Chili Piper vs. Calendly: Which scheduling tool is right for you?
Trying to find the perfect scheduling tool for your business? We’ll help you figure out if Chili Piper or Calendly is the better fit for your team, customers, and goals.
Gabriela Lefanowicz
In this article:
Looking to cut down on the hassle of scheduling meetings? Well, listen up, because we’re about to compare two scheduling tools that can save you a lot of time and headache: Chili Piper and Calendly.
At their core, both tools will help you remove the tedious back-and-forth of scheduling meetings, creating a streamlined, efficient process that both your team and customers will love. However, there are a few key differences between the two that are definitely worth examining.
Keep reading to explore the uses, pricing, core features, and integrations of Chili Piper vs. Calendly to help you decide which one is best for your team.
Chili Piper vs. Calendly: A quick look at both scheduling tools
Category |
Chili Piper |
Calendly |
|
|
|
Best for |
Large revenue teams that manage lots of potential leads |
Small and large teams that need a user-friendly and adaptable scheduling tool |
Free trial available | 🚫 | ✅ |
Free plan | 🚫 | ✅ |
Pricing | Starting at $22.50/user/month | Starting at $12/user/month |
First on the docket: Chili Piper
Are you a sales manager or a sales rep? Then you’re in luck! Because Chili Piper’s scheduling tool might be just what you’re looking for.
Unlike many other scheduling tools on the market, Chili Piper is laser-focused on helping sales and marketing teams provide a quick booking experience for inbound and outbound leads.
Chili Piper accelerates speed to lead for teams and optimizes conversion rates by offering tools specifically designed for sales professionals, such as automatic lead routing and qualification.
💡 Commonly used for: Connecting inbound leads to sales reps 👪 Commonly used by: Large revenue teams that manage lots of potential leads |
Next up: Calendly
Unlike Chili Piper, Calendly isn’t geared towards one type of team in particular and instead focuses on being an adaptable and easy-to-use scheduling tool for a wider audience.
Calendly’s goal is to simplify the scheduling process for everyone. The tool comes with a low learning curve and offers scheduling features that can be tailored to a wide variety of use cases.
With over 100 integrations available, Calendly offers great flexibility and easily works within your existing workflows.
💡 Commonly used for: Scheduling a wide variety of meetings, including discovery calls, team calls, and interviews 👪 Commonly used by: Small and large teams that need a user-friendly and adaptable scheduling tool |
Chili Piper vs. Calendly: Plans and pricing
Both Calendly and Doodle have multiple pricing tiers. Let’s look at how they differ.
Chili Piper plans and pricing
Hold on to your scheduling hats because Chili Piper’s pricing is a bit complex, but we promise to do our best to explain it!
Chili Piper’s plans (billed monthly) include:
- Instant Booker plan ($22.50/month/user) with scheduling features for sales and customer service reps
- Handoff plan ($37.50/month/user) with CRM-based or custom routing rules
- Form Concierge ($45/month/user + tiered platform fee*) with advanced routing features from web forms
- Form Concierge with Live Concierge ($90/user/month + tiered platform fee*) which connects prospects in real-time via phone or video call
- Distro plan ($45/month/user) which instantly routes and assigns leads. Distro is offered as an add-on plan and cannot be purchased alone.
*The tiered platform fee is determined by how many inbound leads are submitted each month. Up to 100 is $225. Up to 1,000 is $600. More than 1,000 is $1,500.
Chili Piper does not offer a free trial or a free plan.
Calendly plans and pricing
Calendly’s plans (billed monthly) include:
- Free forever version with basic scheduling features and the ability to connect one calendar
- Standard plan ($12/month/user) for small teams and individuals with more advanced options and event types
- Teams plan ($20/month/user) for teams who need more advanced collaboration features and automation
- Enterprise plan for teams of 30+ with advanced security, control, and support
Calendly also offers a 14-day free trial of the Standard plan for all new users.
Chili Piper vs. Calendly: And the pricing winner is…
When comparing Chili Piper vs. Calendly, Calendly comes out on top in terms of cost. Calendly also gets bonus points for having a simpler pricing structure and offering both a free trial as well as a free forever version.
However, your decision between Chili Piper vs. Calendly shouldn’t be determined by pricing alone, so let’s dig into some core features and native integrations to help you make an informed decision.
Chili Piper vs. Calendly: Core features
At their core, both Chili Piper and Calendly are scheduling tools designed to simplify booking meetings, so you won’t be shocked to learn that there’s quite a bit of overlap between the two.
Both tools offer core features including:
- One-click scheduling
- Automatic time zone detection
- Branded booking links
- Automated no-show reminders
- One-on-one, group, and round-robin scheduling
- Automatic reminders and meeting notifications
- Option to embed booking page on your website
- Optimization for all devices
Unique features to Chili Piper
🥇Star feature: Form Concierge
Meet Chili Piper’s handy tool for converting inbound leads. The Form Concierge does three things for you:
- Qualifies leads from your website
- Routes prospects to the correct sales rep
- Books the sales meeting
🥈 Runner-up feature: Smart Team Signature
Chili Piper offers a useful Smart Team Signature feature, which (thanks to a Google Chrome extension) automatically creates email signatures complete with a “book a meeting” button for your entire team.
