chose Calendly
Calendly is not meant to be a full featured CRM. Better if you're comfortable adding a scheduling software to your overall CRM and calendar stack.
Best Alternatives
7shiftsCalendly
Small Businesses
PowerDMS by NEOGOV
PowerDMS by NEOGOV
Score 7.0 out of 10
vCita
vCita
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
PowerDMS by NEOGOV
PowerDMS by NEOGOV
Score 7.0 out of 10
LeanData
LeanData
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Zoho People
Zoho People
Score 8.4 out of 10
Zoom Workplace
Zoom Workplace
Score 8.4 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
7shiftsCalendly
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.7
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
7shiftsCalendly
Likelihood to Recommend
7Shifts is ideal for a broad number of restaurant clients, whether it is a single unit, independent location or multi-unit, multi-jurisdiction group like ours. Pricing is very reasonable, and as mentioned earlier, a lightweight and intuitive platform makes it easy to implement and maintain, and scalable for growth
Read full review
It's well suited for music students' lessons. It's well suited for online coaching, primarily through places like Zoom and more. It helps simplify things for your clients, lets you program your schedule, and allows it all to go automatically! If you are working with a senior population, it may be a little tricky for them to sign up and then really hard for them to cancel lessons. There isn't a way to go to the site and cancel. You have to pull up the confirmed email and cancel from there, but people can lose emails.
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Pros
  • Staff can easily access fellow team members' contact info (phone & email).
  • Staff can easily enter availability or time off.
  • Managers have a log book to share issues or updates from the days’ shift so quick action can be completed easily if needed.
  • Being able to communicate with managers only, with a specific department, or with the entire staff easily is very helpful.
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  • Sales. Easy for people to book so less back and forth.
  • Managed access. Easy for me to offer people the "right kind" of slot - I have like 5 hidden event-types I share only with certain people so they can access different availability.
  • Collaborative events! Some of us frequently meet in pairs or groups, e.g., one of our regional leaders and I have a shared link we can send out to people to find a time that works for all of us. LOVE this.
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Cons
  • iPhone app: I'm not able to change the preset time frames so I have to manually enter the shifts
  • When working from the app it doesn't block out the time off as it does on the desktop so I have to make sure I haven't approved anyone first before I start doing the schedule
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  • If you have more than one company, you cannot use one account. This is the most difficult hurdle to me but still one I am willing to jump over considering all the benefits of Calendly.
  • Adding custom color ability on event types. Example: One of my companies doesn't use any of the color choices. I would like to be able to color code those to my brand.
  • Brand/Asset kit would be a wonderful addition. In profile settings, have a place to upload brand logo, assets, and brand color codes.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
For all reasons like workflows, UI, and the way Calendly keeps all of us engaged through the Collective forum. It's indeed undeniable that no other product covers all business needs like Calendly does. On the other side, this has also reduced the workload by enabling us to focus more on other tasks for the day
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Usability
No answers on this topic
Calendly is extremely easy to use for selecting times and days for meetings. From my end, it's very easy to indicate the days and times that I am available for meetings. I have used other scheduling products, but Calendly has the smoothest way of operating. I highly recommend it for scheduling meetings
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Support Rating
Support - whether via email or chat - has generally been prompt, reliable, courteous and effective. Support follows-up and works proactively to ensure our questions and issues are addressed. 7Shifts also genuinely cares about customer success, which is important to us
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There is a lot of support for Calendly. Whenever I have had issues navigating through it, especially as a new user, I found multiple support on the web addressing my questions or concerns. There is a lot of in app informative notes accessible to users to navigate through Calendly when needed.
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Alternatives Considered
We used When I Work when it first debuted, but 7Shifts technology is much more advanced than When I Work's was at that time.
Read full review
Everything I've said previously. It takes me entirely out of the loop of coordinating people's schedules, sending invites, booking time, ensuring they get a Zoom invite, etc. It does everything while I do next to nothing, which is as it should be. As a team of one, my time should be spent doing what I do best and getting paid to do: coaching, teaching, consulting, speaking, writing, and creating training content and workshops.
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Return on Investment
  • I have worked in the service industry before where we just had a phone directory and copy of the schedule posted on a cork board by the office. It was a nightmare! I would say 7shifts has made a major impact on ensuring proper coverage for different meal hours and special events. We do not run short staffed very often anymore.
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  • Over 300% as of last year. We had done a case study which was phenomenal because even I didn't know the numbers were that huge until we finally put pen to paper.
  • Time!! I'm in the money business and you know Time is Money if you're in the same industry.
  • Affordability. It doesn't break the bank for anyone - having an affordable product along with it being user friendly is a no brainer.
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ScreenShots

Calendly Screenshots

Screenshot of how to share a scheduling linkScreenshot of automated workflowsScreenshot of browser extensionsScreenshot of routing formsScreenshot of round robin & collective eventsScreenshot of admin management