Is Cardel an alternative to Acuity Scheduling or Ghost?

Cardel is a home for your craft: a site of your own with a blog, newsletter, shop, community, and one inbox. It can replace Acuity Scheduling or Ghost when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Acuity Scheduling and Ghost are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Acuity Scheduling or Ghost?

Yes. Cardel pages can link out to other products, so you can keep Acuity Scheduling or Ghost for what it does best and bring the rest of your work to Cardel.

How much does Cardel cost compared with Acuity Scheduling and Ghost?

You don't pay for Cardel until you publish. Choose Starter, Pro, or Studio when your site goes live. Acuity Scheduling and Ghost set their own prices, so check their pricing pages on this page for current plans.

How do I switch from Acuity Scheduling or Ghost to Cardel?

Start with Build Your Site, set up your home, and bring your work over at your own pace. You do not have to move everything on day one.

Compare

Acuity SchedulingvsGhost

Acuity Scheduling runs appointment businesses with intake forms, reminders, and payments. Ghost is open-source publishing with a fast site, newsletters, and fee-free paid subscriptions.

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How Acuity Scheduling and Ghost compare

Acuity Scheduling is built for businesses that live by the appointment. Client self-booking, calendar sync, intake forms, automated reminders, packages and memberships, gift certificates, payments at booking, and multiple staff calendars keep a salon, clinic, or coach running. It is part of Squarespace and works with or without a Squarespace site.

Ghost is what serious independent publishing looks like. A fast, beautifully themed site, newsletters sent from your own domain, paid memberships with zero platform fees, comments, and a clean editor, all open source and portable. Ghost(Pro) hosting removes the ops, and the whole thing respects the writer and the reader.

Where they are different

Acuity Scheduling

Acuity is the appointment system.
Acuity keeps a client list with notes.
Acuity sends confirmations.

Ghost

Ghost monetises by membership.
Ghost sends email and stops.
Ghost is publishing-first.

Choose Acuity Scheduling when appointments are the business and you need reminders, intake, packages, and staff calendars.

Choose Ghost when writing is the business and you want paid subscriptions with no platform cut, on open-source software.

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What's on Acuity Scheduling and Ghost

A check means that capability is available. Acuity Scheduling and Ghost are marked only when the offer is comparable, not the same product.

Site and brand

Workspace site
Acuity Scheduling: Not included
Ghost: Included
Custom domain
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Ghost: Included
Theme and fonts
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Ghost: Included

Public content

Blog
Acuity Scheduling: Not included
Ghost: Included

Audience and email

Audience
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Ghost: Included
Marketing emails
Acuity Scheduling: Not included
Ghost: Included

Commerce

Shop payments
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Ghost: Not included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Ghost: Not included

Team

Admin users
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Ghost: Included
Per-admin permissions
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Ghost: Included
AI Assistant
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Ghost: Not included

Feature comparison for Acuity Scheduling and Ghost
Feature	Acuity Scheduling	Ghost
Site and brand
Workspace site	Not included	Included
Custom domain	Included	Included
Theme and fonts	Included	Included
Public content
Blog	Not included	Included
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Marketing emails	Not included	Included
Commerce
Shop payments	Included	Not included
Scheduling and bookingsLink to external scheduling available on Starter.	Included	Not included
Team
Admin users	Included	Included
Per-admin permissions	Included	Included
AI Assistant	Included	Not included

* Note: This table does not capture every feature of Acuity Scheduling or Ghost, and is not intended as a comprehensive list. We keep this page current, but Acuity Scheduling or Ghost may add or remove features that are not shown here.