Organizing a meeting is a lot of work. Confirming when invitees are available usually means many back and forth emails. Confirmations and last-minute cancellations result in stress. It not only takes a lot out of the one that is organizing, but it also lowers the company’s productivity.
Online scheduling apps such as Doodle relieve much of the organizing hassle. You can schedule meetings and other events with confidence with this tool. It makes the entire process simpler and eliminates the need for extensive email conversations. That means more time for other productive tasks.
Doodle is only one of several online scheduling software, and many consider it the best. Yet, Doodle is not the right solution for everyone. Analyzing Doodle’s online reviews reveals its weaknesses.
This article discusses 24 of the best alternatives to Doodle. This information will help you find the app that best suits your scheduling needs.
What is Doodle?
Doodle is an online meeting and event scheduling app. This simple yet powerful app is popular among busy professionals. It streamlines the process of organizing meetings. Organizers can specify their availability and take into consideration the invitees’ preferences.
Doodle’s simplicity makes it very popular. Still, it also has some weaknesses. For example, you cannot save group contacts in the app. And you have to enter email addresses by hand every time you want to share a meeting poll. Another common complaint is that the Doodle polls are somewhat impersonal.
Other users have found that the process of suggesting dates and times is tedious and lengthy. Too many slots to choose from creates an interface lacking intuitiveness.
The time zone feature is another reason some are dissatisfied. Doodle’s developers designed it to support multiple time zones. However, activating this feature is complex and often overlooked.
Continue reading if you have also experienced these Doodle downsides. Or if you are looking for specific features not available on Doodle.
The Alternatives to Doodle
Trafft: the best Doodle alternative
Staying organized has never been easier.
You can now manage your business and grow your brand with a single, powerful software that keeps all of your appointments in line, your clients organized and your business booming.
Trafft is perfect for business owners who need to streamline their booking experience both for their staff and their clients.
Trafft handles everything for you, even sending automated email or SMS reminders to your clients. No-shows? Not anymore!
The Trafft booking software adapts to different industries for a blissful online booking experience and employee management.
Want to know more? Check out Trafft’s awesome features to see what you are missing.
HubSpot Meeting Scheduler
The first on the list of alternatives to Doodle is HubSpot Meeting Scheduler. It’s a free meeting and appointment scheduling software for marketing and salespeople. It is unique in that it links with your inbox, calendar, and CRM software, making scheduling appointments with customers easy.
HubSpot gives you the option of adding a personalized booking link in your invitation emails. Clients can follow the link to see up-to-date availability and book their meeting at a time convenient for them. This feature will reduce no-shows.
Calendar
Calendar is a meeting scheduler that has even more to offer. It is a complete calendar app available in mobile and desktop versions. The interface is easy to work with because it mimics Google Calendar.
It also provides an excellent meeting scheduler. You can create and customize time slots and send shareable booking links.
The free version allows you to schedule two customizable timeslots. And the Calendar app can connect with other existing calendar services, such as Google Calendar.
Extensive statistics features make Calendar stand out from the competition. It keeps a record of all meetings and picks up on trends that emerge. For example, it trackshow long meetings last and how often they’re scheduled.
SimplyBook.me
The SimplyBook.me app is accessible from any device, from any location, and at any time.
It has integrations with Google My Business, Facebook, and Instagram. These connections allow you to book through different channels. The app sends booking notifications and allows you to reschedule or cancel.
The Class & Membership feature gives businesses complete control over their bookings. Many also enjoy the POS feature that accepts credit card and cash payments.
Some other remarkable features of SimplyBook.me are:
- Coupons and gift cards
- Customizable emails
- Templates
- Waiting list
Acuity Scheduling
The Acuity online booking system is similar to ScheduleOnce. It combines the scheduler with CRM, email marketing, accounting, and analysis tools.
One drawback is having to add available time slots by hand, making Acuity Scheduling time-consuming.
On the plus side, integrating with Google Calendar, Exchange, iCloud, and Office 365 makes syncing calendars a simple task.
You can try it out with a two-week free trial. A solo account is also an option, but it doesn’t allow access to all integrations.
Bookafy
This appointment scheduling software works for any business. Staff members can sync their calendars with yours, enabling them to see your real-time availability.
Bookafy sends automatic confirmation emails and reminder text messages. And it integrates with Microsoft Teams and Webex. It also syncs with Exchange, Google Calendar, iCloud, and Outlook. That makes Bookafy an all-purpose tool for meeting scheduling.