Unique features to Calendly
🥇Star feature: Meeting Polls
Need to plan a group meeting but can’t decide on a time? Calendly’s Meeting Polls let multiple team members vote on the best time to meet, saving you endless back-and-forth messages and emails.
🥈 Runner-up feature: Collecting Payments
Do you offer paid consultations or training sessions? Calendly lets you collect payment during the booking process through Stripe and PayPal, letting you combine scheduling with getting paid.
Chili Piper vs. Calendly: Core features summary
So which scheduling tool wins in terms of features? The answer is…it depends!
👉 If you’re looking for a scheduling tool with more robust sales functionalities, Chili Piper is the way to go.
👉 If you’re looking for an all-around scheduling tool with handy features for different teams or departments, you might go with Calendly.
Chili Piper vs. Calendly: Integrations
Last but not least, integrations! Both Chili Piper and Calendly share a good amount of useful integrations, including:
- MS Teams, Webex, Zoom, and Google Meet
- Salesforce
- Google Calendar
- Outlook
- Zapier
- Hubspot
- Marketo
- Leadpages
- Twilio
- Gong
- Slack
However, there are a few worthwhile integrations that each tool has that the other lacks.
Chili Piper integrations
Chili Piper boasts over 60 integrations in total, mainly focusing on tools that would be most helpful to revenue teams. It features a few sales and marketing automation tools that Calendly doesn’t, including Salesloft, Outreach, Act-on, and Eloqua.
💡 Pro-tip: Attention all Salesforce users! Although both Calendly and Chili Piper integrate with Salesforce, the latter has more advanced integration with the popular CRM. |
Calendly integrations
Calendly offers over 100 integrations, which is a good deal more than Chili Piper. The scheduling tool integrates with many useful tools that will fit in well with the rest of your workflow, including Asana, Jotform, Notion, and Google Analytics.
💡 Pro-tip: Do you use a CRM other than Salesforce? Calendly may be your best bet here as it integrates with 32 different CRMs. |
Chili Piper vs. Calendly: Integrations Overview
Although Calendly offers more integrations than Chili Piper, your choice between Chili Piper vs. Calendly will depend on which specific integrations you’re looking for. Chili Piper’s integrations are very focused on sales and marketing teams, whereas Calendly is more horizontal.
When exploring customer reviews, Sharon Troia, a Marketing Ops Manager at a mid-sized business shared that they switched from Calendly to Chili Piper because:
“We started with Calendly, but were unable to set up a true Salesforce integration, and were not able to set up a marketo integration. Calendly is great for a simpler flow or for a 1:1 scheduling app, but for our team that is made up of different regions and uses marketing automation, we felt the need to upgrade to Chili Piper.” |
We recommend jotting down a list of the most important integrations in your business to see which scheduling software is better for your needs!
Still unsure which scheduling tool to pick? Try YouCanBookMe: the best of both worlds
YouCanBookMe's scheduling platform is a game-changer, freeing up your time to focus on what matters most: driving results.
Its standout feature lies in its unparalleled customization options. As a business, you want every touchpoint your customer encounters to feel like you. With YouCanBookMe, you control:
- Your calendar
- Meeting specifications
- Notifications
- Branding
- Language
- Payments for bookings
💡 Pro-tip: Customization is essential for boosting conversion rates, as it ensures your inbound lead never feels like just another cog in the system. |
How does YouCanBookMe work?
All you need to do is share your booking link wherever your customers connect with you—on your website, in your email signature, across your social media channels, or even through a QR code on printed materials like brochures.
All confirmations, text and email reminders, and follow-ups are automated, significantly reducing no-shows.
As an added bonus, YouCanBookMe seamlessly integrates with Google Calendar, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Stripe, Outlook, and thousands of other apps via Zapier.
Simple pricing meets unbeatable value
If you're in search of powerful features at an affordable price, YouCanBookMe is your go-to scheduling tool.
Unlike Chili Piper and Calendly, YouCanBookMe offers a single paid plan that gives you access to all its supercharged features. No need to navigate complex tiers or pricing plans—just $12 per calendar per month unlocks them all!
P.S. YouCanBookMe provides a 14-day free trial and a free forever free plan, offering you the chance to explore its benefits risk-free.
Ready to streamline your booking process?
Whether you’re looking for a tool for your recruitment, customer success, sales, or any other team, YouCanBookMe has the features you need to save time and hassle while driving results. Did we mention it does all that for a fraction of the cost of Chili Piper or Calendly?
Give YouCanBookMe a try today and experience the difference it can make for your team.
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Gabriela Lefanowicz
Gabriela is an (everything bagel) seasoned copywriter who has written for industries ranging from gaming and e-learning to fintech. She loves writing about products she believes in and spending as much time as possible outdoors.
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