---
title: "Palaestral and Acuity Scheduling"
description: "Palaestral beside Acuity Scheduling: booking, payments, packs, waivers, client records, calendars and cost, each statement about Acuity linked to its source."
canonical: "https://palaestral.com/compare/acuity-scheduling"
---

# Palaestral and Acuity Scheduling

## Which is better, Palaestral or Acuity Scheduling?

It depends on how you work. Acuity Scheduling suits a trainer or teacher booking many kinds of appointment and class who wants two-way sync with Google Calendar, Outlook or iCloud and a choice of Stripe, Square or PayPal, from $16 a month billed annually as of October 20, 2026.[^1][^2][^3] Palaestral suits an independent instructor in surf, yoga, running or strength who wants each client to pay into their own Stripe account, a waiver signed for every person before a booking is confirmed, and a client record they can take with them. Instructor signups open in January 2027.

palaestral.com/i/your-name

Sample Coach

Surf, running, yoga and strength — sample data

1. Tue, Jun 8 · 6:30 AM $55.00 Dawn patrol · Surf 2 of 3 seats taken
2. Thu, Jun 10 · 5:30 PM $20.00 Track intervals · Running 3 of 3 seats taken Full — join the queue of 6
3. Sat, Jun 12 · 8:00 AM $55.00 Beginners · Surf 2 of 3 seats taken

Sample data. Not a real instructor or client.

Who each one suits
| Who | What matters | Fits |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A trainer or teacher booking many kinds of appointment and class | Two-way sync with Google Calendar, Outlook or iCloud and a choice of Stripe, Square or PayPal | Acuity Scheduling[^1][^2][^3] |
| An independent instructor in surf, yoga, running or strength | Each client to pay into their own Stripe account, a waiver signed for every person before a booking is confirmed, and a client record they can take with them | Palaestral |

## What is Acuity Scheduling?

Acuity Scheduling is online scheduling software that, in its own words, "supports businesses with scheduling all types of appointments and services".[^1] Its fitness page names yoga, youth sports and personal training, and says it serves a business whether it is a solo trainer or a growing studio.[^4] Its personal-training page offers "Easy client booking, payments, and management".[^5]

## What is Palaestral?

Booking, waivers and payments for independent instructors (surf, yoga, running, strength), and a record you keep of every client you teach. Instructor signups open in January 2027, and until then the list on the [Get started](https://palaestral.com/start) page takes your address. A demo of the product's own screens [runs in your browser](https://palaestral.com/try) over a made-up week.

## How does booking work in each?

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity gives you a booking page for everything from one-on-one sessions to group classes, which clients can book at any hour.[^5] You can set up one-time or recurring group classes and set class limits.[^6] A waitlist for fully booked times is on the Standard and Premium plans.[^1] Appointments adjust to each client's local time zone on every plan.[^1]

Palaestral

Palaestral gives you a page under your own name, at palaestral.com/i/your-name, that lists the next 14 days of times anybody can book. You set a lesson's days and hour once, and its times are made 120 days ahead in the lesson's own time zone. A private lesson has one seat and a small group has more. A full time takes a queue of two places for every seat, and a freed seat is held for the next person in line. A client books with a name and an email address, with no account and nothing to install, and can move their own booking up to three times while cancelling would still refund it in full.

## How do payments work, and whose account is paid?

Acuity Scheduling

In Acuity you choose Stripe, Square or PayPal in Payment Settings and follow the prompts to connect your account.[^3] Acuity says it does not charge additional fees for its payment features, and that the processor you use charges its own transaction fees.[^3] Its pricing page lists payments through Stripe, Square, PayPal and Venmo on every plan.[^1] You can require a deposit or full prepayment at booking, or store a client's card to charge cancellation or no-show fees.[^3]

Palaestral

With Palaestral, a client's card is charged by Stripe on your own Stripe account: the money is yours, and any 1099-K is issued in your name. Palaestral's pricing is set before signups open in January 2027, and nothing is charged before then. Stripe bills its processing to your own Stripe account, which sets the rate you pay; Stripe's standard US card rate is 2.9% + 30¢ a charge as of October 20, 2026.[^8] A client pays exactly the price you list, and nothing is added to it. Your money never sits with Palaestral on the way; the one part that passes through is a studio's share, where you teach at a studio that keeps one. A chargeback is raised against your Stripe account and answered from your own Stripe dashboard.

