The Unique Value of Cal.com in a Crowded Scheduling Market
Assantewa HeubiWriter
Cal.com's Understands Your Scheduling Needs
Each day, it seems as though a new calendar scheduling product emerges in the market. Some, like Calendly, you might already know; others, like SavvyCal, you've probably never heard of. It's reasonable to wonder, then, what makes Cal.com different? A lot of things, actually. The first one is that we're open-source, but the most important one is that we're actually a calendar infrastructure product. Being an infrastructure-first solution means that companies and organizations have the option of not just using us for the front end of scheduling but also the back end.
This means that instead of having to invest resources like time, expertise, and personnel into building and debugging a customizable scheduling solution, companies can just use Cal.com.
You might be wondering why someone would need a calendar scheduling infrastructure product as opposed to a regular booking solution. Well, it's simple: life is complicated, and without the right tools, a straightforward task can become a Herculean ordeal.
Think about it like this: most calendar scheduling tools are focused on providing a solution for one specific industry or one specific way of scheduling. These products often assume that you're either going to automatically schedule it the way they do or you're going to change how you schedule to match what they have to offer.
Even products like Calendly, that portray themselves as being industry-agnostic, have hard limits when it comes to customization. This means that people often have to cobble together a whole bunch of different services in order to find a solution that works for them. Using Cal.com eliminates all of this extra burden by providing you with a solution that will meet you where you are. If you just want to use our front-end product, Cal.com's individual or team plan will meet your needs. If you need a customizable booking portal for clients, contractors, or employees, then options can be found within our organization, enterprise, and platform plans.
Focus on Time-Saving and Flexibility
Cal.com was built as a solution. Our founders developed the product because they couldn't find anything capable of meeting their needs. This means that Cal.com was shaped by practical, real-world knowledge. We know what the most common bottlenecks, stumbling blocks, and barriers are to efficient scheduling. We know how this impacts businesses and professionals all over the world, and we know how much time is lost when things just don't work. We took this knowledge and built a common-sense solution that could be further tailored and customized based on the user's needs.
Customization Options and Flexibility
As an infrastructure-focused product, we're designed with one thing in mind: helping you save time. We know that each scheduling journey is unique. That's why Cal.com offers multiple customization paths. Our default hosted Cal.com product is plug-and-play. You can sign up for a free account in order to access:
An ever-growing app store
Unlimited active events
Unlimited bookings
Multi-time zone support
Webhooks & API keys
Paid bookings and no-show fees
Customizable teleconferencing
Simple no-code customization
This is the base Cal.com experience: efficient, cost-effective, and customizable. However, if you need more, we have more. Our team, organization, and enterprise-level plans come with features like round-robin booking, collective events, and an insight dashboard. Cal.com can also be entirely self-hosted if you work in a high-security environment that requires it. You can also use our open-source components as part of building and shipping a time-based marketplace or platform.
Open-hearted and Secure
Cal.com is an open startup. This isn't exactly the same thing as being open-source. You see, as an open startup, we practice everyday transparency. This means that we welcome constructive feedback from our community, and we also share data related to our core metrics and salaries. Trust cannot exist in a vacuum, and working relationships can't be built without honesty. It's one thing for us to show all the certifications we have, things like HIPAA compliance, SOC Type 1 and 2, as well as ISO 27001. However, it's another thing for the Cal.com brand to be synonymous with efficiency and integrity.
The average Cal.com user is a regular person. They're glad that we have all these certifications, but it's not something that they necessarily think about all day. What they do prioritize, however, is simplicity, clear communication, and reliability. That's the environment that we're working to build, not just by maintaining a great product but also by actively engaging with users through Discord and GitHub.
The reason why we're doing this is because we're trying to help people save time. We want to make sure that by 2030, we've connected at least a billion people. None of this is going to happen without trust. This is why we're building a time-centered product out in the open. We want everyone to use Cal.com because we believe everyone deserves to make the most of their time. We don't think people should be forced to accept the mediocrity and inefficiency that's inherent to non-infrastructure calendar scheduling solutions. This is why we're working hard to turn Cal.com into a household name because everyone deserves to own their time.
If you enjoyed this article and you'd like to learn more about Cal.com, just click here to visit the product features section of our blog. Thanks for taking the time to read this post, and as always, happy scheduling!
