Square Appointments pairs online booking with Square's payments and point of sale. Calenix pairs booking with landing pages, digital cards and email signatures. Here is how to decide which suits your service business.
Quick answer
If you take payments at a counter, sell products and want booking tied to a point-of-sale system, Square Appointments is the more complete choice. If you run appointments that mostly happen online or in an office, such as consulting, coaching, tutoring or therapy sessions, and you want booking plus a professional online presence, Calenix is likely the better fit.
Both have a free plan, so the most reliable way to decide is to set up a real service in each and book it yourself.
What each tool is built for
Square Appointments is part of the wider Square ecosystem. It combines online booking, a staff calendar and reminders with Square's card readers, online payments and business tools. Square positions it for businesses from solo professionals up to those with complex booking and staff management needs.
Calenix is a scheduling and professional presence platform. Alongside booking pages and event types, it includes service pages, landing pages, digital business cards, LinkDock (a link-in-bio page), email signatures and business-card scanning. It does not offer a point-of-sale system, inventory or payroll, and it does not try to.
That difference shapes everything else in this comparison. Square starts from the till; Calenix starts from the client's first click.
Feature comparison
Based on each vendor's official pages at the time of writing (October 2026):
| Feature | Calenix | Square Appointments |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes, unlimited 1-to-1 bookings, 1 user | Yes, single location, no employee limit |
| In-person card payments / POS | Not listed | Yes, Square hardware and Tap to Pay |
| Online payments for bookings | Stripe, from Individual plan | Yes, Square payments |
| Deposits | Paid bookings and deposits, from Individual | Yes, on all plans |
| Calendar sync | Google, Outlook, Apple iCloud | Google Calendar sync on paid plans |
| Group sessions | Group meetings, from Individual | Class booking on paid plans |
| Date polls for group scheduling | Yes, all plans | Not listed |
| Landing and service pages | Yes | Booking website included; no separate service or landing pages listed |
| Digital cards, link-in-bio, email signatures | Included | Not listed |
Payments: the biggest practical difference
Square's core strength is that bookings, deposits and card payments live in one system. A client books online, pays a deposit, then taps their card on a Square reader when they arrive. Square's help centre says deposits are available on its Free, Plus and Premium plans and can be required when clients book online.
Calenix handles payment at the booking stage through Stripe. Paid bookings and deposits are included from the Individual plan. That works well when the client pays upfront for a session, for example a 60-minute strategy call or an online tutoring block, but there is no counter terminal or product sales on the Calenix side.
So ask yourself where the money changes hands. If it happens face to face, often with extra products added at the end, Square is built for that. If it happens online before the appointment, either tool can do the job.
Two hypothetical examples
A Perth day spa
Say a day spa has four therapists, sells skincare products at reception and wants clients to book treatments online. It needs a shared staff calendar, deposits for longer treatments and a card reader at the front desk. Square Appointments covers all of that in one account, and Calenix would leave the retail and in-person payment side unsolved.
A Sydney career coach
Now consider a career coach who runs video sessions and the occasional in-person workshop. Clients find them on LinkedIn, at networking events and through referrals. The coach needs a clear service page explaining each package, upfront payment, reminders, a digital business card to share at events and a booking link in every email. Calenix brings those pieces together, while Square provides a booking website and payments but does not list digital business cards, link-in-bio pages or email signatures.
If you serve Australian clients, our guide to online appointment booking in Australia covers what local customers tend to expect from the booking experience.
Pricing compared
From each vendor's official pricing pages at the time of writing (October 2026). Prices change, so check the current pages before you decide.
Square Appointments, Australia (AUD)
- Free: $0 for a single location.
- Plus: $40 per month per location.
- Premium: $90 per month per location.
- Card fees: 1.6% in person and 2.2% online or manually entered. Square notes that some sellers on Free who signed up before 30 May 2024 pay 1.9% in person. Custom pricing is offered for businesses processing over $250K a year.
Square Appointments, United Kingdom (GBP)
- Free: £0 for a single location.
- Plus: £29 per month per location.
- Premium: £69 per month per location.
- Card fees: 1.75% in person on Free and 1.6% on Plus and Premium; online 1.4% + 25p for UK cards and 2.5% + 25p for non-UK cards.
Calenix (AUD)
- Free: A$0, 1 user, unlimited 1-to-1 bookings.
- Individual: A$12/month billed annually, or A$15 month to month; adds paid bookings and deposits, branding removal and group meetings.
- Professionals: from A$29/month billed annually, with team scheduling and round robin.
- Enterprise: custom quote.
Calenix uses Stripe for payments, so Stripe's own processing fees apply to paid bookings. Check Stripe's pricing for your country.
Where Square Appointments is the stronger choice
Square is the stronger option for businesses that run a physical front desk: salons, barbers, spas, clinics with retail and any service that sells products alongside appointments. Its free plan has no employee limit for a single location, deposits are included on every plan, and the card readers, online payments and booking calendar share one account.
Paid plans add multi-location support, class booking, waitlists, Google Calendar sync and cancellation and no-show fees, and Premium adds resource management. Square also runs a consumer booking app, Square Go, though at the time of writing it is limited to the US, iOS and beauty and personal care businesses, so it is not a discovery channel for Australian or UK businesses yet.
Where Calenix is the stronger choice
Calenix suits appointment-based professionals who do not need a point-of-sale system: consultants, coaches, accountants, tutors and therapists running online or office sessions. It connects Google, Outlook and Apple iCloud calendars, offers date polls for group scheduling and adds service pages that explain each offer before the client books.
The bigger difference is everything around the booking. A digital business card with a QR code, a LinkDock page, a branded email signature and business-card scanning all sit in the same workspace, so the people you meet can find, remember and book you without extra tools. To get a page live quickly, follow our guide to setting up a booking page in 10 minutes.
Calenix is a newer platform than Square and does not list SMS reminders, in-person payments, inventory or payroll. If those are central to how you work, factor that in.
Frequently asked questions
Is Square Appointments free in Australia?
Yes. Square lists a Free plan at $0 for a single location in Australia, with paid Plus and Premium plans per location. Card processing fees still apply when you take payments.
Can Calenix take deposits for appointments?
Yes. Paid bookings and deposits are included from the Calenix Individual plan, with payments collected through Stripe at the time of booking.
Which is better for a salon with retail products?
Square Appointments, because it combines booking with point-of-sale hardware and in-person payments. Calenix does not list POS or inventory features and is better suited to session-based professional services.
Try Calenix
If your appointments are consultations, sessions or calls rather than counter sales, Calenix gives you booking and a professional presence in one place. Start free with Calenix, publish a service page and run a test booking, then compare plans on the pricing page.