It offers one-on-one bookings with customers, staff, and group events. The booking options are beneficial for HR teams that need to book various types of meetings.
Arrangr
This Doodle alternative takes care of the entire scheduling process. You can tentatively schedule meetings, and Arrangr frees up unused slots.
It easily integrates with different calendars and customer relations managers. You can even schedule different types of events. One of Arrangr’s unique features suggests ideal meeting locations. For example, you can enter your preference (coffee versus lunch), and the app will find the optimal location for all attendees.
NeedToMeet
This meeting scheduling app is straightforward. It has a calendar interface that allows you to suggest meeting times. Invitees can then choose the time that suits them best.
NeedToMeet’s mobile app can generate custom URLs. That way, you can send notifications and add comments. Clients will enjoy the app’s simple polling form.
With NeedtoMeet scheduling, you can send out your calendar, and your team members can pick their slot. That feature saves a lot of time and emails.
The free plan is functional but limits the number of timeslots and invitees. The premium version removes all those limitations. The paid version also allows you to share and integrate your calendar.
YouCanBook.me
Continuing down the list of best Doodle alternatives, you will find YouCanBook.me. YouCanBook.me can manage calendars for the entire team. It has customizable booking forms and third-party calendar integrations.
YouCanBook.me generates a custom URL so visitors can check available time slots in your calendar to book their appointments. You can even personalize the booking page with customizable layouts, colors, and logos.
The free version will display the YouCanBook.me company logo. However, for $10 per month, you can have complete control over your branding.
Calendly
This Doodle alternative offers valuable features. Direct integration with common applications like Google Calendars, iCloud, and Office 365 is one of them. Calendly also generates a customized URL that clients can use to enter their time slot preferences.
Calendly immediately adds the new appointment to your personal calendar with the date, time, and duration. The app also lets you define round-robin assignation, team availability, and group or one-on-one meetings.
Other essential features Calendly offers are:
- Daily meeting limits
- Efficient scheduling experience
- Notifications
- Scheduling buffer time between meetings
CalendarHero
Some may remember the Zoom.ai application. This app has been rebranded as CalendarHero, which resembles Calendly. You can suggest different meetings at different times and then share a link with invitees. Invitees can then indicate their preferred meeting time.
CalendarHero, like Calendly, integrates with and automatically updates your calendar. That way, your clients always have up-to-date availability.
You can use this appointment scheduling tool to customize events. All meeting attendees will benefit from the addition of location and conferencing details.
Microsoft or Google login users will enjoy the single login to access CalendarHero. This feature also provides fuss-free automatic video chat scheduling.
Clara
A virtual assistant does more than schedule meetings. Clara is a machine learning virtual assistant that suits the needs of individuals and teams. First, it streamlines the entire scheduling process. Then, it discovers patterns that work best for you.
Clara evaluates your availability when a meeting request comes in. It looks for the best time, day, and duration for that particular meeting. If you want, the app can also assign a location and preferred meeting attendees.
The way Clara works is remarkable. It understands human commands. And it even knows to reschedule when someone is out sick or other events occur that make it impossible to attend an appointment.
Pick
Automation is Pick’s keyword. It requires a Gmail calendar. Then, when a meeting is requested, it searches the personal calendar of each invitee that also uses Pick to see what time slots are open for all.
You can send invitations to all attendees straight from the app. It also generates personalized URLs so that anyone requesting a meeting can see your availability.
Karen
Karen is available 24/7. It is an online scheduling manager for meetings and appointments. Clients can book an appointment with you, and they can pay online from the comfort of their homes. The app sends text or email reminders to reduce no-show appointments.
You can brand automatic confirmations. From the moment clients book an appointment with you, they will see your logo in their inbox. Clients also have complete control over rescheduling their appointments and payment methods.
Karen helps you manage your time more efficiently, giving you time for more appointments. The app keeps track of the number of appointments, cancellations, new clients, and more.
Demodesk
Demodesk is a cloud-based online booking system with a practical screen-sharing feature. You can use this feature to create your booking pages for potential clients to book their meetings.
The app offers customizing options to send personalized reminders at predetermined times. Reminding clients of their appointments helps to prevent no-shows.
Other platform integrations further streamline your work. Some of them are Microsoft and Google Suites, Hubspot, and Salesforce.
In summary, Demodesk offers customizable booking pages and calendar syncing. Additionally, it provides booking analytics, screen sharing, and advanced virtual display options.
