Group Scheduling Apps

Organising a dinner with friends, a building meeting, or a get-together with colleagues almost always ends up in an endless chain of messages: "I can't do Tuesday," "Thursday works but after seven," "can anyone do Saturday?" Availability polls solve this elegantly: you propose a few dates, share a link, and everyone marks when they're free. The system immediately shows which time slot works for the most people.

The most well-known tool for this is probably Doodle, widespread especially in professional settings. The problem is that over the years Doodle has raised its demands considerably: it requires registration for basic features, shows advertising, and collects data even on participants who don't have an account. For organising a pizza night or an internal meeting, it's a disproportionate price for the service on offer.

The alternatives here are all accessible from a browser, with nothing to install, and don't require participants to register. They differ in the details: Framadate supports both date polls and free-form option polls, useful if you're also deciding on a venue or format; Crab.fit excels at visualising hourly availability with a heat map; Prikkert is the most minimal and privacy-conscious option, with automatic data deletion; Rallly combines simplicity and a modern interface.