A good when to meet app does three things well. It makes answering quick, it shows every person the times in their own time zone, and it shows the organizer where the group overlaps. Everything else is secondary. The checklist below turns that into questions you can ask of any tool, and the sections after it show how to test a tool before you send it to a group.
The checklist
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Can people answer without creating an account? | A sign-up step is a reason not to answer. |
| Can they mark many slots in one gesture? | Dragging across a grid is faster than ticking boxes one at a time. |
| Are times converted for each viewer? | Without it, people in other zones mark the wrong cells. |
| Does it show the overlap, not only the answers? | The organizer needs the count per slot, not a list of replies to add up by hand. |
| Can people change their answer later? | Plans move between the ask and the deadline. |
| Where does the result appear? | A result on a page nobody revisits still needs someone to announce it. |
| Does it need access to anyone's calendar? | Calendar access saves typing and asks for more trust. |
| Can people outside your organization answer? | Clients and candidates will not be in your chat workspace. |
| Does it get the meeting onto a calendar? | The poll is finished only when the event exists. |
| What does it cost, and what is behind the limit? | Read the pricing page for limits on polls and participants. |
You do not need a yes on every row. You need a yes on the rows that match your group, and the next section helps you find those.
The three questions that decide most choices
Most rows in the checklist are tie-breakers. Three of them rule tools in or out.
Who has to answer, and where are they?
Start with the people, not the features. A tool that lives inside your chat workspace reaches only the people in that workspace. A tool shared as a link reaches anyone with a browser. If one client, one contractor or one candidate has to answer, a link is the safe choice. If the whole group shares one channel, a poll in that channel saves everyone a trip to another site.
Are you asking for free time or for a vote?
Some apps show a grid, and each person marks every time they are free. Others list a few options the organizer chose, and each person votes. The grid finds times nobody thought to propose. The vote is quicker to answer when the list is short. Decide which question you are asking before you compare tools, because an app is usually built around one of the two. When 2 Meet vs Doodle compares the two models.
Does anyone sit in another time zone?
If everyone is in one zone, time zone handling does not matter. If even one person is elsewhere, it matters more than any other feature. Look for a tool that converts every time for the person viewing it and says which zone it is using. A tool that shows one fixed zone leaves each person to do arithmetic, and one wrong answer makes the count wrong.
Match the tool to the group
The right kind of tool depends on where the people are.
| Your group | A tool that fits |
|---|---|
| One team that shares a Slack channel | A poll that lives in the channel |
| People from several organizations | A web grid shared as a link |
| One person offering times to many, one at a time | A booking page tied to that person's calendar |
| A large group choosing between a few fixed options | A vote on listed options |
The third row is a different job from the other three. A booking page answers "when can I meet you?" for one host and one guest at a time. It does not find the overlap of a group. If you searched for a when to meet scheduler and landed on booking tools, check that the one you are looking at handles groups before you go further.
If you settle on a web grid, how to make and share a when to meet link covers the sharing.
Test an app in ten minutes before you send it
A feature list tells you what a tool claims. A short trial tells you what your group will meet. Run this test with one colleague before you send anything to the full group.
- Create a real poll. Use the meeting you need to schedule, with its real dates and hours. Note how many screens it takes and whether the tool asks you to sign up first.
- Answer it as a participant. Open the poll the way a participant would, in a private browser window or on another device. Count the steps between opening it and saving an answer.
- Answer it on a phone. Many people will answer from a phone between other tasks. Check that you can mark slots with a thumb and that the page does not scroll sideways.
- Ask a colleague in another zone to open it. If you have nobody in another zone, change the time zone on your own device and reload. The times should move.
- Change an answer. Go back and edit. Check that the edit replaces your earlier answer and does not add a second one.
- Read the result. With two answers in, look at what the organizer sees. You should be able to name the best slot in a few seconds.
- Follow the result to the calendar. Find out what the tool does once you have picked a time. Some create the event, some give you a link, and some stop at the picture.
If any step makes you hesitate, it will stop someone in the group. The second step matters most. An organizer will put up with an awkward setup once. A participant who meets a sign-up wall will close the tab.
A worked example: one team, two meetings
A product team of six needs to schedule two meetings.
The first is a weekly planning slot for the team itself. All six share one Slack channel. Two of them work from another time zone. They do not know which hours are realistic, so they need a grid and not a vote. The rows that matter are time zone conversion, no accounts, and a result that appears where the team talks. A poll in the channel fits.
The second is a kickoff with a client. Four people from the client's company have to answer, and none of them is in the team's Slack. The team already knows the client can do three afternoons. The rows that matter are "can people outside your organization answer?" and "can they answer without an account?". A web tool shared as a link fits, and with only three options a vote is enough.
The same team ends up with two tools, and that is a sound result. The aim is to fit each group, not to standardize on one app.
Mistakes people make when choosing
- Choosing from the organizer's seat. The organizer uses the setup screen once. The participants use the answer screen many times over. Judge the tool by the answer screen.
- Paying for features the meeting does not need. Reminders, branding and booking pages are useful for some teams. For one poll a month they are not the deciding factor.
- Assuming time zones are handled. Test it. Do not rely on a line in a feature list.
- Granting calendar access by default. It is a real trade, not a free upgrade. Doodle calendar polls: do you need calendar access? sets out what you gain and what you share.
- Reading the free plan too late. A cap on polls or participants shows up when you are in the middle of a busy month. Read the pricing page first. Doodle free plan or a free Slack poll lists what to look for on any free tier.
- Ignoring the last step. A tool that finds the time and leaves the announcement and the invite to you has done half the job. Know in advance who does the other half.
Questions people ask before they pick
Is a when to meet calendar the same thing as a calendar app?
No. A calendar app holds events that are already decided. A when to meet tool holds the question that comes before the event: which time suits the group. Some scheduling tools connect the two by reading your calendar or by creating the event at the end. Many do neither, and you add the event yourself.
Do I need an app at all for three people?
Usually not. For two or three people a direct message with a bounded question is quicker than any tool. How to ask a group when we can meet has wording for that. A tool starts to pay for itself at about the point where you can no longer hold everyone's answers in your head.
Should the whole company use one tool?
Only if the whole company schedules the same kind of meeting. Internal teams and client-facing teams have different groups, and the table above sends them to different tools.
Is a free tool good enough?
For finding a time, often yes. The core job is small: collect free time and count it. Paid plans tend to add things around that job. Check each tool's own pricing page for what is included, because plans change.
Where Meeting Mouse fits, and where it does not
Meeting Mouse is the first row of the matching table. It is a Slack app, and against the checklist it looks like this.
- Accounts. None. People answer as their Slack user.
- One gesture. Partly. The form in Slack is one click per time, and each click saves. It links to a page where each person drags across a grid of the same slots.
- Time zones. Every time is shown in the viewer's local zone. A slot that lands on a different day for someone far away is grouped under their day.
- Overlap. The channel message shows a grid of who is free when, with the top three slots by headcount above it.
- Changing an answer. Click Add my availability again and your earlier answer is already filled in.
- Where the result appears. In the channel, in the same message, which updates in place.
- Calendar access. None. It does not read calendars. The final announcement includes an Add to Google Calendar link.
- People who are not in the channel. This is the gap. A person who is not in the Slack channel cannot answer the poll, so a group that spans organizations is better served by a web grid.
- Cost. The hosted app is free, with up to 10 polls open at once per workspace, and the code is open source if you want to run your own copy.
A poll offers up to 14 dates and slots of 15, 30 or 60 minutes. It uses the grid model, so it is not the tool for a vote on three fixed options. See how Meeting Mouse works.