Thanks for making this
Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative
21–30 of 95 posts
Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative
#22I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective.
My first impressions without scrolling:
* Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name.
* It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly.
* It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well.
I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers.
Scrolling down slightly further, I see the testimonials, and see people find it when looking for a "scheduling & booking platform". I assume that's what it is, but I don't know why I need a "scheduling & booking platform".
When I scroll further or click "Features", I am jumped down the page, and I find out it is easily customizable, and has a bunch of integrations. I don't entirely understand what I can do with it or how I can interact with it as a user.
I have never heard of Calendly, and thus head over to their website. The first thing I see is "Calendly helps you schedule meetings without the back-and-forth emails". Clicking their "Features" link, I find claims they are "The best automated scheduling software" and without scrolling I learn it "automatically check[s] availability and help[s] you connect with your best contacts, prospects and clients".
Based on my glance at Calendly, I'm not a potential customer or user, but I only learned that from your competitor, and I only learned about your competitor from you.
Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative
#23Looks promising, was considering using Calendly for a SaaS app I just launched to book demos but will give Calendso a try. Was wondering if there was an integration with Salesforce via Zapier.
I think you could do that via a webhook
Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative
#24I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…
This is a tangent, but is there somewhere you can get this sort of feedback for your own apps/landing pages?
Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative
#25Can doctors use calendly or this? I don't think there are HIPPA concerns with appointment schedules and it sure would be nicer that the existing process where you call 5 places to find they're not accepting patients.
Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative
#26I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…
This is a tangent, but is there somewhere you can get this sort of feedback for your own apps/landing pages?
Clearly you can get it here. :) Post a "Show HN"?
Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative
#27Got a laugh out of the header "Works with all of your favourite tools", listing Google Calendar and five "coming soon"s.
The product could do with a better slogan. Calling yourself "like X, but different" is a terrible strategy if someone like myself encounters your website having never heard of X. I don't know what Calendy is and I'd have to Google your competitor to find out what your product is offering...
The demo is intuitive but I have no idea what timezone these times and dates are in. I'd guess they're in my timezone, but if they are, consider explicitly telling users that.
This looks like a very nice tool that a lot of websites can make great use of. Due to covid restrictions, stores in my country need to reserve time slots for a limited amount of visitors if they want to open. This tool can offer exactly what nearly every store here needs for an affordable price, assuming those stores haven't found an alternative solution yet.
Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative
#28I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…
This is a tangent, but is there somewhere you can get this sort of feedback for your own apps/landing pages?
Indiehackers community is sometimes helpful IMO
Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative
#29Congratulations on launching. My (small) startup is a Calendly user for our sales and support staff. What would cause me to switch from Calendly to your product?
I would never want to self host this. We're a small team, and no one technical wants to manage yet another server, nor do we want the responsibility for when something screws up and a salesperson misses a demo or a support staff member isn't reminded about a training session.
The pricing isn't that competitive with Calendly ($3/user/month savings) which would translate to a savings of $108 annually for us, not enough to justify switching.
I feel pitching this as an open source alternative to Calendly is the wrong angle. The only people who care about open source are developers who are the least likely people to need scheduling software. And people who do need Calendly aren't going to be moved to switch because Calendly works well enough already.
Finally, the copy at the bottom of the page reads:
> For instance, booking a COVID vaccine shouldn't happen on a server in another country that somebody else is in control of.
Are people using Calendly to book COVID vaccines? If I used your product instead, wouldn't I still be booking a vaccine on someone else's server?
I wish any small competitor success against a large incumbent, but I would radically change my approach to compete against Calendly.
Re: Calendso: An open source Calendly alternative
#30I have to echo everyone else here that the homepage could be much more effective. My first impressions without scrolling: * Calendso has something to do with calendars, based on the name. * It has a popular paid competitor called Calendly. * It's open source, and there is a hosted version as well. I do not yet know what problem it is solving for me or its existing customers. Scrolling down slightly further, I see the…
This describes also my "journey" within the homepage, to the letter.
I see this often on similar small product homepages. Many of them describe the product for someone already familiar with it, and could do with taking a step back and trying to describe it for someone who, figuratively speaking, accidentally stumbled onto it and has no idea what's going on.