Comparison
Free group scheduling tools, compared honestly
There are a handful of good free tools for the question "when are we all free?". They differ in a few ways that matter more than feature lists: whether people need an account, whether there are ads, how people answer, and what the free plan leaves out. Here's the overview, from our own sources and theirs.
Two ways to ask "when are you free?"
Availability grids (When2meet, LettuceMeet, Crab Fit, whenfor.us): everyone drags over all the times they're free, and the overlap shows the best time. Best when you don't know the options yet.
Option polls (Doodle, Rallly): the organizer proposes a few times and everyone votes yes, no or maybe. Best when you already have a short list. More on the difference.
The overview
| Tool | How people answer | Accounts | Ads | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| whenfor.us | Drag over free times | None for anyone | None | Best-time sentence, automatic time zones, organizer picks and shares the final time. Up to 150 people, 31 days. Deleted 90 days after the event. |
| When2meet | Drag over free times | None | Third-party ads | The classic. Also supports days-of-the-week events without dates. Many users find it hard to use on phones. |
| Doodle (free plan) | Vote on proposed options | Organizer needs an account | Yes, for organizers and participants | Up to 10 time slots per group poll. Booking pages and sign-up sheets too. Paid plans from $15/month. |
| Rallly (free plan) | Vote on proposed options | Optional | None, they say | Open source. Unlimited polls and participants. "Finalize and notify everyone" is a paid feature. Free polls are deleted after 30 days without activity once all dates have passed. |
| LettuceMeet | Mark free times | Optional | Not stated | Can show your Google Calendar while you answer. |
| Crab Fit | Drag over free times | None | None | Open source, donation-funded, many languages, Android app. Deleted after three months of inactivity. |
Which one should you use?
Friends, clubs and families planning in a group chat
An availability grid that works well on phones and needs no accounts: whenfor.us is built exactly for this. When2meet and Crab Fit work too, if your group is happy with them.
You already have three options in mind
An option poll is quicker: Rallly or Doodle.
Friends spread across time zones
Pick a tool where everyone sees their own local times automatically, so nobody converts anything. On whenfor.us that's built in; see scheduling across time zones.
Booking meetings with clients
That's a different job: booking pages (Doodle, Calendly and others) let people pick a free slot in your calendar. Group availability tools are for finding one time for many people.
Detailed comparisons
Questions people ask
What is the best free tool to find a time that works for everyone?
For a group planning in a chat, an availability grid with no accounts works best: everyone marks all their free times once and the overlap shows the answer. whenfor.us, When2meet and Crab Fit all work this way; whenfor.us is built phones-first and spells out the best time.
Which scheduling tools need no account?
whenfor.us, When2meet and Crab Fit need no account for anyone. Rallly and LettuceMeet make accounts optional. Doodle requires the organizer to have an account.
Which free scheduling tools have no ads?
whenfor.us, Crab Fit and (by their own description) Rallly. When2meet and Doodle's free plan show ads.