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Meeting Scheduling Tools Compared: Calendly, Doodle, and More

Here are the most common ways to skip the "when are you free?" email back-and-forth and land on a meeting time everyone can actually make.

Calendly

Set your available time slots in advance, then share a link that lets anyone book a slot directly -- a common choice for one-on-one meetings like sales calls or interviews.

When2Meet

A free group scheduling tool where each participant marks their own availability on a shared grid, making it easy to spot the time slot that overlaps for everyone.

Doodle

Propose a handful of candidate times and let participants vote on which ones work, then pick whichever slot gets the most support.

Google Calendar appointment schedules

A built-in Google Calendar feature that lets you offer open slots for others to book, without requiring them to install any separate app.

Automatic time zone conversion

Most scheduling tools automatically convert times to each participant's local time zone, cutting down on the classic mistake of booking a meeting at the wrong hour for someone overseas.

Booking link vs. group poll: which one fits your situation

A booking-link tool like Calendly works best when one person's calendar is the constraint (like a recruiter or salesperson taking meetings all day). A group poll tool like Doodle or When2Meet works better when several people's schedules all need to line up at once, since no single person's availability should dictate the outcome.

Why time zone handling matters more than it seems

A meeting scheduled without accounting for time zones is one of the most common remote-work mistakes -- what looks like 3 PM to the organizer might be 2 AM for someone on the other side of the world. Tools that display each participant's local time by default remove the need for manual conversion and back-and-forth confirmation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do all participants need an account to use these tools?

Usually not -- most tools only require an account for the person creating the poll or booking link, while participants can respond through a plain web link.

Which tool works best for a large group instead of a one-on-one meeting?

A poll-based tool like Doodle or When2Meet generally scales better for groups, since it shows overlapping availability across many people at once, while booking-link tools like Calendly are built around one person's calendar.