Are you currently searching for the best Calendly alternatives to schedule appointments and stay organized? This can be an important thing for any business, no matter its size.
Software like this is one of the best ways to keep you and your team organized, especially during intensive periods of work or for group projects.
Whilst Calendly is a great piece of software, it does have some shortcomings and it’s always good to look at what other options you have available to you.
However, one look online gives you a huge amount of different options. Sometimes this can feel overwhelming!
If you find yourself struggling, don’t panic! We’re here to help you. In this article, we’re going to be breaking down some of the best alternatives on the market.
We’ve also made sure to include a short FAQ to help answer any questions you may have left over at the end.
So let’s get right into it!
Table of Contents
What Is Calendly?
Calendly is a simplistic but fairly powerful calendar scheduling program. All you need to do is set a few predefined availability preferences and you’ll be able to easily share them with your team or client base.
In short, it’s a great timesaver when used effectively and has a user interface that you’ll be able to figure out after a few minutes.
They’re then free to pick a time that suits them and your meeting will be scheduled automatically.
It has great support for recurring meetings and has a series of features including UI customization, reminders with notifications, and compatibility with a series of different calendars including iCloud, Outlook, Google Calendar, and Office 365.
One of the main downsides of Calendly is the lack of additional features, this is especially noticeable when you compare it to some of the other industry-standard software out there. It also has no integration with other apps like Outlook 2019, and sometimes the entire app can crash.
Issues like these often lead individuals or companies to search elsewhere – but what is a better option for you? We’re going to explore some of the best alternatives below.
The Best Calendly Alternatives
1. OnceHub
First off we have another simplistic piece of software that is suitable for smaller teams. It was formally called ScheduleOnce, and since its original version, they have improved it considerably.
It acts as a solution for primarily meeting or appointment booking, and has a series of additional helpful features. If you get OneHub here is what you can expect:
Main Positives
- Links to Paypal, allowing you to charge for meetings or unfortunate cancellations.
- Allows you to manage your team’s workflow with a tool that allows you to limit daily or weekly meetings.
- Allows you to schedule meetings with reserved rooms or equipment that your customers may need.
- Custom bookings page that makes booking easier.
- Good for scheduling multiple meetings, which makes it a great choice for an extended project or training session.
Main Negatives
- The base version is outdated and pales in comparison to other versions.
- Not as suitable for larger teams.
- There is a fairly hard learning curve, especially with some specific lingo.
2. Sprintful
If you’re looking for something that is simple but also has a lot of positive features, Sprintful might be the right choice for you.
With its simple, 3-click scheduling system, you’ll easily be able to create appointments with custom capacities, duration, and price points.
You’ll then be able to easily sync these appointments with any existing calendar system you have in place.
One of the best things about Sprintful is how versatile it is, and how you can easily schedule different types of meetings, whether that’s one-to-ones, large group meetings, or meetings for business services.
Main Positives
- Simple 3-click scheduling system.
- Integration with many different types of calendars including Google, Outlook, and Office 365.
- Integration with video conferencing apps like Zoom, Google Meet, and Zapier.
- 7-day free trial so you can try the features before committing.
- Flexible tools.
- Affordable price, starting at $9 a month for the base version.
Main Negatives
- No on-premise deployment for scheduling.
- No set price for the Enterprise Plan (large teams over 100+ users)
3. Doodle
So let’s say you have a very large team and frequently have multi-person team meetings. If this is the case then Doodle is a great, free (with exceptions) scheduling tool that will give you a lot of flexibility.
The main positive of this program is its complete simplicity – it’s by far one of the most intuitive systems we looked at for this list.
That simplicity does come with downsides, however, as it is missing a lot of the more extensive features of other apps. That said, there’s a lot to love and it’s a great choice if you’re looking to host big meetings – especially recurring ones that will help organize your team during elaborate projects.
Main Positives
- Ability to check availability across different time zones, which makes it great if you’re an international company or have a client base in different countries.
- Allows you to check team members’ availability across different calendar systems.
- Support for company branding and logos.
- The voting system allows you to find the best time for large team meetings.
- A feature for both company surveys and group polls.
Main Negatives
- The free version includes ads.
- Additional features are locked behind payment plans.
4. Outreach
If you’re looking for something more complex, with AI technology to help your team with scheduling, then this is a great option for you. Outreach has by far the most complex integrated AI, that allows you to predict customer engagement and fast scheduling systems for your team.
Whilst it might be a lot to bite off, providing you and your team can learn to use the AI to their advantage you’re going to find a lot of extra tools to help you manage workflow and complex projects.
Main Positives
- AI system that allows you to schedule and notify meetings.
- Simple and automated follow-up reminders.
- Integrations with Office 365, Google Calendar, and others like Salesforce.
- Time block system that allows you to see the availability of others.
- Extra features like recurring scheduling, analytics, and a public calendar.
- Note-taking feature.
Main Negatives
- Less intuitive if you don’t already use Outreach and its other numerous features.
- AI can sometimes be unreliable, or difficult to utilize.
- Complicated pricing plans that revolve around quotes.
5. Meetingbird
Another simplistic scheduling tool is Meetingbird, which is a perfect accompaniment to Google Mail. It allows you to create lots of different kinds of meetings which makes it perfect for onboarding calls, sales meetings, and product demonstrations.
It also has a lot of the features you can expect from scheduling service, including custom branding, email notifications, scheduled reminders, and tools to help manage differences in time zone.
Main Positives
- Chrome extension allows you to easily schedule meetings through Google Mail.
- Integrates well with Zapier, Zoom, and Google Calendar.
- Simple plans: free forever, and the pro plan comes in at $9 monthly.
- The free version comes with a lot of features.
- Integrates with communication apps like Slack.
Main Negatives
- Works best if your company uses Google Mail.
- No support for round-robin meeting scheduling.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it! Those were 5 of the best alternatives to Calendly around. When trying to choose a scheduling tool for you or your business, it can be difficult to find the one that fits you best.
There are a lot of things to consider, but thankfully a lot of these systems have free trials that allow you to try out their features before you commit to a purchase. It’s best to shop around a little and try to find something that fits your team, company, or personal goals.
We hope that this article has helped you to see the alternatives that you have available. If you still have some questions, make sure to keep reading our Frequently Asked Questions section. We wish you the best of luck in organizing your team and hope that you find the right software for you!
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Zapier?
Zapier is an automation tool that helps you switch between different apps. It’s a great way to optimize your workflow, and you can use it to do simple, repetitive tasks for you. It does this by connecting apps and moving information between them.
It has a simple ruleset system that allows you to set them yourself. Zapier also allows you to connect apps like Zoom with other apps.
How Is AI Used In Scheduling?
Systems that use AI technology to schedule for you will usually follow pre-determined rules. A typical AI will begin to learn your schedule based on input data.
It can be a great way to automate the meetings side of your business, but it will sometimes take a bit of tweaking and management before it learns exactly what to do.
Bonus read: scheduling software is extremely important for a business. Discover what other business tools you should have to run your business effectively.
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