FairCal vs Cal.com
Pricing, features & honest comparison — updated 2026
TL;DR
- Cal.com:
- $12-25/user/mo. Per-seat monthly (cloud) or self-hosted (free).
- FairCal:
- $0.10-0.25/booking. No subscription. No seat limits.
- Infrastructure cost:
- $0.03/booking
FairCal
$0.10-0.25/booking
per booking made
No subscription
Cal.com
$12-25/user/mo
Per-seat monthly (cloud) or self-hosted (free)
Free: Self-hosted is free; cloud has free tier
Why people leave Cal.com
- Self-hosted requires technical knowledge
- Cloud pricing is per-seat like Calendly
- Newer product, some rough edges
What it actually costs to run
The infrastructure cost for scheduling — servers, APIs, storage, delivery — is roughly $0.03/booking. Cal.com charges $12-25/user/mo.
Fair charges $0.10-0.25/booking — cost plus a small margin.
The verdict
Choose Cal.com if
Developers and teams who want open-source scheduling
Choose FairCal if
You use scheduling occasionally and don't want to pay $12-25/user/mo for the privilege. FairCal charges $0.10-0.25/booking with full features and no subscription.
Where Cal.com's pricing model breaks down
- Self-hosting is a maintenance burden
- Cloud version is similarly priced to Calendly
Related comparisons
Fair is the anti-subscription. 13 tools, one account, pay for what you use.