Can a salon use Calendly for free?

You can send a Calendly link, but clients are booking a meeting slot, not a service from your menu. Sway Free is the booking page built for that menu.

Does Calendly take deposits?

Paid Calendly plans can collect payment for meetings. Sway takes deposits on the free plan as well as paid plans, for service appointments.

Should I replace Calendly with Sway?

Replace it when clients are booking paid services. Keep Calendly when the only thing on the calendar is calls and meetings.

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Guides · Comparisons

Sway vs Calendly for UK service businesses

Sway is appointment booking for priced services. Calendly is meeting scheduling. How to choose when clients need a service menu, a deposit, or a call.

Published 2 October 2026

People in a meeting, the kind of booking Calendly is built for

Key facts

What Sway is: Sway is UK appointment booking and calendar software for service businesses such as salons, barbers, beauty, wellness, and fitness.
Free plan: The Free plan is free forever and does not need a credit card. It includes 1 staff member, up to 10 services, up to 50 bookings per month, 1 location, a public booking page, deposits, and optional online card payments.
Not included on Free: Individual adds: No service cap; Unlimited bookings; Embed booking on your website; Calendar subscription (Google, Apple, Outlook); Custom branding; Up to 5 booking locations; Gift vouchers, passes & memberships; Promo discount codes; Loyalty rewards; Automated appointment reminder emails; Priority support; Customer tags & email campaigns. Team adds: 2 staff members included (extra seats from £7/mo each); Staff calendars; Per-staff calendar subscription links; Roles and permissions; Team analytics.
Fees: There is no monthly subscription on Free. Sway charges a 2.4% platform fee only when you take online card payments, on top of Stripe's typical standard UK card fees (~1.5% + 20p*). *Standard UK cards. Premium and corporate cards cost more. Pay-at-venue bookings have no Sway platform fee. Individual's platform fee is 0.5% and Team's is 0.35%.
Paid plans: Individual starts at £14.99/mo and Team at £19.99/mo. Cancel anytime. No marketplace commission on new bookings.

At a glance

Calendly is for meetings: calls, interviews, and team availability. Sway is for priced appointments: a service menu, a booking page, and deposits. A salon or therapist will outgrow a meeting link. A consultant who only books calls may not need Sway.

Sway is best for

Salons, barbers, clinics, and studios selling timed services
Businesses that take a deposit or payment when the appointment is booked
Owners who want one public booking page rather than a personal meeting link

Calendly is best for

Consultants and teams who book calls and meetings
People who already live in a meeting-link workflow
Round-robin scheduling across a sales or support team

Watch out for

Calendly's free plan is a meeting scheduler, not a service menu
Sway is the wrong tool if you never sell an appointment with a price and duration
Check Calendly's current pricing if you need paid meeting features

Pricing verified October 2026. Calendly pricing

They solve different booking jobs

Search results put Calendly next to salon software because both put a calendar online. The products are not substitutes. Calendly lets someone pick a slot on your availability for a meeting. Sway lets a client pick a service, see the price and length, and book it.

If your client should choose 'gel manicure, 75 minutes, £35' you want appointment software. If they should choose '30-minute intro call' you want a meeting scheduler.

What the free plans are for

Sway Free is a booking page for one person: services, a monthly booking cap, deposits, and no credit card. It is there so a new business can take appointments before it pays for software.

Calendly's free plan covers basic meeting types. It does not become a salon calendar because the price is zero. The free label describes a different product.

Deposits and taking payment

Sway can take a deposit or the full fee when the appointment is booked, on every plan including Free. That is how service businesses cut no-shows.

Calendly can collect payment on paid plans for meetings. It is still organised around event types, not a treatment menu and a client booking page for a shop.

Which one to use

Use Calendly for calls. Use Sway for appointments people pay for. Some businesses use both: Calendly for consultations that are conversations, Sway for the treatment or session that follows.

Do not send salon clients a meeting link and then rebuild the booking in messages. That is the problem a booking page is meant to stop.

Frequently asked questions

No. Calendly schedules meetings. Sway is appointment booking software: services, prices, a client booking page, and deposits.

Migration help

We'll help you switch

On Fresha, Booksy, Treatwell, Phorest, Square, Timely, or something else? Tell us what you use and we'll help you move your services, staff, and bookings.

Free, no obligation. We'll email you to plan the move.