Is Cardel an alternative to Acuity Scheduling or Help Scout?

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 Help Scout when you want your work, audience, and sales in one place. The feature list on this page shows where Acuity Scheduling and Help Scout are marked.

Can I use Cardel with Acuity Scheduling or Help Scout?

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

How much does Cardel cost compared with Acuity Scheduling and Help Scout?

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

How do I switch from Acuity Scheduling or Help Scout 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 SchedulingvsHelp Scout

Acuity Scheduling runs appointment businesses with intake forms, reminders, and payments. Help Scout is a human-feeling help desk: shared inbox, Docs, Beacon chat, and AI drafts.

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How Acuity Scheduling and Help Scout 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.

Help Scout is support that feels like email from a person. A shared inbox with assignments and saved replies, Docs for a knowledge base, Beacon for chat and self-service, customer profiles, workflows, reports, and AI drafts and summaries help small teams deliver warm, organized support. Nothing about it feels like a ticket number.

Where they are different

Acuity Scheduling

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

Help Scout

Help Scout is the support tool beside your site.
Help Scout handles email and Beacon chat for anyone.
Help Scout has no marketing email.

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

Choose Help Scout when a small team needs a warm, organized help desk with a knowledge base.

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What's on Acuity Scheduling and Help Scout

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

Audience and email

Audience
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Help Scout: Included

Messaging

Messaging Center
Acuity Scheduling: Not included
Help Scout: Included

Commerce

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

Team

Admin users
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Help Scout: Included
Per-admin permissions
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Help Scout: Included
AI Assistant
Acuity Scheduling: Included
Help Scout: Included

Feature comparison for Acuity Scheduling and Help Scout
Feature	Acuity Scheduling	Help Scout
Audience and email
Audience	Included	Included
Messaging
Messaging Center	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	Included

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