## Packs, memberships and waivers?

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity's Standard and Premium plans sell memberships, packages and gift certificates.[^1] Its class scheduling offers class packages or monthly subscriptions.[^6] Custom intake forms on every plan collect "client details, terms and conditions, and more".[^1] Acuity says you can create a required form for waivers and agreements.[^6]

Palaestral

Palaestral sells a membership at a price a month for a number of visits or unlimited ones, which a member can pause for up to 90 days with nothing charged. A lesson pack is a number of lessons used as they are booked, and any pack can be bought as a gift whose lessons never expire. A client can also make a lesson weekly and keep their place. A booking is confirmed only once your waiver is signed for every person on it, and anyone under 18 is signed for by a parent or guardian. A signed waiver is kept for five years, or a child's until they are 20, whichever is later, and nobody can delete one before then, you included.

## Client records?

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity's client profiles store contact information, form responses and communication history, and you can add private notes to them.[^7] Its mobile app lets you track session notes.[^5]

Palaestral

Palaestral keeps one record for each client of what they booked, signed and paid and the lessons they have left. Your notes after a session are on the client's record when they come back, kept 24 months from the day each was written, and only you see them: a studio you teach at sees its own schedule and who is booked into it, and none of your notes. Once a client has come on three different days, Palaestral lists them for you when they fall well behind their usual gap, and that list sends nothing.

## Calendars?

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity offers two-way calendar sync with Google Calendar, Outlook, iCloud and more, and blocks off time when you have commitments on a synced calendar.[^2]

Palaestral

Palaestral publishes your teaching schedule as one calendar address you subscribe to once from Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook. It flows one way, out: a change in Palaestral reaches your calendar, and no calendar is signed into or read, so Palaestral never sees what else is in your week. No client's name, note or price reaches it. It knows only the lessons booked in it, so what it refuses is two of your Palaestral lessons at once, at any of the places you teach.

## What does each cost?

Acuity Scheduling

As of October 20, 2026, Acuity's plans are, in US dollars before taxes: Starter at $16 a month paid annually or $20 paid monthly, with one calendar; Standard at $27 or $34, with up to six calendars; and Premium at $55 or $69, with up to 36 calendars.[^1] Every plan has a seven-day trial.[^1]

Palaestral

Palaestral's pricing is set before signups open in January 2027. Nothing is charged before then. Stripe's card processing is billed to your own Stripe account, and a client pays exactly the price you list.

## Moving from Acuity Scheduling?

Palaestral

Palaestral takes a spreadsheet of the people you already teach, up to 1,000 rows at a time: their names and email addresses, your notes about them and the lessons each has left. You see what every line will become before anything is written. Nobody in the list is told anything unless you ask, and for 14 days, while nobody has been told and none of its lessons has been spent, an import can be undone. Lessons carried over are spent on a lesson you sell by pack.

If you leave Palaestral later, you can ask for a copy of everything it holds about you, every client, note, waiver and payment, as one file of spreadsheets and pages.

## Sources

[^1]: Acuity Scheduling, Pricing: [https://acuityscheduling.com/pricing](https://acuityscheduling.com/pricing) (read October 20, 2026)
[^2]: Acuity Scheduling, Calendar management: [https://acuityscheduling.com/features/calendar-management](https://acuityscheduling.com/features/calendar-management) (read October 20, 2026)
[^3]: Acuity Scheduling, Payments: [https://acuityscheduling.com/features/payments](https://acuityscheduling.com/features/payments) (read October 20, 2026)
[^4]: Acuity Scheduling, Fitness: [https://acuityscheduling.com/solutions/fitness](https://acuityscheduling.com/solutions/fitness) (read October 20, 2026)
[^5]: Acuity Scheduling, Personal trainer scheduling software: [https://acuityscheduling.com/solutions/personal-training](https://acuityscheduling.com/solutions/personal-training) (read October 20, 2026)
[^6]: Acuity Scheduling, Class scheduling: [https://acuityscheduling.com/features/class-scheduling](https://acuityscheduling.com/features/class-scheduling) (read October 20, 2026)
[^7]: Acuity Scheduling, Client management: [https://acuityscheduling.com/features/client-management](https://acuityscheduling.com/features/client-management) (read October 20, 2026)
[^8]: Stripe, Pricing: [https://stripe.com/pricing](https://stripe.com/pricing) (read October 20, 2026)

Palaestral's own product pages: [/product/booking](https://palaestral.com/product/booking), [/product/payments](https://palaestral.com/product/payments), [/product/memberships](https://palaestral.com/product/memberships), [/product/waivers](https://palaestral.com/product/waivers), [/product/clients](https://palaestral.com/product/clients), [/product/calendar](https://palaestral.com/product/calendar), [/pricing](https://palaestral.com/pricing), [/start](https://palaestral.com/start)

Acuity Scheduling and its marks belong to their owner, which is not affiliated with Palaestral and has not reviewed this page.

[Get started](https://palaestral.com/start)