waivers.tattoo vs Acuity Scheduling: $27 a month for a 3-artist tattoo shop, or $50 a year

A tattoo shop with 3 artists needs Acuity Scheduling's Standard plan, $27 a month paid for the year, because its Starter plan covers 1 calendar, one artist. Ours, waivers.tattoo, is $50 a year for the whole shop, every artist included. I make it, so read the pages rather than me. Every claim below about Acuity links to Acuity's own page as it read on 2026-10-29.

What does Acuity Scheduling do well?

Acuity is a careful scheduler. Its pricing page puts email reminders and intake forms on every plan, with text reminders and a waitlist from Standard up. Its calendar sync works with Google, iCloud and Outlook, and "You can also have events on your calendar automatically block off time in Acuity." A client can upload a reference photo with the booking, to 5 MB. Nobody is forced into an account: "You can't force clients to register for a client account or log into one when booking an appointment," its help center says.

It is built for every kind of business, and it prices like it.

What does a tattoo shop pay on Acuity, and what does it pay here?

Paid for the year, Starter is $16 a month with 1 calendar, Standard $27 with up to 6, and Premium $55 with up to 36. Paid monthly they are $20, $34 and $69. The FAQ under the plans is plain: "Acuity doesn’t offer free appointment scheduling at this time". A 3-artist shop on Standard pays $324 a year, or $408 paid monthly. Text reminders start on Standard, and hiding the "Powered by Acuity Scheduling" footer takes Premium.

Here, your booking page comes with your waivers.tattoo account: $50 a year for the whole shop, or $5 a month, unlimited artists and unlimited waivers, your link page at yourshop.L.tattoo and 1,000 emails a month to your clients. Your first 10 waivers are free. There is no calendar count.

How does the deposit hold the booking?

On Acuity, the deposit can be a set amount or "a percentage of the cost of the appointment to book", and it runs through a processor you connect first. Acuity charges nothing to connect one, and its plans article says "your payment processor will charge you a fee to use their service".

Here, there is nothing to connect before the first one. Under "Deposits" you give your legal name and tick the terms, and your deposit page takes deposits from that minute. A session on your booking page carries a fixed deposit, the time is held while your client pays it, and the money lands in your shop's own Stripe balance the moment they do. Add your bank when you want it sent, and Stripe sends it every week. In some states Stripe asks for your bank first, and your dashboard tells you if yours is one.

Your client pays our $3.99 fee by default, and your share carries Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ and 50¢ toward payouts. On a $100 deposit your client pays $103.99 and $96.18 is yours, or you pay the $3.99 and your client pays exactly the deposit. Your client ticks your deposit policy before paying, and if a no-show disputes a deposit we collected for you, we answer the dispute with that record.

Who keeps the client, and what does the form ask?

Acuity's intake forms are yours to write: its pricing page says to "Use intake forms to collect client details, terms and conditions, and more." Our waiver form arrives written. We read the tattoo and piercing rules of all 50 states and DC and put what each asks into the form: the ID, the health questions, a parent or guardian where your state and you allow minors, and the artist's own signature where the rule names it. Your state's page shows the rule's words beside each one. This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. Your local health department has the final word. Ask them, and bring your records.

Every tattoo and piercing client who signs it is on your client list, with their visit history. Each gets your thank-you with your aftercare sheet, and the ones who tick the box to hear from your shop get the review ask and the emails you write. The list exports as a spreadsheet any day.

What do you keep, and what do you give up?

You keep a booking page with "Any artist" and each artist's own link, an artist's Google Calendar blocking their times and every booking written to it, and a feed for the artist who lives on Apple Calendar or Outlook.

You give up 4 things of Acuity's. Busy times from iCloud and Outlook blocking your page: ours reads Google's, and the feed writes bookings out. Email and text reminders before the appointment. The photo upload and your own questions on the booking form: ours asks for one line about the idea. And a percentage deposit, since ours is a fixed amount per session.

How do you switch your booking link in one sitting?

1. Set up your shop, or sign in.
2. Open "Links", then "Bookings", and turn your booking page on, "Ask first" or "Book straight in".
3. Set your hours and sessions, each with its "Deposit" switch and amount, and how far ahead clients can book.
4. Press "Start taking deposits" under "Deposits".
5. Press "Link your Google Calendar", and have each artist link theirs from their own sign-in.
6. Put yourshop.bookings.tattoo where your Acuity link was, or your L.tattoo page, whose "Book now" opens it.

Keep Acuity running for the appointments already on it until the last one is done.

Acuity prices a tattoo shop by its calendars and leaves the form to you. Here every artist books on one page for $50 a year, beside a waiver form that already knows your state.