Google Calendar
This one is the most accessible Doodle alternatives because most people already have a Google account.
Although it’s sometimes overlooked, there is a button in the top left corner to create a new event. After creating the event, you can add guests and tap on “Find a Time.“ Google Calendar will start searching for the invitees’ availability in their calendars. Then you can schedule the meeting at the best time for everyone.
Another practical feature is storing complete contact details in your Google account. Since many others also use Google Calendar, coordinating appointments is easy. And finally, Google offers integration with various apps. This feature makes using and exporting information straightforward.
ScheduleOnce
The OnceHub team developed ScheduleOnce. This meeting scheduling app doesn’t limit you to one type of meeting—you to schedule various meeting types. App defaults offer standard lengths of 15, 30, and 60 minutes.
ScheduleOnce generates links that you can share with clients so that they can schedule appointments with you quickly. All they have to do is choose a date and time that you are available.
It offers the standard scheduling features. However, this appointment scheduling software provides more than its competitors in the free plan. The free version allows up to 25 people, and there is no limit to the number of meetings or meeting types. What’s more, the free plan integrates with various video meeting services.
WhenAvailable
Start arranging events with WhenAvailable. This application was specially designed to organize events. Just select the date and share it with friends, family, or colleagues. The invitees can inform you of their availability.
This feature allows you to schedule events on dates that work for everyone. Even better, invitees don’t need an account to respond.
Appointlet
You’ll find everything you expect of a good meeting scheduler in Appointlet. It automates your workflow and syncs your calendars. One feature sends emails with links to your booking page. You can also add the booking page link to the landing page or website.
Appointlet lets invitees see the availability of other meeting attendees. This feature allows them to adjust their schedules. It also gathers potential customer information so you can customize available time slots.
It integrates with video conferencing apps, such as Meet, Webex, and Zoom. That makes it practical to schedule online meetings. It also integrates with the payment portal Stripe so that you can receive online payments.
That said, Appointlet’s paid plans tend to have fewer features than its competitors.
Rally
The idea behind Rally is in its name; to rally fellow team members toward better communication. Rally is a collaborative appointment scheduling software for large teams. It is ideal for remote teams because it helps them agree faster on group meeting times.
You can generate and share a simple poll page to assist in scheduling the meeting. Invitees with the link can discuss and agree on the date and time that is best for everyone.
The ability for invitees to discuss the best meeting time is probably Rally’s most valuable feature. One benefit is that most come to the meeting better prepared, boosting the meeting’s productivity.
MeetFox
MeetFox does more than most appointment scheduling tools. Besides scheduling capabilities, it has an in-app video call host and features for keeping track of payments. You can automatically invoice and process payments.
Several features are completely customizable. For example, you can customize the booking page with your brand, using different colors and logos. You can add your brand to email appointment reminders and even add a booking button.
Many freelancers and small startup businesses enjoy using MeetFox. It’s an all-in-one scheduling solution that saves time and smooths out workflows.
Chili Piper
Chili Piper closes this list of the best alternatives to Doodle. Its design and features are a good match for B2B sales and marketing teams. Team members and prospective clients can schedule a meeting with you with just one click.
Besides booking, it collects customer data and saves it to your CRM program. So your client list is always up to date.
A practical feature of Chili Piper optimizes your calendar and improves productivity. You can set appointment reminders, set buffers between meetings, and reserve time slots. Most important, it makes it easy to schedule appointments.
Ending thoughts on alternatives to Doodle
Most of Doodle’s features are Doodle are pretty straightforward. But others are time-consuming and drain resources. In fact, several of the options discussed above perform much better in these areas.
The answer to the question of which is the best Doodle alternative depends on your needs. All the appointment scheduling software solutions discussed here effectively schedule appointments. However, every person and company has different needs. You may need specific features, and those are what will determine which one is best for you.
Another factor to consider is the cost and the cost-to-feature ratio. Also, does it integrate with other apps you use? And is it easy to use?
So before making the final decision, it’s best to investigate. Then select your three top picks and request a free trial for each. That way, you can use them side by side and see how they work for you.
If you enjoyed reading this article with alternatives to Doodle, you should read this one on Calendly alternatives.
We also wrote about a few related subjects like Calendly vs Chili Piper, Appointy vs Acuity, Doodle reviews, Honeybook reviews, Thryv reviews, Acuity Scheduling reviews, and Housecall Pro reviews.
