Guide
Availability poll vs. date poll: which one finds the better time?
There are two ways to ask a group "when are you free?". You can propose a few dates and let people vote, or you can let everyone show all the times they're free. They sound similar, but they lead to different answers.
The date poll (vote on options)
The organizer picks a handful of options, say Thursday 7 pm, Friday 8 pm and Saturday 6 pm, and everyone votes yes, no or maybe. Doodle made this format famous, and Rallly works this way too.
Good for: when the options are fixed anyway, such as two possible restaurant bookings or three dates the venue offered.
The catch: the poll can only find the best of the options someone guessed. If the time that works for everyone isn't on the list, nobody sees it. And the more options you add to be safe, the longer the poll gets to fill in.
The availability poll (show your free times)
The organizer only sets a window, for example the next seven evenings. Everyone marks every time they're free in that window, by dragging over a grid. The overlap appears as a heatmap: the darker the cell, the more people are free. When2meet, Crab Fit and whenfor.us work this way.
Good for: when you don't know the options yet, which is most of the time for friends, clubs and families.
Why it finds better times: nobody has to guess. If Thursday at 8 works for all nine people, it shows up, even though nobody would have suggested it.
Side by side
| Date poll | Availability poll | |
|---|---|---|
| Organizer prepares | A list of options | Just a window of days and hours |
| People answer | Yes / no / maybe per option | Drag over all their free times |
| Finds | The best of the proposed options | The best time in the whole window |
| Best when | Options are fixed | Options are open |
| Time zones | Options get converted | Everyone marks their own local times |
Making either one work
- Keep the window short. One or two weeks gets fast answers. A whole month gets "I'll check later".
- Ask for a deadline. "By tomorrow night" gets answers far quicker than "when you can".
- No sign-ups. Every required account loses some of the group.
- Announce the result. The poll isn't the plan. Post the final time with a calendar link. (On whenfor.us, the organizer picks the time and gets a picture and message to share.)
Questions people ask
What is an availability poll?
A poll where everyone marks all the times they're free in a given window, usually on a grid, instead of voting on a few proposed dates. The overlap shows the best time.
Is When2meet a date poll or an availability poll?
An availability poll: everyone drags over their free times on a grid. Doodle and Rallly are date polls, where people vote on proposed options.
Which is faster to fill in?
With few options, a date poll. With an open question, an availability poll: one drag over your free evenings is quicker than voting on twenty options.